which is the fastest encoder no matter output format

[gyzel01]

i am edditng with premiere cs3 and i am one of those that can't play the video real time due to low buget video card and low birate hard drive. So i am looking to encode the .avi file to something mpeg2,xvid,.... or something the fastest way so i can playback the result.
rendering a 6 min timeline into mpge2 through MainConcept codec takes 8 hours. only cropping and and convert to black n white.
so i want to frameserve from cs3 to something (maybe vdub) and encode it to a diffent format. i dont care about the image quality and loss. and i dont care about what the ouput format will be.
i am considering thought about not loosing frames and jerking effects.

so which is the fastest encoder .avi ----> something else
that will playback correctly?
give me your lights!

PC specs: Intel Pendium 4, CPU 3GHz, 2G RAM

[jagabo]

Divx with it's realtime setting. x264 with it's Ultrafast and Veryfast presets. PicVideo MJPEG.

[Baldrick]

8 hours for 6 minutes video? Something must be wrong...is it 1080p HD? or HIGHER?

[pandy]

buy second HDD, render file to different HDD, defragment HDD - seems that You have problems with computer not with codec (and yes, MJPEG seems to be fastest codec)

[El Heggunte]

Another possibility --- a "stubborn" process / application is running in the background and it's interfering with the video editor/encoder

Run "taskmgr" and see what it reports

[pandy]

""stubborn" process / application" like anti-virus software checking HDD activity - i saw few times such configuration... (even worse - a few anti-virus software's active at the same time, concurring each other...)

[gyzel01]

guys thanks a lot for helping me out here..
i made some tests..
i made a format windows xp professional
i disable all the automated start-up programms
i disable avira antivirus
i made a defragmentations with the windows software (by the way, when defragmentation finished gave me a message that process complite but some places of the disk couldn't de defraged

and i rendered a 1 min timeline (filtering used: black n white, crop, brightness and contrust) in 30min
hd 1080i25
premiere project settings :video rendering -->maximum bit deapth unchecked
adobe media encoder settings: minimum bit rate :7
target bit rate :8
maximum bit rate :9
1 pass
quality 4/5
no noise redution used
no deiterlace






pc specs: Pentium 4 CPU 3.00GHz, 2G RAM
HDD WDC WD800JB-00JJA0 ---->
Manufacturer: Western Digital
Model: WD800JB-00JJA0
Layout: 3.5 inches - Desktop
Interface: IDE 40PIN DESKTOP
Capacity: 80.0 GB
LBA : 156301488
Family: WD Caviar
WD P/N: WD800JB-00JJA0
DCM: DSBHYAJCH
Speed: 7200 RPM
Seek Time: 8.9 ms (Average)
Buffer: 8 MB

and one HDD WD external usb interface , i dont use this one.

windows xp prof servise pack3 all updates done.

[gyzel01]

taskmgr upload

[pandy]

still very long IMHO - for defragmentation You can use one of freeware programs - like MyDefrag http://www.mydefrag.com/ but there is few more defragmenters worth to consider http://www.techradar.com/news/software/applications/6-of-the-best-defrag-software-downloads-668176

check unused services, check firewall (i use one of the best - kerio 2.1.5 - old but fast and reliable, reduce amount active apps, turn off wallpapers, animated cursors etc) You will see difference after going for very simple interface on memory and CPU use.

use CCleaner to remove unnecessary autostarting apps and various garbage files

also read this:
http://www.mydefrag.com/Manual-TipsAndTricks.html

[edDV]

What is the codec for this 1080i25 source file? Does your Premiere project setting match the source format?

Your CPU is weak for HD editing. You need a second internal drive for performance. Put the scratch file and media on the second drive.

When you say "i am one of those that can't play the video real time", do you mean the source file? The Premiere timeline preview? or the encoded result? Is the goal to speed timeline performance or just to play the resulting encoded file outside Premiere?

[pandy]

Your CPU is weak for HD editing.

any modern CPU is to weak for HD editing (HD editing is a bit fuzzy concept)

P4 is acceptable (not for real time but anyway not so bad - i would say that 486 or Pentium III can be to slow but P4 should be capable to decode 1080i30 MPEG-2 in real time ie it is sufficient to home HD editing )

[jagabo]

Your options are to get a more powerful computer or use a faster codec and/or faster codec settings. Faster settings will get you lower quality.

