Why won't my new faster PC convert video quicker ?!

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xlinknz

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#72837 3-Dec-2010 09:17

To date I have been using my venerable W2K SP4 Pentium 4 2.4Ghz [768Mb RAM] I suspect a 5400rpm drive as it is 20GB

To convert a 45 min XviD video to MPEG2 took 33 mins. The CPU would stay at 100%

I got a new dual core Netbook [Atom N550] Win7 starter [1Gb RAM] 7200rpm drive and it takes longer ! i.e. 47 mins. Task manager says average 27% CPU [although I note one core is up at 90%]

The software I am using is VideoMAX which I like as it says how long it took to convert. I also use Hamster but it crashes part way through on the Netbooks Win7 starter.

CPUbenchmark make it clear the dual core N550 Atom [despite being 1.5Ghz] is faster than a Pentium 4 2.4Ghz

Any ideas as to what is going on ?

muppet

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#412370 3-Dec-2010 09:19

The Atom processors are pretty weak. This doesn't surprise me much.

Also encoding only tends to use one core, there's a couple of hacks out there that can use two cores at once, but I think they're pretty buggy.

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Athlonite

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#412718 4-Dec-2010 02:40

faster for what browsing the net, sending email, writing an document

Video transcoding is an CPU intensive job

@ muppet when I use Handbrake to transcode it uses all CPU cores on my x4 as does Cyberlinks media show Espresso which will also use an GPU if have one capable of usinf OpenCL

xlinknz

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#412835 4-Dec-2010 17:30

Guys

Thank you for the replies

I downloaded Handbrake so I could test with a product that does uses multiple cores. Nice product

After running for 10 seconds Handbrake advised the following times to convert a 360MB XviD file to the Handbrake default output of .M4V

Pentium 4 2.4Ghz 1h43mins

Atom N550 1.5Ghz dual core 48 mins

Clearly dual core allows faster video conversion if you have a product that utilises multiple cores. Obviously what I was using before i.e. Videomax did not

Now does anyone know how to turn off a core in Win 7 starter so I can see how long it will take with one core ?

Note most of my conversions are XviD .AVI to MPEG and I note Handbrake doesn't do that. I was using Hamster on the W2K P4 machine but that product crashs in Win7 starter

gzt

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#412843 4-Dec-2010 18:06

Don't know about 7 starter but other windows o/s:

Task manager -> right click process name -> set affinity -> set cpu core

Also worth a shot: Create a shortcut to exe -> right click -> properties -> compatibility -> windows 2000

Also -> right click -> run as administrator - if you have that option on starter..

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gzt

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#412848 4-Dec-2010 18:27

VLC might be an interesting data point. The menu options look like it will support your conversion. Conversions are now gui driven:

VLC -> Media -> open media -> add -> convert/save -> settings

Avoid the 'display the output' option where you can. From memory - it can screw things up a bit if your processor does not keep up.

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Ragnor

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#412849 4-Dec-2010 18:30

Atom's are low power cpu's designed for longer battery life the 550 is also only 2Ghz where as your P4 is 2.4Ghz.

As noted your 2Ghz Atom (which is dual core) should pull ahead of the single core P4 2.4Ghz in software that makes use of multiple threads/processes.

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#412850 4-Dec-2010 18:31

The software used by Handbrake and most other MPEG-4 encoder frontends is x264, an open source encoding tool. To make use of a single core you will need to specify "--threads 1" to the encoder. I am not sure how to do that with Handbrake but there will likely be an option in the advanced settings to allow that.

IMHO video encoding is a very complex task that cannot be adequately completed with one-click tools even with a bit of understanding.

Having said that, x264 will not encode to MPEG-2 so you'll need to look for another tool. Most DVD authoring tools will be able to do this assuming they can access the Xvid CODEC. Take a look on the internet for some tutorials on VirtualDub.

xlinknz

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#412881 4-Dec-2010 21:24

gzt: Don't know about 7 starter but other windows o/s:

Task manager -> right click process name -> set affinity -> set cpu core

Also worth a shot: Create a shortcut to exe -> right click -> properties -> compatibility -> windows 2000

Also -> right click -> run as administrator - if you have that option on starter..

Thank you for those options for Win 7 starter

I can confrim Win7 starter has all those options. When I ran Handbrake with one core the conversion took twice as long

It appears using compatability mode for Hamster still didn't stop it disappearing half way through under Win7

Ragnor: Atom's are low power cpu's designed for longer battery life the 550 is also only 2Ghz where as your P4 is 2.4Ghz.

As noted your 2Ghz Atom (which is dual core) should pull ahead of the single core P4 2.4Ghz in software that makes use of multiple threads/processes.

FYI N550 is 1.5Ghz, Note frequency alone is not a good comparsion. The 1.5 Ghz Atom on on core is still faster than the P4 2.4 Ghz at video conversion

I wonder whether some video conversions would benefit from 64 bit Win 7 ? [starter is 32bit]

gzt

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#412903 4-Dec-2010 22:49

It appears using compatability mode for Hamster still didn't stop it disappearing half way through under Win7

Latest Hampster is supposed to support Windows 7 so that is strange. Try running Hampster as admin and setting affinity as well, - what I was trying to say before but maybe didn't come out well <; )

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khull

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#412912 4-Dec-2010 23:27

huh? you bought an Atom and expect it to perform faster than your p4?!

CPUbenchmark make it clear the dual core N550 Atom [despite being 1.5Ghz] is faster than a Pentium 4 2.4Ghz

check what CPUbenchmark actually test for and see if your definition of "faster" actually translates to faster video encoding (which is probably not as you found out for apps that do not utilize the dual core)