Topic: High CPU usage when idle (Read 11311 times)

6233638 · « **on:** December 07, 2013, 01:14:12 am »

Is there any way to surface what Media Center is doing in the background?
It currently seems to be "idling" at around 10-15% CPU usage, and scrolling performance is extremely slow.

As far as I can tell there's no thumbnail generation, audio analysis, or other import-related tasks running.
Running auto-import manually, which normally tells you if files are being analyzed or imported, just says "complete" immediately, and there are no missing thumbnails to be built.

?

6233638 · « **Reply #1 on:** December 07, 2013, 03:07:41 am »

OK, it looks like it may be a bug with the latest build, or something I have not noticed before.

With one tab open (an empty zone) and a single view, Media Center is using 0.1-0.3% CPU
With five zones open in tabs, Media Center is using 1.5-2.5% CPU.
With all the tabs I normally have open in a split view (five zones, recently imported, and the downloads window) Media Center is using 3-4% CPU

Strangely, if I then open a split view and don't touch Media Center, CPU usage drops from 3-4% to 0.5-1.5%
When I open up the 8 tabs I normally keep open in the right pane, Media Center is now using ~25% CPU when idle.

When I minimize it, CPU usage drops to 0% after a couple of seconds, so it does not appear to be caused by background tasks as I had previously suspected.

Any idea what could be causing this?

Vocalpoint · « **Reply #2 on:** December 11, 2013, 03:33:28 pm »

Quote from: 6233638 on December 10, 2013, 06:54:25 am

Any idea what could be causing this?

Are you using any third party plugs, web browser connectivity or anything else "non-standard" connected to MC in some way?

I have have had 19.0.91 going since early this morning and I am seeing almost 0% usage whether playing or not playing - minimized or maxed. Playing locally to my Teac DAC with three tabs open at all times. Nothing odd or untoward in the CPU department.

VP

JimH · « **Reply #3 on:** December 11, 2013, 03:54:13 pm »

Does the view have some calculated fields?

6233638 · « **Reply #4 on:** December 11, 2013, 04:35:12 pm »

Quote from: Vocalpoint on December 11, 2013, 03:33:28 pm

Are you using any third party plugs, web browser connectivity or anything else "non-standard" connected to MC in some way?

Nothing at all. I don't even have Media Network running.

Quote from: JimH on December 11, 2013, 03:54:13 pm

Does the view have some calculated fields?

This may play a part in it, but I've only noticed this high CPU usage and poor UI performance recently.

I've now gone through and stripped all the open views of any calculated fields, expression columns, advanced grouping/sorting etc. and it's not really had much effect.

If I open Media Center with a single view rather than a split view, with my five zone tabs open, it idles at 0% CPU.

As soon as I have selected each tab once, it then starts idling around 2% CPU.

Even after removing anything which is using calculated fields or expressions, once I open a split view with my library tabs and have cycled through them once, Media Center is back to idling at 10-15% CPU, and scrolling performance is very poor. (stutters badly)

JimH · « **Reply #5 on:** December 11, 2013, 06:18:08 pm »

Has anything else on the machine changed?

6233638 · « **Reply #6 on:** December 12, 2013, 06:14:12 am »

Quote from: JimH on December 11, 2013, 06:18:08 pm

Has anything else on the machine changed?

Nothing has changed recently.

I've now gone back and tried a few older versions, and I'm still seeing the same behavior there.
So it looks like this may not be a new issue, but simply be because I've now started making use of the split views recently.

It seems that every tab you switch to eats up a little bit of CPU time, even when it's in the background, and with 14 tabs open, that causes Media Center to use about 25% CPU and makes the UI very sluggish.

JimH · « **Reply #7 on:** December 16, 2013, 06:59:01 am »

Can anyone else duplicate this?

Arindelle · « **Reply #8 on:** December 16, 2013, 07:08:44 am »

I'll try to do this tonight to see ..

astromo · « **Reply #9 on:** December 16, 2013, 07:11:04 am »

With MC19 Build 91 and a recent clean install of Win 8.1, the CPU Usage gadget from addgadgets.com shows my system idling at less than 3% spread over 4 threads (see signature for the build spec) from a reboot. I've got MC running in server mode.

I can't get anywhere close to 6233638's CPU idle level.

In standard view, I've been able to open up 6 tabs (I nomally don't do this), I just operate in the 1 tab. Even so, the CPU is idling at the same level. I can't open up more than 6 tabs using a simple mouse click. What have I missed?

Overall, I'm a negatory.

6233638 · « **Reply #10 on:** December 16, 2013, 07:21:03 am »

Quote from: astromo on December 16, 2013, 07:11:04 am

In standard view, I've been able to open up 6 tabs (I nomally don't do this), I just operate in the 1 tab. Even so, the CPU is idling at the same level. I can't open up more than 6 tabs using a simple mouse click. What have I missed?

