9% average processor occupancy while recording QCIF (192x144) video / 24 frames per second (PAL) / doing real-time MPEG4 compression, on a P3B @ 600 Mhz + PCTV card.
We get a sinusoidal, because every X frames, there is a keyframe... and that one is costly.
Again, the 9% processor occupancy. These numbers are when using the 3.5 drivers. The recent 4.0 release produces much worst results.
Yesterday, I wrote about the Pinnacle PCTV card, and about the strange support available: european users are given the latest drivers @ CeBIT, but not via the Internet, while everyone else is forced to the old 3.0 release (that doesn't even work on Windows 2000) or to the buggy 3.5 release, that come with my own hardware.
PCTV is a problematic device on Windows 2000. Because of it, ALL my (5) PCI cards now share IRQ 11, no matter what I set @ the BIOS!! This is very frustrating, and it has to do with PCI 2.1 compliance, which basically means "IRQ sharing capability". I have IRQs 5, 7 and 10 available..
Despite some unusual system resources' configuration, my PCTV card is up & running fine, under Windows 2000, using the 3.5 drivers AND software, after a very bad experience with the two 4.0 releases (the CeBIT release AND the recent Internet Beta release).
The bad experience with the 4.0 release was because of processor usage.
When you use the 3.5 software, you can watch 640 x 480 TV on your desktop, "eating" an average of just 2% processor occupancy (P3B @ 600 / 512 MB RAM). Using the 4.0 stuff, running the same settings, on the same machine, will demand an average of 60% processor occupancy! This is a very abnormal situation, and even more strange than what you might read, because if you switch to half that resolution (320 x 240), the processor's effort drops to an average of just 4%.
I suppose the faulty part is a new feature of the 4.0 software, that forces window rendering on such a style, that you won't notice the edgy bits of some captions and the rough sharpness of some lines. However, even when I force such option off, problems remain, so I can't really understand what causes the latest software to be so much heavier.
In my opinion, the 4.0 software is a poor choice. Its only plus point, is the teletext web server & client, and the chance to skin the television app...
Teletext is great, but you can get external / 3rd party apps to do it; skinning is cool, but of no use... and what you will really miss is the video-recording and the video-snapshots buttons, directly available from the TV application... however, video-recording only tapes uncompressed (BIG!) frames, and snaps are very BIG BMPs...
The worst bit is that by installing the PCTV 4.0 software, you'll say bye-bye to Intel's INDEO 5.11 CODEC, under the VideoCapture application that comes with every PCTV kit.
"VideoCap" is a small, specialized application for real-time video recording, that will allow the INDEO CODEC over drivers 3.5, but NOT over drivers 4.0...
Missing the INDEO option, your only true compressor will be MPEG4, which is kind of heavy on the processor. I could achieve realtime recording / QCIF resolution (192 x 144) / 24 fps / MPEG4 compression with an average of just 10% processor occupancy... but as soon as I jumped to the 320 x 240 resolution, processor occupancy leaped to 100%. Despite not dropping frames, the PC was not usable when such video capture was running. MPEG4 can be very heavy, if you go higher than QCIF.
With INTEL INDEO 5.11, I can manage real-time recording / 320 x 240 resolution / 24 fps, with an average of just 55% processor occupancy, leaving the PC very much usable for web-page editing, excel editing and so on... Right now, I am recording a documentary on weapons, while updating the site :)
These real-time compression numbers are when using the 3.5 drivers. The 4.0 software may be prettier, but is much slower. Check the pictures.
If you are still interested on the 4.0 drivers, read Yesterday's report and grab one of following files:
- the pctv4.zip CeBIT files somehow include a faster Windows 2000 driver...
- the pctv40en.exe BETA file, includes a great teletext software, for viewing teletext pages, from a web browser.
Soon, I will be reviewing some alternative Windows 2000 software.
Gaming stuff
Flight Simulator 2000 @ 020300 ; 040300
Le Mans, 24 Hours @ 130200
Baldur's Gate @ 280100 ; 100200
Ford Racing @ 260100
F199 @ 260100
Zelda 64 @ 060100
Mario 64 @ 060100
Rally Championship @ 231299 ; 271299 ; 010200
Unreal Tournament @ 221199 ; 240100 ; 010200
Quake 3 Arena @ 221199 ; 271199 ; 041299 250100
Delta Force 2 @ 161199 141299 151299 160200
AoE2 @ 250799 ; 311099 ; 021199 ; 051199 ; 101199 ; 041299
Revolt @ 201099 ; 221099 ; 271099
Flight Unlimited 3 @ 271099 ; 271199
Driver @ 271099 ; 021199 ; 051199 ; 081199 ; 021299
Nascar Legends @ 101199
M25 @ 131199
Extreme Mountain Biking @ 131199
GTA2 @ 141199
the truth about the patch @ 270999 ; 280999 ; 091099
Creatures @ GIL ; SW Agents Paper ; 160399 ; 170399 ; 140499
Delta Force @ 020599 ; 050599 ; 130599
Half Life @ 030699
Aliens versus Predator @ 130799 ; 150799 ; 250799 ; 050899
Kingpin @ 060899
Simcity 3000 @ 200899 ; 260899
Hidden & Dangerous @ 110999 ; 140999 ; 170999 ; 21099
Roller coaster Tycoon @ 061099 ; 101099 ; 111099
Sega Rally 2 @ 111099
GP500 @ 161099
Apache Havoc @ 181099
704 seconds of CNN MPEG4 recording with 0 frames lost. Thanks the 3.5 drivers.
33% average processor occupancy when using the 4.0 drivers, under exactly the same conditions that produced the results pictured on this page's top left corner.