Mini Computer Performance Issues and Best OS to use...

[schneideris]

Hi stustunz,

Have not been able to ascertained the heat. The fan does go for sure and at one point I thought it might be heat but found other times in the day where the room was warmer and no effect.

Wired Connection and the network has plenty of bandwidth (that was the first thing I actually checked).

I will have to check is com skip is running. It is Live TV that we are watching so I don't expect com skip to impact the playback. Actually, I don't even know where to turn this on or off (just looked in settings and could not see it so I will need to do some Googling).

The server is way under utilized. I actually initially thought it was the server and even built a brand new one expecting it to be the problem. New server with great RAID configuration for disk IO, dual ethernet, and all sorts of processing power but no improvement.

[schneideris]

A couple of things that come to mind:

Comskip can be brutal on Disk I/O, even when not using a ton of CPU. There's a "Play Nice" setting that will ramp the I/O way down, but it also greatly increases the time it takes to complete analysis of a show.

By any chance is an antivirus program running an automated background scan every afternoon/evening? This is another thing that will typically not show much CPU usage but is hammering the Disk I/O.

Hi Harry,

I need to do some reading up on com skip. Realistically though I don't think this is the issue. The server has really fast RAID configuration and the client side is using an SSD.

On the antivirus side, I turned off the antivirus and make sure the unit is not used for web browsing. It is behind a good NAT and firewall with all other boxes in the house (other than the NPVR units) being Linux or Mac's.

[stustunz]

Have you tried cyberlink decoder
I found fdshow decoder in past to skip every so often

Also if you have setting force wait for vertical sync , force it on
check your refresh rate matches your video

I know these are simple things but often they are missed

If you haven't set up comskip then it won't be that ( you would remember its requires a batch file )

[schneideris]

Have you tried cyberlink decoder
I found fdshow decoder in past to skip every so often

Also if you have setting force wait for vertical sync , force it on
check your refresh rate matches your video

I know these are simple things but often they are missed

If you haven't set up comskip then it won't be that ( you would remember its requires a batch file )

Definitely not Comskip. I found the documentation on it and know that I have not installed it.

About to check the sync settings.

[schneideris]

I just went through the unlocked SAF install from hobarg and there does appear to be a difference. The down side though is that the audio volume is way lower and I have to crank my receiver way up to hear things. Checked the Sound settings for NVIDIA which show it at 100%. I am outputting to my TV with HDMI (this allows my TV to work like a switch so that the Apple TV box can also go through the receiver) and from there optically to my receiver.

Anyone have any ideas or experience with this?

[stustunz]

just double check that its not out putting 5.1 sound if you are only using stereo

[mikeh49]

In NPVR settings, click the ... box next to the audio decoder to bring up the settings for it. There might be a volume adjustment for the decoder. Check both the AC3 and MPEG 1 decoders. If audio over HDMI is new for you after the Hoborg install, you might need to check all the Windows audio devices for volume settings since it might be using a different device for HDMI vice analog or optical out.

[schneideris]

I have officially gone from bad to much worse. The LAV driver is the only one I can use to get video and when doing so I now get shuddered audio that is all the time, right from the get go. Basically it is completely of no value. The strange part is that when I left it last night it was just a volume issue.

HDMI audio was not new to me so that is all good. I will check the button to see what I can find there.

[schneideris]

Progress!!! After a lot of experimentation, in a controlled manner, I think I have the culprit that I was fighting in this last round. Time will tell if the original symptoms return.

I hit the triple dot button next to the LAV video (not audio) decoder and there were a couple of interesting options. The first was to tell the driver to use the NVIDIA hardware for processing. The other was the deinterlace setting. Turning off the deinterlace mode (disable) resulted in good sound. It even took care of the low audio issue that I had. The down side is that I am now seeing some pixelation of the image but that is something that I am going to see if can be resolved.

More trial and errors to come as I step through this configuration and figure out what the best approach is.

[schneideris]

It did not last long. The original audio issues are back. I will play more with the video settings to see what differences they can make. The other option that I am really thinking about now though is the dedicated (not ION) card.