Video Card for Native AVCHD Editing
- Thread starter AGMedia
- Start date
I've got two shiny new quad core 64 bit, 16 gigs of ram, core systems that currently handle AVCHD in an awful way in Premiere Pro CS4.
I'm told the RAID 0 or 1 thing is essentially irrelevant for AVCHD editing -- so I'm assuming that's not the issue.
The only thing left to upgrade for these systems is the video card -- and I can't believe a video card is irrelevant to AVCHD editing -- especially considering these systems aren't lacking in the "processor" specs.
I genuinely appreciate any thoughts/recommendations. I'd like to make the right purchase at the start -- and am grateful for the expertise of board members.
I'm told the RAID 0 or 1 thing is essentially irrelevant for AVCHD editing -- so I'm assuming that's not the issue.
The only thing left to upgrade for these systems is the video card -- and I can't believe a video card is irrelevant to AVCHD editing -- especially considering these systems aren't lacking in the "processor" specs.
I genuinely appreciate any thoughts/recommendations. I'd like to make the right purchase at the start -- and am grateful for the expertise of board members.
The hardware and software isn't there yet.
In addition, PR has no support for anything 720.
Again, it's the processor that is most important, and RT native editing isn't yet a reality.
In addition, PR has no support for anything 720.
Again, it's the processor that is most important, and RT native editing isn't yet a reality.
In Windows, Premiere Pro does use the video card for acceleration, so it WILL help. I have a Nvidia 9800 GTX 512MB card (along with a Q9450 processor and 4 GB of DDR3 RAM), and I've seen better performance that what a lot of people are reporting.
CORE AVC plays HMC PH files at full resolution and real time in Windows Media Player on dual core systems. Edius 5 edits HMC PH files (60p) natively, no transcoding, on quad core systems. This means current systems can deliver and edit HMC PH AVCHD files.
The problem with Premiere is its engineering -- and my thought was that a powerhouse video card may compensate for Adobe's lack of foresight and ingenuity. My hope was that someone might share some positive news regarding their graphics card with Premiere.
Edius 5 and CoreAVC prove that the problem with AVCHD is in large part due to software -- not hardware.
Premiere Pro CS4 offers a DVCPRO HD 720 (24p, 50p, 60p) Sequence setting -- and you can easily place HMC AVCHD 720 files on it -- it works fine relative to Premiere -- the full AVCHD resolution (not downsized), true 60p, etc.
I do thank you for your thoughts -- and agree that work remains to be done in the software development arena. My main fear is that all these problems will be solved when the HMC becomes obsolete.
Again, my thanks. Best regards.
NLEs really haven't been written to handle the footage well, so it just seems that a software upgrade is needed. Which might be difficult to do on your own
I transcode to DVCproHD and have no problem cutting on my 1.7Ghz dual core notebook with only 2 gigs of ram.
My thanks. I agree that software, especially from Adobe, needs to evolve.
The transcoding to DVCPRO HD does work very well, and DVCPRO HD files perform flawlessly in Premiere Pro CS4. My main concern with this method is the substantial loss in image data. In other words, HMC files transcoded to DVCPRO HD are significantly lower in quality than the raw files from the HMC.
Again, my thanks. Best regards.
My thanks -- I placed the Nvidia 9800 GTX on the list to be evaluated. I genuinely appreciate your response.
My hope was that someone had found a video card that compensated for Premiere's shortcomings.
Again, my thanks!
burnandreturn
Member
If you use the core codec you are transcoding the avchd files. No computer that fits on a desktop will have a fast enough processor to allow you to edit avchd files in full resolution in full frame preview. The processor would have to be close to 6 ghz and not two times 3 ghz.
Green Hornet
Veteran
Core codec is not a transcoder. It is a decoder/player.
Most software can't decode/play back fast enough, and hence that is where the problem is.
You can compensate by using a faster processor which basically makes everything faster, or you can compensate with a faster video card, which makes display faster, or you can do it with a codec that more effeciently decodes the file, and that is how Core does it.
On a P.C. it is not a difficult task to do this.
What you need as a baseline is:
1) A core 2 duo processor of at least 2.6 ghz
2) A dedicated (not shared) video card made by Nvidia that can take cuda drivers.
3) Maybe core codec (a $15 decoder)
Show me a PC system with thoes specs and I will show you a system that can do this. IT is not as hard and "Impossible" as some are touting.
I am left to think that anyone saying so simply does not have either the camera, or a computer meeting the minimum specs described.
The video card does make a difference, put it in and find out for yourself.
Geez!!
But it seems that you are among the few that has experienced RT editing with native footage.
Would this be 1080i or 720p? With what editing software?
And is it full frame, native RT editing to what extent?
FX? Titling?
how many layers?
Would this be 1080i or 720p? With what editing software?
And is it full frame, native RT editing to what extent?
FX? Titling?
how many layers?
OKay so the final conclusion is... Will a faster video card result in faster AVCHD playback? I know playback is also CPU related, but at what point does a faster video card will benefit realtime editing of AVCHD files?
I currently have a Quad Core 2.6GHZ processor but a slower Nvidia 8000-series Gfx card. Will I see improvement of AVCHD playback/editing with a faster Nvidia card? I'm editing in Vegas. Thanks
I currently have a Quad Core 2.6GHZ processor but a slower Nvidia 8000-series Gfx card. Will I see improvement of AVCHD playback/editing with a faster Nvidia card? I'm editing in Vegas. Thanks
not sure. right now i have a 790i evga motherboard with 4gb ddr3 memory, a quad core q6700 2.66 and a bfg gtx260 896mb video card thats overclocked. i can playback avchd files fine but when i try to scrub through a timeline in an editing program it is hell. theres like a 5-10 second update between each time i scrub through. it could be something im doing wrong or it could be that the editing software is not capable of doing the job. Now when i covert it to dvcpro, i rip that codec a new one lol. its so fast with dvcpro that i will give up the video quality (for now) using avchd and just use dvcpro.
Green Hornet
Veteran
1080p and 720p
Premiere pro CS4
limited FX (magic bullet- but preview is greyed out, but actual content is fine..takes a long time),
I would say effects within premiere are fine, magic bullet needs a fix for preview.
RT to the extent that I can edit, preview, and make cuts from the preview window. The longer it ( a single clip) gets, the slower it gets, it actually plays back better if NOT rendered, it only slows down when you render (that does not make sense, but that is how it seems to be going).
If you pause you clips (to make shorter clips), it works great. A long one hour clip will be hell, and it does slow down from a 24p file to something like 20 frames- not real time.
Layers, maybe 2 at a time, haven't tried more.
I would like to get a 200 series Nvidia card for the desktop that is only running core duo (not core 2 duo) to see what it does, but I don't really use the desktop at all.
My prefered method is to just use cineform on CS3, that is real time, 5 layers, and magic bullet works great, full scrubbing, real time, no jitters, no crashes.
If I were doing it over, I would just use CS3 and cineform.
(cineform does not work as well in cs4, it works better than native AVCHD, but no acceleration at all)
With CS3, and cineform, all you need is a pentium 4, so it can be done, not impossible like some are saying. Look at vimeo...they are edting this stuff.
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Thanks for the update