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[neolith]

I have MC23 installed on a RPi-3. I am using Dietpi with a minimal configuration (no bluetooth, no wifi). When I run MC23, the CPU temperature quickly approaches 75C and the audio begins to sputter. The output is a self-powered USB-DAC and the source is a  HDD connect via a powered USB hub. I have a heat sink on the CPU and cover is off of the case. I am listening to FLAC files with no conversion or upsampling, etc.
Is this a common problem? Is there a solution other than trying a fan (not in favor of this because of noise)?

[millst]

75C is okay for a Pi3. I believe they are oven tested to 125C and don't start throttling until 80C. This is probably a symptom, not a cause of the problem.

I can play MP3 on my Pi2 with hardly any load, temps around 41C. It seems like something, possibly MC, is running amok and hitting the CPU hard. Maybe you could try some experiments to narrow down the cause:

Does it happen with all file formats or only FLAC?
What if you store the file on the SD card?
What if you use a different program to play the file?

-tm

[Zhillsguy]

Did you read this thread?  https://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php/topic,114086.0.html

What you are experiencing may be "normal" if the library is not fully imported, thumbnails created, etc.

In Tools/Options/Tree & View set Thumbnail priority to low. Also create missing thumbnails and let it ride until done. Do a full import of your library, depending on your library size and options selected it will take some time to settle in. When all done and nothing playing or active the CPU rate should be very low (mine is 1-2%).

Make sure you are using a hw: or front: (ALSA) selection for your usb dac, and it supports the bit rate / depth natively of whatever you are playing with no conversion (sounds like you may already have that part down).

[neolith]

I checked that the Thumbnails were loaded (and set to low) and the library was loaded. At idle the CPU% is ~84% and Mem% is ~11%. I have things set to loaded the entire file into memory. When running the CPU% is  over 90%, sometimes jumping to 120%, and the Mem% is ~30% (I do not use a swap file to reduce writes to the SD Card).
While fooling around I notice that I cannot get a Theater View ("error starting Open GL engine").  I don't use the Theater View but I wonder if MC is trying to get this to work in the background and consuming the resources.
BTW I did read the thread.

[Zhillsguy]

1. Turn off memory playback.
2. I'm not sure about the swap file thing.... you may need to try both ways.
3. If at "idle" you are using high CPU that's definitely an issue you need to investigate. Open a terminal and use either top or htop to help determine that.
4. Theater view doesn't work well (if at all) on a pi, it may be OS dependent. MC is not using it unless user activated.
5. It is now off by default (may be removed from MC23?) but make sure the Show Spectrum Analyzer is not on in the display.

[millst]

3. I'd start here with finding out why the system isn't idling. That's driving up temps and leaving no processing power for audio.
1. Yeah, that seems like a bad idea on a system with a small amount of RAM.
2. My general advice would be not altering swap usage on any system (unless you really know what you're doing). I've seen lots of advice on things like swap coming from people that have no idea what they're talking about (in contrast to the actual designers of the OS). You're more likely to get a stable system keeping it stock instead of creating some permutation of settings that are never/rarely tested before release.


-tm

[neolith]

Well, we are all in agreement that something is wrong in that even at idle MC23 is consuming resources. HTOP does not give me any clue other than to report out the CPU%. On Dietpi it show I have 50 processes and only MC23 is running. The question remains why is MC23 not playing nice. I did try another SD Card with nRasbian and got the same kind of results, so I can't blame the OS or the SD Card.

[Zhillsguy]

Did you try all suggestions given?

If you have implemented all of the other suggestions clear your library and check. If all is good with no library start with a few MP3 files in a single folder and go from there. You may have one or more corrupt files causing issues.

[Scobie]

Agreed, I've seen MC23 on my Debian install spinning its wheels for no apparent reason and it was some corrupt thumbnails, trying to rebuild them only made it worse.

Only fix was to blow the library away and reimport, been great since.

[neolith]

Yes, I did try all of the suggestions - no sense asking for advice and then ignoring it .  I will try recreating the library and see what happens. I was wondering - is there a log file that I can check? Thanks to all for staying with me.

[JimH]

Maybe way off track, but what is the rating of the power supply?

[neolith]

Bingo! Recreated the library and it seems that all is well. Using about 15% CPU when playing and 2% at idle. Temp is a cool 56 C. Thanks again to all.