diff --git a/src/parallel b/src/parallel
index 5c691ae5..0d3cca24 100755
--- a/src/parallel
+++ b/src/parallel
@@ -9,7 +9,6 @@ use File::Temp qw(tempfile tempdir);
 use Getopt::Long;
 use strict;
 use Carp;
-use Time::HiRes qw(usleep);
 
 $::oodebug=0;
 $Global::original_sigterm = $SIG{TERM};
@@ -80,20 +79,27 @@ sub spreadstdin {
     # read a record
     # print it to the first jobs that is ready
     my @jobs = values %Global::running;
-    my $first;
-    my $second;
-    my $sleep = 1;
-    while(<STDIN>) {
-	my @rec;
-	for(my $t = 0; $t < 1000 and not eof(STDIN); $t++) {
-	    push @rec, scalar(<STDIN>);
+    my $first = 0;
+    my $second = 0;
+    my $sleep = 0.1;
+    my $max_sleep = 0.1;
+    my $record;
+    my $rest = "";
+    my $buf = "";
+    my $block_max = 1000_000;
+    my $rec_start = undef;
+    my $rec_end = undef;
+    my $err;
+    while(read(STDIN,$buf,$block_max)) {
+	$record = $rest.$buf;
+	if(($::opt_recstart and $record =~ s/($::opt_recstart.*?)$//smo)
+	   or
+	   ($::opt_recend and $record =~ s/$::opt_recend(.*?)$//smo)) {
+	    $rest = $1;
 	}
-	my $record = join("",@rec);
-	# Rotate jobs to spread the input
-	#@jobs = ($jobs[$#jobs],@jobs[0..$#jobs-1]);
+	::debug("Read record: ".length($record)."\n");
       write_record: while(defined $record) {
 	  for my $job (@jobs) {
-#	      ::debug("Looking at ",$job);
 	      if($job->remaining()) {
 		  $job->complete_write();
 	      } else {
@@ -104,18 +110,33 @@ sub spreadstdin {
 		  last write_record;
 	      }
 	  }
+	  # Rotate jobs to spread the input
 	  @jobs = ($jobs[$#jobs],@jobs[0..$#jobs-1]);
 	  usleep($sleep);
-	  $sleep *=1.1;
+	  $sleep *= 1.1;
+	  $max_sleep = max($max_sleep, $sleep);
 	  $second++;
       }
     }
-    for my $job (values %Global::running) {
+    my $flush_done;
+    do {
+	$flush_done = 1;
+	for my $job (@jobs) {
+	    if($job->remaining()) {
+		$job->complete_write();
+		$flush_done = 0;
+	    }
+	}
+	usleep($sleep);
+	$sleep *= 1.1;
+    } while (not $flush_done);
+
+    for my $job (@jobs) {
 	my $fh = $job->stdin();
 	close $fh;
     }
     $Global::start_no_new_jobs = 1;
-    print STDERR $first," ",$second,"\n";
+    ::debug("Blocks send directly: $first Delays: $second Max sleep ms: $max_sleep\n");
 }
 
 sub acquire_semaphore {
@@ -205,6 +226,8 @@ sub get_options_from_array {
 	 "trim=s" => \$::opt_trim,
 	 "profile|J=s" => \$::opt_profile,
 	 "spreadstdin" => \$::opt_spreadstdin,
+	 "recstart=s" => \$::opt_recstart,
+	 "recend=s" => \$::opt_recend,
 	 # xargs-compatibility - implemented, man, testsuite
 	 "max-procs|P=s" => \$::opt_P,
 	 "delimiter|d=s" => \$::opt_d,
@@ -684,6 +707,12 @@ sub hostname {
     return $Private::hostname;
 }
 
+sub usleep {
+    my $ms = shift;
+    select(undef, undef, undef, $ms/1000);
+}
+
+
 sub __RUNNING_AND_PRINTING_THE_JOBS__ {}
 
 # Variable structure:
@@ -2275,7 +2304,6 @@ sub write {
 sub complete_write {
     my $self = shift;
     my $in = $self->{'stdin'};
-    ::debug("complete_write\n");
     my $len = syswrite($in,$self->{'remaining'});
 
     if (!defined($len) && $! == ::EAGAIN) {
diff --git a/testsuite/tests-to-run/test49.sh b/testsuite/tests-to-run/test49.sh
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..eac51daa
--- /dev/null
+++ b/testsuite/tests-to-run/test49.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+
+echo '### Test --spreadstdin - more procs than args'
+rm /tmp/parallel.ss.*
+seq 1 5 | stdout parallel -j 10 --spreadstdin 'cat >/tmp/parallel.ss.$PARALLEL_SEQ' >/dev/null
+cat /tmp/parallel.ss.*
+
+echo '### Test --spreadstdin - more args than procs'
+rm /tmp/parallel.ss.*
+seq 1 10 | stdout parallel -j 5 --spreadstdin 'cat >/tmp/parallel.ss.$PARALLEL_SEQ' >/dev/null
+cat /tmp/parallel.ss.*
+
+seq 1 1000| parallel -j1 --spreadstdin cat "|cat "|wc -c
+seq 1 10000| parallel -j10 --spreadstdin cat "|cat "|wc -c
+seq 1 100000| parallel -j1 --spreadstdin cat "|cat "|wc -c
+seq 1 1000000| parallel -j10 --spreadstdin cat "|cat "|wc -c
diff --git a/testsuite/wanted-results/test49 b/testsuite/wanted-results/test49
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..25603fbb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/testsuite/wanted-results/test49
@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+### Test --spreadstdin - more procs than args
+1
+2
+3
+4
+5
+### Test --spreadstdin - more args than procs
+1
+2
+3
+4
+5
+6
+7
+8
+9
+10
+3893
+48894
+588895
+6888896