Stutter on old PC, but low CPU usage?

[bencain]

I've been experimenting for a while with GBPVR on some old hardware I have laying around (since it's all I've got work with for the moment):

Athlon 750, 320 MB, PVR-150, ATI Radeon 7500 32MB (PCI)
...don't laugh to hard

I had v0.99 running on XP for a little while using overlay renderer, and as I've read of other users with old hardware in the forums, was quite usable. Just did a fresh install of Windows 2000 stripped down to bare necessities, and installed v1.0.8. I can't make sense of what I'm seeing though - in Live TV, video stutters badly (on both old and new interface) yet my CPU is down around 10-20%. Tried a variety of modes and decoders - stuttering changes a little, but is always there, and CPU is always low. Any clues on why the resources aren't being used?

Reading all the advice in the forums has been invaluable in getting me this far - thanks so much for the help.

[ChiPPy]

What sound card are you running? Is it a real soundblaster of some sort, or is it an onboard / codec based sound card? I find that real sound cards seem to perform better. Also have you tried the ATI codec, or the NVIDIA codec, (yes, I said NVIDIA.)

[nitrogen_widget]

could be directx.
I had run the same cpu, graphics card, & tuner in the beginning.
menus were very slow & cpu was rather high with live Tv in overlay mode.

I moved up to a grforce 5200 & that really fixed a lot of problems.
I was still running at 75% +- but I ran.

[bencain]

Its plain onboard VIA audio. The sound itself is not choppy like the video, would this somehow be a side effect? What's so strange to me is that the CPU is not being used. I would understand the stutter if CPU were maxed out.

On decoders, I've tried Intervideo, Cyberlink and MPV. Downloaded NVIDIA PureVideo yesterday and will give it a try tonight.

[zehd]

Just a thought... more of an experiment...

Try installing MVPServerChecker. You don't need to be using an MVP for this.
http://gbpvr.com/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Utili...verChecker

I don't claim that it will solve every problem like this, but there is a feature that forces the gui into Above Normal CPU priority. Then it doesn't compete with anything lese, and there is no more stutter.

Again, I had stutter problem, knew they were decoder issues. Fixed them, still had the odd stutter. Upgraded my MVPServerChecker and stutter went away.

I'd be interested if this works...

[groover km]

You don't need 1Gig of RAM; 512MB will do (though obviously more is better). From the gb-pvr system requirements page:

"...
Minimum PC specs:

A 1GHz PIII class CPU or higher is recommended, with ideally 512MB of RAM or more.

A supported video capture device. Analog capture devices must have an onboard hardware MPEG2 encoder. Digital ATSC or DVB devices must have BDA compliant drivers. A full list of devices can be found on the wiki.



Software requirements:

Your machine must be running Windows 2000, or higher. It will not work on Windows 95 or Windows 98 .

You must have the Microsoft .NET 2.0 runtime installed before installing GB-PVR.

If you're running Windows 2000, you'll also need to install MDAC2.6 (or higher)...."

I ran gbpvr with 256MB (admittedly that was around v. 0.95 I think) and 1.0.8 may have higher reqs, but I think the stutter you are describing is related to codecs, I've experienced it myself - what are you using? There was a huuuuge sticky about this.

Also, you have a PVR-150 in the box, you don't need the software recording plug-in.

[zehd]

You don't need 1Gig of RAM; 512MB will do. From the gb-pvr system requirements page:

"...
Minimum PC specs:

A 1GHz PIII class CPU or higher is recommended, with ideally 512MB of RAM or more.

A supported video capture device. Analog capture devices must have an onboard hardware MPEG2 encoder. Digital ATSC or DVB devices must have BDA compliant drivers. A full list of devices can be found on the wiki.



Software requirements:

Your machine must be running Windows 2000, or higher. It will not work on Windows 95 or Windows 98 .

You must have the Microsoft .NET 2.0 runtime installed before installing GB-PVR.

If you're running Windows 2000, you'll also need to install MDAC2.6 (or higher)...."

I ran gbpvr with 256MB (admittedly that was around v. 0.95 I think) and 1.0.8 may have higher reqs, but I think the stutter you are describing is related to codecs, I've experienced it myself - what are you using? There was a huuuuge sticky about this.

Also, you have a PVR-150 in the box, you don't need the software recording plug-in.

These specs will undoubtedly change with 1.x Sub is gathering info from us to determine a new min spec

[groover km]

These specs will undoubtedly change with 1.x Sub is gathering info from us to determine a new min spec

Good point - I did try to note that, but good to hear it confirmed. has OP tried running with gbpvr.exe rather than pvrx2.exe? Might be better off.

I still think it's codecs though.

[bencain]

Thanks all so far - I've been kinda suspecting codec issue also.

The stutter is present with GBPVR.exe and PVRX2.exe, even in overlay mode on old front-end. The only reason I decided to post is because other threads I read concerning stutter on old machines indicated the CPU was being pushed - which for some reason, mine isn't.

zehd, I will give the MVPServerChecker a try as well, to see if increasing the GUI priority has any effect - thanks for the suggestion.

[bencain]

Forgot to mention this too, in case it makes any difference... I can play back recordings with no stutter at all. Menus are also smooth in both front-ends. Video stutter is strictly when viewing Live TV.