Multi-tasking during TMPGEnc encoding?

[capitola]

I am sorry if this question have been raised in this forum, but since this is information alot of us don't mind knowing, I wish you could share your knowledge....

My 1hr 45 mins video is taking approx 26 hrs to encode from avi to mpeg with my PIII 900mhz machine. With my CPU showing 100% usuage, my question is, during this long hours, can I do other things with my computer like surfing the web, checking emails? Will this affect the picture quality of the encoding mpeg file?

Thanks in advance.

[jkl]

general answer, no. multitasking will only affect time not quality.
now my question. what if 20 hours into encoding you computer locks up while you are web surfing or checking e-mail. 26 hours seems long enough now, i wouldn't want to do anything to stretch that.

[Thorn]

If this is your only encode, you might want to leave well enough alone. If you will do this farily regularly and don't want to give up use of your computer for a day at a time, it's just a trade-off. TMPGenc is usually set to process in idle time only when it's in the background (but everything in the foreground still goes slow... that's to be expected), so it will take longer to encode.

You're on winxp, so you shouldn't crash as much as a 9x machine would. However, if you have problems, don't try it again

Finally, load your mail and web programs first, so they don't have to chew on the HD and processor while you're encoding (makes you realize how much crap IE loads when it takes 30 seconds to start when you're encoding).

[afwasborstel]

Why don't u use CCE....it's much faster... and why in the hell has to take it 26 hours????? Do u really need those filters???

[ABAB]

I have an 800 Duron (for now) and I usually have to tolerate a 21 hr encode from .avi to MPG2 for a 2 hr movie. The filters such as 'noise' are a must if quality is an issue (as I have found).
Pain in the arse....yes, worth it....yes.
I have found surfing is OK, but as has just been pointed out, your encoding time will be affected but not the quality.

Just my thoughts, gleaned from my very limited experiences.

[Executioner]

I had the same problem with my rig, so I built another one just for encoding running Win2k. It's a dually mobo with 2 PIII-550MHz cpu's. While it's encoding, I'm able to do other things with the pc if I tell TMGEnc that I only have one cpu, but normally I use both for encoding.

And like the others have said, I would not do anything while you're encoding. Make sure to turn off all programs running in the background like screen savers and AV software.

[afwasborstel]

The filters such as 'noise' are a must if quality is an issue (as I have found).

U mean blurring

[capitola]

Why 26 hrs for a 1 hr 45 mins conversion? Well, to get the better s-vcd quality, I choose TMPGEnc with 2 pass VBR; "high quality" motion search quality; the highest birates that will fit in a cd (for my case 2 cds); the only filter I used (which is a must) is "Deinterlace (even-odd field)". This is my minimum setting, any additional filters will add too much time to the conversion. I could have choose my Videostudio software to encode, but the quality is just not comparible to TMPGEnc.

Thanks again for your feedbacks.

[job345331@hotmail.com]

hi guys,
i am a very new user of tmpg,and thought i would ask a question if you don't mind.
i use tmpg to encode avi to dvd using the programs wizard, and find quite often it has frozen my system and the progress bar isn't moving.
could anybody tell me if i am making a glaring mistake, or if i am not could anyone tell me some alternative software to use to encode the avi.
i am using a athlon xp2000 with 384 meg of ram, and windowsxp pro.
thanks job

[offline]

capitola,

You should have no problems if you change tmpgenc's task priority
to idle while you are multitasking.

[snowmoon]

I often run dozens of windows at once on a pIII700. This includes things like CCE, TMPGenc, Vdub, ... I can even run capture + filter or filter + encode while only impacting both by about 30%.

The only time I don't use my PC is while capturing, but my better half once loggged into XP while I was capturing, it lost a couple dozen frames but kept on ticking despite the fact that she was using another session.

[VidGuy]

capitola, you know that SVCD can do interlaced video - when you use deinterlacing, you're losing vertical resolution. Just food for thought. I've never deinterlaced an SVCD - if I can't IVTC it - I just encode it interlaced.

[capitola]

Vidguy, when I deinterlace my video with "even and odd field", I see better image comparing with doing nothing at all (interlaced). In the "advance" section, which boxes do you check to get the best pictures for svcd and dvd? I know noice reduction doubles the encoding time!

[VidGuy]

You might see a better image compared with doing nothing on your PC, but that shouldn't be true on your television, where interlacing is the way it shows it anyway.

I check almost no boxes in the advance section. I use IVTC if I'm going to inverse telecine, but I rarely use noise reduction - I've messed with it for some VERY bad video tape captures, but other than that I've left it alone.
Usually if I need a lot of noise reduction, I've had good luck using VirtualDub filters and plugins instead.

[Keitaro]

I do other things while encoding, and take almost the same time like if i wasn't there 8)