SLOW 1.0 performance vs 1.0RC3 - What changed ? (1 Viewer)

[steve walsh]

Hello,
I'm new to MediaPortal - only really started on 1.0RC2 - and I'm hoping someone can help explain what my problem is...with MediaPortal - I've already had plenty of opinions on a personal level. thanks

After many years of planning, I finally got around to building my HTPC - making it as quiet as possible etc...
(smuggling a PC into the lounge without too much offence to the other half !)
This was around last August...
Anyhow, everything was going "ok" - performance was perfectly acceptable (given my single core processor and only 1 GB of memory at the time)
- SVN upgrades, next RC upgrade etc...

The odd problem solved via the forums - excellent support btw...

And before I had a chance to try RC4, the FINAL v1.0 was released at Xmas.
I upgraded (from 1.0RC3) and have been struggling with performance ever since.
EVERYTHING ran slower - but the "stuttering" on the live/recorded tv/videos became unacceptable after 2 months.
(I've been through the long "stuttering live tv" post, and have tried the RelaxTsReaderForBadReception.txt" file)
It was also impossible to change tv channels by "scrolling" through them - the channel names would take 10-30 seconds to appear... to get into "Recorded TV" from "live TV" could take 5 minutes. Everything was slow...
I doubled my system memory (1GB -> 2GB) with no improvement.
I tried ffdshow/Stand-Alone filters etc...
I'd tried different ATI drivers/Omega drivers...

I'd run out of ideas... (short of spending a lot of cash on newer hardware)
I even started messing with Linux and had some limited success with MythTv....

I thought I'd give Mediaportal another go, so I went back to RC3 and hey presto - everything works ok (as it did before v1.0).
No stuttering, channel changes are possible...

Any ideas what changed in the MediaPortal releases to have this effect ?

As is stands I'll have to stick on RC3 to guarantee performance (and a quiet life from a very angry partner who "only wants to watch TV"), so any advice on what I can safely upgrade would be very much appreciated.
eg. skins... can I just change the version number in the XML file to make them work ???? (Will skins with the improved "red program" highlight in the Program Guide work on RC3 ???)

Given the number of "MediaPortal" and "TV Server" updates between RC3 and v1.0, is there any way to apply any of them (short of re-compiling)? (independently/incrementally etc...?)

Does any have any advice about installing RC4 ? Is it "more stable" but "same performance" as RC3 ? (I've already suffered one of the black screen with channel and time "borders" of the "program guide"(in white) crashes.
I've not had one of these crashes since Xmas with v1.0 but sadly not reason enough to stick with it

Any comments/advice would be much appreciated.

Thanks.
Steve

(I still have both 1.0 and 1.0RC3 installed - on separate disks - so I can do any tests you want ?????)
<<< the hardware specs in my profile are up to date

 

[Spragleknas]

Short reply to long post:

How to start a support or bugreport thread:

1. Choose a meaningful title for your thread.
2. Report only one problem per thread.
3. At the moment you start a new thread in the support forums, the hardwarespecification template will be added automatically. If the template is empty, then you have not filled out your specifications in the usercp yet.
   Note: Your report MUST include a complete hardwarespecification!
4. Add a detailed, step by step description of your problem.
5. If your problem occurs inside MediaPortal or the configuration program, then run the "MediaPortal Logs Collector" from your Windows Start Menu (Team MediaPortal/MediaPortal) and ATTACH the exported log.zip file to your thread/post.
   Without logs it is IMPOSSIBLE for us to help you!
   
   To create clean and conclusive logs you should use the "MediaPortal Debug" shortcut which will start MediaPortal in a special debug mode. Then you reproduce the issue and close MediaPortal. A log.zip will be created automatically which you then attach to your thread/post
   If you are using the TV-Server and it is installed on a different PC, then you have to attach its logs by hand.
   To do that open your Windows StartMenu and click at "TV-Server Logs Folder" in Team MediaPortal/TV-Server.
   Attach all these files to your thread/post.
6. Do NOT copy/paste your logfiles (or large parts of them) in your post.

Please note that support threads, which are missing the required information posted above will not be processed and maybe also deleted.


--- PLEASE DO NOT COMMENT THIS MESSAGE ---
Logs and system specs should always be added - just in case

 

[Owlsroost]

There is a known performance issue with video cards having 128MB (or less) RAM (like yours) - see 0001969: Default skin has huge performance issue with 128MB GPUs - MediaPortal Bugtracker and (for a possible fix) https://forum.team-mediaportal.com/blue3-skin-feedback-293/do-we-really-need-packed-textures-55616/

Basically, MP makes heavy use of the graphics hardware because of the way the user interface is generated - using 3D rendering - so if you want to spend money on the problem, a video card upgrade would be the best bet.....but buying decent AGP cards is getting hard now.

Tony

 

[Spragleknas]

^ Thats why I requested to fill in "My system".

So - everybody reading, please fill in your system specs!
How to show System Specs

 

[steve walsh]

thank you for the replies...

