Pinnacle 12 --- slow render

[wingfan]

doing a test using Pinnacle 12, 1 min project with exact same effects/video on both of these system setups. rendering is the same speed on BOTH machines, can someone explain how this is possible? my theory is that Pinnacle is a piece of ____. Reason I come to this conclusion is because well it's a Quad vs P4, and tests with another same project on Sony Vegas 8 the Quad blows it away in HDV and DV rendering.

Rendering to DVD (MPEG2) with Pinnacle 12 Ultimate same results using same exact project. all settings for video setup in Pinnacle are identical in both computers (project settings and video setup.. background rendering etc).

specs ::

#1

Quad Core 6600 2.4
ASUS P5Q
4GB Mushkin
ATI Radeon 4870 1GB video card
WD 500 GB SATA II
Antec Sonata III case with 550W PSU

#2

Intel P4 3.4 (Prescott)
ASUS P5GDC-Deluxe
2GB Kingston
ATI Radeon X600 256 PRO
WD 160 Sata
Antec case with 350W PSU

reason im doing this test is because my father in law is an avid Pinnacle user (myself Vegas) and Im trying to stress buying new PC (i7 actually or Quad) for his video editing but obviously if he continues to use Pinnacle he shouldnt upgrade system. Vegas though blows it away like I said. I guess thats the difference between an $130 app to $600?

[guns1inger]

Start a render going on the quad, then open the Task Manager and look at the performance tab. You should see all 4 CPU (Cores) working reasonably hard. If you only see one working, then you have you answer.

[jagabo]

Yes, if Pinnacle's encoder is single threaded it will only run on one core (at a time). A single core on a Q6600 is roughly the same speed as a 3.4 GHz P4. I would have thought it was multithreaded by version 12 though.

[wingfan]

jagabo, i think i did read that Pinnacle does not take multi core into effect.. im not too sure. i will look into that too.

[wingfan]

looks like only 2 are going? here is the rendering with task manager.. i see what you mean about checking the 4 Cores, 4 pics in CPU Usage.

[jagabo]

Total CPU usage is 26 percent in that shot. The program is single threaded. Windows may bounce the program between different cores to even out the heat generation but the program is only running on one core at a time. Task Manager doesn't have the temporal granularity to see that.

[wingfan]

ya eh .. well great to know, got my answer! thanks for your help.