Comskip Support Forum

How can I change the priority when running Comskip?

Comskip defaults to "Low" priority. I have a quad core, and would like to run at a higher priority level, such as "Normal" or "AboveNormal". Is it possible to change the default "Low" priority with a line in the ini file or with a command line switch?

Dave

What OS are you running?
On windows 7 or Vista comskip will do IO throttling to prevent too much disk IO when NOT in live_tv mode
Better first try to enable live_tv mode to see if its running on max speed now

I am using Windows XP. Comskip defaults at "Low" priority of the six process levels that can be set:

Realtime
High
AboveNormal
Normal
BelowNormal
Low

I have a quad core, so I shouldn't need to default to "Low" priority. I just need to know how to change the default from "Low" priority to something else, like "Normal" priority.

Dave

Comskip should use all remaining available processor time of the core its running on.
Do you see something else?
Its currently not possible to change the priority

I was thinking that if Comskip could run at "Normal" priority instead of "Low" priority, then the run times would be faster.

Here's what I do to check the priority status:

Launch the Windows Task Manager (control-shift-escape)
Left click on the "processes" tab
Right click on the Comskip process
Hover over the "Set Priority" option

You will then see that Comskip defaults to the "Low" priority level.

I have tested priority levels before for other things, and the run times are longer with the "Low" priority verses "Normal" priority. However, if can be a benefit to run at "Low" priority if the task consumes the computer too much, severely reducing other task's performance severely. For example, if a task is consuming the computer too much, opening a web browser might take many minutes.

I ran a test with Comskip on a i-7 950 quad core, 3.06 gigs. The computer is running other things that SageTV does, transcoding video files from mpeg to AVI. So, the test is not as controlled as it would be on another similar computer with less tasks running.

The test file was from HGTV, recorded in HD. The program was 60 minutes in length and 3,704 megs in size. I did two timings, one where I manually switch the Comskip priority level from "Low" to "Normal", the other where I left the Comskip priority level at "Low". The file was a TS file, and the -t switch was not used.

The time to run Comskip at "Normal" priority was 1 hour, 14 minutes, 37 seconds.
The time to run Comskip at "Low" priority was 1 hour, 16 minutes, 37 seconds.

So, it took Comskip 2 minutes longer to run at "Low" priority, which does not turn out to be a lot longer.

I could also run the tests on another nearly identical computer without SageTV to determine what difference is made. Another test could be done on a mpeg file instead. The processing time for the TS file seems very long. I don't know if that is a typical processing time for a TS file.

I was thinking that maybe if the priority level could be increased, then the processing time would decrease, but in this case, it looks like changing the priority level isn't gong to help much. Maybe many instances of Comskip need to be run at the same time, otherwise, Comskip would never be able to keep up with the programs that are being recorded.

Dave

Some slowdown when running comskip at low priority is expected and the level you measure seems ok.
Maybe I can make the priority configurable but there are high priority issues to look at