High CPU Usage?

[Huugs]

I have the WinTV Nova T PCI and my system is an Athlon XP 2400+ and a 6800GT at Ultra speeds.

I am using the nvidia Purevideo Decoder with VMR9 and the description of the Purevideo decoder is that it offloads the decoding to the GPU. Does anyone have any idea what sort of CPU usage I should be getting. At the moment its jumping around between 30-60% which seems a lot.

If I have recorded something (im using the ms-dvr multiplexer at the moment, so recording are in .dvr-ms) and playing through windows media player the cpu usage is only between 10-30%. Through GB-PVR is between 15-40%.

Any ideas or advice or is this pretty normal values?

Cheers

[capone]

I have a 3100 w/ a 150 card and nVidia 5500 that runs 60-80% because of post-processing.

[sub]

If I have recorded something (im using the ms-dvr multiplexer at the moment, so recording are in .dvr-ms) and playing through windows media player the cpu usage is only between 10-30%. Through GB-PVR is between 15-40%.

If you set GB-PVR to use Overlay instead of VMR as WMP, and set it to use the same video decoder, then you'll get the same CPU usage.

[Huugs]

Wow that makes a huge difference. Does overlay give a worse picture quality though? It doesnt look like it from what I see but why would VMR be better if the quality is the same.
Only thing I have noticed is that the OSD is not as good quality images. Is this normal?

Also when its set as overlay the decoder settings icon doesnt appear in the corner like it does with VMR in GBPVR and when I play stuff in WMP. Any Idea Why?

Ive also just noticed that when I exit Live TV mode it comes up with a message saying "Error : Object reference not set to an instant of an object" which I think is the same message I get when I try to tune to a DVB Radio station. It doesnt do it with VMR or watching recordings

[sub]

Wow that makes a huge difference. Does overlay give a worse picture quality though? It doesnt look like it from what I see but why would VMR be better if the quality is the same.

It often depends on your video card and video card drivers. Overlay is older, so often better supported by video cards.

Only thing I have noticed is that the OSD is not as good quality images. Is this normal?

Yes, this is the downside of Overlay. No nice semi-transparent OSD.

Also when its set as overlay the decoder settings icon doesnt appear in the corner like it does with VMR in GBPVR and when I play stuff in WMP. Any Idea Why

Sorry, no idea.

Ive also just noticed that when I exit Live TV mode it comes up with a message saying "Error : Object reference not set to an instant of an object" which I think is the same message I get when I try to tune to a DVB Radio station. It doesnt do it with VMR or watching recordings

DVB radio isnt supported at this stage. I'm aware it'll cause a few bugs like this.

[Huugs]

I dont mind the no transparent OSD its just a little bit blocky. The words arnt as sharp or smooth as with VMR.

Thanks anyway Ill stick with overlay till I upgrade my computer.

[capone]

wow...this turned out to answer an issue I always had. It turns out if I switch to overlay, I can use the nvidia dvd decoder w/ the hardware acceleration. That takes TV viewing down to that 30% level. But, it doesn't look nearly as nice. It's faster and smoother on very fast action, but the VMR just looks crisper overall (image and osd).

If I only did TV veiwing/recording, I would probably tweak it and keep it. Since I do a lot of other media viewing (mpg & avi using a varierty of decoders), having everythign uniform makes for the best viewing.

Not trying to hijack here...this just answered a usage question I've had for a long time, and may be relevant to others w/ CPU usage questions.