Bottleneck while editing CS5 on PC. Is a new PC in order?

T

tolawr

Member
I have been experiencing extreme bottlenecks while editing test footage from the AF-100. Perhaps I have been acquiring the footage incorrectly (this being my first foray into the pure digital realm), perhaps my equipment is beginning to get a little rusty. I would appreciate any input.

My current model PC:

Intel quad core Q9400 2.66ghz CPU
8 GB DDR2 RAM (this does not seem to be my bottleneck despite the low number)
NVIDIA Gforce 9800GTX
Windows 7 64 bit OS
Adobe CS5 student edition

CS5 is being run from a 10,000RPM Raptor hard drive while the footage is stored on a 7,200RPM drive.

Video playback on VLC and otherwise doesn't provide any problems. When playing/previewing edited or unedited footage in CS5, however, the footage intermittently jumps as the processing usage peaks (according to the task manager) while the system memory remains at 40% usage fairly consistently.

I am wondering if perhaps my issue is one with the processor itself or if I need to somehow transcode the original footage which I find highly unlikely. Another possibility is HOW I acquired the footage from the camera (dragging and dropping the clips directly from the SDHC file folder to a folder on the PC).

If anyone can provide insight, it would be very welcome and maybe you'll get to see some of the random GA "snowpocalypse" set to irritating indie music as a result. I'll even dedicate it to whoever gets me off the ground again as long as it doesn't require the purchase of a new frikkin' PC.
 
You shouldn't have issues with this system. Do you have the latest drivers from nvidia and mercury playback enabled in premiere? Try dragging a clip onto the sequence icon on the bottom of the project panel and a new sequence will pop up with correct settings. If it's setup correctly a yellow bar will be above your timeline. I have similar setup.
 
Your processor is weak for editing AVCHD natively. I have a Q6600 (2.4ghz quad core) and it's a real haul to scrub through footage.

A mercury playback video card only helps with processing effects, not decoding compressed footage. You can try dropping the playback quality to 1/2 or 1/4, but that's about your only option, save for upgrading your cpu.

That's the unfortunate downside to AVCHD. I've edited it on an I7-920, and while it's considerably better, it still chugs from time to time and it's far from what I consider to be smooth as silk.

Transcoded Cineform files for instance, scrub and play back *much* more smoothly.
 
Your system is mid-level. About like mine. I run cs5 and the video encoding from an ssd. An ssd helps some but not as much as one might hope.
From what you wrote, some thoughts:

1) Prerender the footage. It won't run well without it.
2) when you encode it in after effects make sure the opengl check box in media encoder is checked. This makes a big difference if your card supports it.
3) make sure you have all the latest adobe updates.
4) cut your clips into smaller clips, process, then rejoin. The bigger the clip the more load on the machine
5) try not to have after effects and premeir open at the same time.
 
That is not a cuda cs5 approved video card. Get one that is and it should improve scrubbing as well.
 
Our old system ran dual NVIDIA Gforce 9800GTX (SLI) and it was dog slow for editing anything 1080p in CS4. I strongly suggest you move up to something like a GTX470; especially since you're using CS5 which takes far more advantage of the 64bit OS and newer Nvidia cards for rendering.
 
If your gfx card has >768MB memory, use the CS5 hack to enable MPE (google it)

It does speed up native decoding, not just GPU effects
 
Already had the playback quality running at 1/4 although it did help. Am looking into the hack to see if that will speed things up a bit at least until July when I'll have a couple bucks back to invest in a new machine.
 
It does speed up native decoding, not just GPU effects
Click to expand...
Here's a list of things that Premiere Pro CS5 can process with CUDA:
- some effects
- scaling
- deinterlacing
- blending modes

It's worth mentioning one set of things that Premiere Pro CS5 doesn't process using CUDA: encoding and decoding. [emphasis added]


(The above was posted in the Adobe forums by an Adobe employee.)
 
As said abaove: If your gfx card has >768MB memory just enable the damn hack! Should solve your problem in about a minute. It DOES support encoding/decoding. That's what the new mercury playback engine is all about. And also watch your stuff in full resolution then, not just 1/4. Seems to work better in full quality.
 
