[MEncoder-users] How to best optimise the CPU load while grabbing

[Levente Novák]

I have the following problem: I would like to decrease the CPU load on
my system wile grabbing from v4l2, without having to buy a new mobo/CPU.
I have actually a Celeron D 3.06 MHz, 512 MB of DDR2 533 MHz RAM and a
SATA I hard drive. Target format would be raw DV (if only it would work
under MEncoder...), or DV Avi,or MPEG2, both interlaced.

As I noticed, the memory usage is only about 50%, with a CPU load of
80-90% or occasionally even more. IIRC buying more memory is not of much
help above 512 KB. MEncoder's default memory usage is dynamic, but does
it help if I allocate manually more for its buffers? Conversely, does an
increase in bttv's video grab buffers' number help in decreasing the CPU
load? Does MEncoder have some non-default settings which would improve
the situation?

Levente