CPU high, losing cams on 5.2.5.4

hex52

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Updated to 5.2.5.7 and switched to Intel, CPU and GPU back to "normal"
 

m_listed

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On 5.2.5.8 and getting abysmal performance. It was the same in 5.2.5.7, but it was as good as ever in 5.2.5.6 and below. I thought Intel+VPP was supposed to be a backward compatibility option?

Here's some average GPU usages I'm seeing (Intel Graphics 630 -- i7 7700K):

BI version — DecoderGPU Video Decode usage, idleGPU 3D usage, idleGPU Video Decode usage, playbackGPU 3D usage, playback
pre-5.2.5.6 — Intel+VPP35%18%50%30%
5.2.5.8 — Intel+VPP65%18%100%30%
5.2.5.8 — Intel65%18%100%30%
5.2.5.8 — Intel Beta40%100%Playback doesn't workPlayback doesn't work
CPU usage hasn't decreased to compensate for the increased GPU usage. It's the same as pre-5.2.5.6. Playback used to be nice and smooth up to and including 8x, but now it's choppy, unusable even at 2x (and noticeably choppy even at 1x) with all decoders in 5.2.5.8. In the new Intel Beta, the CPU and the GPU 3D decoding is 100% even in idle.
 
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m_listed

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Reverting back to 5.2.5.6 (or 5.2.5.5, or .4, or .3) didn't undo the problem. I finally reverted to 5.2.5.1 and it didn't work at first, but suddenly after playing back a video, the Video Decode usage fell from 65% to the normal 35% idle and 50% 4x playback. Whew
 

m_listed

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Okay, the doubled GPU is back after a restart, even on 5.2.5.1. It seems reverting the updates doesn't fully get rid of the buggy new hardware decoding profile. Not sure what to do. Still messed up in 5.2.5.9 as well.
 

fenderman

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Okay, the doubled GPU is back after a restart, even on 5.2.5.1. It seems reverting the updates doesn't fully get rid of the buggy new hardware decoding profile. Not sure what to do. Still messed up in 5.2.5.9 as well.
I installed .9 yesterday and its working well. Try a full reinstall.
 

pozzello

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I also am on 5.2.5.9 now and all is well. I also went thru all of my cams and made sure they had the right settings for D2D and HW decoding. Found a few that were not optimal from testing & replacing cams.
 

bp2008

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I'm also seeing some performance issues in 5.2.5.9. I don't have "Also BVR" checked for anything, yet it seems to be using hardware acceleration for clip playback and also blowing CPU usage way out of proportion during playback and dropping frames. Same on 5.2.5.3 though.
 
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pozzello

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er, yeah, what he said. i do see less smooth live view in the console and playback than i remember from before 5.2.5.
but at least things are back in line to where they were on 5.2.5.3.
had some rough spots in between there, tho that dust seems to have settled somewhat...
 

m_listed

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Hmmm, not looking forward to a complete reinstall. But I might have to pull the trigger. I still don't understand why reverting to an earlier version didn't fix the problem though...
 

fenderman

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Hmmm, not looking forward to a complete reinstall. But I might have to pull the trigger. I still don't understand why reverting to an earlier version didn't fix the problem though...
No idea. If you backup your settings and have the licensing key you can do a complete uninstall/reboot/reinstall in about 5 min or less.
 

m_listed

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No idea. If you backup your settings and have the licensing key you can do a complete uninstall/reboot/reinstall in about 5 min or less.
I thought just restoring the settings would also restore the problem. The screenshot-and-recreate method was coming to mind. But this sounds easier so I'll try that first.

Anyone got a 5.2.5.3 full install executable though? :)
 

fenderman

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I thought just restoring the settings would also restore the problem. The screenshot-and-recreate method was coming to mind. But this sounds easier so I'll try that first.

Anyone got a 5.2.5.3 full install executable though? :)
I would just try reinstalling .9. Mine is running fine so it may be one of the middle updates screwed something up.
 

m_listed

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Thanks, that seems simpler.

But here's an interesting bit for you guys. I left my reverted 5.2.5.1 alone for a few hours with its bad GPU performance, and I came back and GPU usage had suddenly fallen back to normal levels. I tried playing back some stuff, and it went up to its normal playback levels, no stuttering.

Half an hour later, I come back and see that idle Intel GPU usage has gone back up to 65%-ish, which usually means playback is going to make it hit 100% and be horrible. So I try playing back some video from the app and UI3... and GPU usage actually falls. I'm getting 8x, 20 fps, perfect playback, and the GPU usage is actually falling a few percent points from idle. And when I'm open the live feed, the GPU doesn't budge one bit.

Screen Shot 2020-04-20 at 2.23.44 AM.png

I don't know what to make of it. Wild. It can't be offloading it to CPU, because CPU usage doesn't rise very much and CPU fastforwarded playback is never this smooth anyway. It's not like quitting processing the live feed, I can open it up on another device and see it as smooth as ever while I'm playing back.

I'm sure there's a very simple explanation for this, but I've never had performance this good before. I can play 4MP 20fps at 16x from the iPhone app almost without dropping frames, which I could never do before. It's just so ethereal...
 
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m_listed

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Solved after a complete reinstall of 5.2.6.1 from scratch. Back to the old, good usage.
 

WSCam

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Solved after a complete reinstall of 5.2.6.1 from scratch. Back to the old, good usage.
I've noticed before that a fresh reinstall helps. Which made me look at some registry entries used by the software to see what was different.

In some cases (and this was a few years ago so I don't remember the details) there must have been some version in-between that set some configuration entry different, and then maybe future versions changed it back or something, but only on a fresh install. Meanwhile, that registry entry remained in a (now) non-default state which caused whatever.

I vaguely remember in my case it had something to do with an audio setting on particular cameras. Existing cameras couldn't play audio, but if I re-added it using the exact same camera settings, it worked fine. Comparing the two showed a slight difference.

Anyway, it could be something like that.

I'm wondering in general how reliable it is to simply re-install the update EXE for a previous version? Besides the handful of EXE files that are in the update, I'm guessing there are also some registry changes made - changes to default behavior which might not switch back when you downgrade? I would guess there's some mechanism for version control, because people wouldn't be expected to install interim updates from 5.1 all the way up to the latest 5.2.6.1, so each update would include any other non-file changes (if there are any). Maybe it really is only the files, and there's no other registry things happening? That'd be good... I just always wondered if downgrading was really the exact same thing as if you installed that older version from scratch.

I guess when in doubt, reinstall using the full installer for whatever version, which is what I've done when I got myself into a jam. it usually helps, as long as I'm going back to a known-stable version. The new update features in 5.2.6.0 should help in that regard.
 
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