How to check CPU utilization

[Warrenpettit]

Eight months ago, I build a new PVR. I have noticed that occasionally when I am playing back a recorded HD TV program, I get really bad stuttering. I don't know if this is due to a particular recording or possibly CPU utilization. How can I check my CPU utilization while I am playing back a recorded program? The task manager is always behind GBPVR. Is there some way to run GBPVR in a window which would then allow me to watch the CPU utilization at those times when there is stuttering? I want to make sure that CPU utilization is the problem before I arbitrarily replace the CPU.

[sub]

You can run the Perfmon utility that ships with Windows. It is able to log all sorts of useful info.

[Deusxmachina]

Statbar is nice. Puts a thin bar on the top or bottom of your screen and shows memory usage, CPU, network usage, etc.

[Warrenpettit]

I am really confused. I have a Hauppauge PVR-1600 that I am using to record HD programs. I am watching perfmon while a program is being recorded. I keep getting spikes where my CPU utilization is almost 100% and at the same time the paging rate goes off of the chart. Then everything falls to a very low level.

I thought that the Hauppauge card did hardware encoding. I just don't see why I am getting these spikes. I thought that during playback, the CPU would be pushed.

[sub]

Is this a recording problem or a playback problem? ie. if you playback a recording do you get CPU spikes and stutters in the same place?

Or do you get these CPU while simply recording (not watching anything)?

Which process is creating the spike? Perfmon lets you monitor the CPU usage per Process.

[Warrenpettit]

Oh wow, do I feel like a clone. Turns out the spikes during recording are caused by comskip. I still would like to be able to determine the CPU utilization during playback. GBPVR, on my system, does not display a titlebar so I have no way of resizing that puppy. It keeps the focus so that I cannot bring anything to the foreground.

[sub]

It keeps the focus so that I cannot bring anything to the foreground.

You can switch to window mode with Alt-Enter, except with the video renderer set to 'VMR9 Fullscreen Exclusive' where you cant switch other apps into the foreground.