100% CPU load with XBMC 11 Eden

The best media box software out there has been released in a new version – XBMC 11 Eden.

Initially I was very pleased with this update until I noticed the amount of CPU used while XBMC was idling. 100+% of CPU usage of one core.

After fiddling around with settings like Dirty Regions and not having success – I opted for a more systematic approach.

I went to system settings and immediately noticed a drop in CPU load. I switched between a couple of skins, but the high load began as soon as I entered the main menu.

What differentiated the main menu from the system menu? The RSS news feed in the bottom of the screen!

See here for reference: XBMC Apperance Settings

Turning this off immediately dropped the load to 3-4% when XBMC was idling in the main menu, but reappeared when any kind of GPU work was to be done.

I later found out that this was due to XVBA not being enabled on the XBMC build I was using (I have an ATI card). So, after installing a XVBA enabled build: xvba-xbmc my problem was completely solved.

XVBA is said to be dead (no further development), but it is probably the best solution for ATI owners who use XBMC at the moment.