encoding speed slower w/Dual Proc & XP w/SP2!!!

[winman42]

Got a question for anyone, if they have any experience with this, or
have noticed this themselves. Here's the deal:

I use Canopus Procoder and/or Tmpgenc to do my encoding, I'm mostly
encoding from AVi to vcd or dvd. As an example, it normally took me
approx 60-65 mins to encode a 60 minute tv epsisode, with either
program.

I'm using a Tyan dual processor mobo with AMD 1.4ghz chips. Obviously not the fastest processors, but they do a decent job speed wise. This was while i was running Win Xp w/SP1.

Due to a problem with my HD, i had to wipe everything out and start from
scratch, so i went with XP w/SP2. Since then i've noticed a SERIOUS slowing
down of my conversion process.

Now a 60 min TV episode is taking approx 3 hours and 35 mins with
Tmpgenc, and longer with Canopus. I cant figure out why this is happening, unless its n XP issue.

Anyone have any ideas?

thanks,

Win

[jtommyj]

Did you remember to go into TMPGEnc and change the environmental settings for 2 processors (multi-thread) ?

Tom

[winman42]

I sure did Tom, thanks for the tip, because that has happened in the past!!

And i'm almost certain that Canopus Procoder is already set for
multi thread. I looked and couldnt find any settings for it.

Win

[disturbed1]

When installing windows, you have to enable Dual CPU support.

It's been awhile since I've ran Windows on my dualies, but I think you have to hit either F4, or F6 or F something to change the cpu type from the default during the initial start up screens, before the actual installation. This is with Windows 4.0 and Windows 2000, not sure if XP requires the same thing or not.

Once windows is installed, the only way I'm aware of to change the cpu type is to do a fresh reinstall. This has happened a couple of times to me with Windows 2000 and a couple of my setups.

[winman42]

Wow, i've never heard that, and i'm almost sure i've
never done that in the past. Perhaps this is something
that can be changed in the BIOS maybe? thanks for the info, i'll check into it. I see that both processors show
up in the hardware manager, but that doesnt mean they are being used, i guess.

Win

[jtommyj]

I have to say that i have a dual CPU Xeon machine and i didn't have to do anything special when installing XP on this machine or my Tyan Tiger 2460 when i had it and it was dual cpu also.
I would look at task manager while your TMPGEnc is encoding and see what % of the processors are being used as my first trouble shooting step.

Maybe another program is using the CPU also .Looking at the task manager will let you see what processes are using what % of your CPU resources.

Tom

[disturbed1]

I have to say that i have a dual CPU Xeon machine and i didn't have to do anything special when installing XP on this machine or my Tyan Tiger 2460 when i had it and it was dual cpu also.
I would look at task manager while your TMPGEnc is encoding and see what % of the processors are being used as my first trouble shooting step.

Maybe another program is using the CPU also .Looking at the task manager will let you see what processes are using what % of your CPU resources.

Tom

Then it is different with XP. That's nice to know.

As long as both CPUs show up in task manager, then dual CPU support is enabled.

[winman42]

well, i checked the bios, and dont see anything there, and both CPU's are shown in device manager. So i cant
figure out whats going on here, but i now get much faster speed on my old sony viao system with 1 processor.

;-(

Win

[jtommyj]

Did you try to start TMPGEnc and see how much processor % of each processor TMPGENc is using and if anything else is using the CPU(s) ?

Tom

[winman42]

OK, i did run tmpgenc, and opened task manager, but i'm seeing CPU usage as one number , not 2. So from what i'm seeing, i cant tell how much TMPGENC is using from each processor. Help would be appreciated.

Win

[jtommyj]

Well, that might explain it. It sounds like only one processor is being recognized. Do this:
Go into device manager and click on the + sign next to Computer and see what it says. For instance,mine says
ACPI Multiprocessor PC

See what yours says.

Also, are there two graphs or one graph under performance in Task Manager ?

Tom

[winman42]

Yes, mine says the same.

And under Processors is shows the following:

AMD Athlon(tm) Processor
AMD Athlon(tm) Processor

Win

[jtommyj]

OK, so now run TMPGENc again and open task manager and click on the performance tab and see what % of both processors are being used.

Tom

[jtommyj]

Like so.

[winman42]

OK, its shuttling between 63% - 100%

Win

[jtommyj]

Hmm,that sounds about right. Are you sure your hard drives are all set up the same and you're pulling the material from the same drive to the same drive you were using before ?

I can't for the life of me understand why it would slow down now. Can you roll-back to SP-1 or did you install one of the slipstreamed versions with SP-2 already on it ?

Tom

[winman42]

Unfortunately i cant rollback, i installed a version that included SP2 on it. And the drives are all the same.
This is very confusing for me.

Win

[jtommyj]

Yeah,me too .i'm out of ideas for now and getting ready for bed. I'll try to sleep on it and see if i can come up with anything else and post back.
Good Luck

Tom

[winman42]

OK Tom, much appreciated.

Win

[xpavement]

Are you using the same exact template settings for TMPGENC? Items like motion search precision may effect the time it takes for the video to finish. There are tons of other settings, like the filter section too that may affect your time. You might want to try CCE if you still run into problems.

[jimmalenko]

You might want to look at the articles in the guides section that relate to configuring TMPGEnc for optimal speed. I think Lordsmurf has an article @ www.digitalFAQ.com that deals with this also.

Next I guess we look at making sure your hard drives are in DMA mode and not PIO mode also.

[winman42]

well, everything is exactly the same as before the change to SP2. In speaking to MS, they think that
SP2 is not working correctly with this MOBO. Since
TYAN have not released an updated drivers, MS suggests that I roll back to SP1, which is what i'm going to do.

More info when i do that, to see if the encoding speeds go back to normal.

thanks,

Win