HandBrake slows down Ubuntu 14.04

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ubuntubraker
Posts: 4
Joined: Fri May 02, 2014 5:34 pm

HandBrake slows down Ubuntu 14.04

Post by ubuntubraker »

Hi there,

After using HandBrake for many years on multiple platforms, I've recently upgraded to Ubuntu 14.04 LTS, and I'm encountering a big problem where while HandBrake is running, the entire system slows down to an unusable speed where i cant even navigate between folders in the system.

Before 14.04 I had 12.04 installed and everything was working flawlessly.

I am currently running the latest Nigthly (6171svn) on a freshly installed Ubuntu 14.04

Heres a log that might help: http://pastebin.com/smjZq070
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s55
HandBrake Team
Posts: 10350
Joined: Sun Dec 24, 2006 1:05 pm

Re: HandBrake slows down Ubuntu 14.04

Post by s55 »

Check your memory usage. If your system is out of memory, it will be slow.

Otherwise, try nice the process to a lower.
ubuntubraker
Posts: 4
Joined: Fri May 02, 2014 5:34 pm

Re: HandBrake slows down Ubuntu 14.04

Post by ubuntubraker »

Checked the System Monitor.

In the memory department, I'm not even close to fully utilizing he RAM (2.1GB of 8GB available)

And changing the proccess priority to "Very Low" does very little in helping the situation.
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s55
HandBrake Team
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Re: HandBrake slows down Ubuntu 14.04

Post by s55 »

Do you get the same problem running the CLI?
ubuntubraker
Posts: 4
Joined: Fri May 02, 2014 5:34 pm

Re: HandBrake slows down Ubuntu 14.04

Post by ubuntubraker »

That's interesting,
When running the nightly CLI this problem doesn't occur.
wonder why
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s55
HandBrake Team
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Re: HandBrake slows down Ubuntu 14.04

Post by s55 »

I seem to recall another user seeing issues with GTK a few weeks back. So looks like just running the simple UI is hosing it.
ubuntubraker
Posts: 4
Joined: Fri May 02, 2014 5:34 pm

Re: HandBrake slows down Ubuntu 14.04

Post by ubuntubraker »

Thats too bad. do you happen to know if that other user found a solution?
Hopefully it'll get fixed soon enough. I personally rely more on the GUI since it is easier to work with on a daily basis with multiple files
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JohnAStebbins
HandBrake Team
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Re: HandBrake slows down Ubuntu 14.04

Post by JohnAStebbins »

Just FYI. I upgraded a machine to ubuntu 14.04 this morning and did not see this problem. I am using gnome-shell rather than unity however, so may not be comparing apples to apples.
mod16
Experienced
Posts: 78
Joined: Sun Jan 12, 2014 11:10 am

Re: HandBrake slows down Ubuntu 14.04

Post by mod16 »

I'm having the exact same issue (I already created a new thread, because I didn't saw this one). Here is what I wrote:

Using Ubuntu 13.10 (Saucy) even while a Handbrake (latest from PPA) job was running - using all CPU cores - I had a very fluid GUI, now slow-downs or anything like that. So using the system i.e. for Browsing or stuff like that while Handbrake was encoding wasn't a problem at all.

Now with Ubuntu 14.04 this fundamentally changed. As soon as the CPU is under high load from Handbrake the GUI gets very sluggish and unresponsive. Even writing a simple text is delayed. Switching workspaces is working in slow motion only etc... As soon as the CPU load drops, everything is back to normal again (smooth and fluid).

The strange thing is: If I run another "heavy" process like Prime95 (mprime), which tortures the CPU even more - the GUI stays fluid.

I did a clean install of 14.04 - only kept my /home Partiton.

System is a AMD FX 8350 @ 4 GHz, Graphics are Radeon 5850 (using the default radeon open-source driver).

I already tried kernel 3.14 instead of the default 3.13 - but that made it even worse or at least changed nothing.

