100% cpu usage and system crash while playing video files

Random

ive noticed 100% (or near it) cpu usage when viewing video files in media player classic and in videolan. sometimes the cpu usage shows as explorer.exe using all the cpu.

i have windows xp with all the latest updates. i have a 8600gt with the latest drivers.
ive tried removing and reinstalling my video drivers (285.58) and ive tried reverting to older drivers (275.33).

often the pc will become very unresponsive (a mouse gesture will take 30-60 seconds to register) or will just freeze completely. the ultimate thing is that i need to hit the reset button.

has anyone got any suggestions? the main files i have noticed with are those branded as "hd" or "high quality" and are very often .mp4 files.

i have avast antivirus free installed and i have tried with and without this enabled.

my computer is amd athlon64 3500+ with 2gig of ram.

is my pc just showing its age or is there something else at work here?

Voodu Child

In MPC-HC, go to Options > Internal Filters > Transform filters and make sure that H264/DXVA is ticked.

Also check your renderer (Playback > Output)

"DXVA is quite picky, so if you want to use it you have to respect those rules :

Windows XP users, select Overlay Mixer, VMR7, VMR9 or VMR9 renderless
Vista users, select EVR or EVR custom renderer"

Random

i dont have H264/DXVA in the list.

Voodu Child

Is it an old version of MPC? Did you get it on it's own or with a codec pack (and same question re: the codecs, are they very old?)

As an alternative to the above, try installing the latest version of VLC, it's self contained so it won't mess with any codecs or splitters. Then go:
Tools > Preferences > Input & Codecs > Use GPU acceleration

Random

mpchc is 1.5.0.2827. im not sure where i got it. i also have mpc. one of them would have come with a codec pack. i have similiar problems with vlc as i do with mpc. im starting to wonder if its a graphics card issue. some files play and some freeze and crash my pc.

Fysh

What sort of filesize:duration ratio are we talking here? I've found issues like you describe with what I would consider "standard definition" (circa 8MB per minute) on an Atom processor, so it's possible you're just pushing your CPU beyond its limits.

You're not going to have a great deal of L2 cache and it's worth remembering that if you're dealing with a Socket 939 Athlon you're using a 7-year-old CPU. (The good news is that if you spend a bit of time going through this list to find suitable upgrades you may be able to get one quite cheaply on ebay).

I'd also suggest bumping the RAM in that unit if you can get the DDR for cheap (not a given these days, it was cheap as chips a couple of years back but has been climbing for a while again due to scarcity).

What graphics card are you using?

Random

we're maybe talking 45-60 mins and anywhere from 400-1200meg.

this is what i got now (from xfire):
AMD Athlon(tm) 64 Processor 3500+, MMX, 3DNow, ~2.2GHz
2048MB RAM
NVIDIA GeForce 8600 GT
Realtek AC97 Audio
Windows XP Home Edition (5.1, Build 2600) Service Pack 3 (2600.xpsp_sp3_gdr.101209-1647)

Cuddlesworth

Your cpu isn't capable of playing Hd codecs.

Voodu Child

Provided you are offloading the video decoding to a GPU then the processor should be fairly irrelevant, within reason.

in MPC-HC, can you check if it says 'Playing [DXVA]' under the video while its playing (make sure view>status is enabled to see it).

If DXVA is not working it'll just say 'Playing'.

Fysh

VLC 1.1.0 has added GPU acceleration according to this but it seems it only works on Vista or 7.

My home desktop is a similar era to yours - the best thing you could do is check which socket your CPU uses and look around on ebay for an upgrade. I'd also consider bumping your RAM while you're at it, though before you spend money on it you should consider how much longer you'll plan to use this machine and OS before replacing it.

Cuddlesworth

Voodu Child wrote: »

Provided you are offloading the video decoding to a GPU then the processor should be fairly irrelevant, within reason.

in MPC-HC, can you check if it says 'Playing [DXVA]' under the video while its playing (make sure view>status is enabled to see it).

If DXVA is not working it'll just say 'Playing'.

Within reason. But its a low end single core proc from 7-8 years ago. Even with GPU offloading he would still see 100% cpu usage when playing Hd files.

Voodu Child

Cuddlesworth wrote: »

Within reason. But its a low end single core proc from 7-8 years ago. Even with GPU offloading he would still see 100% cpu usage when playing Hd files.

I've played full Bluray content on a single-core 1.6GHz Atom (with Nvidia gpu). You're talking 30Mbps 1080p content. CPU rarely goes past 30-40%. All the CPU is doing is shunting data around and decoding the audio.

With regular 1080p rips (8-14Mbps) it is lower still, rarely past 20%.

I don't know how the Atom compares to this particular AMD but considering the OP is only playing 4Mbps content (1.2GB/40min) then the CPU should not be a problem.