[gyzel01]

edDy i know that to speed premiere timeline perfomance i will need a new video card and more CPU. which i wont intent.
so i am trying to speed the time needed to see the result which is at first level. before all the aesthetic filtering.
source file = premiere stetting= 1080i25 HDV

pandy i will try the other Defragmentation softwares, and cc cleanen
i have the minimun apps running
is a new HDD going to solve the problem of rendering time? 1min timeline ---->30min
which are the eficient HDD specifications needed?

[cd090580]

Make sure your hard disk is set to UltraDMA...

[pandy]

Separate HDD for sure will help, specification is less important (however go for at least 1TB HDD - high capacity imply high internal transfer rate and less mechanical activity which always is SLOW - also You can think about small SSD for SYSTEM - hard to say however - i always have separate partition for system which is up to 16GB - small SSD cost now around 35 - 45E for 16 - 30GB size) - probably any modern HDD will be faster than a bit old 80GB HDD - I hope that Your motherboard support SATA

Make sure your hard disk is set to UltraDMA...

Or there is no problem with HDD (signaled as yellow triangle in disk manager) - run on command line:

"chkdsk c: /f /r"

(repeat this for all disks/partitions in computer)

more in http://support.microsoft.com/kb/315265

[gyzel01]

Make sure your hard disk is set to UltraDMA...

ultra dma mode 5

[gyzel01]

comant results

The type of the file system is NTFS.
Cannot lock current drive.

Chkdsk cannot run because the volume is in use by another
process. Would you like to schedule this volume to be
checked the next time the system restarts? (Y/N)

[jagabo]

pandy i will try the other Defragmentation softwares, and cc cleanen

Those won't help.

is a new HDD going to solve the problem of rendering time?

No.

[jagabo]

Make sure your hard disk is set to UltraDMA...

Or there is no problem with HDD (signaled as yellow triangle in disk manager)

A drive which has fallen out of DMA and is resorting to PIO will not show as a problem in Device Manager. You have to go to the device properties and see if it is in DMA or PIO mode.

rendering a 6 min timeline into mpge2 through MainConcept codec takes 8 hours.

If you're saving as h.264 that's probably about normal for a P4.

[gyzel01]

pandy i will try the other Defragmentation softwares, and cc cleanen

Those won't help.

is a new HDD going to solve the problem of rendering time?

No.
Unless you are performing heavy duty rendering almost all the time is being spent in the encoder.

which rendering is heavy duty, can you give me an example please?

[jagabo]

pandy i will try the other Defragmentation softwares, and cc cleanen

Those won't help.

is a new HDD going to solve the problem of rendering time?

No.
Unless you are performing heavy duty rendering almost all the time is being spent in the encoder.

which rendering is heavy duty, can you give me an example please?

Sorry, I was editing and screwed up. I meant to say:

Unless you are performing heavy duty filtering almost all the time is being spent in the encoder.

Heavy duty filtering would be things like motion compensated noise reduction or deinterlacing. You stilll haven't said what codec you were using (Mainconcept has more than one) with that long encode. Was your output HDV? h.264?

[gyzel01]

ok. my source format is HDV 1080i25 not AVS. trying to encode to mpeg2 using MMC,Procoder...

[pandy]

comant results

The type of the file system is NTFS.
Cannot lock current drive.

Chkdsk cannot run because the volume is in use by another
process. Would you like to schedule this volume to be
checked the next time the system restarts? (Y/N)

answer Y, reboot, wait (can be long to finish checking HDD)

pandy i will try the other Defragmentation softwares, and cc cleanen

Those won't help.

Can help if source and final files are spreded over HDD surface thus R/W is not sequential - original defrag have serious problem to deal with this - reordering files, consolidation, make large block for write can improve performance seriously.

is a new HDD going to solve the problem of rendering time?

No.

it should help - sequential reading from one HDD, sequential wiriting to second HDD (HDD buffers used) can improve performance - also access to system files reduce performance - with 2GB RAM swap file shall be permanent type and fixed size to avoid fragmentation.

