525533 - tweak idle time values to improve CPU usage for Carbon plugins

Status: RESOLVED FIXED

(Core Graveyard :: Plug-ins, defect)

Description

[Josh Aas]

Attachment: fix v1.0

We can probably tweak idle time values to improve CPU usage for Carbon plugins.

Comment 1

[Josh Aas]

Attachment: fix v1.1

Clean up comments.

Comment 2

[Josh Aas]

pushed to mozilla-central

http://hg.mozilla.org/mozilla-central/rev/e570e3747242

Comment 3

[Josh Aas]

If this bakes without problems for a few days we might want to consider taking it for 1.9.2. There is minimal chance for a coding error and this could be a significant plugin efficiency win for our users.

Comment 4

[Mike Shaver (:shaver emeritus)]

Yes, let's take it if it bakes well.  Ideally into the beta update we're building this week, so please keep an eye on it, and maybe call for people to specifically test it?

Copying limi here, since he's been doing research into this usage.

Comment 5

[Josh Aas]

Some testing suggestions...

- Flash instances hidden by a new tab, make sure audio does not cut out
- gmail voice chat, make sure audio works without skipping even when tab is hidden
- YouTube, make sure videos play without skips and at the correct speed when not hidden
- Hulu, test video speed and audio as in the suggestions above

Comment 6

[Josh Aas]

pushed to mozilla-1.9.2

http://hg.mozilla.org/releases/mozilla-1.9.2/rev/4fafe5aeeefc

Comment 7

[Marcia Knous [:marcia]]

Unfortunately Bug 524649 makes it difficult to use Gmail voice chat, so we will have to leave that out of the testing scenarios for now.

Comment 8

[trg16]

(In reply to comment #5)
> Some testing suggestions...
> 
> - Flash instances hidden by a new tab, make sure audio does not cut out

Hi, in this video site (news from Brazil's biggest TV network) http://g1.globo.com/bomdiabrasil/0,,MUL1365655-16020,00-O+ADEUS+AO+ANTROPOLOGO+CLAUDE+LEVISTRAUSS.html audio is extremelly "choppy" when being played in a unfocused tab. Did not happen before this bug landed. With the tab focused, audio is normal again.

Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; U; Intel Mac OS X 10.6; en-US; rv:1.9.2b2pre) Gecko/20091104 Namoroka/3.6b2pre Firefox/3.5.4

Comment 9

[Josh Aas]

I can't reproduce that, the audio works just fine for me in a background tab using today's trunk nightly build.

Comment 10

[trg16]

Can you try using the Branch nightly build on Mac OS X 10.6 (had one user on 10.5 saying it was normal for him in the Builds Forum)?
If it helps I can mail you my about:support information. Let me know if you need more data.

Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; U; Intel Mac OS X 10.6; en-US; rv:1.9.2b2pre) Gecko/20091105 Namoroka/3.6b2pre Firefox/3.5.5

Comment 11

[Marcia Knous [:marcia]]

This video plays fine for me using Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; U; Intel Mac OS X 10.6; en-US; rv:1.9.2b2pre) Gecko/20091106 Namoroka/3.6b2pre. Your UA string is strange since it references the 1.9.2 nightly, but has the Firefox 1.9.1 branch name at the end - is that where you are seeing it?

Since this fix landed on 1.9.2 I have been running all sorts of different video sites on my 10.6 machine and have not yet seen any issues.

(In reply to comment #10)
> Can you try using the Branch nightly build on Mac OS X 10.6 (had one user on
> 10.5 saying it was normal for him in the Builds Forum)?
> If it helps I can mail you my about:support information. Let me know if you
> need more data.
> 
> Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; U; Intel Mac OS X 10.6; en-US; rv:1.9.2b2pre)
> Gecko/20091105 Namoroka/3.6b2pre Firefox/3.5.5

Comment 12

[Henrik Skupin [:whimboo][⌚️UTC+2]]

Josh, it has taken a long while browsing the web to find a video which shows me the same choppy sound as the comment 8 states too. Playing the following movie in a foreground tab I have dropouts really rarely but once I select another tab sounds messes up completely. 

http://www.lunar-horse.tv/index.php?act=lebenserfahrungmittel〈=de

So I don't know what's the difference to other flash movies which can be found on platforms like Youtube. I could only imagine that those were encoded differently? If that's the case a higher cpu load seems to be necessary to decode the stream.

