Divx —> DVD Conversion times?

[dotpuppy]

Hi all,

The other day I converted a Divx file to a DVD (for only the second time) using Galactica's tutorial's procedure.

I have a 400 Mhz Sawtooth G4 and it took almost 48 hours for MPEG2Works to convert the file.

So now I'm wondering how long it takes on a more modern machine since mine is beginning to show its age. Anyone have an approximate time on a faster machine? Faster G4? Powerbook? G5?

[FCPguy]

The real deal isn't just the processor speeds.... RAM. If you are running the best G5 with 256 ram, you will be waiting a lot longer than a G4 whatever with 2 gigs ram. RAM = Speed.

[bilestyle]

FCPGuy i dont know what you are smoking, but i would sure like some... lol processor speeds have SOOOOOOOO much more to do with it than ram, ram has an effect but if you are using a slow 400 mhz g4 versus using a Dual processor 800 mhz - 1.2 ghz g4 or even a 1.8-2 ghz G5 it will be leaps and bounds faster.... dotpuppy you have to be a bit more specific, how long was the source file you re-encoded? (i personally never use mpeg2works because there are much faster ways even on slower machines)

[thoughton]

On a G4 667MHz (powerbook) I would expect that conversion to take about 10-12 hours (for a 2 hour movie), using ffmpegX's 'regular' DVD preset.

[terryj]

Ram and Processors account for a lot of it.
On my dual 1 G4, with 1.5 GB of Ram,
I can convert a 2hr avi in Compressor
on one pass VBR in 6.5 hours.
Throw in a restart, and then open apack
to compress the audio to .ac3 for about
30 minutes and I ready to go to DVD in
7 hrs total.
Now, that's provided the .avi is "good",
ie. I don;t have to re-encode the audio
( which I have had to do MANY times of late)
or the codec for the video isn't off...

[thoughton]

If I had to, I'd put myself in the "ram is much less important, CPU is much more important" camp. This is provided you have enough ram for OS X (say for instance 512MB). Once you have enough for that, I dont think an extra 1.5gig of ram is going to make a significant difference (I'd be amazed if it was more than 10% difference).

I may well be wrong though =]

Terry you fancy doing the testing? Whip out that 1gig dimm and encode that avi again pretty please

[live4ever]

Using BitVice it takes about six hours for every hour of video, using the default 2 pass VBR (3-8Mb/s) preset. This is on a 1.25Ghz Powerbook with 512Mb RAM and results in a very high quality m2v.

Other encoders (like ffmpeg) with CBR set are much faster but the quality doesn't compare really.

[FCPguy]

Whoah, I had no idea my post would get so many replies... ok, I'm gonna stand behind what I said strictly by my own experience (since all my processes were cut in half by a larger amount of ram (I render a ton of vid clips all the time, and that time is cut drastically, but that may be a totally different issue all together, but it seemed to make my system scream a lot faster - but don't get me wrong.... a faster processor will be a help... but for me, I'd take a good G4 with2gigs, than a G5 with 256). (I would opt for a dual G5 with 2-4 gigsRAM as godly though).

[FCPguy]

By the way Bilestyle- I love that Fam Guy Monkey! Absolutely hilarious.

[TugBoat]

my 2¢
The processor is King when it comes to rendering. Nothing will speed up rendering after certain requirements are met except a faster processor. All you need is enough ram to run the system and the encoder, say 512MB, a fast enough drive to keep them fed (takes hours to encode a few GBs, so disk speed is not a biggy), and the fastest processor you can find. I've read this from most places I've been, an easy link is;
http://discussions.info.apple.com/webx?128@111.GdVZa0fzrqL.4@.6895aa5a

Ram helps when loading large files into memory, aka GB Photoshop files, or when multi-tasking. If you're multi-tasking while encoding, everything is going to slow down. The video frames that must be loaded into ram to be rendered are not that large or many. If you could render 30fps it would be real time and that doesn't happen ;-( And, if your doing less than 30fps, HD speed is certainly not a factor. That leaves processor power. The more, the merrier...

Your post got a large number of replies because of the FUD content. A sure way to elicit replies is to make a false statement of fact in public

MayBe you should buy Jerry's Book

[bilestyle]

haha thanks.... i would go to my room but theres an evil monkey in my closet!! yah i wasnt saying RAM has 0 influence, clearly if your G5 or faster G4 doesnt have alot of memory than you will be in trouble, but if you have a good 512, 768 you should be totally fine, and i know if you add memory to a slower machine you could see a vast increase in speed. But for me i'd always rather have the better machine because ram is alot cheaper to buy then a faster processor upgrade, and in the end the faster processor makes a much bigger difference.

