Slowness generally (1 Viewer)

[stapleypt]

I have just started using Media Portal and was very surprised at the slowness generally. Obviously there is either something off with my system or something I am doing. It takes about an hour to tune the channels and about 15-30 secs when changing channels. I have kept task manager up and noticed that memory usage varies between 125k and 325k. Where am I going wrong please?
Peter.

 

[Taipan]

Where am I going wrong please?

Please use the support template so that we have sufficient information to make some useful suggestions.

MP only takes a few seconds to change TV channels (with DVB-T), so there is definitely something wrong with your setup.

 

[stapleypt]

As requested my support list, I think I have filled it in correctly, you'll let me know if/where I'm wrong.
Area: Media Portal Program
MP Version: 0.1.3.0
Windows Version: xp home +sp2
CPU Type: manufacturer and speed
Memory: 512 ddr
Motherboard Chipset: asus a7v600
Video Card: nvidea ge force 3 Ti 200
Video Card Driver: 6.14.10.5673
Video Render Type: overlay
Video Codec Type & Version: ms_mmvid
Audio Codec Type & Version: ms_mmacm
TV Card: dvb-t, Vbox type DTT150
TV Card Type: DVB-t
TV Card Driver: 2.1.704.103
Optional Log: parts of the "/log/MediaPortal.log" which show an issue
Optional References: any reference

Synopsis: Tuning channels takes over 1 hour, channel selection takes up to 30 secs each time. Taslk manager shows memory usage varies from 125k to 325k.
Hope you can help.
Thanks
Peter

 

[Smirnuff]

Video Card: nvidea ge force 3 Ti 200

This is probably the major contributor to your poor performance, the reason being that the application relies heavily of DirectX 9 to accelerate the rendering of the UI and for media playback. Without a suitable Designed for DirectX 9 card much of the work that is normally handled by the graphics card is now left to the CPU to perform and hence the CPU has much less time to handle other tasks.

Users are having reasonable success with some older cards but this usually results in them not being able to use optimal settings such as VMR9. Some cards that are 'Compatible with DirectX 9' do not suffer from the overall poor performance seen as a result of the CPU handling rendering duties.

Consider upgrading to a newer card graphics card, an Nvidia FX5200 or ATI 9600 or above would make an excellent choice - both can be had for a very reasonable price and are also supplied passively cooled which is always nice for a HTPC.

 

[stapleypt]

Smirnoff, Thanks for the prompt reply, I'll certainly consider the card upgrade when the wifes not looking. In the meantime when I look at the Nvidea 'Expert tool' it shows that directx 2 in installed but I know I downloaded and installed directx 9. Would this have any effect?
Peter
P.S Thought I'd download the latest drivers from Nvidia but no effect, worth a try though.

 

[stapleypt]

Have just purchased an ATI9600 (Radeon), hope this solves most if not all the problems.
Peter

 

[Smirnuff]

hope this solves most if not all the problems

It should make a pretty noticable difference. Please keep us informed as to how it goes.

Cheers,
Smirnoff.

 

[stapleypt]

I have now received the ATI9600 card and installed it as per instructions. So far there is not much improvement. The signal here is not very good as we have to boost it to receive on the TV. I assume there are other tweaks I can make to improve things.
Sorry to be such a pain
Peter

 

[vbap]

I wouldn't have thought that:

Tuning channels takes over 1 hour, channel selection takes up to 30 secs each time.

would improve dramatically by changing video card.
The change in video card should help with general MP use (menu navigation, selection) and also some aspects of playback quality.
Channel-changing in DVB is slow anyway (well, slower than analogue), and MP is still in Beta so there is probably some scope to improve this once the devs have sorted out issues with re-building graphs (ie changes in SD -> HD, changes in audio , etc etc).
Were these the only areas of "general slowness" you noticed?
I only get really slow channel changes (~10-15 secs) in either High Definition broadcasts or know "problematic" channels here in Oz.

 

[stapleypt]

Just an example, started, chose my radio, chose Radio 1(mainstream radio in UK)nbg changed to Radio 2 took 17secs. chose Radio 5, gave up waiting, went to view previous in left hand menu, Hung.
Restarted,65 secs later I got BBC1, went to BBC News 24, over 60 secs and no picture or sound. TV was on and timeshift was off. In task manager prog uses between 33 and 50% of cpu.
Getting very frustrated.
Peter