Comment 13

[trg16]

Henrik, the video you linked is choppy for me also. You mentioned CPU, mine is a Core 2 Duo 2.4 GHz model T8300. Video is a **** Intel GMA X3100, but again, these issues only appeared after this bug landed.

Marcia, I put "Firefox/3.5.5" at the end of my UA string for some site compatibility. Changed it in about:config.

Comment 14

[Josh Aas]

I can reproduce the audio choppiness using the URL from comment #12, and it does get worse in a background tab, but I can reproduce it in Firefox 3.5.5 which means it isn't my patch causing it. I don't know what is going on there.

I'm using a quad core Xeon Mac Pro.

Comment 15

[Henrik Skupin [:whimboo][⌚️UTC+2]]

Josh, while writing comment 12 I have tried it in 3.5.6pre too but wasn't able to reproduce the choppiness. It was only there when I have run that given profile in Namoroka or Minefield. Does it also happen for you in a fresh profile? I wonder if it is somehow related to multiple cpu's. Means as more cores the cpu has as bad is the behavior?

Comment 16

[Henrik Skupin [:whimboo][⌚️UTC+2]]

I have tested the 1.9.2 nightly builds 09110303 and 09110403 on OS X. While the former one doesn't show the behavior the latter one has clearly the chopping. Josh, given that your patch landed in-between those builds it is a regression.

So how shall we proceed? Shall we file another bug on this particular problem? Most of the websites (which we were able to test) seems work. But it could be a serious issue if we miss something major.

Comment 17

[Josh Aas]

I can also reproduce the problem in Safari on 10.6 on a newer dual core MacBook Pro. I doubt we want to back my patch out given how rare problematic videos seem to be and that other browsers can't play them correctly either (Safari and even Firefox 3.5.5 occasionally), but we could have Adobe look at the problem.

We could also try speeding the hidden timer up a small amount but adding one firing per second (4 -> 5) is a 25% increase and we know the video can have problems even at 10 firings per second, which is what Firefox 3.5.5 does.

I think we should leave the patch in for now and have Adobe investigate, and take action ourselves only if enough videos pop up to make it a larger concern. I think we only have one video right now, and like I said, it even has issues in Safari.

Comment 18

[Henrik Skupin [:whimboo][⌚️UTC+2]]

(In reply to comment #17)
> I can also reproduce the problem in Safari on 10.6 on a newer dual core MacBook
> Pro. I doubt we want to back my patch out given how rare problematic videos
> seem to be and that other browsers can't play them correctly either (Safari and
> even Firefox 3.5.5 occasionally), but we could have Adobe look at the problem.

I have tried it in Safari now and it's there too, right. Let's CC Michelle to this bug so Adobe is aware of this issue.

Comment 19

[trg16]

Also tried Safari and Firefox 3.5.5 and confirm it also.
Just a note, on 3.5.5 the issue is not that bad, 1 "glitch" every 4-5 seconds. Safari it also pauses the video when choppiness starts... Very odd.

Comment 20

[Josh Aas]

It has been suggested to me that this could be problematic for Pandora (internet radio, pandora.com). We should test there.

Comment 21

[Henrik Skupin [:whimboo][⌚️UTC+2]]

It's not accessible from outside the U.S. So I cannot test anything. Marcia, could you please check that?

Comment 22

[Josh Aas]

This might have caused bug 529167.

Comment 23

[Josh Aas]

I've seen enough evidence from testing and discussions with Adobe that this will be problematic. We need to move the idle time for hidden instances up to 8 events per second (which is still lower than our original 10).

Comment 24

[Josh Aas]

Attachment: fix v2.0

Comment 25

[Josh Aas]

pushed fix v2.0 to mozilla-central

http://hg.mozilla.org/mozilla-central/rev/ecb6a22c905c

Comment 26

[Jeff Muizelaar [:jrmuizel]]

For the record I heard stuttering when vimeo instances were hidden before fix v2.0 was landed. I'll try on the next nightly.

Comment 27

[Josh Aas]

pushed fix v2.0 to mozilla-1.9.2

http://hg.mozilla.org/releases/mozilla-1.9.2/rev/5c08ff6f264d