Comskip and CPU usage

[Opopanax]

I a newbie to the SageTV setup. Last night I picked up Malore.stv and Comskip and noticed that Comskip was consistently using 80-93% of my CPU usage.

I'm wondering if this is normal, and if there is anything I can do to regulate it. Also, does anyone know how to select which programs Comskip works with first?

I'm fairly knoweldgable on computers, but a real newbie to the HTPC thing, so please, small, non abbreviated words please

[Jere_Jones]

Originally Posted by Opopanax

I'm wondering if this is normal, and if there is anything I can do to regulate it. Also, does anyone know how to select which programs Comskip works with first?

First, to answer your question about the cpu usage, no. 80-93% is not normal. Normal cpu usage when comskip is running is 100%. But this is not a bad thing. ComSkip runs at an idle priority, so ANYTHING that you try to do will take precedence and go first. If your processor is running at 80%, that means that 20% of the time your processor is doing nothing. It is being useless. Well, that's not good. You bought that big honkin' processor to process, right? Comskip uses as much processor as it can get ahold of to process the show as fast as possible.

That said, there is a way to regulate it. To make comskip run slower add or change the play nice settings to the comskip ini. You can find more specific information on the sage-community website (there is a deep link in my signature).

Regarding which programs it runs on and in what order... that's a STV thing. Cayars is working on a queue for it, but for now it will run on the oldest show first or you can manually start detection of a show (STV dependent).

Jere

[Cayars]

I haven't started the external queue stuff (yet) but I have added the ability in my latest release to allow the user to select different types of shows to run comskip againts (favorites, manuals, archives, etc).

The above is really nice if you have IR turned on and don't want ComSkip running against them especially if some of them get deleted before you ever know they were recorded!

[mdmint]

Originally Posted by Jere_Jones

First, to answer your question about the cpu usage, no. 80-93% is not normal. Normal cpu usage when comskip is running is 100%. But this is not a bad thing. ComSkip runs at an idle priority, so ANYTHING that you try to do will take precedence and go first. If your processor is running at 80%, that means that 20% of the time your processor is doing nothing. It is being useless. Well, that's not good. You bought that big honkin' processor to process, right? Comskip uses as much processor as it can get ahold of to process the show as fast as possible.

I haven't found 100% CPU usage on a single instance to be the norm myself. It takes a couple instances on my wifes PC (XP 1600+ via wireless 54Mbs) and 3 or 4 on mine (XP3200+ via gigabit) to fully load up the CPU cycles. Could be different if running comskip on the Server itself, but I don't and won't, I keep the Server simple and clean. I'm fairly certain it's not a Server HD access speed issue, access lights on 7 drive SATA RAID5 not even close to solid on... that and I know it's maxium throughput is around 250MBs based on large file transfers to my workstation consuming 25%ish Gb bandwidth versus while running 3 or 4 comskips only 3 or 4%.

[Opopanax]

Ok, I read on the board that comskip can run when sage is sleeping. I wanted to clarify your statement. You said anything I do will take precedence over comskip, does this include other non-sageTV software?

I bring this up, because for right now this is a dual purpose machine. It's my gaming/work rig and a media center. (Hopefully next month I'll be putting together a new gaming/work rig and this will be a dedicated Media PC). While using IE to search for more options for Sage and read up on Comskip, Comskip took up that 93% cpu usage and my machine slowed down to a crawl.

So do you mean that any sagetv activity will take precedence over compskip in cpu usage, or any activity?

Incidentally though, I love the thing. The high CPU usage is only annoyance when I'm trying to do other activities not realted to sageTV (and it's sleeping) I can always temporarily shut it down and then have it run over night if need be

[Jere_Jones]

Originally Posted by Opopanax

Ok, I read on the board that comskip can run when sage is sleeping. I wanted to clarify your statement. You said anything I do will take precedence over comskip, does this include other non-sageTV software?

That is correct (in theory). In reality, a disk read won't be canceled if it is already started, but comskip reads in small chunks so this is really more of a technicality than anything.

Originally Posted by Opopanax

I bring this up, because for right now this is a dual purpose machine. It's my gaming/work rig and a media center. (Hopefully next month I'll be putting together a new gaming/work rig and this will be a dedicated Media PC). While using IE to search for more options for Sage and read up on Comskip, Comskip took up that 93% cpu usage and my machine slowed down to a crawl.

I could only guess that your swap file was getting thrashed. How is your memory situation?

Originally Posted by Opopanax

So do you mean that any sagetv activity will take precedence over compskip in cpu usage, or any activity?

In theory, any activity will override comskip. In my experience, this is true but others have expressed other experiences. The best option is probably to set the play nice settings for when you will normally be using the machine.

Originally Posted by Opopanax

Incidentally though, I love the thing. The high CPU usage is only annoyance when I'm trying to do other activities not realted to sageTV (and it's sleeping) I can always temporarily shut it down and then have it run over night if need be

Thanks for the props.

Jere

[Opopanax]

I could only guess that your swap file was getting thrashed. How is your memory situation?

