[MPlayer-users] Process X using too much CPU

[Jonathan Rogers]

Dirk wrote:
> What is the X process doing? The answer could help me to identify the
> problem.

Well, I know I'm just repeating myself, but the X process could be doing 
the colospace conversion and scaling. I've observed this on a machine 
with cheap onboard video. The XFree driver for the card supports Xv, but 
the X process uses quite a bit of CPU time while playing a DVD.

The result was that the overall CPU usage playing a DVD was about the 
same on my Duron 800 machine with an Nvidia Vanta as it was on an Athlon 
(about 1400) machine with the onboard video. However, on my Duron 800 
machine, almost all of the CPU time was spent in the DVD player app, 
while on the other machine, a significant percentage was spent in the X 
server process. I can't remember what type of video chip was on the 
other machine, but I think it was either SiS or Intel i810.

But, you said there was a change from the way things used to work, so 
the hardware probably is capable of doing the grunt work. It could be 
that you just have some incorrect value in the XF86Config file which is 
not allowing hardware acceleration to be used. The developer of the SiS 
driver should be able to tell you whether hardware acceleration is used 
and how to ensure it's enabled.

Check if there is more than one driver module for your chip. For Nvidia 
chips, for instance, there is the "nv" driver included with XFree, and 
the proprietary "nvidia" driver from Nvidia. I only use the proprietary 
one because the Free one doesn't provide Xv or OpenGL for the Vanta chip.

Jonathan Rogers