4 replies to this topic

[phase888]

I get asked by friends to convert video files of various sorts from time to time, nothing commercial or extreme high quality just seems to be a regular thing.  I also convert a number of personal video files for my own consumption.  I was using another program that has long been out of production due to the developers ceasing to update.  I was starting to run into compatibility issues with some files as time has marched on and there are new formats/audio bits that it was no longer able to handle effectively.  As such I thought I would purchase Popcorn 4 since I believe Roxio makes good products and I appreciate a number of the features of the application.

After a simple install I ran into some codec issues and upgraded my Perian to the latest which seems to have fixed the error boxes from popping up.  I fed popcorn a number of 300-500 Meg AVI files which is promptly converted into .MP4 files with a 640x480 resolution without any remarkable difference from how I was doing things before.  At the end of my queue was a .MKV file (about 1.1G in size), this file ran in conversion for apparently 5+ hours before I simply gave up.  I played the file original through without seeing any glitches and used my old program to convert it - it took under 30 minutes.  I attempted another MKV file as a test and did let it finish - the time ran well over 8 hours, another took 12 hours or so.  Both of these converted under my old program in under 30 minutes without a hitch.  Even a 730Meg AVI file finished in fairly rapid time under Popcorn but I seem to be having extraordinary conversion times on MKV files.  As these are listed as a valid file type on the product page I don't feel I'm asking the application to do anything outside the boundaries of what it is intended.  Anything that might help or I might have missed that is causing these incredible conversion times?  Of note, the files it does eventually spit out from the mkv's are identical quality to the 30 minute conversions under my old application.

I have a Core 2 Duo Imac running at 2Ghz with 3GB of ram.  I considered maybe it was due to my USB chain lagging out (which I perceive to be generally slower under 10.6, but that could just be me) so I did everything under my internal drive with no improvement.  I really think 12+ hours is a bit unreasonable so I think I'm either missing something or I'm doing something horribly wrong.  I am aware that my Imac is becoming quite a bit outdated but I do not feel that even this older machine should be taking quite this long to convert files.  The documentation that comes with Popcorn is a bit light in the area of troubleshooting and searches in the forums under even the older versions helped little.

[Kevin Cossaboon]

just bought Popcorn 4, and can not understand how slow it is,

MKV file 8.4G 720P with DTS 5.1

-> Apple TV, can not find how to keep 5.1 audio
-> Windows Media Advanced, there is a 5.1 Audio pick, and the file has been encoding for 20 hours, and is at 86%.

20 HOURS!!!!!!!!!!! and not done.

The machine is a Mac Pro with 2 x 3GHz Dual-Core Intel Xeon Processors and 8 Gig of Ram, with 4 x 1TB drives, (Source on one, Destination on another, temp on a third).

CPU for the APPLE TV encoding never used more than 1 core
CPU on the Windows Media is at 139%, with only 434Meg of Ram.

20 HOURS and still only 87% !!!!!!! OMG.........


Kevin Cossaboon

[gaper1]

I get asked by friends to convert video files of various sorts from time to time, nothing commercial or extreme high quality just seems to be a regular thing.  I also convert a number of personal video files for my own consumption.  I was using another program that has long been out of production due to the developers ceasing to update.  I was starting to run into compatibility issues with some files as time has marched on and there are new formats/audio bits that it was no longer able to handle effectively.  As such I thought I would purchase Popcorn 4 since I believe Roxio makes good products and I appreciate a number of the features of the application.

After a simple install I ran into some codec issues and upgraded my Perian to the latest which seems to have fixed the error boxes from popping up.  I fed popcorn a number of 300-500 Meg AVI files which is promptly converted into .MP4 files with a 640x480 resolution without any remarkable difference from how I was doing things before.  At the end of my queue was a .MKV file (about 1.1G in size), this file ran in conversion for apparently 5+ hours before I simply gave up.  I played the file original through without seeing any glitches and used my old program to convert it - it took under 30 minutes.  I attempted another MKV file as a test and did let it finish - the time ran well over 8 hours, another took 12 hours or so.  Both of these converted under my old program in under 30 minutes without a hitch.  Even a 730Meg AVI file finished in fairly rapid time under Popcorn but I seem to be having extraordinary conversion times on MKV files.  As these are listed as a valid file type on the product page I don't feel I'm asking the application to do anything outside the boundaries of what it is intended.  Anything that might help or I might have missed that is causing these incredible conversion times?  Of note, the files it does eventually spit out from the mkv's are identical quality to the 30 minute conversions under my old application.

I have a Core 2 Duo Imac running at 2Ghz with 3GB of ram.  I considered maybe it was due to my USB chain lagging out (which I perceive to be generally slower under 10.6, but that could just be me) so I did everything under my internal drive with no improvement.  I really think 12+ hours is a bit unreasonable so I think I'm either missing something or I'm doing something horribly wrong.  I am aware that my Imac is becoming quite a bit outdated but I do not feel that even this older machine should be taking quite this long to convert files.  The documentation that comes with Popcorn is a bit light in the area of troubleshooting and searches in the forums under even the older versions helped little.

what is "the old program" you were using?

[Kevin Cossaboon]

what is "the old program" you were using?

I would assume VisualHub. It was the best transcode ever made for the Mac. It can preserve 5.1 audio (and nether can PopCorn), but 85 minutes for a MKV file that took popcorn 18 hours.

I can not believe I spent the money on Popcorn. I was hoping that by now there would be some support for this program. I opened a case last week for support on 5.1 audio and still heard nothing back.

[phase888]

what is "the old program" you were using?

It was Visual Hub, wasn't sure if it was considered offensive to mention others products here.  Some places are like that, but since someone else assumed I thought I was clarify.

Just as a bit of an update, I started 6 files (4 AVI's and 2 MKV's) in a batch which took about 27 hours to finish.  I deleted the conversions and Visual Hub wrapped the whole thing up an a little over an hour I think.  I am currently using VH for my mkv's and Popcorn for everything else, it still appears that the MKV files are the only real thing it gets hung-up on.  It disappoints me since I was really looking for an all-in-one product for my video needs, I believe this may not be the product to handle that task.