I will have to check my task manager tonight to make sure, but I recall it was using 100k (512mb stupid machine won't take my 2nd 512mb chip for some reason. I stongly believe it hates me). This was going up and down as low as 50k. It was by far the most memory hog process at that time. I did have to IE windows open, mIRC and MSN messenger, but those combine shouldn't have used enough resources to use the rest of the memory.

I'll mess around with the settings tonight and post the results. I have a sinking feeling that I either have a memory leak program elsewhere, or the RAM might be going south on me (booo booo).

[mdmint]

Originally Posted by Opopanax

I will have to check my task manager tonight to make sure, but I recall it was using 100k (512mb stupid machine won't take my 2nd 512mb chip for some reason. I stongly believe it hates me). This was going up and down as low as 50k. It was by far the most memory hog process at that time. I did have to IE windows open, mIRC and MSN messenger, but those combine shouldn't have used enough resources to use the rest of the memory.

I'll mess around with the settings tonight and post the results. I have a sinking feeling that I either have a memory leak program elsewhere, or the RAM might be going south on me (booo booo).

I think you meant 100M & 50M. (task mgr display is numeric followed by k already) Are you saying your comskip process was using up to 100M? Mine usually around 50M peak starting then drops down to 2.7Mish. (as in currently running comskip.) CPU usage wise my earlier post requiring 3 or 4 instances to max CPU I forgot was in play nice mode. Now not playing nice, yes a single instance uses 100% as it should. But having big performance difference than you. I can surf or whatever with no problem. Comskip usage immediately drops down to 20-25% range.

It does sound like you likely have a software/OS config problem or possibly flakey RAM as you say if single comskip instance killing your ability to use your PC normally. (not high end games or processing DVD rip etc of course) BTW, my main workstation I use to process comskip has AMD XP3200+ 1GB RAM WIN XP Pro sp2 SageClient v2.1.10 Cayars STV16. FWIW it took 50 minutes to process 4 1hr Std DVD Qual shows recorded tonight, using the PC for other stuff about half that time, no sluggishness. I also sometimes process with Debi's PC, XP1600+ 512MB RAM also no sluggishness while she uses it for stuff. (Never should have built her a PC, she's discovered way too many online places to shop ) It does of course take longer to process the files on hers with less CPU horsepower.

Just did/doing a test. Manually fired off comskip on two archived movies that hadn't been run. Watched TaskMon cpu pegged. Just by moving the mouse around cpu usage dropped to 50-70% total. And not in nice mode time.

Good luck sorting your config out.

[Opopanax]

Ok still not sure about the play nice mode. (I feel like a bumbling fool in the setup menus )

Yes, I meant 100,000k And I did a check last night and this morning. When it was running comskip used between 80-96% (I think i saw an occasional 100%) cpu usage and the Memory use stay fairly constant. It would dip occasionally towards 90m, but otherwise staying up around 100m with a few times hitting 120m.

The only thing that decrease the CPU usage was when I open sagetv from sleep (with nothing recording) it still used up a good 40-60% of the CPU.

And even with it running the horrible system lag I receive is, well impressive And I'm not playing games, just using IE and open office. Even regular system use, say opening a file folder will take a number of MINUTES. I have had a number of occasions where I will attempt to close down the folders/IE to have a pop up say that it's not responding. Looking at the task manager everything open (2 file folder windows, 2 IE, Msn messenger) were cycling between being responsive or not.

I really hope it isn't the memory. That's a pain

[mdmint]

Originally Posted by Opopanax

Ok still not sure about the play nice mode. (I feel like a bumbling fool in the setup menus )

It's not in a menu that I know of, comskip.ini files sets the time window to "play nice" which means comskip runs much slower and doesn't use 100% cpu. File located in ...program files\frey tech'\SageTV folder. Just use notepad to edit and change the time window you want it to run slow.

Yes, I meant 100,000k And I did a check last night and this morning. When it was running comskip used between 80-96% (I think i saw an occasional 100%) cpu usage and the Memory use stay fairly constant. It would dip occasionally towards 90m, but otherwise staying up around 100m with a few times hitting 120m.

The only thing that decrease the CPU usage was when I open sagetv from sleep (with nothing recording) it still used up a good 40-60% of the CPU.

And even with it running the horrible system lag I receive is, well impressive And I'm not playing games, just using IE and open office. Even regular system use, say opening a file folder will take a number of MINUTES. I have had a number of occasions where I will attempt to close down the folders/IE to have a pop up say that it's not responding. Looking at the task manager everything open (2 file folder windows, 2 IE, Msn messenger) were cycling between being responsive or not.

I really hope it isn't the memory. That's a pain

What cpu you running?

[Opopanax]

Ok Full specs:

Running AMD 1800+ CPU -at normal speeds no overclocking for me
512mb of good Mushkin Ram (1 slot, still can't get the mb to take the 2nd 512 chip for some reason, even tried a different chip oh well)
ATI Radeon 9000 Pro 128
I also have about 4 HDs
and running Windows XP