How to make a super MPEG2 encoder PC?

[Hellbore]

What kind of specs does it take to make a computer encode from AVI to MPEG2 super super fast?

What is usually the bottleneck, the CPU, RAM, BUS, hard drive,.... what?

Looking at my computer specs, what do you think I could upgrade to get the most improvement in encoding times?

If it didn't take so long, I would software encode more things, but as it is, I'm too lazy! I may have to anyway though if I can't get satisfied with my Hauppauge card.

[dphirschler]

CPU would be the main bottleneck. I am not thinking bus speed affects encoding. I do think it is a factor in capturing though. 512 mb RAM ought to be plenty. I don't think increasing it will affect encoding speed, but the RAM speed probably does make a difference.


Darryl

[hudsonf]

What Hauppauge card do you have? I use a PVR250 and the USB2 card on the same computer and get great results. you can get a lot of info on the Hauppauge cards and different software for it here. http://www.shspvr.com/

[Hellbore]

I have a Hauppauge WinTV PVR 250.

Who's that chick in your avatar? She's hot. What's she lookin at? I like that look on her face.

[peter_pan]

"Who's that chick in your avatar? She's hot. What's she lookin at? I like that look on her face."

get a life.

[junkmalle]

Let's see, you'll want a fast P4 or Opteron/Atholon64 processor. That will run you, say $300 - $900. Of course you'll need a new motherboard for those processors, $150. You memory probably isn't fast enough so probably need 512 MB of new memory, $200. Oops, all those new motherboards use PCI Express, not AGP, so you'll need a new graphics card, $200-$500. And when you're done your MPEG encodes might run twice as fast.

[Hellbore]

"Who's that chick in your avatar? She's hot. What's she lookin at? I like that look on her face."

get a life.

I was just joking around you asshat! Go troll somewhere else.

[Soopafresh]

Just get an Athlon 64 3000 for $155 and a new mobo for $100. That will double your encode speed.

[Hellbore]

Just get an Athlon 64 3000 for $155 and a new mobo for $100. That will double your encode speed.

I think you are right, this option makes the most sense. There are Athlon 64 motherboards that still have AGP slots.

[reboot]

Then encode everything in Mainconcept, or CCE with no filtering, and it'll be REALLY fast

[steve2713]

http://shop1.outpost.com/product/4247314?site=sr:SEARCH:MAIN_RSLT_PG



similar prices at newegg.com also, here's a retail 3000+ for $146:

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=19-103-486&depa=1

[junkmalle]

I seriously doubt an Athlon 64 3000+ is going to encode MPEG twice as fast as an Athlon 2600+. And socket 754 with single channel DDR 333 (what he probably has now) is going to suck.

Some video benchmarks of processors in that range:

http://www.tomshardware.com/cpu/20040601/socket_939-20.html

[hudsonf]

Who's that chick in your avatar? She's hot.

Her name is Hudson Leick. She played Callisto in the tv show Xena: Warrior Princess. I chose her not only because shes hot but we share the same name. And before you ask; I had the name first.

[hudsonf]

I have a Hauppauge WinTV PVR 250.

Have you tried different setting in your capture software. I capture tv progams with BeyondTV with custom settings and have never had any problems. I have captured 2 shows at the same time with my PVR 250 and my USB2 and didn't have any problems. I think if you play around with the setting you can get it to capture with good results.

[lordsmurf]

P4 3.0Ghz+ .... 1GB RAM .. 15000 rpm HDD's

CCE SP ... no filtering ....

Windows XP Pro ... minimalist settings (no fancy junk)

no TSR stuff ... nothing but mandatory OS stuff..

and about $2000+ probably

maybe even some realtime+ speed encoder hardware .. that's expensive

[Hellbore]

I seriously doubt an Athlon 64 3000+ is going to encode MPEG twice as fast as an Athlon 2600+. And socket 754 with single channel DDR 333 (what he probably has now) is going to suck.

Nah I have dual channel DDR 400, isn't that what the Athlon 64 3000+ calls for?

The memory is currently running at 333 speed and single channel, only because my motherboard doesn't support faster bus speeds or dual channel operation.

[junkmalle]

I seriously doubt an Athlon 64 3000+ is going to encode MPEG twice as fast as an Athlon 2600+. And socket 754 with single channel DDR 333 (what he probably has now) is going to suck.

Nah I have dual channel DDR 400, isn't that what the Athlon 64 3000+ calls for?

The memory is currently running at 333 speed and single channel, only because my motherboard doesn't support faster bus speeds or dual channel operation.

You should be able to use your existing memory then. Don't expect more than ~20 percent better performance with a socket 754 Athlon 64 3000+ though. Look at the video benchmarks I reference earlier. Socket 939 would be a better, albeit a little more expensive, choice. And it has more room for CPU upgrades later.

[aaronrus]

"Who's that chick in your avatar? She's hot. What's she lookin at? I like that look on her face."

get a life.

lighten up!

[aaronrus]

I seriously doubt an Athlon 64 3000+ is going to encode MPEG twice as fast as an Athlon 2600+. And socket 754 with single channel DDR 333 (what he probably has now) is going to suck.

Nah I have dual channel DDR 400, isn't that what the Athlon 64 3000+ calls for?

The memory is currently running at 333 speed and single channel, only because my motherboard doesn't support faster bus speeds or dual channel operation.

You should be able to use your existing memory then. Don't expect more than ~20 percent better performance with a socket 754 Athlon 64 3000+ though. Look at the video benchmarks I reference earlier. Socket 939 would be a better, albeit a little more expensive, choice. And it has more room for CPU upgrades later.

ASrock makes a great motherboard called the "combo-z" it has both 754 and 939 sockets on it, you can use one or the other, not both. It uses the ALI/ULI unified M1689 chipset, ALI is the official AMD chipset maker now..
AMD chips with AMD chipsets equals a stable and fast computer.

[Skith]

Take a look at the following 90nm Athlon 64 processors @ newegg. Socket 939 only. 90nm = less power consumption, less heat = better.

Spending a few $$$ extra for a 90nm chip is worth it, IMO (only available in socket 939).

[aaronrus]

Take a look at the following 90nm Athlon 64 processors @ newegg. Socket 939 only. 90nm = less power consumption, less heat = better.

Spending a few $$$ extra for a 90nm chip is worth it, IMO (only available in socket 939).

the 754 athlon 64 chips dont exactly run hot either. Mine runs at 92 degrees with the stock fan and full cpu load..not sure how accurate that is, but my old athlon 1700+ used to run at 126 degrees with the same temperature guage