USB-UIRT Forum

by **JayCee** » Fri Mar 28, 2003 7:22 am

I have the USBUIRT on a Athlon 700 system running XP Pro. I also have/had the UIRT II from Luc and I'm using the StreamZap Remote and it's receiver.

When I have plugged in the USB UIRT, my computer starts behaving bad:

- StreamSicle starts skipping it's streamed music
- ShowShifter that I use for TV viewing / recording is so slow, that it's dropping frames when watchin live TV, and it's impossible to record

As soon as I unplug the USB UIRT everything returns back to normal *immediately*

To mee that looks like the driver is gobbling up CPU time (critical priority? Ring 0?) at an alarming rate.

Any suggestions? Or a new driver?

thanks
jc[/url]

by **jrhees** » Sat Mar 29, 2003 12:19 am

Jc,

IF you see these problems when the USB-UIRT is simply plugged in, but BEFORE you've launched Girder (i.e., the USB-UIRT is not actually being accessed), then this is a problem (which has been reported with other USB devices) with the USB host interface/driver on your system.

When Girder is not running, the USB-UIRT is not even active (i.e., zero USB traffic).

Please check to see if this is the case.

-Jon

P.S. If this is indeed the case, the next thing you can try is going into device manager and going to the USB-UIRT device and choosing properties and then *disable* the device (but leave it plugged in). Your result will be an interesting data point.

BTW - I've heard reports of this before (Showshifter/DVD playback/etc.) with certain systems and other USB peripherals like printers, mice, etc.

by **JayCee** » Sat Mar 29, 2003 2:54 pm

Hi Jon

I'm out of town for two days and will check thos things when I get back on monday.

Girder was running at that time.

I haven't had similar problems with other USB devices on that machine:
- StreamZap Remote
- Logitech Gamepad
- Logitech Wireless Keyboard/Mouse
- TDK Bluetooth

I'll let you know

cu jc

by **Jeff Bell** » Tue Apr 08, 2003 1:37 pm

Jon:

I've noticed this as well, on a PIII 850 machine. Here's what I've found:

a) Girder not running - no video/audio skipping in PowerDVD
b) Girder running, input devices disabled - no video/audio skipping
c) Girder running, input devices enabled - audio/video skips every 5 secs or so.

Interestingly enough, I see no "jitter" or other problems in Dscaler when the UIRT/Girder is enabled, and Dscaler gobbles up a WHOLE bunch more CPU than PowerDVD does.

Hope this extra data point provides some additional insight,

Cheers!

Jeff

by **Jeff Bell** » Tue Apr 08, 2003 1:40 pm

[sorry - double post]

by **jrhees** » Tue Apr 08, 2003 8:25 pm

Both of you, if you get a chance...

Can you pull up Task Manager and tell me what CPU usage you see from Girder with/without devices enabled? Also, what OS are you running?

Thanks,

Jon

by **Jeff Bell** » Wed Apr 09, 2003 11:40 pm

I'll do that tonight and post definitively.

Just off the top of my head though - I think I remember that Girder's overall CPU usage was very low, even with devices enabled. It was "jumping" around in the Task Manager quite a bit though - up in CPU usage, down, but overall, had a low CPU usage level.

Again, I'll double check tonight,

Cheers!

Jeff

by **JayCee** » Fri May 09, 2003 7:32 pm

I have upgraded to the 5.4 firmware, 2.5.6 plugin and 1.2 driver.

Girder is 3.2.9

I'm using MediaCenter 9.172 for playback of MP3. When Girder runs, the music is totally garbled. As soon as I close Girder the music plays flawless.

CPU usage with Girder on:
MediaJukebox: 40-50% (playing music)
Girder: 0%

Anything else I can help you with?

cu jc

by **Guest** » Sat May 10, 2003 2:52 am

Ive been using the USB-UIRT under a tweaked Linux driver that I compiled and am not seeing anything funky with the hardware at the USB level. Does exactly what I would expect it to.

I would say it is definitely a Girder software problem.

by **jrhees** » Sun May 11, 2003 1:29 am

Jaycee,

I wish I could duplicate this problem. My primary machine for testing the USB-UIRT is my 'ol HTPC crammed into a Sony CD player chassis which is a 400 MHz PII (full software DVD decoding, too). From a programming standpoint the Girder plugin for the USB-UIRT runs a separate thread waiting on any received data from the USB-UIRT. I wonder if somehow that thread is causing grief???

-Jon

by **Dman** » Mon May 19, 2003 1:31 pm

I think I have something that may help. I recently experienced the same symptoms after installing the VIA Latenecy Patch at http://download.viahardware.com/vlatency_v019.zip.

Before I installed this patch my computer was basically idle when with USBUIRT/Girder running. After I installed it I was running at about 30% CPU. I removed the patch and everything returned to normal.

Hope this helps.

David

by **jrhees** » Mon May 19, 2003 5:19 pm

Thanks! I think I have a via-based athlon system sitting around here somewhere. Do you have a link to the patch?

-Jon

by **Guest** » Mon May 19, 2003 8:01 pm

Here it is.

http://download.viahardware.com/vlatency_v019.zip

by **Jeff Bell** » Wed May 28, 2003 1:14 am

Unfortunately, I get this problem on a non-AMD system. I'm running an ancient PIII 850 machine. The UIRT with DScaler causes no problems (and DScaler grabs TONS of CPU time), but I consistantly get audio dropouts in PowerDVD. Very strange.

PS: I gotta say though - this is still one of my most favourite HW mods - my wife loves it, and she doesn't even know it - I've got the PIII driving our home theatre system with an el cheapo remote, and it's very, very intuitive. Love it!

Cheers,

Jeff

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