NextPVR Desktop App High CPU Usage When Minimized

[Agamemnon]

I have installed NextPVR Version: 6.1.2.230502 on my Windows 10 PC and whenever I minimize the Desktop App after about 30 seconds the CPU usage goes up to almost 25% which represents an entire core which has been frozen on my computer. If I bring the app back up to the Desktop again the CPU usage goes back down to 0% within a few seconds, but goes up again after about 30 seconds if I minimize it once more.

The NextPVR Desktop App always does this when minimized when nothing is playing with or without my Hauppauge WinTV-dualHD DVBT Tuner stick being plugged in or not. When it is playing back Live TV CPU usage is next to nothing when minimized, so there is an issue when NextPVR is idle, minimized and not being used.

I've tried using the Desktop App after a clean reboot and installing all Windows 10 updates with everything else closed but it still freezes the CPU when minimized, so I doubt that it is a conflict with other software.  

Otherwise it Next PVR is working properly, except for a few minor gripes where video playback on the Web App is constantly dropping out audio, freezing and stuttering once or twice every 15 to 30 seconds, with or without NVDIA hardware encoding enabled, which is extremely annoying and why I am using the Desktop App for all TV viewing. Also the Desktop app seems unable to play back .mp4 video files, or mp3 audio files which are contained in my video folders. It will only play back .ts transport streams. But if these are converted to .mp4 (using Avidemux) it refuses to play them while other video apps such as VLC Player or SMPlayer will. But these are not the issues that I am most concerned about since I use other software for video playback and music.

The older NextPVR 4.2.5 which I have installed on my Windows 7 computer does not freeze the CPU when minimized using exactly the same USB tuners and drivers. Therefore high CPU usage when minimized seems to be an issue with version 6.1.2.230502 and possibly previous 6.x versions.

CPU: Intel® Core™ i7-4790K CPU @ 4.00GHz (4000 MHz)
Memory: 32708 MB
Concurrency: 8
OS Version: Microsoft Windows 10 64-bit (Build 19045.3030)
Graphics Card Vendor: NVIDIA Corporation
Graphics Card: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970/PCIe/SSE2
Graphics Card Memory: 4096 MB

Windows Graphics Driver Version: 31.0.15.3141
OpenGL Version: 4.6.0 NVIDIA 531.41

USB Stick: Hauppauge WinTV-dualHD DVBT Tuner

[sub]

I have installed NextPVR Version: 6.1.2.230502 on my Windows 10 PC and whenever I minimize the Desktop App after about 30 seconds the CPU usage goes up to almost 25% which represents an entire core which has been frozen on my computer. If I bring the app back up to the Desktop again the CPU usage goes back down to 0% within a few seconds, but goes up again after about 30 seconds if I minimize it once more.

I just looked into this. It was a lot less noticable here, but I could see the CPU go up from like 0.1% to like 3%. I've fixed it for the next build. I suspect it's been like this since the first v5 builds.

Otherwise it Next PVR is working properly, except for a few minor gripes where video playback on the Web App is constantly dropping out audio, freezing and stuttering once or twice every 15 to 30 seconds, with or without NVDIA hardware encoding enabled

How is the CPU usage looking at the time?

Also the Desktop app seems unable to play back .mp4 video files, or mp3 audio files which are contained in my video folders. It will only play back .ts transport streams. But if these are converted to .mp4 (using Avidemux) it refuses to play them while other video apps such as VLC Player or SMPlayer will.

When it comes other file types, like .mp4 and .mkv, it depends on microsoft managing to find appropriate directshow components already installed on your machine. Installing LAV should make these files play fine in NextPVR. https://github.com/Nevcairiel/LAVFilters...taller.exe. In this installer, I'd typically install the defaults. 32bit + 64bit decoders and splitters. Technically NextPVR.exe only needs the 32bit components though.

[mvallevand]

Sub, like you I tried and didn't see any impact minimized. Overnight I had a thought and I turned on the tray app since I never use it and CPU jumped to 30-40%

Martin

[Agamemnon]

I have installed NextPVR Version: 6.1.2.230502 on my Windows 10 PC and whenever I minimize the Desktop App after about 30 seconds the CPU usage goes up to almost 25% which represents an entire core which has been frozen on my computer. If I bring the app back up to the Desktop again the CPU usage goes back down to 0% within a few seconds, but goes up again after about 30 seconds if I minimize it once more.

I just looked into this. It was a lot less noticable here, but I could see the CPU go up from like 0.1% to like 3%. I've fixed it for the next build. I suspect it's been like this since the first v5 builds.

Thanks!