I also wanted to try the fglrx binary driver from AMD - but unfortunately this doesn't work at all - because the install always fails (missing ati/amdconfig symlinks and it complains card is not support (although it is) and stuff like that - tried the Ubuntu fglrx and the Catalyst 14.04 from the AMD website - always the same problem).

But I think it's more of a Unity or Compiz issue anyway, not a driver issue.
mod16
Experienced
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Joined: Sun Jan 12, 2014 11:10 am

Re: HandBrake slows down Ubuntu 14.04

Post by mod16 »

I think I found the reason! :D

If I disable the "Show system tray icon" option in "File -> Preferences" everything seems to be working normal again (at least for me). I hope this helps to pin down the problem.



BTW: I found literally thousands of

Code: Select all

(null): find_queue_job
lines in the debug log. They start as soon as the first job start and never end until the program ends.
I guess it's perfectly normal, but anyway....
Groen Gif
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Joined: Wed Nov 02, 2011 8:30 pm

Re: HandBrake slows down Ubuntu 14.04

Post by Groen Gif »

mod16 wrote:I think I found the reason! :D ....
Thanks for solving my problem. :D B.t.w. this also explains why enabling the "Show system tray icon" option in HB's stable version from the Ubuntu repository isn't functional.
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JohnAStebbins
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Re: HandBrake slows down Ubuntu 14.04

Post by JohnAStebbins »

mod16 wrote:I think I found the reason! :D

If I disable the "Show system tray icon" option in "File -> Preferences" everything seems to be working normal again (at least for me). I hope this helps to pin down the problem.
Must be a bug in ubuntu's AppIndicator. Every 1/2 second, I update the label of the system tray icon. This has not changed for years, so I'm guessing that app_indicator_set_label() has a bug.
BTW: I found literally thousands of

Code: Select all

(null): find_queue_job
lines in the debug log. They start as soon as the first job start and never end until the program ends.
I guess it's perfectly normal, but anyway....
Nothing to worry about. Every 1/2 second a function find_queue_job() gets called while checking current status. So I would expect to see a lot of these.
rachel
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Re: HandBrake slows down Ubuntu 14.04

Post by rachel »

Just confirming the same thing. In my case it so happened it's been a while since I last handbraked, and there were other changes to my system I thought it could be; eg: switching from a system with discrete gpu to one with intel hd4600. But sticking a discrete gpu in didn't help.

But the workaround here of disabling the system tray icon works a treat. I also think hb itself is encoding faster as a result, so it looks like it may have been slowing down hb itself as well as making the whole system less responsive.
mod16
Experienced
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Re: HandBrake slows down Ubuntu 14.04

Post by mod16 »

@JohnAStebbins: It's just an idea and it wouldn't be a "solution" for the underlying cause of this bug, but anyway:
Have you thought about using the Unity Launcher API for the status indicator?:
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Unity/LauncherAPI

I know it's for Unity only and I don't know how much trouble it would be to implement it.
But it sure would look nice. :)
The number shows the encodes pending (disappears when 0), the bar the progress of the current job.

(The current way of doing it is perfectly fine - so again: it's just an idea!)
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JohnAStebbins
HandBrake Team
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Re: HandBrake slows down Ubuntu 14.04

Post by JohnAStebbins »

mod16 wrote:@JohnAStebbins: It's just an idea and it wouldn't be a "solution" for the underlying cause of this bug, but anyway:
Have you thought about using the Unity Launcher API for the status indicator?:
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Unity/LauncherAPI
I ignore anything with the word "Unity" in it. I have no interest in developing for that abortion of a window manager. I've seriously considered removing AppIndicator support all together since it is also a ubuntu exclusive and it seems to be pretty uselessly broken now.

I don't use Ubuntu for anything myself anymore. Removed it from all my machines when they went off the rails. So I'll just focus on gnome-shell compatibility in future.
I know it's for Unity only and I don't know how much trouble it would be to implement it.
But it sure would look nice. :)
The number shows the encodes pending (disappears when 0), the bar the progress of the current job.

(The current way of doing it is perfectly fine - so again: it's just an idea!)
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