If you enable split view (View > Split View > Show 2 Views) you can open up another 6 tabs. If you use the middle mouse button on library items, you can open additional views - I have 7 in each pane.

Try to use different views in each tab (I don't know if it matters, but it might) and cycle through them at least once. (just hold down CTRL+Tab for a couple of seconds)
Media Center must be visible for this to happen. As soon as you minimize it, it drops to normal levels.

The left pane has all my zones, the "recently imported" playlist, and the download status tab.
The right pane has all my library tabs.

glynor · « **Reply #11 on:** December 16, 2013, 09:37:30 am »

This is baffling to me, but can you post a screenshot? I'll try to replicate then.

It might be a looping view in your library, you know. If one view references a Smartlists that shuffles and both are "visible" at once... Stuff like that.

6233638 · « **Reply #12 on:** December 16, 2013, 10:21:53 am »

Quote from: glynor on December 16, 2013, 09:37:30 am

This is baffling to me, but can you post a screenshot? I'll try to replicate then.

http://www.abload.de/img/split-panesouoer.png
(the "downloads" on the left is the progress window, the "downloads" on the right is my library view for downloaded content)

Quote from: glynor on December 16, 2013, 09:37:30 am

It might be a looping view in your library, you know. If one view references a Smartlists that shuffles and both are "visible" at once... Stuff like that.

I don't think so, because I haven't used Smartlists at all (only the default "Recently Imported" one) and it only happens after I have cycled through all my tabs at least once - each one adds a little bit of CPU usage, and it ends up in the 15-25% range.
It's not like there's any one tab or view which is using 15-25% CPU on its own.

Matt · « **Reply #13 on:** December 16, 2013, 10:25:40 am »

It looks like you have a video playing in the screenshot. That could explain the CPU usage.

6233638 · « **Reply #14 on:** December 16, 2013, 10:53:53 am »

Quote from: Matt on December 16, 2013, 10:25:40 am

It looks like you have a video playing in the screenshot. That could explain the CPU usage.

Doesn't make a difference, sorry. Just had that as an example of how I often use the split view.

As I said, it happens when Media Center is "idle". (no media playing or paused)

Matt · « **Reply #15 on:** December 16, 2013, 07:48:24 pm »

I haven't been able to reproduce this.

Maybe one of the views is building thumbnails? Build all of them with auto-import and see if it changes anything.

Can you narrow down what view might contribute most?

6233638 · « **Reply #16 on:** December 16, 2013, 08:34:40 pm »

OK, I've done some more testing:

It's definitely nothing Media Center is "busy" doing - there are no thumbnails being generated, files being imported, downloads in progress, or tracks being analyzed.
When it's using a high amount of CPU and sitting "idle", as soon as I minimize MC it drops to 0% CPU usage, and returns when it's visible again.

I cleared out all the files in my zones, and minimized the file lists.
I then set up seven new library views - completely unmodified versions of all the audio presets. (excluding the 3D one)

With only my five empty zones in the left pane, and these seven library views in the right pane, the tree minimized, and the two panes with a 50/50 split, after cycling through them Media Center still idles at 11-17% CPU usage in most of these views. (it jumps from ~11% to ~17% every time Task Manager updates)

It seems like there might be slightly higher CPU usage when there are more covers being displayed in a view, e.g. the Genres view where there are lots of stacked covers - it hit about 19% CPU there.

If I close Media Center with all of these view open and re-open it without touching anything in the UI at all, it settles at roughly 1-3% CPU usage.
If the only thing I do is click on the zone headers in the left pane once each, returning to the first zone, CPU usage jumps to 6-8%.
If I go through the audio views, it's back up to 11-17% with very poor scrolling performance.

I know that's not really helpful, but I can't think what could be causing this.

Matt · « **Reply #17 on:** December 16, 2013, 08:57:45 pm »

I think I was maybe able to reproduce at home.

I'll try in the debugger in a day or two and follow up then.

6233638 · « **Reply #18 on:** December 16, 2013, 09:10:01 pm »

Quote from: Matt on December 16, 2013, 08:57:45 pm

I think I was maybe able to reproduce at home.
I'll try in the debugger in a day or two and follow up then.

Thanks, hopefully you can figure out what's causing this.
It's at the point now that every time I switch library tabs, I'm closing and re-opening Media Center so that the scrolling isn't stuttering and unresponsive.

Matt · « **Reply #19 on:** December 17, 2013, 02:20:55 pm »

Next build:
Faster: The program is more responsive when many tabs are open.

Thanks for your help tracking it down.

6233638 · « **Reply #20 on:** December 17, 2013, 04:33:56 pm »

Quote from: Matt on December 17, 2013, 02:20:55 pm

Next build:
Faster: The program is more responsive when many tabs are open.

Thanks for your help tracking it down.

Whatever it was, it looks like that's sorted it - MC is idling at 0% and scrolling is nice and responsive again. Thanks.

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