[dotpuppy]

Well, it was a 2 hours and 23 minute 3ivx clip that took 48 hours. My G4 has 640 MB of ram, so that really shouldn't be the bottleneck. It's probably the processor slowing me down in this case.

[galactica]

its because your processor is only 400 megs

i remember on my 450 sawtooth it was like 32 hours or so

the only way to see DRASTIC increase is to up the processor speed

i have Dual 1.25 G4 with 2 gigs of ram and its 4-6 hours for the process

sorry, looks like its time for an upgrade if you can afford it, otherwise, just let it process in the background

[ronsking]

Using BitVice it takes about six hours for every hour of video, using the default 2 pass VBR (3-8Mb/s) preset. This is on a 1.25Ghz Powerbook with 512Mb RAM and results in a very high quality m2v.

Other encoders (like ffmpeg) with CBR set are much faster but the quality doesn't compare really.

Hi!
In view of what you wrote about BitVice & ffmpeg speeds, anybody know the fastest Mac software mpeg2 encoder is? I have used Toast & iDVD so far. Toast seems to be faster but maybe not quite as nice quality.

[terryj]

Terry you fancy doing the testing? Whip out that 1gig dimm and encode that avi again pretty please

Sure...are you saying cut my Ram down to 1.0 GB and test?
( I was also going to test, I just got another 256MB for my b-day
so my total is now 1.75GB of actual ram, I wanted to see if
that would make a difference)

lmk,

[sdm]

In view of what you wrote about BitVice & ffmpeg speeds, anybody know the fastest Mac software mpeg2 encoder is? I have used Toast & iDVD so far. Toast seems to be faster but maybe not quite as nice quality.

Well I've tried ffmpegX with both mpeg2enc and ffmpeg enginges, bitvice, compressor, mccoder, and mpeg2works.

I used to prefer bitvice, but lately I've decided that ffmpegX with ffmpeg engine is faster and the quality is absolutely great. (I'm sure the bitvice guys would argue). Text and graphics are actually sharper than bitvice's encodes.

anyone agree or disagree?

[Harryford]

you mac people might wanna invest in a PC, i know how much bill haters dont like that but, pc processor technology is so much more advanced, get a cheap amd 64 3200+ or P4 2.8 for less than 500. now the G5 dual 2.5 is a different story but that is over 2000$$$

[thoughton]

you mac people might wanna invest in a PC, i know how much bill haters dont like that but, pc processor technology is so much more advanced, get a cheap amd 64 3200+ or P4 2.8 for less than 500. now the G5 dual 2.5 is a different story but that is over 2000$$$

Be quiet, troll boy. You clearly know very little about computers.

[Harryford]

hey i like macs, i have two, but are u saying that a little g4 1gz is gonna beat my three year old outdated amd 2100+ oced to 1.83ghz with a 285mhz fsb, hey macs are good but unless you get a G5 the pcs are just faster, but albiet less stable.

[galactica]

quite frankly, yes it will. 3 year old outdated PC against a 2003 model G4 1ghz hahaha even my Previous G4 MDD dual 867 would beat that PC of yours

G4 1ghz is not a "little g4"

You have 2 macs? what are they? Quadra 650? Power PC 6115 CD?!

[FCPguy]

Harryford- you seem like a nice guy, so let's just say that you are in the wrong place to be preaching such blesphemy!!!!
I suggest you look at clock speeds of any apple w/a G4 versus a PC made at the time. There is a huge difference in clock speed and rendering times ect. We are in a Mac VIDEO forum. There is no better tool in the video/ audio world than an Apple, and I've worked on a bunch. (PC and Mac) (THat is, unless you want one of those million dollar Infurno type machines they use in Hollywood).

[SERBIAN]

Hi!
In view of what you wrote about BitVice & ffmpeg speeds, anybody know the fastest Mac software mpeg2 encoder is? I have used Toast & iDVD so far. Toast seems to be faster but maybe not quite as nice quality.

Try MainConcept encoder...http://www.mainconcept.com/mpeg_macencoder.shtml

I licensed it for my latest app - LumiereHD - and it works 10x faster then anything on the Mac...Its a bit expensive /249$/ but the quality of the picture is GREAT and speed too...Does not works with the DivX file input yet, but maybe they will correct that...

