[mythtv-users] mythbackend is fricking frying my cpu

[Edward Wildgoose]

> I could be way off base here, but wouldn't a MPEG4 Variable Bit Rate
> real time encoder always use 100% of available processor.  The way I
> understand it is that the encoder is trying to compress the video in
> real time as much as it possibly can thus using all of the available
> clock cycles.  

The variable word in variable bit rate simply refers to the fact that the average bit rate of the video is fairly constant, however, the bit rate used for particular scenes can vary.  In this way you lower the bit rate of the encoder on easy static scenes, and crank it up on fast moving scenes.  

Overall quality is much higher in general, but the average bit rate is still reasonable.