CUDA card for AVCHD files on an aging system

D

DBP

Well-known member
So, much to my surprise, I noticed that GTX 450/460 cards are quite affordable.

I've got an old Q6600 2.4ghz quad core system w/ 8 gigs of ram and I can't really afford a new computer right now.

I have an HMC150 and editing AVCHD files natively is doable but rather sluggish. I know the CUDA cards typically accelerate certain visual effects. Would they help with scrubbing and rendering AVCHD footage at all? Or is that mostly cpu dependant?

I'm using Premiere CS5 by the way.
 
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Huy, dont loose your touch! Read the OP,

He has CS5 so it should be beneficial for him to up grade his graphics card
 
Smifis said:
Huy, dont loose your touch! Read the OP,

He has CS5 so it should be beneficial for him to up grade his graphics card
Click to expand...

Lol, he actually edited his post after I posted. The original post didn't mention what version he was on.
 
Get the GT 240 with 1 gb DDR5, then rewrite the txt file with the card list, and you are good to go. Make sure you have enough regular ram as well.
Don't expect miracles, but you will get some benefit.
 
u will see huge benifit. Trust me as i have owned both a system identical to yours and a newer one utilizing cuda. Its a miracle worker. feel free to color correct to your hearts desire then playback butter smooth. the Q6600 does a good job of playing back avchd footage unedited but add any cherries on top and the cpu cant handle it. I will say i loved my Q6600 - stupid powerful when overclocked - and it was easy to overclock. here is a video of my new system runnning with a 480. u can clearly see the huge benifit

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0lyJxBtQqMg
 
Jeremy_Sawatzky said:
u will see huge benifit. Trust me as i have owned both a system identical to yours and a newer one utilizing cuda. Its a miracle worker. feel free to color correct to your hearts desire then playback butter smooth. the Q6600 does a good job of playing back avchd footage unedited but add any cherries on top and the cpu cant handle it. I will say i loved my Q6600 - stupid powerful when overclocked - and it was easy to overclock. here is a video of my new system runnning with a 480. u can clearly see the huge benifit

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0lyJxBtQqMg
Click to expand...

That's a good point. The unedited clips do play decently, though scrubbing can be a bit rough. Still though, hard to say no to such a cheap upgrade...... and yeah, I'm gonna take the overclocking step too. Turns out I have one with the G0 stepping so I should have a bit of room.
 
> Would they help with scrubbing and rendering AVCHD footage at all? Or is that mostly cpu dependant?
Click to expand...

The following things are all that Premiere Pro processes and accelerates using CUDA: scaling, deinterlacing, blending modes, and some effects.

Decoding is not processed or accelerated by CUDA. Decoding is done on the CPU. It is (usually) the decoding of AVCHD on an underpowered system that makes scrubbing sluggish or stuttery.
 
I can tell you a few things.

First, I bought a GTX470 JUST for Premiere Pro and was really disappointed. Sure, it accelerates some transition and effects but those effects would have been ok anyways (I have a dual quad core Xeon system).

Second, I shoot most of my footage (weddings) at 1080 60i because it allows me to export to many formats without issue (web, DVD, Blu-Ray) and I can tell you that with a DUAL QUAD CORE Xeon @ 3Ghz and 24GB RAM, I find AVCHD to be unusable in its native form. Sure, Premiere Pro will accept it natively, but scrubbing the footage is a royal pain and I suspect that no matter how much hardware you throw at it, you will never get it to scrub smoothly. I end up using Media Encoder to transcode to AVC-Intra and then it's all good.

Third, there is a bug in Premiere Pro CS5 and I'm disappointed that it has not been fixed in 5.0.3. Basically, take an AVCHD clip and place it in a timeline; cut out a small piece from the middle of the clip and ripple delete the free space; then place a cross dissolve between the two "new" clips....what do you get? Massive lag, slowdown, choppiness....it's not hardware related; it's a bug in Premiere and happens every time you cross dissolve between two parts of the same AVCHD clip.

If I were you I would upgrade your CPU/memory before investing in a new GPU because the acceleration you'll get is limited and NO, it will not help scrubbing. I've read a lot about scrubbing AVCHD on "underpowered" systems and I can tell you that either the codec itself is messed or Premiere's implementation has specific problems...

With a GeForce GTX470, Dual Quad Core Xeon 3.0, and 24GB RAM, I cannot smoothly scrub 1920x1080 AVCHD footage in Premiere CS5; I have to transcode.

...And yes, all background blah blah blah is disabled and there is no spyware/porn/etc etc...I work in IT for a living so I know how to use a computer.

The AVCHD codec is amazing for quality vs. file size but currently there is no NLE on the market that can edit it natively with acceptable results unless you're talking about producing short clips.
 
I just noticed you said you already had a quad core....if I were you I'd spend the money on something more worthwhile like flowers for the wife or a teddy bear for the kid -- you're wasting your coin if you think a new GPU is worth it.

The Mercury Playback Engine is kind of a gimmick.....it works for certain effects only. If you are a major studio and you have multiple video tracks with various effects, then it will definitely help -- no doubt about that....but for small/medium productions, along with the AVCHD bug I listed above, it's just not really worth it (unless you have a truly slow CPU; in which case you should probably buy a new comp instead of a GPU).
 
Yeaaaaaaah......maybe I'm best to not bother, in that case.

I'm starting to switch into the transcoding camp, slowly but surely. I messed around with the Cineform Neoscene demo and was blown away at how much smoother of an experience it is. Not just play back , but apply and rendering effects as well.

I've used native AVCHD footage from the 150 on an I7-920 w/ 12gigs of ram and a GTX480. Scrubbing is much much better, and workable....but still nowhere near that smooth as butter scrubbing you get with DVCHDPRO, AVC-I, Cineform, etc etc....
 
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