Fysh

Voodu Child wrote: »

I've played full Bluray content on a single-core 1.6GHz Atom (with Nvidia gpu). You're talking 30Mbps 1080p content. CPU rarely goes past 30-40%. All the CPU is doing is shunting data around and decoding the audio.

With regular 1080p rips (8-14Mbps) it is lower still, rarely past 20%.

I don't know how the Atom compares to this particular AMD but considering the OP is only playing 4Mbps content (1.2GB/40min) then the CPU should not be a problem.

Yeah, that's well and good if you're using a pretty good GPU that's fully supported on your platform for this sort of work.

The Geforce 8600 GT is not a particularly high-end GPU, certainly not by current standards - it's 4 years old and didn't get especially good reviews when it was released. Expecting it to shore up the performance of a 6-7 year old CPU when it comes to HD decoding for media playback is to set yourself up for disappointment.

Voodu Child

Fysh wrote: »

Yeah, that's well and good if you're using a pretty good GPU that's fully supported on your platform for this sort of work.

The Geforce 8600 GT is not a particularly high-end GPU, certainly not by current standards - it's 4 years old and didn't get especially good reviews when it was released. Expecting it to shore up the performance of a 6-7 year old CPU when it comes to HD decoding for media playback is to set yourself up for disappointment.

You don't need a high end GPU to decode H264.

I play 1080p H264 on an Atom/Ion setup. The Nvidia Ion is a 9400M (mobile class) with 16 cores/shaders and clocked very low.

The OP has a 8600GT (desktop class) with 32 cores. Its clocked miles higher and easily three or four times as powerful, more bandwidth, the works. It should be able to decode a whole rake of full HD streams simultaneously without even breaking a sweat.

Clearly it isn't working in this case but the problem is likely software or setup rather than hardware.

Cuddlesworth

Voodu Child wrote: »

You don't need a high end GPU to decode H264.

I play 1080p H264 on an Atom/Ion setup. The Nvidia Ion is a 9400M (mobile class) with 16 cores/shaders and clocked very low.

The OP has a 8600GT (desktop class) with 32 cores. Its clocked miles higher and easily three or four times as powerful, more bandwidth, the works. It should be able to decode a whole rake of full HD streams simultaneously without even breaking a sweat.

Clearly it isn't working in this case but the problem is likely software or setup rather than hardware.

Acer? That platform is set up to do just that, play videos. Most of the 1.6ghz atoms are on par if not better then the AMD 3500+ and have better Instructional sets and better chipsets. He would be rocking a ancient southbridge using AGP bus, your on pci-express. Your hard-drive for your paging is undoubtedly faster as well. Your gfx is newer with more features, its not just about speed and core count. At the end of the day, a seven+ year old desktop is not even comparable to a bottom end desktop from today.

Random

so we're saying i'll continue to have problems with high quality files until i basically buy a new pc?

Voodu Child

Random wrote: »

so we're saying i'll continue to have problems with high quality files until i basically buy a new pc?

No. Your PC is fine but you need to get DXVA working.

Cuddlesworth

Random wrote: »

so we're saying i'll continue to have problems with high quality files until i basically buy a new pc?

No, but you need to drop XP and get Win7 or a new variation of Linux so you can offload video rendering to the gfx card. But your machine is EOL and you should be aware of that. Some light reading from five years ago

http://forums.nvidia.com/index.php?showtopic=21100

cuppa

Check your heat sink for dust, and scan you hard drive for errors and defrag it and clean your PC with ccleaner. Just sounds a bit weird when you said your mouse is freezing.

Voodu Child

As a last resort you could try CoreAVC.

Firstly apart from GPU acceleration using DXVA 1/2, it also supports CUDA, so if there is some technical reason why DXVA can't work on your system you still might be able to use CUDA to offload the decoding (video decoding is basically number crunching). VLC only supports DXVA2 so that might be a reason why you can't get it working currently.

Second, even if both forms of GPU-assisted decoding don't work, the CoreAVC software decoder is very efficient, much more so than any other H264 decoder I know of. So it might bring your CPU useage down somewhat to a point where you can play the videos you are trying to.

Overheal

cuppa wrote: »

Check your heat sink for dust, and scan you hard drive for errors and defrag it and clean your PC with ccleaner. Just sounds a bit weird when you said your mouse is freezing.

If the CPU gets bottlenecked there's nothing left to move the mouse with.

I suggest a retail license of windows 7. Not an upgrade license, if you do the upgrade license you're trapping 7 onto that PC. Because it only upgrades the xp oem license to 7 oem. The retail ver you can port over to the new machine whenever you get one.

Random

id love to buy windows 7 but tis expensive!

conor.hogan.2

Random wrote: »

id love to buy windows 7 but tis expensive!

Well I would look into a Linux distro, post in the Linux forum to ask them which would be best to suit your needs.