11 replies to this topic

[oneeng]

I am using a Core 2 duo E6550 with 2Gb DDR2 800 ram on Windows XP with EMC9.

My video card is an ATI/AMD HD3850 (diamond viper).

When I play a preview or render a video, the dissolve transitions run very slowly (about 1 frame every 2 seconds).  I think that my old system (Athlon X2 1.8Ghz with a Radeon 9800pro) ran this much faster, but cant remember for sure.

Some other transistions are slow as well, but the dissolve is the worst.

Does anyone know if this is just normal, or if there is something wrong with my setup?

As I understand it, the video card has something to do with rendering.  If someone could explain a bit on this subject, I would appreciate it.

Thanks for your help.

[sknis]

I am using a Core 2 duo E6550 with 2Gb DDR2 800 ram on Windows XP with EMC9.

My video card is an ATI/AMD HD3850 (diamond viper).

When I play a preview or render a video, the dissolve transitions run very slowly (about 1 frame every 2 seconds).  I think that my old system (Athlon X2 1.8Ghz with a Radeon 9800pro) ran this much faster, but cant remember for sure.

Some other transistions are slow as well, but the dissolve is the worst.

Does anyone know if this is just normal, or if there is something wrong with my setup?

As I understand it, the video card has something to do with rendering.  If someone could explain a bit on this subject, I would appreciate it.

Thanks for your help.

That's probably 90 % of your problem.  First update the drivers for the card (link). You will have to remove the old drivers, reboot and then install the new drivers.  There are instructions on the site.

Then, set the anti-aliasing and the anisotropic filtering to software controlled using the Catalyst Control Center-- right click on a spot on your page and select it there. Set the performance to best performance or one over from best performance.  Update Microsoft's Direct X 9c.

Run the rendering test.  Open Video Wave, go to the top menu under tools, options.  Run the test.  Where is the dot after the test is finished.  That's the only thing you'll see after the test is over.

Edited by sknis, 01 April 2008 - 12:38 PM.

[oneeng]

That's probably 90 % of your problem.  First update the drivers for the card (link). You will have to remove the old drivers, reboot and then install the new drivers.  There are instructions on the site.

Then, set the anti-aliasing and the anisotropic filtering to software controlled using the Catalyst Control Center-- right click on a spot on your page and select it there. Set the performance to best performance or one over from best performance.  Update Microsoft's Direct X 9c.

Run the rendering test.  Open Video Wave, go to the top menu under tools, options.  Run the test.  Where is the dot after the test is finished.  That's the only thing you'll see after the test is over.

Thanks for the quick (very quick) reply.

I have removed the current driver and re-installed the latest drivers from AMD/ATI for the HD3850.

I no longer appear to be able to run CCC, but I have found something interesting.

I still have the slow rendering and preview issue with the disolves or other demanding video movement.... but if I go to tools/options and go to software rendering, everything runs fast.

Now this makes absolutely no sense at all.  I am guessing that the hardware rendering should be orders of magnitude faster than software.

Of course, I do have a very fast processor for video rendering (C2D 2.33Ghz) with quite fast memory (DDR800).

Still, I will work to get your suggestions implemented.  There is no reason that I should have any issues with rendering or previews.  I have a very fast video card in a well established hardware platform.

Thanks again for the input.  I will let you know how it works out.

[grandpabruce]

Thanks for the quick (very quick) reply.

I have removed the current driver and re-installed the latest drivers from AMD/ATI for the HD3850.

I no longer appear to be able to run CCC, but I have found something interesting.

I still have the slow rendering and preview issue with the disolves or other demanding video movement.... but if I go to tools/options and go to software rendering, everything runs fast.

Now this makes absolutely no sense at all.  I am guessing that the hardware rendering should be orders of magnitude faster than software.

Of course, I do have a very fast processor for video rendering (C2D 2.33Ghz) with quite fast memory (DDR800).

Still, I will work to get your suggestions implemented.  There is no reason that I should have any issues with rendering or previews.  I have a very fast video card in a well established hardware platform.

Thanks again for the input.  I will let you know how it works out.

Your video card does the rendering, but the hard core encoding is done by the processor.

[oneeng]

sknis,

That's probably 90 % of your problem. First update the drivers for the card (link). You will have to remove the old drivers, reboot and then install the new drivers. There are instructions on the site.

Done.  I am running version 8.3 of the catalyst driver package.

As an aside, the control center did NOT run after the update.  I FINALLY have it running again so that I could attempt to follow your directions.

Then, set the anti-aliasing and the anisotropic filtering to software controlled using the Catalyst Control Center-- right click on a spot on your page and select it there. Set the performance to best performance or one over from best performance. Update Microsoft's Direct X 9c.

Some issues here.  First, I am up to date with Direct x 9c.  Second, I see no way to set the anti-aliasing and anisotropic filtering to software controlled using CCC.  It lets me allow applications to set the settings, or to set the settings manually; however, it does not allow me to set these features to "software controlled".

After all of these trials and tribulations, I still am in a situation where hardware rendering runs slow (and I mean pathetically slow) over dissolves (and other effects).  Software rendering runs fairly well (a bit faster than real time I think).

Any other suggestions?  This really makes no sense to me.

[grandpabruce]

sknis,

Done.  I am running version 8.3 of the catalyst driver package.

As an aside, the control center did NOT run after the update.  I FINALLY have it running again so that I could attempt to follow your directions.

