Performance of GUI much better when TV is on (2 Viewers)

[Spooky]

TV-Server Version: 1.0.0 RC1
MediaPortal Version: 1.0.0 RC1
MediaPortal Skin: BlueTwo wide
Windows Version: Win XP SP2
CPU Type: AMD A64 3200+
HDD: Seagate DB35 200GB
Memory: Kingston ValueRAM 2x512 MB
Motherboard: Shuttle FX83
Video Card: Radeon HD 2400 Pro AGP
Video Card Driver: Catalyst 8.3
Sound Card:
Sound Card AC3:
Sound Card Driver:
1. TV Card: digital everywhere FloppyDTV S2
1. TV Card Type: DVB-S2
1. TV Card Driver: 4.5.N
2. TV Card:
2. TV Card Type:
2. TV Card Driver:
3. TV Card:
3. TV Card Type:
3. TV Card Driver:
4. TV Card:
4. TV Card Type:
4. TV Card Driver:
MPEG2 Video Codec: Cyberlink PowerDVD 8
MPEG2 Audio Codec: Cyberlink PowerDVD 8
h.264 Video Codec:
Satelite/CableTV Provider: Astra 19.2°E
HTPC Case: Shuttle SK83G


This is also a weird thing I particularly noticed in RC1: when Live TV is off, the performance of the GUI on my HTPC is... well, it's ok. Sometimes it's a little bit slower (noticably low FPS when animations of GUI elements are shown) and not very responsive. Most of the time the GUI animations look like 20 to 25 FPS.

But when I turn on Live TV, the whole GUI is much faster (60 FPS) and responses immediately. Well, why could this be? Naturally it would be the best, if the GUI stays fast and responsive the whole time and not only when the TV is on

 

[tourettes]

You should set the desired FPS setting under settings (inside MP), sorry cannot remember the exact place. btw. you can check the current FPS by pressing '!'.

 

[Spooky]

Thx for the tip . FPS without TV ranges from 17 to 25 and with TV from 45 to 50.
However, I couldn't find the minimum FPS setting, though I do remember such a setting being somewhere too.

Anyway, it seems to me that since the video sources are rendered through VMR9, the GUI will also be rendered through VMR9, when a video is active. Wouldn't it be better, if the GUI is rendered through VMR9 all the time too in order to accomplish better performance ans responsiveness?


// ah, never mind, it's under Settings - Screen - Textscrollspeed (or something like that, my MP is in german right now)

 

[ronilse]

Hi,
In Mediaportal -> Settings -> Screen Setup -> Scroll Speed -> Maximum FPS.

Regards
Roy

 

[Spooky]

Yes, thx again, just found it myself

But I'd still like to discuss, why the GUI isn't rendered through hardware in general, if there are any drawbacks etc. . Wouldn't it be the better alternative, since I still experience large FPS drops when viewing the context menu for example (drops to 10 FPS in my case) or when I switch between main menus, during the switching animation.

 

[tourettes]

Yes, thx again, just found it myself

But I'd still like to discuss, why the GUI isn't rendered through hardware in general, if there are any drawbacks etc. . Wouldn't it be the better alternative, since I still experience large FPS drops when viewing the context menu for example (drops to 10 FPS in my case) or when I switch between main menus, during the switching animation.

GUI is always rendered with HW. VMR9 (or EVR) are only video renderers, those arent used for GUI rendering.

 

[Spooky]

Ok then, but why has the GUI much more performance, when a video is shown or the TV is just running in the background?

 

[seco]

Yep, my experiences are same. Sometimes moving up and down in menus is really slow, but after I turn on TV or start playing videos, moving in menus is really fast.

 

[JoeSmith]

same here
when tv is off i've got ~ 25 fps in mytv. As soon as i open the channel list it drops to 15 (or lower). When tv is on fps are ~50 and do not really drop significantly when i open the channel list.

 

[Spooky]

same here
when tv is off i've got ~ 25 fps in mytv. As soon as i open the channel list it drops to 15 (or lower). When tv is on fps are ~50 and do not really drop significantly when i open the channel list.

Exactly. But as suggested, you can increase the max FPS when no TV is running in the Media Portal settings (so you'll get 50 FPS for example too, when only viewing a main menu). This won't prevent performance drops during animations or when showing the channel list etc. though.