Performance of MediaPortal on old computer. (1 Viewer)

raid_scsi

New Member
April 25, 2008
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TV-Server Version: NA
MediaPortal Version: 0.2.3.0
MediaPortal Skin: Default
Windows Version: XP Pro - others
CPU Type: AMD Athlon XP 2800+ 2.0GHz
HDD: 2x SATA 160GB RAID 0
Memory: 2GB DDR400
Motherboard: MSI-6590
Video Card: Gigabyte nv5950 GT
Video Card Driver: 169.1
Sound Card: onboard
Sound Card AC3:
Sound Card Driver:
1. TV Card: NA
1. TV Card Type: NA
1. TV Card Driver: NA
2. TV Card: NA
2. TV Card Type: NA
2. TV Card Driver: NA
3. TV Card: NA
3. TV Card Type: NA
3. TV Card Driver: NA
4. TV Card: NA
4. TV Card Type: NA
4. TV Card Driver: NA
MPEG2 Video Codec: NA
MPEG2 Audio Codec: NA
h.264 Video Codec: NA
Satelite/CableTV Provider: NA
HTPC Case: NA
Cooling: Lots of fans, used to be a database server.
Power Supply: 450W Antec
Remote: NA
TV: NA
TV - HTPC Connection: NA


I read the minimum system requirements for MediaPortal and my old server fit the bill, I installed originally under server 2003 standard, everything worked, but things were slow and laggy. I just assumed it was because Server03 has limited support for DX and other user based performance. So I dug out my old XP disc and setup a clean machine, however MediaPortal is still a little sluggish to start/play files. This computer is not sharing files to other pcs, and is playing the files from a local raid.

How fast should MediaPortal start, close, open files etc? This computer plays files using WMP and MPC without any problems.

I know this PC isn't the newest but I think that it should run a little faster than this....
 

19phil67

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September 24, 2007
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Essex
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United Kingdom United Kingdom
I found v0.2.3.0 to be a lot slower on reading the database for music & videos. Everything else seems fine. Try using an earlier release of MP. Much faster!!
 

Marcusb

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  • February 16, 2005
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    hey and welcome :)

    Your machine should be fine for MP. Lots of people have it running on much older hardware.

    Did you really install .2.3 or did you install RC1, which came out only a week ago?

    I can't offer much help except to say the usual things like latest drivers, and updates, etc. Sorry :)
     

    raid_scsi

    New Member
    April 25, 2008
    2
    0
    Refinement on laggy

    I was messing around a little more and noticed that after playing any video, the keyboard goes awol for about 30 seconds, really annoying. So its not really the PC or MediaPortal being locked up, its just that the keyboard is dead, I had originally interpreted this as meaning the PC was locked up, however no CPU usage means its just a bad keyboard setting somewhere.

    Whether or not its fullscreen has no effect. MediaPortal is fast and responsive through the menus, I start a video and then the keyboard stops working(Mouse still works and brings up a bookmark menu...) after about 30 sec the keybaord comes back, this happens every time I start a new video. Any thoughts?


    Also has anyone published a simple one page pdf of the keybaord controls yet? Some of them are not intuitive....

    Can I remove the links from the main menu? Such as Radio,TV, and Plugins to create a cleaner interface.

    Media Portal does not work with my tuner so the extra menu items are confusing to my GF who sees two TV links, on at the main menu and one inside the video folder. It would be nice to be able to disable any and all functions you dont want to use...... Or at least be able to convert the TV link into a shortcut that points to my other tuner software.
     

    Gixxer

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  • August 18, 2007
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    i think u can find keyboard controls in a wiki. if not go to mediaportal configuration and under keyboard you will find all the commands executed by each key. i did a printscreen and put them all together at first as it was impossible to know them all by heart.
     

    Poko

    MP Donator
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  • February 1, 2007
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    I found that MP 0.2.2.0 was really quick, even on a small mini-itx machine. When 0.2.3.0 was released, everything slowed down immensely. Something to do with much heavier reliance on DX9 (which mini-itx machines and older ones don't tend to support as well).
    Silly thing is, it was just the MP GUI which was slower. Video and music playback was alwasy fine. It's a real shame, as you now need something akin to a Cray supercomputer to run MP smoothly.
    I personally would like to see a MP GUI which is very light and doesn't rely so much on graphical power to render the GUI. XBMC, for example is a simple Linux box and the GUI is incredibly fast and responsive.
    For features and functionality, you can't beat MP. Plus, if you're like me, you're comfortable with Windows and can tweak XP to have a footprint of less than 100Mb, with a boot time of less than 20 seconds. I just wish that the MP GUI was a lot lighter!
     

    Gixxer

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  • August 18, 2007
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    For features and functionality, you can't beat MP. Plus, if you're like me, you're comfortable with Windows and can tweak XP to have a footprint of less than 100Mb, with a boot time of less than 20 seconds. I just wish that the MP GUI was a lot lighter!

    are those times with the mini-itx machine?

    is it hard to create this footprint?
     

    Poko

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  • February 1, 2007
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    Yep, they are with a mini-itx machine.
    Best starting place really is to have a look at nLITE (google it!)
    It's very very good for stripping out most of the rubbish that XP contains.
     

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