Odd method to speed up imports from CD

[klanctot]

I don't know why, but I have by chance found that clicking and holding the left-mouse button on the title bar of the progress box (Importing Track # / Writing KMA) speeds up imports by at least 4 to 1 on my computer. I am on Hoster 4.09. I would be curious to know if anyone else has the same results. The particular disks were Chartbuster essentials 450 series.

[RandyMcCharles]

I have seen the same thing on all versions of Hoster over the past year. I have not used this method, however, as I suspect it aborts read retires or other events that may result in a poorer copy of the lyrics. I am glad you mentioned it, however, as this is just a guess on my part. I have also noticed that if importing gets really slow, rebooting the computer usually corrects the problem. Normally I would think this is because Hoster is losing system resources after multiple imports, but XP utilities don't indicate shrinking memory, so I'm a bit baffled.

[ddouglass]

I agree that it may be bypassing some of the processing or error correcting. This may not be a good thing. MTU is going to check into this.

Randy,
Randy you are correct that after a long session of importing the computer will slow down. This is because the virtual memory is getting filled up. When this happens it takes longer for Windows to determine where to put the new data. By rebooting it clears the virtual memory.

[RandyMcCharles]

Ah. Virtual memory. Task Manager does a horrible job of reporting performance degradation due to virtual memory bottlenecks. Just as it reports Sytem Idle Process using 85% if the CPU when the CPU grinds to a halt (because Microsoft, antivirus vendors, etc. don't wnat to tell you it is their applications that are the bottleneck). Glad to know rebooting is the correct action.

[ddouglass]

Microsoft's first rule has always been if there is a problem "Reboot"

[admin]

Interesting, to say the least. However, we can't duplicate your results. We timed accurately and only got a variance of about 4 seconds out of 29 (first) to 25 (second to eighth). The first may have cleaned off some debris on the disc?

1. Can you give us a 1. 2. 3... steps you do to get this?

2. What CD/DVD Drive are you using?

3. What Windows are you using?

4. How much RAM do you have in your computer?

[RandyMcCharles]

Windows XP
Lite-On CD/DVD drive
Unfortunately the computer only allows 1 GB of RAM. (I have ordered a Hoster Notebook from MTU, so will only be using this computer for a couple more weeks.)

I have only tried clicking on the title bar of the Progress Window when the system has slowed down due to Virtual memory being bottlenecked after already reading a bunch of CDGs (for hours) so this would not be fun to replicate. I would assume that if the reading has not slowed down that clicking on the progress bar would have no effect as it is already progresssing.

This makes me wonder if perhaps clicking on the window somehow raises the process priority and helps Windows flush some virtual memory for it to continue. When I did try this in the past I would see the progress bar not progessing at all, I'd click and hold and it would start progressing, I'd stop clicking and it would freeze again, repeat...

Another thing I remember. If I closed other apps the windows would briefly show progress and then freeze again, so I do wonder if clicking does somehow increase the read/write priority and brute force its way through the virtual memory.

[marklwood]

I would suspect video memory involvement. When you click on the title bar it is usually to move the window. That freezes the redraw of that window freeing up resources. Is this a shared memory video card? Is windows handling the resources for that?

[RandyMcCharles]

I am at work and my Hoster computer is at home, so I can't check right now, but I suspect it is shared memory and that may be the problem. It is a DELL home desktop and DELL did the more cost-effective integration for them, including on-motherboard video card.

[klanctot]

1. Can you give us a 1. 2. 3... steps you do to get this?
a. Start import CD
b. Use online lookup or local to fill in titles, no difference
c. Check all songs
d. Click Next ID
e. Left speed blank, setting to max no different
f. Start import
g. Import taking about 3-4 minutes per track
h. Click and hold on title bar, speeds up 4x or more on both the import and the KMA write
i. Release near end of KMA write
j. Repeat with next track
2. What CD/DVD Drive are you using?
OPTIARC DVD/RW AD-7190A (Purchased from MTU about a year ago)
3. What Windows are you using?
XP Professional (SP3)
4. How much RAM do you have in your computer?
2GB
Video is RADEON 9550 with dual ports. Not using built-in video or ram
CPU is 2ghz Pentium single-core
Norton Internet Security, disabling entirely makes slight difference

[admin]

Originally Posted by klanctot

1. Can you give us a 1. 2. 3... steps you do to get this?
a. Start import CD
b. Use online lookup or local to fill in titles, no difference
c. Check all songs
d. Click Next ID
e. Left speed blank, setting to max no different
f. Start import
g. Import taking about 3-4 minutes per track
h. Click and hold on title bar, speeds up 4x or more on both the import and the KMA write
i. Release near end of KMA write
j. Repeat with next track
2. What CD/DVD Drive are you using?
OPTIARC DVD/RW AD-7190A (Purchased from MTU about a year ago)
3. What Windows are you using?
XP Professional (SP3)
4. How much RAM do you have in your computer?
2GB
Video is RADEON 9550 with dual ports. Not using built-in video or ram
CPU is 2ghz Pentium single-core
Norton Internet Security, disabling entirely makes slight difference

Thank you for this data.

We'll try to decipher what might be going on. The problem is we can't re-create this.

We will study the code to see if Hoster could cause this, or is it a "Windows thing" that we can't control.

[RandyMcCharles]

CLANCTOT, have you played back the tracks to see if they were recorded on the hard drive OK?

[klanctot]

Randy,
The files that I sampled when this happens on import have all checked out fine. Programming-wise, I wonder if it is a side-effect of a system-modal or always-on-top window vs an regular application-modal window?