Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Manfred]

I have build a new MC based server to replace my NAS.

When playing Audio 16/44.1kHz or 24/192kHz - all FLAC - CPU utilization goes immediately to 80-90%!!!  On the HTPC I have at home (i3-6100, 8 GB RAM) ) CPU utilization during Audio Play Back is < 5%.

Any idea what is the reason for this?

I have checked memory playback on/off - no difference
Firewall on/off - no difference
Antivirus on/off - no difference

Environment:
i3-7100
Asus P10S-I
16 GB Kingston ECC RAM
2 x 8 TB WD Red
Win 10 64 bit Pro

[blgentry]

First, check to see if MC is rebuilding thumbnails or doing other tasks in the background:

Help > System Info > Background tools running

While you're there you might check to see if your thumbnails are fully built or not.

After that, the normal advice I read here is to actually *uninstall* your anti-virus software, as a test to see if it affects playback.  I'm not expert on Windows and AV, so I'll leave that discussion to others.

I'm not sure if the audio drivers can have an effect on this or not.  What are you using?  WASAPI, ASIO, etc.

Brian.

[Manfred]

Thumbnails are 100% build; Audio Analyzing: 99%

What I have seen is Playback is stuttering. 10 sec Pause, few seonds playback etc.

I Use Devialet AIR (WASAPI). On my two other devices: PC,HTPC - Devialet AIR is working since months without any problems.

[JohnT]

Is there any DSP happening during playback?

When you view "Help > System Info > Background tools running" does it show "No tools currently running" ?

[blgentry]

Where are your files located?  On local hard drives or on a NAS?

You said "Devialet AIR WASAPI".  That doesn't make sense to me.  Isn't Devialet AIR some kind of wireless streaming protocol or program?  I thought WASAPI was only for directly connected USB devices.

Are you doing wireless streaming or something else? 

Higher CPU utilization *might* be caused by on the fly audio conversion.  MC's default with DLNA is to convert everything to MP3.  It's not clear to me how your setup works, so this last bit of information may or may not be relevant.

Brian.

[Manfred]

- Help-System Info shows: No Background Tools are running

- DSP is completely off

I have also for testing purpose put DLNA off. But the issue remains.
I put Antivirus off. But the issue remains.

No NAS: 1 WD Red 8 TB Local Disk for media storage. 1 Additional for Backup - but currently no backup is running.

No other Software then MC and Devialet AIR is running.

Everything is connected through 1 Gbit Ethernet.

Devialet is a virtual SC which you install on the PC who plays the audio file. It uses WASAPI.

The behaviour is really strange 10 sec playback then you don't hear anything - then its starts again for a few sec. etc. and then the high CPU Utilization (On my PC 0.6% instaed of 60% to 80%).

[Manfred]

What I noticed is, when MC is starting audio playback the systems process incresases from 1-2% up to 30% CPU utilisation. Why?

[JimH]

No other Software then MC and Devialet AIR is running.

Did you try it without Devialet AIR?

[JohnT]

Have you tried different settings in the "Device settings" dialog, like increasing buffering, trying a different bitdepth, enable/disable exclusive access, etc.?

Try the largest buffer setting and exclusive access.  Also, to eliminate Wi-fi issues as the culprit, try connecting directly with ethernet cable.

Have you updated firmware on the device and got the latest version of Air?

[Manfred]

- Playing Tidal through IE with Devialet AIR works perfect. No issues.

-I put my old Logitec USB speakers through USB in. It works but with the high the high CPU utilization 40 -60%. On my PC it is only ~1 %.

-Device Setting Dialog for Devialet AIR has only a few settings - I leave the default: 100 ms latency (On my HTPC I Could set that to 50ms). I don't think that's the issue.

[JohnT]

-Device Setting Dialog for Devialet AIR has only a few settings - I leave the default: 100 ms latency (On my HTPC I Could set that to 50ms). I don't think that's the issue.

But in Media Center you can increase the buffer setting - try the largest.  Also, try the largest setting in Devialet AIR just to eliminate that as the problem.  Also in Media Center, make sure "Disable event style" is NOT checked and "exclusive access" IS checked.  Just for testing, try selecting the exact bitdepth of the file (16 or 24) instead of using automatic bitdepth.

Is it only Flac playback that causes high cpu?  What about 16 bit 44.1 WAV or mp3?

Is it importing a bunch of files in the background?  Turn off auto-import.

[Manfred]

I resinstalled AIR - the stuttering is currently! away - but the high CPU utilization remains.
- If I playing Tidal through IE CPU utilization with AIR is < 5%.
- I have the latest Version of Devialet AIR 3.0.4
- I have AUto-Import off.
- mp3 playback 70% CPU utilization
- I increase the buffer size to 500 ms-> High CPU utilisation remains

[JohnT]

Does your "Audio Path" in Media Center say "No changes being made." like this:

[JohnT]

Also, please send a log file after playback with high CPU utilization.

[Manfred]

Yes - Output Path shows no changes.

I have attached a log file - It starts playing music - then no sound - and after 10 sec sound is back.

[Manfred]

I have the ASUS P10S-I server board and it has an ASPEED AST1400 / AST2400 VGA graphics installed. If the spectrum analyzer in MC is on this will lead to up to ~90% CPU utilization of the windows systems process.

Turning the spectrum analyzer off in MC you have the typically CPU utilization of <5%.

[blgentry]

Have you tried playback to another device?  A built in sound card would be fine.  Or a direct connected USB sound card.

Brian.

[Manfred]

Problem is solved.
It has nothing to with the sound card. Sound Card is Devialet AIR. The ASPEED AST1400 / AST2400 VGA graphics is very week graphics card. So any visual effects like the graphical spectrum analyzer on top of the main window in MC lead to that high CPU utilization. .-)