ATI THEATER 650 PRO (AGP) - how to engage onboard processing instead of CPU?

[Incongruent]

Hey guys, I would really like to develop a knowledge base on this card in particular. I figure lots of people may have this card, so lets share the knowledge.


My question is, how do I ensure that the onboard encoding is engaged instead of the CPU power? I read the white papers and according to ATI this thing should be low on CPU usage since it can do its own hardware encoding. But it seems that whenever I use the live TV the CPU gets load. Maybe this is normal, but just to be sure, what settings and muxers and decoders and etc need to be set so that all the HW is used?

[sub]

GB-PVR will always use the hardware encoder on the ATI Theater 650 Pro when doing analog recording or live tv. The hardware encoder isnt used when doing digital live tv or recording, but isnt required since the broadcaster encoded it prior to transmission.

The CPU load you're seeing during live tv, or playback of recordings, is caused by the decoding part of the process. Your ATI Theater 650 Pro doesnt have any hardware that reduces the CPU of this. The CPU required for this can be reduce if you have a video card that provides hardware assistence for the decoding process, and the decoder you're using is capable of using those hardware features.