Minimizing idle CPU usage

Dev Community Apps & Creations
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Constant idle CPU usage was really bothering me, especially it’s unpredictability: sometimes it would consume 10% of a core, sometimes 35%. So, I simply decided to quit Plex on a command or after a timeout, and start it again when any key is pressed:

  1. Create ~/wait.sh:
#!/bin/bash
tvservice -o
dd if=/dev/input/event0 of=/dev/null count=1
tvservice -p
  1. Run systemctl edit plexht, enter the following snippet:
[Service]
ExecStart=
ExecStart=/bin/sh -c ". /etc/profile; /storage/wait.sh; exec /usr/lib/plexht/plexhometheater -fs $PLEXHT_ARGS $PLEXHT_DEBUG"
  1. In Plex preferences set “Shutdown function” to “Quit” and timer to 15 minutes
  2. Added to keymap a shortcut for XBMC.Quit()

A couple of additional notes:

  • /dev/input/event0 is a keyboard device, might be different if there are multiple devices
  • tvservice invocations needed to disable/enable hdmi. Alternatively, some kind of placeholder image can be written into /dev/fb0, or just leave it as is: black screen.
  • If you do not need autoquitting after a timeout, add the --standalone option to plexhometheater arguments. It is there by default, but I removed it because it affects “Shutdown function” options.