So, I had to do a simple capture and convert for a friend, no editing neccessary, so I decided to monitor the Windows task manager while the encoding was taking place. I set a 45 minute DV (StandardDefinition) capture to convert to QuickTime MOV DV Format, and the same sequence to also export to a MPEG3 DVD-Standard 8mbps MPG file as well. Now, you would think that rendering SD on 8-cores would be done in a blink, but even the 5 minutes it estimates to encode one of the tasks to me, seems long. Now I know that 8 cores does not neccesarily mean 4 times as fast a a dual core computer, and I noticed that the reason why could be that the application is not utilizing my cores to their full potential. If you look at the screenshot you will notice that all of the cores are performing at below 50% of their portential, and only one of them is higher than the average of all the others…I wonder why. I am running Windows Vista 64-bit and encoding using all the latest updates to Adobe’s CS4 Production Suite. Is this a limitation of Windows? I think not, since I can run stress-test programs such as Prime95 and 3DMarkPro and see it maxing out all CPUs at 100%. Is there a setting I can change within Premiere Pro? I know you could tell CS3 to render for “Performance” or for “Memory”. I am not sure which was faster, but I do know that the “Memory” option never gave me any crashes. I never compared the rendering speeds.
(click to enlarge)
Anyway, if any of you readers out there have any insight on how to get Premiere to max out its given affinity, then I am all ears, and please post a comment! Thanks!
Tags: 8-core, 8-core encoding, encoding, multi core, multi-core encoding, multicore, premiere pro cs4 encoding, windows
I have the same problem with CS4 and my quadcore I7 950 (actually a 8-core also)
This is most weird. I could play Doom3 with no lag while premiere pro was encoding and still have cpu time to spare.. But thats only with AVCHD. DV footage gets me to 100%
Just dont get it..
I have the same problem too, however it only occurs with certain projects.
I am currently trying to render out HDV 25i 4 minute sequence as a WMV, I have a couple of colour correct effects added.
The render times are taking forever and when I look at my cores, only one (out of a possible 8) is really being used and that isnt being maxed out.
I am struggling to find answers online….
I am using an i7 processor (8 cores), windows vista 64 bit, 8 gig ram.
It’s based on codecs. So what your Source is (captured format from tapes or media card format), what your Filters are (such as Magic Bullet), AND what you are Exporting to. In any one of these stages, you could be using a codec engineering for utilizing one, two, four, or all eight cores.
I noticed this when when using magic bullet through all different programs–avid, fcp, premiere, afx–and in all of them, my rendering is always limited to about 2 of my 8 cores if a MB filter is on the footage. If I don’t use the filter, and say I captured and my sequence footage is ProRes, then while rendering, all 8 cores and 100% of my CPU is used.
So that’s how different programs streamline their software–by trying to force the same codec through the whole process which they have optimized for editing. Whether that be ProRes 422, DNxHD, Canopus HQ, etc. Or, CineForm, which is available for Premiere (sort of in CS4). Why Premiere is often so slow is that it doesn’t natively force an optimized codec like this. It’s HDV capture codec sucks. AVCHD codec from a card is made for quality compression, not editing. To get smoother editing you’d have to convert to something else, and use that same converted codec setting for your sequence format & previews format.
Hope that makes sense.
Hi!
I can only say that i have tha same problem. But i run premiere pro CS3 on a 2.4ghz quad core. Its only one of four cores working when rendering. And it takes ages. The three other cores are just doing nada.
But whats really strange is that today i discovered that about 3 minutes every hour all cores sudenly kick in to help! For about three mins they are all on 90-100% and it goes fast as hell, but then they drop again and leave one poor core to work alone for another hour or two before they wake up again for some minutes.
That makes the whole thing even more strange!
Huh, weird. I did not watch it long enough to notice that, but perhaps they fixed it in CS4 with recent updates. I have not tried checking the TaskManager again while rendering recently, but I have gotten many updates, so I will have to check again this weekend when I finish a P2HD wedding video I am working on.
Thanks for the enlightening information. That does actually makes sense, since MagicBullet has its own libraries and dll files that the frames must be processes through. I guess this is a limitation of 3rd party filters rather than Adobe Premiere itself.
I use a Dual Quad core intel xeon2.33 16 gig ram and it also goes very fast for 2 to 3 min and then backs off and only uses one core. tonight i deleted all renderfiles on a 2 hour DV wedding project with Magic bullet looks, slow mo, color correction Digital juice show stopers FX the whole lot and it took 7min to get to 87% and anther 20 to complete. madness I tell you