Here are my system specs - same as the ones in "My System"

TV-Server Version
1.0 RC3

MediaPortal Version
1.0 RC3

MediaPortal Skin
Blue3

Windows Version
XP SP3

CPU Type
Intel P4 3GHz

HDD
WesternDigital 500GB + Maxtor 250GB (separate IDE channels)

Memory
2GB DDR400 (2 x 1GB)

Motherboard
Gigabyte GA-8S661FX

Video Card
ATI Radeon 9800PRO (128MB)

Video Card Driver
8.541.0.0

Sound Card
C-Media AC97 (on-board)

Sound Card AC3

Sound Card Driver
5.12.1.40

1. TV Card
Hauppauge Nova-T 500

1. TV Card Type
DVB-T

1. TV Card Driver
4.3.25080

2. TV Card
Hauppauge Nova-T 500

2. TV Card Type
DVB-T

2. TV Card Driver
4.3.25080
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
MPC

MPEG2 Audio Codec
ffdshow

h.264 Video Codec

Satelite/CableTV Provider


HTPC Case
Coolermaster RC281

Cooling
Scythe Ninja CPU cooler

Power Supply
Seasonic S12 II 380W

Remote
Hauppauge 45 button

TV
Toshiba 36" CRT 36zp18q

TV - HTPC Connection
S-Video

I've attached logs collected today from both versions running for a couple of hours each.
There should be examples of changing channels/going to recorded TV, using the guide etc...
Towards the end of the v1.0 logs there should be evidence of a huge "delay" - around 30 mins - screen froze, and eventually the TV guide popped up. (I've normally rebooted by now, but today I waited)
I had to "Turn off" (the "tv" in My TV) then "Turn on" again to get a moving picture back.

v1.0 logs are done with a "log verbosity" of information.
RC3 logs are done with a "log verbosity" of debug.

(is this a problem?) :sorry:

Owlsroost
I thought the problem was with my video card - I've been looking at alternatives (the "most powerful" one available for my measly system would be the "Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 3850 512MB AGP Graphics Card" - but they're not cheap and the specs say I'd also need a new PSU (at least 450W) - any advice on cheaper alternatives - Nvidia maybe? - would be much appreciated.

The thing that made me think it was the video card was the fact that streamed media (live tv/recordings etc..) were fine - no problems at all - no jerkiness at all.

Regarding the (potential) solution, I had seen and downloaded the "StutterfixforweakGPU" (https://www.team-mediaportal.com/files/Download/Skins/Tools/StutterfixforweakGPU/) but I was not convinced that my problem could be due to the MediaPortal interface (how can it affecting fullscreen TV/recordings when it's not even visible ?) so I never tried it !
Of course, I'll try it on my v1.0 system now.

Does RC4 have the same "3D rendering" interface as v1.0 or still usable (like RC3) ?

As this "bug" is due to be fixed in v1.0.1 I may just wait ???

Thanks again,
Steve

 

[Owlsroost]

I'd certainly try the GPU 'fix' first before seriously contemplating replacing the video card, in case your problem is being caused by something else....

I think the HD3850 would be overkill for MP - 11129-02-20R - 512MB Sapphire HD 3650, AGP 4x/8x, 128 Bit 1000MHz GDDR2, GPU 725MHz, 120 Cores, 2x DL DVI-I/ HDTV - Scan.co.uk and Force3D HD 3650 512MB DDR2 VGA DVI TV Out AGP Graphics Card - Ebuyer are HD3650 which should easily cope with anything MP might throw at it.

For standard-def TV, an HD3450 should be fine, but they can't handle HD deinterlacing at the highest quality (I used to run a PCIe version in my system).

Tony

 

[Paranoid Delusion]

Go for a 4550, it does HD no sweat and does not need any power connector, there's a few around that are passively cooled

Force3D HD 4550 512MB VGA DVI TV Out PCI-E Graphics Card - Ebuyer

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/512M...z-GDDR3-GPU-600MHz-80-Cores-DVI-D-Sub-S-Video

And this one has hdmi as standard

 

[Owlsroost]

.....it needs to be an AGP card......

 

[gxtracker]

The thing that made me think it was the video card was the fact that streamed media (live tv/recordings etc..) were fine - no problems at all - no jerkiness at all.

Im more inclined to believe it to be something else Steve. Take a look at my system specs - they are even lower than yours and I dont have any problems with stuttering video. I can even watch 720p content in my box. I built a MP box for my parents with a Geforce 6200 128mb, Sempron 3200+ and 1GB of RAM and it does just find with SD content too.

Does this stuttering video also happen in regular old Windows Media Player? Are there any other background services running on your HTPC? AV? firewall? etc...

 

[steve walsh]

v1.0 still worse than RC3

Hello,

Thanks for all the replies...

Hopefully this will answer them.

I've tried using the "Packed Textures" fix and there was no real noticeable improvement
I'm attaching the log for this test (just in case it is needed ?)
The RC3 system is also running the Blue3 skin so also has the packed texture images - but significantly better performance.

I'll investigate another graphics card (to prolong the life of the machine anyway) so thanks for the suggestions on what would be suitable....

but my original question remains - what has changed since RC3 to cause this performance drop ?
(Any tests I can do ????)

Also, I like the idea that my system may not be running "optimally" and I'd be happy to discuss this... However, the 2 XP systems I'm running now are IDENTICAL (almost) - about 1 week ago I "cloned"(XXClone) the MePo v1.0 XP os system onto another disk and I've only uninstalled v1.0 and installed RC3 on this other OS.
I can boot between them (and MythTV) but only RC3 is in a usuable state !

I have ZoneAlarm installed, but no Anti-Virus.
Windows Firewall (service) is disabled

I had no problems playing "most" videos through WMP in plain old XP (not even TVservice running). I had a problem playing "The Watchmen" trailer from Home - WindowsMedia.com Media Guide
It complained about my sound not being "available" - not installed/not working/check device manager etc... (usual microsoft catch-all)
Of course, Device says everything is fine, and I've had no problems with any other files...

I've attached a process list and services list from v1.0 and RC3 systems.

And finally, I've "captured" one of my regular (RC3) black screen crashes.
I've attached a screen shot and a log for this.... (just in case someone is interested ?)

Thanks again for your help,
Steve