Speed Tweaks for Budget PVRs

[Filip]

Until I get some cash for a real HTPC I've decided to play with GB-PVR on some old hardware (Client/Server to PC - PIII 700mhz, 384MB RAM, Hauppauge 150). Thanks to everyone here (Tipstir especially) for posting your solutions. This is more of a checklist/summary so it's easy to read, but I've included links to sources/more information. If you think something isn't safe, let me know, although I think I've been pretty conservative. Backup your registry if you're unsure.

Results so far (12/25/06):
Windows XP screams. GB-PVR menus are somewhat slow (about 1 sec to scroll though reduced set), Live TV takes 1-2 secs to initialize.

Note from Sub:

Directshow (for video playback) and GDI+ (for user interface) wont really be helped too much with the types of tweaks listed [below], so raw CPU speed is still very important.

Sources:
Optimize XP - http://mywebpages.comcast.net/SupportCD/OptimizeXP.html
Blackviper Service FAQ (cached)- http://web.archive.org/web/2005090501271...viper.com/
MusicXP.net - http://www.musicxp.net/index.php

Programs

• Remove Antivirus / Firewall Suites - I now use AVG Free. Faster than Avast??

Windows XP

• Created paging file on boot and second drive, set min=max (fixed size)
  
• Disable all XP Visuals
  
• Remove desktop background image
  
• Remove unnecessary icons and/or hide as many as possible
  
• Disable Windows XP Sounds
  
• Disable Offiline Files
  
• Disable Automatic Desktop Cleanup Wizard
  
• Uninstall Useless Windows Components (Indexing Service, MSN Explorer)
  
• Apply Prefetcher Fix (attached)
  
• Disable AVI Previewing (attached)
  
• Remove non-essential startup and background processes using Autoruns.exe
  
• Run Page Defrag
  
• Run xp-AntiSpy
  
• Disable Services (list is too long to display, see BlackViper)
  
• Remove useless User Accounts (ASP.net, etc), uncheck 'Use Fast User Switching'
  
• Ran SpeedXP
  
• Ran Bootvis
  
• Tipster's XP Pro SP1 Memory Fixer (attached)
  

Hard Disk- Some tweaks assume XP install

• Format the video/media drive in NTFS (unless you share with WinME computers) and with 64KB clusters
  
• Uncheck 'Allow Indexing Service to index this disk for fast file searching' - All drives
  
• Disable NTFS Last Access Time Logging (attached)
  
• Reduce Recycling Bin Drive Space Usage to 3%
  
• Reduce System Restore Drive Space Usage to 5%, or 1GB
  
• Run Cacheman v5.50
  
• Schedule MS Defrag Using Batch Files & Task Scheduler* (attached), Tipster says O&O Defrag Pro ($50) is best
  
• Schedule Chkdsk using Chkdsk Batch Files & Task Scheduler* (attached)

Networking

• Ran TCP/IP Optimizer
  
• Tipster's Network Tweaks & XP Pro SP2 TCP Fix (attached), and set NIC to 100TX Full Duplex
  
• Re-order Adapters and Bindings according to Priority (Network Connections >Advanced > Advanced Settings...)

GB-PVR Configuration

• Playback: Check 'Minimal OSD' option, uncheck 'Use FFDSHOW Post Processing'
  
• Playback: In increasing CPU usage - Overlay Manager, VMR7, VMR9. Check the least taxing (OM) and experiment.
  
• Playback: Use base install Blue skin. The default Plain Jane setup slows down my menus 2x-3x.
  
• Plug-Ins: Uncheck any unused components. This may not "speed up" GB-PVR but it does make it easier/faster to navigate if you don't use all the features.
  
• Manually remove as many plug-ins as you can from the Plugins folder. I only use BleepBloop.
  
• Misc: Deinterlacing: Select 'Encoder Pass-Through'

*The chkdsk and defrag files are customized for my drive setup, you will of course need to delete the lines that don't apply to your drives. Log files are created next to both batch files for each drive, but they only keep a 1 run history.

Example builds with hardware at less than the minimum recommended:
nfrederick, 800mhz Athlon, 512MB - http://forums.nextpvr.com/showthread.php?t=22653
Bdgbill, IBM 300PL PIII 600MHZ 196 MB - http://forums.nextpvr.com/showthread.php?t=8001
turajb, Epia SP13000, 1GB DDR400 RAM - http://www.hoflink.com/~turajb/pvr/

[sub]

The recommended minimum CPU for using GB-PVR is a 1GHz PIII class CPU, or 1.6GHz CPU if you intend to run it as an MVP server. This minimum is based on what would be required to get an acceptable level of performance out of Directshow (for video playback) and GDI+ (for user interface). Directshow and GDI+ wont really be helped too much with the types of tweaks listed above, so raw CPU speed is still very important.

[Filip]

Directshow and GDI+ wont really be helped too much with the types of tweaks listed above, so raw CPU speed is still very important.

Good point Sub. I understand. I mainly wanted to put up this list since I know people are using all sorts of hardware. I really don't expect GB-PVR to work flawlessly with this setup - I'm just trying to squeeze anything I can out of my ancient hardware

[sub]

Good point Sub. I understand. I mainly wanted to put up this list since I know people are using all sorts of hardware. I really don't expect GB-PVR to work flawlessly with this setup - I'm just trying to squeeze anything I can out of my ancient hardware

Cool. I wasnt saying the above is pointless - it'll certainly help getting XP booting faster, using less memory etc. I just wanted to make sure people had realistic expectations on how GB-PVR will perform on slower/older hardware.

[zehd]

Thought I'd throw in that the Black Viper web site has been down for a very long time. there are archives of his site though. I really like the stuff on disabling services...

This is the last date the page was still active...
http://web.archive.org/web/2005090501271...viper.com/

[zehd]

And if you're interested look into this stuff

Code:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management]
"ClearPageFileAtShutdown"=dword:00000000
"DisablePagingExecutive"=dword:00000001
"SecondLevelDataCache"=dword:00000200
"LargeSystemCache"=dword:00000001

; Decimal 65536 = 10000 in hex
;"IOPageLockLimit"=dword:10000

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer]
"AlwaysUnloadDLL"=dword:00000001

I really like what you've done here, and thought it might make a good wiki page...

[nfredrick]

Will GB-PVR work on a Windows 2000 system and if so are there any advantages? I'm reading all of the discussion about disabling many of the Windows XP features and I didn't know if windows 2k would have any advantages.

[wtg]

I had GBPVR working with Win2k and it worked fine. I also used VMR7 successfully.

[Filip]

You can add this to the list....

XP Pro SP1 Memory Fixer
XP Pro SP2 TCP Fixer

Done!

Thought I'd throw in that the Black Viper web site has been down for a very long time.

Thanks! Updated.

And if you're interested look into this stuff

Thanks. SpeedXP actually has most of those as options. I guess it depends if people prefer a reg file vs program. I think I will try and create one reg file for myself to make it easier when doing a new install.

How long does it take to clear your page file at shutdown? Isn't this more of a security tweak? I guess it's up to the user to decide if it's important for them. Lately I've been enjoying my fast restarts

[madcat]

What about TinyXP?