My question is pretty basic. When watching things on Netflix at 3000 kb/s bitrate, which my specs and bandwidth can most definitely support, my CPU usage goes up to 40% and hovers, give or take 5%. It's an FX-8350, and 40% of that is a hell of a lot of juice for just Netflix. Watching Youtube videos at the newly unlocked (or supported on Youtube, rather) 1440p takes less than 5. Why is this? Is something weird going on?
Netflix (or Microsoft Silverlight) has unusually high CPU usage?
- Thread starter IHazABone
- Start date
jay2577
Honorable
- Jun 17, 2012
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- It looks like adaptive streaming is not HW accelerated (Netflix and other content providers are using adaptive streaming)
- It looks like DRM protected content is not HW accelerated (again content providers are using DRM)
- It looks like the problem is even worse on Mac, especially when Silverlight is not running in fullscreen mode - probably HW acceleration is worse or doesn't work at all
- It looks like non accelerated decoding utilises only single CPU core so even powerful computers can have a problem with decoding super HD content
You might want to read this
With the release of Windows 8.1 Preview, Netflix now supports streaming over HTML5 instead of Microsoft’s proprietary Silverlight plug-in. The caveat is that only Internet Explorer 11, which is bundled with Windows 8.1, supports the necessary HTML5 extensions; if you’re a Firefox or Chrome user, you’ll continue to use the Silverlight plug-in. In our initial testing, the switch to HTML5 sees a massive reduction in CPU usage — about one third of Silverlight’s CPU usage.
http://www.extremetech.com/computing/159960-netflix-switches-from-silverlight-to-html5-in-windows-8-1-reduces-cpu-usage-dramatically
- It looks like DRM protected content is not HW accelerated (again content providers are using DRM)
- It looks like the problem is even worse on Mac, especially when Silverlight is not running in fullscreen mode - probably HW acceleration is worse or doesn't work at all
- It looks like non accelerated decoding utilises only single CPU core so even powerful computers can have a problem with decoding super HD content
You might want to read this
With the release of Windows 8.1 Preview, Netflix now supports streaming over HTML5 instead of Microsoft’s proprietary Silverlight plug-in. The caveat is that only Internet Explorer 11, which is bundled with Windows 8.1, supports the necessary HTML5 extensions; if you’re a Firefox or Chrome user, you’ll continue to use the Silverlight plug-in. In our initial testing, the switch to HTML5 sees a massive reduction in CPU usage — about one third of Silverlight’s CPU usage.
http://www.extremetech.com/computing/159960-netflix-switches-from-silverlight-to-html5-in-windows-8-1-reduces-cpu-usage-dramatically
And this usage stays that way more or less throughout the movie?
The main thing I can think of is that you have auto-updating turned on and it's downloading/installing/preparing to install updates for things, although I don't know that such a thing would require much cpu usage.
Just to confirm, task manager says that chrome and/or silverlight is using the cpu? And not some other program that is hogging your resources? Because I know that windows update can take a fair bit of resources when updating (although in my experience it's mostly hard drive stuff), and that by default it's auto-updating.
Other than that I can't think of much. Maybe if you have a lot of other flash videos open or tabs or something
The main thing I can think of is that you have auto-updating turned on and it's downloading/installing/preparing to install updates for things, although I don't know that such a thing would require much cpu usage.
Just to confirm, task manager says that chrome and/or silverlight is using the cpu? And not some other program that is hogging your resources? Because I know that windows update can take a fair bit of resources when updating (although in my experience it's mostly hard drive stuff), and that by default it's auto-updating.
Other than that I can't think of much. Maybe if you have a lot of other flash videos open or tabs or something
I thought the same and did a total restart, waited 15 minutes to be sure that all startup processes went through their thing, and opened Netflix as a single tab. Task Manager said it was the only thing (that I could find) above even 5 percent. Straight up to 40 on the monitor I use, CPU-Z, and Windows.
Yes, the usage remains constant.
Yes, the usage remains constant.
Check this out:
http://www.sevenforums.com/music-pictures-video/225152-netflix-cpu-usage-maxes-out-causes-video-lag.html
This person seems to think it is due to a buggy silverlight version. As recommended, you could try reinstalling silverlight, or try out some of the older versions to see if that helps.
I don't really see anything else that could cause issues, other than some sort of weird gpu driver thing
http://www.sevenforums.com/music-pictures-video/225152-netflix-cpu-usage-maxes-out-causes-video-lag.html
This person seems to think it is due to a buggy silverlight version. As recommended, you could try reinstalling silverlight, or try out some of the older versions to see if that helps.
I don't really see anything else that could cause issues, other than some sort of weird gpu driver thing
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