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[realShady]

?	Without getting into a "you're comparing apples with oranges" kind of argument, I can't help but wonder why Media Center uses 10x the CPU that Winamp uses when playing an MP3 track with the window minimized.

My system is far from being the latest-and-greatest, but is easily up to the job of MP3 playback.

I can't help but point the accusatory finger of blame at the skinned interface, as the CPU sits around 5% with the window maximised in a totally idle state. To be fair, I found the same problem with Winamp 5 and so have switched off all Winamp's new skinnable interface, effectively returning to the 2.x version.

Is there still some debug code in there? Or are there maybe a load of WM_PAINTs being thrown around unnecessarily? Or... something else entirely?

Don't get me wrong - I love MC (which is why I registered it after a week!), but am somewhat concerned the CPU problem may get worse as more and more features are added, without considering the processor-challenged such as myself.

--realShady

Media Center Registered 10.0.118 -- C:\Program Files\J River\Media Center\

Microsoft Windows XP 5.1 Service Pack 1 (Build 2600)
Intel Pentium III 800 MHz [reported by MC System Info as 118 MHz!!! ] MMX / Memory: Total - 392 MB, Free - 125 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:   Mode:Normal  Type:Auto  Speed:Max
  Drive X:   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 D: TOSHIBA  DVD-ROM SD-R2002   Addr: 2:0:0  Speed:4  MaxSpeed:4  BurnProof:No
  Test mode: No /  Eject after writing: Yes /  Direct decoding: No /  Write CD-Text: Yes
  Use playback settings: No /  Normalization: None

[JimH]

Are you using any third party plug-ins or other programs?  Visualizations?

[realShady]

Nothing at all... this is a totally clean install of MC.

The "Playing Now" window is blank, i.e. on the Cover Art setting with no cover art for that particular track.

[paulr]

Intel Pentium III 800 MHz [reported by MC System Info as 118 MHz!!

I'm curious about that part...

[Matt]

When minimized, skinning makes no difference. (since nothing is drawing)

Disable any DSP's and try different output settings if CPU usage is too high.

It shouldn't take more than a few percent of the CPU to play an MP3.

[xen-uno]

Matt,

I've remarked on this before...

Why does MC issue wm_paint commands to the system if it's idle and there is no onscreen activity (such as viz's, Media Serving, and the like)? Cpu usage here jumps from ~ 2% (MC min'd or closed) to around 10% when visible.

Call me curious

[Alex B]

An unscientific test drive observed by my tired eyes and the Windows Task Manager:

CPU usage (playback, no visualizations, no DSP)

MC 10 with various VBR MP3 and APE files: 2-5 %, usually 3 %
Winamp 2.91 (& APE plugin 3.97) with the same files: 0-1 % usually 0 %

I don't say that 3 % is much, but with Winamp it is below the scale.

Media Center Registered 10.0.119 -- C:\Soft\MJB\

Microsoft Windows XP 5.1 Service Pack 1 (Build 2600)
Intel Pentium 4 2859 MHz MMX / Memory: Total - 1048 MB, Free - 712 MB ...