Can't save edited AVI without recoding Virtualdub

[Gotanno]

Hey all

I've captured 30 mins of footage from a camcorder. I captured it as an AVI encoded with Huffyuv and the file is about 14 GB in size.

All frames are key frames in this format (HuffYUV).

So I trim a bit here and there, but when I save it, it takes about 15 minutes to complete. Is this normal? I thought it should be near instantaneous?

I didn't re-arrange any clips, nor applied any filters, etc...

Settings: Video and Audio are set to "Direct Stream Copy"

Video: 720*576 @25 FPS (PAL).

Hardrive: Mechanical @ about 80% of capacity. Origin and destination of video on the same partition. Hardrive was recently formatted.

OS and specs: Windows 8.1 32bit on a 7th Generation i5 64bit HP laptop. I'm using Windows 32bit because the capture card driver (an old Avid liquid Pro BOB) only works on 32bit systems. Win 8 is installed on a separate internal hardrive with 4 partitions.

What's going on?

Thanks !

[poisondeathray]

HD or SD capture ? Maybe issue with your storage ? Is this a mechanical HDD ? Are you reading / writing to the same drive ? Is it fragmented or near capacity? Defrag and/or run some diagnostics.

As it is a lossless format, all frames are key frames.

Just a FYI - there are lossless formats which have long GOP modes too . eg. FFV1, x264, x265 all can use temporal compression in their lossless modes

[andkar]

How long does it take just to copy the original file in the explorer? I doubt 30 mins is a small file.

[Gotanno]

HD or SD capture ? Maybe issue with your storage ? Is this a mechanical HDD ? Are you reading / writing to the same drive ? Is it fragmented or near capacity? Defrag and/or run some diagnostics.

As it is a lossless format, all frames are key frames.

Just a FYI - there are lossless formats which have long GOP modes too . eg. FFV1, x264, x265 all can use temporal compression in their lossless modes

Thanks for pointing those things out to me. I've updated my post and included more information.

Yes mechanical drive, recently formatted. Drive at about 80% capacity

[Gotanno]

How long does it take just to copy the original file in the explorer? I doubt 30 mins is a small file.

It's about 14GB in size (thanks, I've updated my original post with this info).

[Cornucopia]

Do a file copy from and to the same drive, using your 14GB original copy (assuming you have enough free space), as andkar suggested. That is your benchmark. A "direct stream copy" edited version using all keyframes should take only slightly longer than that.

Scott

[Gotanno]

Do a file copy from and to the same drive, using your 14GB original copy (assuming you have enough free space), as andkar suggested. That is your benchmark. A "direct stream copy" edited version using all keyframes should take only slightly longer than that.

Scott

Oh right, I see! Yes, it does take a while.

So I guess I should be doing capturing & editing on a SSD and archiving on a mechanical drive.

OK, mystery solved, thanks