[lug] dvd::rip and transcode

[Ed Hill]

On Tue, 2002-05-14 at 17:11, D. Stimits wrote:
> j davis wrote:
> > 
> > has been running for 13 hours and claming another 15 is still needed. Is
> > this normal?
> > dvd::rip and transcode are also deinterlacing and running "nice 10". Is it
> > the nice 10 that is killing me? I have looked at the chapters that are
> > already done...look good and they work!
> 
> Can't say for sure, but you are doing cpu-intense work, and telling it
> to offer almost no cpu time to the task. With audio/video, you would
> actually be risking gaps if the app doesn't know how to deal with it.
> I'd be tempted to run it at -1, and just try it out.


I don't do dvd ripping so I have no idea what typical times are...

However, I can say that if you have only *one* cpu-bound process running
on your system then the priority will have a negligible effect on the
cumulative time it takes the process to complete.  So ignore Dan's
advice.  Go ahead and run your ripper with normal or even nice-ed
priority.  If you are simultaneously using the machine for interactive
tasks (email, web browsing, whatever), then running the process with a
lower priority (as you did) is generally a good idea as it will tend to
improve system responsiveness for interactive tasks.

The reason why priority has essentially no effect in this case is
because, given just only one cpu-bound process, there is no significant
competition for the cpu cycles.

hth,
Ed


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