Some issues here.  First, I am up to date with Direct x 9c.  Second, I see no way to set the anti-aliasing and anisotropic filtering to software controlled using CCC.  It lets me allow applications to set the settings, or to set the settings manually; however, it does not allow me to set these features to "software controlled".

After all of these trials and tribulations, I still am in a situation where hardware rendering runs slow (and I mean pathetically slow) over dissolves (and other effects).  Software rendering runs fairly well (a bit faster than real time I think).

Any other suggestions?  This really makes no sense to me.

I think NVidia calls it software controlled, but it means the same as application controlled.  As far as installing new drivers for the video card, you have to uninstall the previous drivers first, then reboot, and install the new drivers.  If you don't unintall the old drivers first, it can cause problems.

I don't know why your computer would render pathetically slow, but make sure that you have nothing running in the background, while doing the rendering and encoding of your production.

[oneeng]

I think NVidia calls it software controlled, but it means the same as application controlled.  As far as installing new drivers for the video card, you have to uninstall the previous drivers first, then reboot, and install the new drivers.  If you don't unintall the old drivers first, it can cause problems.

I don't know why your computer would render pathetically slow, but make sure that you have nothing running in the background, while doing the rendering and encoding of your production.

Ok, then I have anti-aliasing and anisotropic filtering set to software controlled.

I have (finally) successfully updated both the video driver and the Catalyst control center.

I don't think it has anything to do with what I have running in the background.  All I have to do is click "software rendering" and everything is fine again.

To quantify "pathetically slow", I can visually count the frames as they render through the dissolve.  I would estimate it takes about 1 second per frame.  Once the dissolve is finished, things progress quickly again.

I think that the Core 2 Duo is an amazing rendering processor.  It appears to render the effects WITHOUT the video card at slightly greater than real time frame rates.

Does anyone else have a system of similar speed to mine (2.33Ghz C2D) that has properly working hardware rendering?  It would be nice to understand how fast the rendering SHOULD be.

Thanks.

[grandpabruce]

Ok, then I have anti-aliasing and anisotropic filtering set to software controlled.

I have (finally) successfully updated both the video driver and the Catalyst control center.

I don't think it has anything to do with what I have running in the background.  All I have to do is click "software rendering" and everything is fine again.

To quantify "pathetically slow", I can visually count the frames as they render through the dissolve.  I would estimate it takes about 1 second per frame.  Once the dissolve is finished, things progress quickly again.

I think that the Core 2 Duo is an amazing rendering processor.  It appears to render the effects WITHOUT the video card at slightly greater than real time frame rates.

Does anyone else have a system of similar speed to mine (2.33Ghz C2D) that has properly working hardware rendering?  It would be nice to understand how fast the rendering SHOULD be.

Thanks.

With your system, you should be able to render and encode a 1 hour long video in about 1-1/2 hours, or maybe a little more.

[oneeng]

With your system, you should be able to render and encode a 1 hour long video in about 1-1/2 hours, or maybe a little more.

Then I am doing very well still.  I can encode a 1 hour video in around 45 minutes.  This is with some overlays, and dissolves between every video clip as well as zoom and pan operations on any pictures.

Incidentally, I downloaded ULEAD 11 demo to see if it would work the same ..... yep.... exactly the same issue .... except I can't figure out how to control the rendering (via software) with the ULEAD product.  Also, the ULEAD rendering is significantly slower than EMC9 videowave.  After playing around, I have concluded that VideoWave is much superior in features and rendering options and speed.  ULEAD has a somewhat "prettier" GUI, but not as functional.

I guess I should be happy with the performance I am getting.

[grandpabruce]

Then I am doing very well still.  I can encode a 1 hour video in around 45 minutes.  This is with some overlays, and dissolves between every video clip as well as zoom and pan operations on any pictures.

Incidentally, I downloaded ULEAD 11 demo to see if it would work the same ..... yep.... exactly the same issue .... except I can't figure out how to control the rendering (via software) with the ULEAD product.  Also, the ULEAD rendering is significantly slower than EMC9 videowave.  After playing around, I have concluded that VideoWave is much superior in features and rendering options and speed.  ULEAD has a somewhat "prettier" GUI, but not as functional.

I guess I should be happy with the performance I am getting.

Wow!  Then you aren't rendering slow, at all.  And, you are right about VideoWave being good on features.  Video work just takes a long time, but hopefully, in the end, the wait is worth it.

[oneeng]

Wow!  Then you aren't rendering slow, at all.  And, you are right about VideoWave being good on features.  Video work just takes a long time, but hopefully, in the end, the wait is worth it.

It is very worth it.  I am glad to hear that I am not rendering slow; however, it still makes no sense at all that hardware supported rendering is slower than software rendering

I will wait for the next few revisions of drivers from ATI.  I am strongly considering purchasing an nVidia product.  Perhaps their drivers would work better for me.  It is a pitty, my ATI 9800 pro worked flawlessly.

[oneeng]

OK, new information.

I was wrong about ULEAD.  Everything runs quite fast now on ULEAD, but EMC9 VideoWave runs very slow through transitions with a dissolve .... but only with hardware rendering.  I am therefore back on the track of something in EMC9 being wrong again.

To the best of my information, the 3D hardware should not be used for a dissolve.

Any ideas about what may be causing this wierdness?

I have also found that putting an overlay on top of the video slows things down quite a bit.... this may just be normal.... but surely the dissolves are not.