Otherwise it Next PVR is working properly, except for a few minor gripes where video playback on the Web App is constantly dropping out audio, freezing and stuttering once or twice every 15 to 30 seconds, with or without NVDIA hardware encoding enabled

How is the CPU usage looking at the time?

When playing through the Web App via the TV Guide CPU usage jumps up by 15-20% with Edge averaging at 1.5%. Graphics usage is at 1% 3D and 2-3% decode on playback with Transcoder set to CPU. Using NVIDIA as the Transcoder CPU usage is up by 14% with GPU usage at 3% encoding, 2% decode and 1% 3D. When using the Other UI Client the CPU is up by 10%, GPU is 2% encode, 2% decode, and 1% 3D with hardware transcoding, Edge at 1.5%. With CPU transcoding with the Other UI Clinent CPU usage jumps up by between 25-35% and GPU is 2% decode and 1% 3D, Edge at 1.5%.
The UI Client seems to be the more stable with less glitching.

Also when using the NVIDIA encoder with the Web App TV Guide for playback the sound on some programmes is echoy and shifted to the right instead of being centered. Switching to CPU transcoding fixes it and the original .ts stream is not affected. The stream format copied from SMPlayer is below:
General

• File: D:/My Videos/Digital TV/live-BBC ONE EastHD-13644-22 - Copy.ts
  
• Size: 21289 KB (20 MB)
  
• Length: 00:00:41
  
• Demuxer: lavf
  

Clip info

• Name: live-BBC ONE EastHD-13644-22 - Copy.ts
  

Initial Video Stream

• Resolution: 1920 x 1080
  
• Aspect ratio: 1.77778
  
• Format: h264
  
• Bitrate: 2226 kbps
  
• Frames per second: 25.000000
  
• Selected codec: h264
  

Video Streams

• Track 0
  

• ID: 1
  

Initial Audio Stream

• Format: aac_latm
  
• Bitrate: 128 kbps
  
• Rate: 48000 Hz
  
• Channels: 2
  
• Selected codec: aac_latm
  

Audio Streams

• Track 0
  

• Language: eng
  
• ID: 1
  

Subtitles

• Track 0
  

• Language: eng
  
• ID: 1
  
• Type: SUB
  

I can send a copy of the original file if you want to examine it. 

Also the Desktop app seems unable to play back .mp4 video files, or mp3 audio files which are contained in my video folders. It will only play back .ts transport streams. But if these are converted to .mp4 (using Avidemux) it refuses to play them while other video apps such as VLC Player or SMPlayer will.

When it comes other file types, like .mp4 and .mkv, it depends on microsoft managing to find appropriate directshow components already installed on your machine. Installing LAV should make these files play fine in NextPVR. https://github.com/Nevcairiel/LAVFilters...taller.exe. In this installer, I'd typically install the defaults. 32bit + 64bit decoders and splitters. Technically NextPVR.exe only needs the 32bit components though.

Thanks again. I've installed the LAV filters and the audio and video files will now play back in NextPVR.

[Agamemnon]

Sub, like you I tried and didn't see any impact minimized. Overnight I had a thought and I turned on the tray app since I never use it and CPU jumped to 30-40%

Martin

I've tried shutting down the tray app with the NextPVR Desktop App minimized and I'm still getting over 16% increased CPU usage from the app alone while idle, but once again dropping down to 0% when maximized. 

To some people using more recent hardware like a 16 core i9 13900K CPU which is almost 8 times faster than my i7 4790K an extra 3% in CPU usage may seem like nothing, but it still represents a whole entire core almost maxed out and frozen if you do the maths. Three times 8 amounts to 24% CPU usage for older or slower machines.

For those using their old computers or low power Mini PCs as personal video recorders an entire core maxing out when the app is minimized is a major issue, especially with the Very High power consumption indicated by Windows and the fan noise ramping up.

[mvallevand]

Mine take a whole core too on an i5 gen7

What I found is that the CPU didn't go down if I shutdown the tray app AFTER NextPVR.exe started. When I start NextPVR with the tray app already running that causes me an issue.

Martin

[sub]

Overnight I had a thought and I turned on the tray app since I never use it and CPU jumped to 30-40%

It'll be unrelated to Agamemnon's original problem, which happens while minimized. I worked out the cause of his problem, and have fixed.

Any special tips for reproducing this tray issue? Was it after standby, or anything else notable?

[mvallevand]

No just have the tray running, run nextpvr.exe and minimize it. I hit 25% CPU after about 10 seconds. Return from minimize it goes back to near zero.

Martin

[sub]

I'm not really sure what might explain that - these two processes don't talk to each other at all.

The only interaction they have is that the tray menu has an option to run nextpvr.exe.

[sub]

I'm not seeing it here. The CPU stayed at 0 with NextPVR.exe minimized.