High CPU utilization for HDTV live playback?

[morfinx]

I just installed an ATSC tuner (VBox DTA-150) in my setup. I noticed that HDTV live playback CPU utilization is quite high, even with no other program running in the background. I get 100% utilization with both Sage MPEG decoder and Nvidia PureVideo decoder (with HW acceleration enabled); both dropped frames and caused stuttering. Cyberlink Video/SP decoder (PDVD7) with hardware acceleration enabled fared a lot better. The playback is smooth, but CPU utilization still hovers around 70-75% when viewing live TV. My computer specs are as follows (copied from my sig from another forum):

Core: Athlon 64 3000+ Winchester @ 3800+ (2.4Ghz/1.4625V) | Arctic Cooling Freezer 64 Pro | Asus A8N-E
Memory: Mushkin Black L2 V2 TCCD 512MBx2 @ 440Mhz (2-3-3-6)
Video: HIS X1950 Pro IceQ Turbo (620/1480) | Westinghouse LVM-37W1 37" 1080p LCD
Media: ATI Theater 550 Pro NTSC | VBox DTA-150 ATSC
Storage: 160GB Seagate | 300GB Seagate
Audio: Creative Audigy 2 ZS | Logitech Z-5500
SageTV 6 (VMR9 with FSE enabled)

The HD channels I mainly watch are NBC and CBS, which I believe are both 1080i. Is this high of a CPU utilization normal? I can play 1080p H.264 AVC (CoreAVC decoder) at about 70% CPU utilization, and theoretically that's much more demanding to decode than MPEG2 streams from HDTV broadcasts. Any feedback would be much appreciated

[Goodspike]

If you're using ZoneAlarm, try disabling that, and/or turning off Sage Service. I can't use both, and so I'm now using Windows Firewall instead of ZA.

If it's a new 6.0 install, sometimes there are extra cycles taken up for a while while it searches the drive for various files. This can take a day or so.

[morfinx]

Originally Posted by Goodspike

If you're using ZoneAlarm, try disabling that, and/or turning off Sage Service. I can't use both, and so I'm now using Windows Firewall instead of ZA.

If it's a new 6.0 install, sometimes there are extra cycles taken up for a while while it searches the drive for various files. This can take a day or so.

I do use ZoneAlarm. It barely takes up any CPU cycles though, why do you think that would cause a problem? Just playing recorded 1080i HD broadcast in WMP uses 50-55% CPU utilization using the same decoder. Maybe the Cyberlink decoder just isn't as efficient as the CoreAVC one.

[cummings66]

The sage codec is not good enough for HD. Choose another one, purevideo works with all brands of video cards but I don't know that hardware acceleration works with non nvidia cards. There might be a better codec for your card than purevideo.

[morfinx]

Originally Posted by cummings66

The sage codec is not good enough for HD. Choose another one, purevideo works with all brands of video cards but I don't know that hardware acceleration works with non nvidia cards. There might be a better codec for your card than purevideo.

Originally Posted by morfinx

Cyberlink Video/SP decoder (PDVD7) with hardware acceleration enabled fared a lot better. The playback is smooth, but CPU utilization still hovers around 70-75% when viewing live TV.

I'm saying even with the best decoder I get high utilization. Can anyone confirm this is the normal behavior, and if there is a better decoder?

[jkohn]

PowerDVD is the best decoder for Radeon video cards. Is the problem only with live TV, or recordings as well? I found that with live HD, after about 15-30 minutes I start getting dropped frames and it progressively gets worse until it's like watching a slideshow. But it's only live TV, recordings don't exhibit the bahavior and even with "live" programs if I back up so that I'm watching on about a 10-20 second delay, the problem goes away.

[Goodspike]

Originally Posted by morfinx

I do use ZoneAlarm. It barely takes up any CPU cycles though, why do you think that would cause a problem? Just playing recorded 1080i HD broadcast in WMP uses 50-55% CPU utilization using the same decoder. Maybe the Cyberlink decoder just isn't as efficient as the CoreAVC one.

I don't know why, but with it running my SageService would take up a lot more CPU cycles than without ZA running. It wasn't ZA itself taking up the cycles, but instead, it was causing Sage components to take up cycles.

To get the total CPU usage down, I had to either turn off ZA or SageService.

[cummings66]

The simple answer is high CPU usage is not what I normally see.

I don't use service mode nor ZA.

[morfinx]

Originally Posted by Goodspike

I don't know why, but with it running my SageService would take up a lot more CPU cycles than without ZA running. It wasn't ZA itself taking up the cycles, but instead, it was causing Sage components to take up cycles.

To get the total CPU usage down, I had to either turn off ZA or SageService.

Holy cow I never thought that would make a difference. I disabled ZA and used WinXP FW instead. CPU utilization while watching 1080i content is down ~25%!! I'm now hovering around 50-55% utilization. Thanks for the tip!

[morfinx]

Just to add, I remembered WinXP Firewall is very simple and has no outbound protection at all. So I tried Comodo Firewall, which is free. It's much more powerful than ZoneAlarm, without the nasty side effects. Now my live 1080i playback hovers around 50-60% CPU utilization, very acceptable.

[Goodspike]

Originally Posted by morfinx

Just to add, I remembered WinXP Firewall is very simple and has no outbound protection at all. So I tried Comodo Firewall, which is free. It's much more powerful than ZoneAlarm, without the nasty side effects. Now my live 1080i playback hovers around 50-60% CPU utilization, very acceptable.

I agree that Windows FW isn't very effective, but my HTPC doesn't really do a lot of surfing, and it's behind a router, so it's an acceptable risk. For normal computers, I wouldn't use it due to the lack of outbound protection.

[morfinx]

I was playing around with GraphEdit, I can use ATI MPEG Video Decoder, which provides slight lower CPU utilization (see below), and subjectively slightly better image quality.


Playing 1080i show recorded by SageTV in WMP. ATI on the left, Cyberlink on the right.

Although I can use ATI MPEG decoder in GraphEdit, it doesn't show up in SageTV's setup. I had to manually edit it into Sage.properties, but when I watch live 1080i program, utilization shots up to 60-70% and picture stutters. Oh well, back to Cyberlink I suppose. I guess there isn't much of a point to this post, just something curious.