I have seen in recent builds that MC takes about 5 seconds to start playing an audio selection from a 'cold' state. By that I mean that MC is loaded but not playing.
In MC 10 there was a noticable delay, but not this long.
Also, I notice that MC 11.0.9x is using between 13% and 25%. I use an app that averages resource use over a 30 second period, MC is shown to use 14% CPU "long term".
I am not using any plugins except for the DirectX host. Disabling that does not help with either the start playing or CPU usage.
I also notice that there is an 'ActiveMovie Window' listed as a process under Media Core. I do not play movies, in fact there are none in the MC library.
If you want more info, I'm happy to provide it.
Media Center Registered 11.0.92 -- C:\Program Files\J River\Media Center 11\
Microsoft Windows XP Workstation 5.1 Service Pack 2 (Build 2600)
Intel Pentium 4 2683 MHz MMX / Memory: Total - 1048 MB, Free - 670 MB
Internet Explorer: 6.0.2900.2180 / ComCtl32.dll: 5.82 (xpsp_sp2_rtm.040803-2158) / Shlwapi.dll: 6.00.2900.2180 (xpsp_sp2_rtm.040803-2158) / Shell32.dll: 6.00.2900.2180 (xpsp_sp2_rtm.040803-2158) / wnaspi32.dll: N/A
Ripping / Drive F: Mode:ModeSecure Type:Auto Speed:Max
Drive G: Mode:ModeSecure Type:Auto Speed:Max
Drive H: Mode:Normal Type:Auto Speed:Max
Digital playback: Yes / Use YADB: Yes / Get cover art: No / Calc replay gain: Yes / Copy volume: 32767
Eject after ripping: Yes / Play sound after ripping: No
Burning / Drive F: SONY CD-RW CRX220E1 Addr: 3:0:0 Speed:52 MaxSpeed:52 BurnProof:Yes
Drive G: PLEXTOR CD-R PX-W4012A Addr: 3:1:0 Speed:40 MaxSpeed:40 BurnProof:Yes
Test mode: No / Eject after writing: Yes / Direct decoding: Yes / Write CD-Text: Yes
Use playback settings: No / Normalization: None