Forum Discussion

etb's avatar
etb
Active Contributor
5 months ago

Hardware Accelerated Video?

Does LMI Central use hardware acceleration for encoding/decoding the video stream, and is the codec published?    I can only really speak anecdotally, but I feel like the CPU and GPU usage attribut...
KateG's avatar
KateG
GoTo Moderator
5 months ago

Hi etb  nice to see you around,  

 

Generally speaking, if you are having an issue the first step is to check for video driver updates from the manufacturer and if there are none or the new driver does not correct the issue then try disabling it.

 

It can be disabled as mentioned in this article. 

 

  • VBGuy's avatar
    VBGuy
    New Contributor
    4 months ago

    Hi KateG-

    I disabled the "Use Display Accelerator", but made no difference.

     

    Thanks for your input.

  • etb's avatar
    etb
    Active Contributor
    4 months ago

    Hi KateG ,

     

    Sorry, I did look into this the same day that you had posted it, but I forgot to post back.

     

    It's not that I have an "issue" per se, but just rather that I'm looking to optimize for the future if possible. 

     

    To try to pose the question in a more straightforward manner:  are there some particular hardware qualities which would be most optimum going forward?  For example, if we made sure to get GPU's that support whatever hardware-accelerated encoding that LMI uses?

     

    In a more dense and specific example, the particular host computer I'm using right now has an Nvidia T1000 GPU, and NVENC with that GPU does support various flavors of H.264 and H.265, but it does not support AV1.  Other host computers have older GPU's, and NVENC on those only supports H.264.

     

    For what it is worth, I did try switching off the "Display Accelerator" as per the link you had posted.  I did then try disconnecting and reconnecting to the host computer, but that didn't seem to change the CPU or GPU load, so I was guessing that perhaps it takes a reboot in order to actually disable the Display Accelerator.

     

    Also for what it is worth, I (anecdotally) notice the increased CPU and GPU usage between multiple different hosts and clients all with different hardware, so I wouldn't think that it is any particular driver.  (We also do keep drivers up to date.)

     

    So I will try to find time to test at some point.  But basically I am asking a general question about optimizing new hardware purchases for hardware-acceleration of LMI.

    • etb's avatar
      etb
      Active Contributor
      4 months ago

      I ended up having a little time to tool around tonight.  Possibly some interesting findings:

       

      On my host computer with the "Blank Screen" option enabled , and the "Display Accelerator" enabled, and nothing running on the host other than task manager (and LMI):

      • LMI Remote Control Application process is using about 8-9% CPU and 0% GPU
      • Desktop Window Manager process is using ~5-6% CPU and ~18-22% GPU

      On my host computer with the "Blank Screen" option disabled , and the "Display Accelerator" enabled, and nothing running on the host other than task manager (and LMI):

      • LMI Remote Control Application process is using about 0-3% CPU and 0-8% GPU.  0.3% GPU when fully idling, or up to 8% GPU when there is more motion on the host screen.
      • Desktop Window Manager process is using ~0% CPU and ~0% GPU

      I tried turning "Display Accelerator" off and rebooting the host and testing again.  The CPU and GPU usage percentages were still the same as above (both when Blank Screen on and Black Screen off).

       

       

      On my client computer with the "Blank Screen" option enabled , and nothing running on the host other than task manager (and LMI):

      • LogMeIn Client process is using about 10-18% CPU and ~0% GPU 
      • Client Server Runtime process is using about ~0% CPU and 10-25% GPU (mostly around ~18% GPU, and only momentary spikes to ~25% GPU when there is a lot of motion on the host screen)
      • Desktop Window Manager process is using ~2% CPU and ~0% GPU

      On my client computer with the "Blank Screen" option disabled , and nothing running on the host other than task manager (and LMI):

      • LogMeIn Client process is using about 1-8% CPU and ~0% GPU 
      • Client Server Runtime process is using about ~0% CPU and 0-15% GPU (mostly around ~0.5% GPU, and only momentary spikes to ~15% GPU when there is a lot of motion on the host screen)
      • Desktop Window Manager process is using ~0% CPU and ~0% GPU

       

       

      So it seems like it is "Blank Screen" which is comparably very resource-intensive - somehow on both the host and the client.  So are there some hardware properties/specs which would be more optimized for use with "Blank Screen"?

      • VBGuy's avatar
        VBGuy
        New Contributor
        4 months ago

        Hello etb -

        Thanks again for your deep research into this issue.  You have much more knowledge about the CPU / GPU mix than I, and I appreciate your input.

        At least one of the laptops is now working properly, probably because of disabling the Display Accelerator AND rebooting.  (I don't think I rebooted in my previous attempt.)

        Still waiting to gain access to 3 other laptops to test this theory.

        Cheers!