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Always slow frame rate and low cpu
https://forum.ipisoft.com/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=5099		 Page 1 of 2
Author:  erikparr [ Tue Jun 07, 2011 7:39 am ]
Post subject:  Always slow frame rate and low cpu
Hello,

I am trying the demo version and I am finding it impossible to use the software on a couple of machines. The machine I am trying with now has on avg 10-12 fps, just when using ipi recorder. The cpu seems to be very low, so i dont see why the slowdown. Is my computer really too slow to use this? Can anyone suggest some causes to the problem?

Here are my specs:
Dual Core AMD Opterion Processor 285 - 2.61 GHz (dual)
8 GB RAM
Windows 7 - 32 bit

Thanks in advance for any help!

best,
erik
Author:  Michael Nikonov [ Tue Jun 07, 2011 7:46 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Always slow frame rate and low cpu
What cameras do you use and how many of them?
Author:  erikparr [ Tue Jun 07, 2011 8:58 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Always slow frame rate and low cpu
Sorry, I use 1 kinect.

Thanks again.
Author:  Greenlaw [ Tue Jun 07, 2011 11:34 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Always slow frame rate and low cpu
Are you saving to the system drive or a secondary data drive? It's recommended that you save to a second drive, preferably a very fast one.

But if your system drive is an SSD, that should be okay I think.
Author:  Michael Nikonov [ Tue Jun 07, 2011 2:05 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Always slow frame rate and low cpu
Recording from Kinect should work fine with slow CPU and regular HDD.

Most probably this is a driver issue.

http://www.ipisoft.com/en/wiki/index.ph ... ith_Kinect

You may need to delete old driver, then uninstall and re-install iPiRecorder.
Author:  erikparr [ Wed Jun 08, 2011 9:24 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Always slow frame rate and low cpu
Thanks for the replies.

I am just recording to the hard drive, but i dont think the external drive is the issue. The framerate is slow even when i am not recording. Also, the driver is up to date. I think my computer specs seem reasonable for this, but fps is always like 4 fps even when i´m not recording. Whether I´m recording or not seems to have no effect on the frame rate.

Any other ideas to the cause?
Author:  Greenlaw [ Wed Jun 08, 2011 10:11 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Always slow frame rate and low cpu
Michael Nikonov wrote:
Recording from Kinect should work fine with slow CPU and regular HDD.

For iPi DMC with Kinect, I'm currently using my an old duo core laptop and I need to use a external eSATA 'mini-RAID' (two 7200 rpm laptop drives) to get a sustained high capture rate. That said, this is a first generation duo core laptop, so it's pretty old. (I think it's about five years old now, maybe going on six.) Just to be sure, I'll reinstall and make sure the drivers are all okay.

Alternatively, I'll plug the Kinect to my Tablet PC tonight using a regular external USB drive for recording and see what happens. The Tablet is also a duo core computer but it's newer and much faster than the laptop; the downside is that, unlike the laptop, I can't use eSATA or Firewire with it. But if this works using a standard USB drive, that would be good because theTablet is a whole lot smaller and lighter than my laptop, making the system that much more portable.

Thanks for the tip Michael. :)
Author:  Greenlaw [ Wed Jun 08, 2011 11:20 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Always slow frame rate and low cpu
Followup to my last post:

Tonight I tried iPi Kinect with my Tablet PC. When recording to an external USB drive (7200 rpm) I experienced the same problem I ran into with my old laptop when recording to an external USB drive. Recording speed is sustained up until about 37 seconds, when IO drops suddenly. This happens with the drive plugged into any of the three available USB ports. Recording to USB data storage is apparently not fast enough when recording with this computer.

Now, here's the part that surprised me: I tried recording directly into the User folder on the system drive (a Seagate SATA 3GBs 7200 rpm drive, the only drive inside this Tablet PC,) and iPi Recorder was able to sustain full recording speed without dropping frames for over two minutes. It showed no sign of stopping on its own so I stopped the test.

Additional note: The Tablet PC's processor is Duo Core Intel U9600 1.60 GHz. Respectable for a Tablet PC but not especially fast.

Next, I'll try recording some actual mocap for tracking with the Tablet PC.

Even though this seems sucessful, I'll most likely go back to using the old laptop with the eSATA mini-RAID because I just realized that I need this Tablet PC to play back reference video and audio while I'm recording with the laptop. But maybe my tests tonight will help some other iPi Kinect users.

Will post more of my findings later.

G.
Author:  erikparr [ Thu Jun 09, 2011 4:03 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Always slow frame rate and low cpu
Thanks for the replies.

I am just recording to the hard drive, but i dont think the external drive is the issue. The framerate is slow even when i am not recording. Also, the driver is up to date. I think my computer specs seem reasonable for this, but fps is always like 4 fps even when i´m not recording. Whether I´m recording or not seems to have no effect on the frame rate.

Am I really the only one having these persistent frame rate issues? Is a dual core 2.61 processor really not enough to handle this? If not, perhaps having it detailed in the system requirements would be advisable.

erik
Author:  Michael Nikonov [ Thu Jun 09, 2011 6:25 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Always slow frame rate and low cpu
I don't think the problem is related to your CPU. iPiRecorder writes uncompressed Kinect videos so CPU usage should be very low even with a single-core CPU.

This looks very much like a driver problem or a cable problem.

Try attaching your Kinect to different USB port. Or try it on another computer.

Are you absolutely sure your driver is up to date? What driver info do you see in Device Manager?

Do you see high CPU usage when previewing Kinect data in iPiRecorder? If yes then this is most certainly a problem with wrong Kinect driver.

Do you write to external USB drive? If yes then your USB bus may be a bottleneck. You may need to disconnect all USB devices except for Kinect to avoid lack of USB bandwidth problems.
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