Please help: slow megui encoding on Quad Core

[bremler]

Hi, I would appreciate some help please. I'm using the latest megui 0.3.4.0 and my computer is a Q6600 quad core, using 8gb RAM. I'm trying to encode a movie and the FPS in megui is 1.64FPS - this is crazy slow. . . what am I doing wrong? Any help much appreciated.

ETA: the task manager says that the CPU is being used at 100%, by x264_64.exe, if that helps.

[poisondeathray]

use faster / lower quality settings

[bremler]

Thankyou....but it is not the case. I should have mentioned that I used to average 3-4 hrs on megui encoding a standard 2 hr DVD movie, at 2pass insane setting. Now I return to it after a few months and it has autoupdated itself but the speed has become too slow. I used to have between 16fps - 20 fps on my quad, but now it's down to 1-2fps and will take over 1 day to encode a 2 hr movie.

What factors could be involved? I have closed down all other programs to allow megui full use, and it is at full 100% CPU throttle but still the speed remains slow. puzzled and frustrated...

[poisondeathray]

how long ago since last update? "insane" is several times slower now , there are some new features implemented. "insane" is named that for a reason; 10x slower is not worth 1% increase in quality at a certain bitrate IMO. Roll back to an older version if it bothers you

[bremler]

I did try rolling back to megui-0.3.1.1056 but the slow speed has remained, it is like it has infected all earlier version. I don't know why it is behaving so slow when it used to be so fast. I am thinking of purchasing a new hard drive and re-installing windows-xp on it to see if that will make full use of my quad core speed. I wonder if anyone has further suggestions for me...

[Sxn]

May be the source that you are trying to encode is not so good.
Try encoding the older video source on which you got 16-20fps.. if u get between 1-2 fps on that source too then try formatting your hard disc and re-install windows & your older version of Megui.

Buying a new hard disc entire for this purpose is not a good option when you have many alternatives to work on.
Good luck

[creamyhorror]

Use a faster x264 preset. "Slow" or "slower" will be a lot faster. I'm guessing it's some change in the presets that caused it.

[poisondeathray]

I did try rolling back to megui-0.3.1.1056 but the slow speed has remained, it is like it has infected all earlier version. I don't know why it is behaving so slow when it used to be so fast. I am thinking of purchasing a new hard drive and re-installing windows-xp on it to see if that will make full use of my quad core speed. I wonder if anyone has further suggestions for me...

what was the commandline when it was "fast"

what was the commandline when it was "slow"

if taskmanager says x264_64.exe is 100% ,then that suggests its your settings, not some other bottleneck like avisynth or filters etc..

[bremler]

Thankyou so much for the replies, SXN, Creamyhorror and Poisondeathray. I reinstalled version 0.3.1.1056 again, and this time did not let it update the core - (had to update everything else or else it would not run). I also installed an earlier version of avisynth instead of the latest version 2.58. And so now my speed is averaging between 28-30, which still isn't ideal for a quad core but miles away from the slow speed I was getting before.

Thanks for the replies, and you're right SXN, it wasn't worth getting another hard drive when more tinkering did it.