INTERACT FORUM
More => Old Versions => Media Center 11 (Development Ended) => Topic started by: BuiltToSpill on March 20, 2004, 05:56:34 pm
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Ive noticed within the 10.0 builds that between tracks and even in long silences during tracks, my computer slows to a crawl and the CPU usage skyrockets.
Has this been touched on before ?
Media Center Registered 10.0.95 --
Microsoft Windows XP Workstation 5.1 Service Pack 1 (Build 2600)
Intel Pentium 4 1793 MHz MMX / Memory: Total - 260 MB, Free - 46 MB
Internet Explorer: 6.0.2800.1106 / ComCtl32.dll: 5.82 (xpsp1.020828-1920) / Shlwapi.dll: 6.00.2800.1400 / Shell32.dll: 6.00.2800.1233 (xpsp2.030604-1804) / wnaspi32.dll: N/A
Ripping / Drive D: LITEON DVD-ROM LTD163 Mode:Normal Type:Auto Speed:Max
Drive E: 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: No / Play sound after ripping: No
Burning / Drive E: HL-DT-ST CD-RW GCE-8400B Addr: 1:1:0 Speed:32 MaxSpeed:40 BurnProof:Yes
Test mode: No / Eject after writing: Yes / Direct decoding: Yes / Write CD-Text: No
Use playback settings: No / Normalization: None
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Do you have the Do not play silence option enabled (under Options > Playback)? If so, don't do that.
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Nope. I never had it enabled.
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Does turning DSP (equalizer, etc.) on or off make a difference?
Are your files on a slow source?
With a 1.8 Ghz, you should be able to play fullscreen games with MC cranking in the background and not know the difference.
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mmmm, when i turn off the effects in DSP, the lagging stops...
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The problem is that some CPU's get really slow when dealing with numbers close to 0, which can happen when a bunch of silence is passed through the DSP chain.
If you can isolate what DSP effect / equalizer does it, we may be able to work around it.
Thanks.
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Matt,
Its the virtual subwoofer in the DSP.
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Hi Built;
One thing that I noticed is that you seem to have too little memory on your Win XP system.
The screen you provide shows only 260MB total (I assume you have a 256MB) which is totally inadequate for Win XP.
Yes, 256MB does allow you to run XP, but just barely. 512MB is generally considered to be the "Sweet Spot" for XP & allows all programs to run more freely with less processor usage & less swap file usage which can really slow things down a lot.
Many systems today come with 1GB of memory.
I was running 512MB on my XP Pro 2.2GHz system but was sometimes running low on memory so I upgrade to 1GB & now the swap file is seldom needed.
When a computer starts to run low on memory it starts using more & more swap file (a space set aside on your hard drive as virtual or swap memory). This will cause a slow down in your computer.
I notice that you only have 46MB of free memory. That may be part you're the problem.
A friend of mine had only 256MB on his Win XP system & was having all kinds of problems running programs. Adobe Acrobat refused to run at all saying that there was insufficient system memory. WinFax Pro was taking forever to assemble a large database to send mailings to club members.
After we added an additional 256MB to bring him up to 512MB all of those problems disappeared. Acrobat now loads without complaint, & WinFax does the same job in 1/5th the time it used to take.
Memory is dirt cheap today & there is no reason to be running only 256KB on an XP system.
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Thanks Doc, I appreciate the advice!
I'll look into some more memory.