Question about improving encoding speed in Tmpgenc Plus

[JamesyBHOY]

I have a Pentium 1.6Ghz Processor,512 Ram,60Gb Hard Drive,but it still takes me over 12 hrs to encode a 1hr 30mins AVI into MPEG-2,So i was thinking of buying a spare computer from ebay specifically for encoding,editing movies only.Does anybody know what kind of processor should i look for or would it be possible to add 2 processors together.I would like it to do a whole 1hr 30min movie in around 2hrs or less if at all possible but's it's proving almost impossible at the currect time i can't do anything on the computer without it adding on hours to the encoding time.Thanks James..

[ZippyP.]

The fastest dual processor computer that you can afford will give you the best times.

[SquirrelDip]

If speed is really an issue then use Cinema Craft Encoder or Mainconcept MPEG Encoder...

[dafoe]

Twelve hours to encode 90 mins?!

I mostly encode TV shows. A 21 minute episode (highest quality) takes me 30 minutes to an hour depending on the source. This is on a P4 1.7 w 512 SDRAM and an 80 GB 7200 RPM harddrive.

Even when I had my first pc (Pentium II 450 mhz) I don't remember a 20 minute episode taking more than 2 hours to encode.

I'm not going to guess what it is, but I would say there is something wrong with your setup.

I don't know how familiar you are with TMPGenc. But leaving the preview option on will slow things down considerably.

Anyway, good luck. I'm stumped

[bugster]

@Dafoe, neither you nor the original poster, JamesyBHOY, say what your target format actually is, nor what settings are being used.

My 2.2Ghz P4 will encode divx avi's to VCD spec (1150Kbps CBR) in approx real time using Tmpgenc. However, encoding to DVD compliant mpeg-2 using 2-pass VBR with an average of about 4Mbps takes approx 8 hours (or more), so you are comparing apples to oranges there.

JamesyBHOY, if you want to stick with TmpGenc, there are many things you can do to spped up encoding time, but most will reduce the qaulity of the final output. If you want DVD compliant mpeg-2 though, I can't see TmpGenc doing 90mins of movie in 2 hours on your PC.

Things to check/try:

1) Make sure ALL filters are off, esp noise reduction.
2) If using 2-pass, enable disk-cache in environmental settings
3) set motion search precision to lowest.
4) consider encoding to 352*480/576. This is DVD compliant but smalle res will encode faster and allow you to use a lower bitrate, which again will be faster.

I am sure others will have more suggestions.

Or take SquirrelDip's advice.

[JamesyBHOY]

Thanks for the help people,bugster yes m8 i am trying to encode to MPEG-2 but i wouldn't exactly call it DVD Quality,I am using 2-pass VBR and a bitrate of 1250kbps and also selected the do not display for the preview size & selected High Quality(slow).Just that i have a few things that i would like to encode them all to MPEG-2 and that would take forever.I tried MainConcept and admit it was twice as fast as Tmpgenc but the problem that it had was with the screen size.The original movie i have is in widescreen and i tried a few different settings but it never came out properly.

[bugster]

Mpeg-2 but at waht resolution? If its full D1 (720*480/576) then 1250kbps will look awful. CVD res at 352*480/576 will be better and is still DVD compliant, but thats a pretty low bitrate for anything but XVCD!

[ZippyP.]

Try Motion Estimate Search Precision, it's fast and looks good to me.

[JamesyBHOY]

"Mpeg-2 but at waht resolution? If its full D1 (720*480/576) then 1250kbps will look awful. CVD res at 352*480/576 will be better and is still DVD compliant, but thats a pretty low bitrate for anything but XVCD!"

Yeah your right m8,It is far too low a resolution,The only reason that i did it so low was simply because it was taking far too long even at that low bitrate of encoding,Ideally i would like at least 3000kb/s but i have tried everything on this site and for some reason it still won't speed up,Main Concept is quicker at about 7hrs but the problem is that the final MPG is far too darker than the original & also it doesn't allow you to keep the aspect ratio,So rather than messing about which i have done to no avail over the past couple of weeks,I have decided to use TMPGENC Plus on a new computer that i am going to build from scratch,I took a visit today to a local computer store & asked about a Dual Motherboard that is capable of handling 2 Athlon either xp or mp processors that are 2600+ each.The fool gave me some crap about it being very expensive and they wouldn't order in single parts unless i agreed to let them build the entire system for me at an estimated cost of over £1000 pounds.

So i have decided to get everything from ebay

2x Athlon XP/MP 2600+ Processors
2x 512MB's DDR Ram
1x 120GB H/D
1x DVD rom Drive
1x USB 2 PCI Card
get cheap 64mb graphics card
get cheap Trust,Soundblaster or creative Sound Card
Already have an ATX Case
Have an old 17" Digital Monitor
Have Windows XP Home Edition
Have 400w Flat Panel Speakers
Have old Keyboard + Mouse
Have external Pioneer DVR-106D Dual Writer

The only problem i have is with a motherboard that can support all this,This is the 1 part of a computer system that i don't have a clue with.
I dont mind purchasing this directly from the Manufacturer or elsewhere as long as it is under $250.

I was wondering if somebody could please have a look at this link and tell me if any of these would do for all of the parts above.

http://www.pc-assets.com/micmsisermot.html

or even if anybody knows name & model of one that would work then i could try and find it myself,Thanks James..