Last edited:
Jim Simon said:
Here's a list of things that Premiere Pro CS5 can process with CUDA:
- some effects
- scaling
- deinterlacing
- blending modes

It's worth mentioning one set of things that Premiere Pro CS5 doesn't process using CUDA: encoding and decoding. [emphasis added]


(The above was posted in the Adobe forums by an Adobe employee.)
Click to expand...


Yes you're correct about CUDA, But I said MPE, not CUDA. There is a difference.

MPE entails a whole bunch of things including hardware support and software enhancements. The CUDA aspect alone does those things you mentioned (deinterlacing , GPU effects etc...). However, part of MPE enables hardware support as well (for decoding). Decoding uses a different part of the card than CUDA units, I believe it uses the VP2 or VP3 chip

MPE software mode = slow
MPE hardware acceleration = fast

The bottom line is enable MPE hardware and you will get realtime performance at full screen , even on the OP's system. Heck, people are using dual core laptops and editing like butter.

CUDA isn't used directly for rendering (unless you have the elemental plugin and a quadro) , but with MPE hardware enabled, fewer CPU cycles are consumed by decoding, so more can be allocated to ENcoding - so yes MPE hardware makes your render times faster.
 
No, the hardware MPE does not decode compressed footage faster. Or if it does, it's very very negligible. I edit AVCHD footage all day at work on an i7-920 w/ a GTX480 with the MPE hack.

Certain effects, color correction, green screening, rendering are all sped up tremendously.... but actually scrubbing through footage on the monitor or on the timeline isn't. You do get real time playback for the most part, but playback and scrubbing are two different things.

On our work system, it is definitely manageable, but far from "smooth like butter". Op's CPU is slower. Hardware MPE isn't going to do much in his case.
 
DBP , Jim, I think you're right

I did a bunch of tests when CS5 first came out on a similar setup Q6600 @3.6 , GTX260 + hack, and it seemed to make a big difference at the time (on vs. off) .

I just repeated some tests on an i7-920 @ 3.6 , GTX460 + hack (no effects) and no difference, but realtime playback is achieved either way

Also everything on the Adobe forum seems to indicate GPU is NOT used for decoding . I would trust them over some of my obscure anecdotal evidence



So I'm the one spreading misinformation - sorry guys

But it wouldn't certainly hurt tolawr to try the hack (it might be enough to put him over so he doesn't drop frames)
 
PDR said:
DBP , Jim, I think you're right

I did a bunch of tests when CS5 first came out on a similar setup Q6600 @3.6 , GTX260 + hack, and it seemed to make a big difference at the time (on vs. off) .

I just repeated some tests on an i7-920 @ 3.6 , GTX460 + hack (no effects) and no difference, but realtime playback is achieved either way

Also everything on the Adobe forum seems to indicate GPU is NOT used for decoding . I would trust them over some of my obscure anecdotal evidence



So I'm the one spreading misinformation - sorry guys

But it wouldn't certainly hurt tolawr to try the hack (it might be enough to put him over so he doesn't drop frames)
Click to expand...

Hopefully can do with the hack this weekend and will let everyone know the results. If not this weekend, by the end of the week when I manage to get in touch with my computer guy.
 
For sure do the hack. I have an unofficial card, and it makes a big difference. Also think about upgrading that older CPU if the hack doesn't make as big of a difference as you think you need.
 
skulpt said:
For sure do the hack. I have an unofficial card, and it makes a big difference. Also think about upgrading that older CPU if the hack doesn't make as big of a difference as you think you need.
Click to expand...

Or depending on your motherboard, overclock that CPU and buy a good cooler so you don't burn it out.
 
I run CS5 on my "gaming" Asus laptop (G73JH), which is i7-720QM 1.6 GHz, 8 GB DDR3 RAM, and an ATI MObility Radeon HD 5870. Now I know since its not Nvidia I can't use hardware accelerated MPE (but its a great powerful card, so its sucks how Adobe is only in bed with Nvidia), but I find when scrubbing, or even after adding a title to AVCHD footage it lags (often maxing out my CPU). Since its a laptop I can't really upgrade the parts, although if it does break I'll get a replacement with the Nvidia card.

So what I'm wondering is is there anything I could do to help with the decoding. Should I just render all my clips before editing? Or should I transcode to a different codec?
 
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