Comment 6 for bug 500649

I don't think python is part of the problem, as it only is used to setup the pipeline. All the processing while the pipeline is running is done inside gstreamer libs (unless there's some per-frame callback to python code).
In my case, the load was mostly framerate dependant. Different webcams try to run at maximum possible resolution, and then set the maximum rate for that resolution (to fit in the USB bandwidth). So, a newer camera at a higher resolution used actually less cpu, because it ran at a lower framerate. So a simple "solution" would be to reduce the framerate at the input (5-10fps?).

Either way, the jpegenc use should be optimized out.