Also MainConcept is a well known Co. in the PC world for a long time, since the companies like Adobe and Microsoft licensing their MPEG encoder for Adobe Premiere for example...

[miksu]

Technical point is:
"Sawtooth"s have original MPC7400 with 2 AltiVec units. Some of later introduced, 133MHz Macs (667 and faster?) have newer G4-processor with 4 Altivec units. If your software uses 'em really, little increase in MHz means a lot, since it's different processor loza more funny Altivecs.

Apple introduced same time 4 different units running at 133MHz bus. Two of thos were "oldies" with 2 Altivecs, as in original G4 (466 and 533, if I remember div's correctly) and two had newer processor with 4 Altivec-units (667MHz and 7 or 8-hundred-something MHz).

It could be too easy otherwise, those 667MHz and something had later versions with different cache-sizes, as old models "dropped" and news were introduced and slightly alternations were made in whole product line... Still, even original G4 is fabulous, mine (400 Yikes!) is waiting to be fixed. I love my current 450MHz Sawtooth. Beats crab out of any Pentium III (using 'em at work).

[ronsking]

Hi!
In view of what you wrote about BitVice & ffmpeg speeds, anybody know the fastest Mac software mpeg2 encoder is? I have used Toast & iDVD so far. Toast seems to be faster but maybe not quite as nice quality.

Try MainConcept encoder...http://www.mainconcept.com/mpeg_macencoder.shtml

I licensed it for my latest app - LumiereHD - and it works 10x faster then anything on the Mac...Its a bit expensive /249$/ but the quality of the picture is GREAT and speed too...Does not works with the DivX file input yet, but maybe they will correct that...

Also MainConcept is a well known Co. in the PC world for a long time, since the companies like Adobe and Microsoft licensing their MPEG encoder for Adobe Premiere for example...

Thanks! I'll take a look.

[pyscrow]

Hi all,

The other day I converted a Divx file to a DVD (for only the second time) using Galactica's tutorial's procedure.

I have a 400 Mhz Sawtooth G4 and it took almost 48 hours for MPEG2Works to convert the file.

So now I'm wondering how long it takes on a more modern machine since mine is beginning to show its age. Anyone have an approximate time on a faster machine? Faster G4? Powerbook? G5?

Sounds like you need a new box,
for me it takes about an hour to convert DivX movie back to uncompressed AVI, then about 2 1/2 hours for Tmpgenc to convert it to Mpeg2. (Obviously I dont have a Mac, but I dont think that really enters the debate - your box is definately "anchor material" with 48 hours).

[live4ever]

Hi!
In view of what you wrote about BitVice & ffmpeg speeds, anybody know the fastest Mac software mpeg2 encoder is? I have used Toast & iDVD so far. Toast seems to be faster but maybe not quite as nice quality.

Try MainConcept encoder...http://www.mainconcept.com/mpeg_macencoder.shtml

I licensed it for my latest app - LumiereHD - and it works 10x faster then anything on the Mac...Its a bit expensive /249$/ but the quality of the picture is GREAT and speed too...Does not works with the DivX file input yet, but maybe they will correct that...

Also MainConcept is a well known Co. in the PC world for a long time, since the companies like Adobe and Microsoft licensing their MPEG encoder for Adobe Premiere for example...

Actually mccoder does work with with DivX files, I was a beta tester and the early versions didn't recognise .avi files. Now it works great on them though (it does take a bit of time to set them up right). You're absolutely right about its speed and quality though, on my 1.25ghz G4 laptop an hour of DivX or DV video takes about 100 minutes to convert to mpeg2 (1 pass VBR) and on G5 Duals I bet it's realtime or faster.

[SERBIAN]

Actually mccoder does work with with DivX files, I was a beta tester and the early versions didn't recognise .avi files. Now it works great on them though (it does take a bit of time to set them up right).

Ooo...Im glad to hear that...They said that they will correct QuickTime reader inside their code, so they did...Nice...

You're absolutely right about its speed and quality though, on my 1.25ghz G4 laptop an hour of DivX or DV video takes about 100 minutes to convert to mpeg2 (1 pass VBR) and on G5 Duals I bet it's realtime or faster.

Faster then realtime...

[dotpuppy]

OK, this has all been very enlightening.

But the comment about Altivec left me a little confused. Does anyone know which pieces of software take advantage of altivec and which don't?