[gyzel01]

quote fever!!!!! completelly messed up

[edDV]

Your CPU is weak for HD editing.

any modern CPU is to weak for HD editing (HD editing is a bit fuzzy concept)

P4 is acceptable (not for real time but anyway not so bad - i would say that 486 or Pentium III can be to slow but P4 should be capable to decode 1080i30 MPEG-2 in real time ie it is sufficient to home HD editing )

Maybe a dual core P4 but I just tried to play an HDV file in a P4 2.8GHz software only with VLC and it couldn't keep up with 1x play. It will play with a GPU assisted NVidia PureVideo display card.

[pandy]

check ffmpeg, MPC, ffdshow, pure decoding is real time and CPU utilization was AFAIR around 60 - 80%

VLC can render RGB - color space conversion can be performed by graphic card (even old one without fancy GPU)
I have P4 3.2GHz in home - i will try to check this today.

[jagabo]

comant results

The type of the file system is NTFS.
Cannot lock current drive.

Chkdsk cannot run because the volume is in use by another
process. Would you like to schedule this volume to be
checked the next time the system restarts? (Y/N)

answer Y, reboot, wait (can be long to finish checking HDD)

pandy i will try the other Defragmentation softwares, and cc cleanen

Those won't help.

Can help if source and final files are spreded over HDD surface thus R/W is not sequential - original defrag have serious problem to deal with this - reordering files, consolidation, make large block for write can improve performance seriously.

is a new HDD going to solve the problem of rendering time?

No.

it should help - sequential reading from one HDD, sequential wiriting to second HDD (HDD buffers used) can improve performance - also access to system files reduce performance - with 2GB RAM swap file shall be permanent type and fixed size to avoid fragmentation.

Yes, he will save a few seconds off his 8 hour rendering time. HDV in and MPEG 2 out (HDV again?) is very little disk I/O. Less than 2GB of reads, and probably even less for the writes, isn't the cause an 8 hour rendering time.

[pandy]

Yes, he will save a few seconds off his 8 hour rendering time. HDV in and MPEG 2 out (HDV again?) is very little disk I/O. Less than 2GB of reads, and probably even less for the writes, isn't the cause an 8 hour rendering time.

previously 6 minutes took over 8hr, now 1 minute 30 minutes - i think that something is wrong with configuration of computer - i agree that P4 is not fastest CPU on the world however i assume that there is still room to improve - new HDD can be used later with newer computer, actions to release CPU and memory usage for sure improved performance already so why not try to do as much possible without buying new computer?

At some point we achieve limitations that or will be accepted or a new computer must be serious option to consider.

quote fever!!!!! completelly messed up

i forgot to mention - verify heat-sink on P4 - hot P4 start reduce clock and performance - poor cooling can be an issue too - quite common problem with older computers is poor heat-sink contact with CPU, lot of dust, sluggish fun - overheated P4 will be very slow.

[jagabo]

I don't use Premiere CS3 but I hear Adobe's video editors tend to be memory hogs. With 2 GB of DRAM and Windows XP I wouldn't expect this to be a problem, but virtual memory cache thrashing can bring even the fastest systems down to their knees (ie, 1/100 or less the normal speed). Look to see how much memory Premiere is using while encoding.

Just as a reference point, I encoded a 1 minute, 1920x1080i30, MPEG 2 source with TMPGEnc Plus (one of the slowest MPEG 2 encoders I've used) with the output set to 1920x1080i, CBR 25000 kbps. At its slowest (highest qualitiy) settings it took about 20 minutes to encode the video. At its fastest (lowest quality) settings it took about 4 minutes. This was on a quad core Q6600 CPU but I had TMPGEnc set to use only one thread (Task Manager showed about 25 percent CPU usage while encoding). A single core of a 2.4 GHz Q6600 isn't hugely faster than a 3 GHz P4. Certainly not more than twice as fast. And I doubt Mainconcept's MPEG 2 encoder is much slower than TMPGEnc.

[lordsmurf]

P4 should be capable to decode 1080i30 MPEG-2 in real time ie it is sufficient to home HD editing )

No. Not even close.
A single core CPU is really quite weak for HD playback, and especially encoding.

CS3 is a resource hog on an old system.
On a modern system (2007 or newer, era of CS3), meaning dual or quad cores, 4GB+, it works nice.

MainConcept is faster than TMPGEnc.