Mythtv box

[Veerappan]

so i ended up with a x2 250, 785g and 2 gb of ram. everything is running fine (even the remote), but i am have a little problem with hulu. when it is full screen it is a little choppy. i can play 1080p and 720p video without problems (mkv files). i wanted to try the amd drivers to see if they are any better but i cant figure out how to install them. can anyone help me?

Question: Have you checked if your CPU is throttling down while playing back video? If your CPU is switching back and forth between various speed grades (or never throttling up to full speed) it can cause choppiness.

While playing back video in Hulu, ssh into the machine from another box and run 'top' to check your CPU utilization percentage. Then open another terminal at the same time and check the speed your CPU is running at by doing one of the following:
cat /proc/cpuinfo | grep MHz
OR
sudo cat /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/cpuinfo_cur_freq
sudo cat /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu1/cpufreq/cpuinfo_cur_freq

If it turns out that your CPUs aren't running at full speed while the video choppiness is present, or that they're switching between frequencies, disabling cool'n'quiet (or changing its settings) might help.

Of course, if the CPUs are already at full speed and full utilization, getting some sort of video decode acceleration is probably the next step to take.

[trick0502]

Question: Have you checked if your CPU is throttling down while playing back video? If your CPU is switching back and forth between various speed grades (or never throttling up to full speed) it can cause choppiness.

While playing back video in Hulu, ssh into the machine from another box and run 'top' to check your CPU utilization percentage. Then open another terminal at the same time and check the speed your CPU is running at by doing one of the following:
cat /proc/cpuinfo | grep MHz
OR
sudo cat /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/cpuinfo_cur_freq
sudo cat /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu1/cpufreq/cpuinfo_cur_freq

If it turns out that your CPUs aren't running at full speed while the video choppiness is present, or that they're switching between frequencies, disabling cool'n'quiet (or changing its settings) might help.

Of course, if the CPUs are already at full speed and full utilization, getting some sort of video decode acceleration is probably the next step to take.

i will try this

a side note: yesterday i ran free -m and my system was using 1.6 of my 1.7gb of ram doing nothing.

[trick0502]

cpu is running normal. it seems like my system is running out of ram



this is while playing hulu desktop in mythtv.
why does my system not use the page file?

[droidhacker]

cpu is running normal. it seems like my system is running out of ram



this is while playing hulu desktop in mythtv.
why does my system not use the page file?

You're nowhere close to running out of RAM. You are simply misinterpreting the output.

The relevant line is the -/+ buffers/cache line. Shows that you are using 580 of 1759 MB with 1178 free.

Linux, by default, keeps a cache of your filesystems in order to improve access time when going back to the same data. This typically uses up ALL of the remaining available memory. If you are reading huge files, such as videos, it will very quickly fill up the entire free memory. The good thing is that it is trivial for the kernel to drop the cached data in order to use that memory for more important things.

You appear to have 256 MB allocated to the GPU. You really think it needs that much? Your board have sideport memory? (you never did say what board you bought...)

[trick0502]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131609

Asus 785g

i got it open box so it didnt come with a manual. ill have to download it and read about the sideport memory.

the video problem has stopped. it must have been a bad feed that was causing the stuttering.