Computer specs for Videostudio

[bitman]

FYI,
It renders 2 seconds longer (just below 26 seconds) with PAL preference settings vs NTSC (probably since it has to convert the source from 30 to 25 FPS)

[dans]

the PC I build myself is almost 3 years old, but a good gaming machine with i7-4770K @ 3.5 GHz 16 GB memory, no overclocks, I do have a new powerful NVIDEA Titan-X videocard installed.

Have you been able to verify that it's actually using the videocard when decoding/encoding?

[TonyP]

Is QuickSync used with Intel processors?

[dans]

Is QuickSync used with Intel processors?

it does, but just like other hardware exceleration options, you get a lower quality result.
http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/ ... neral.html

Everything I've read/heard says that hardware/gpu acceleration produces lower quality results. What I'm not clear on is where the loss in quality happens, decoding the source, encoding the output, or both. If it's not both, then you could probably split up the process between the gpu & cpu and get a substantial speed boost.

[TonyP]

I miss wrote. My question should have said, "does VS use Intel Quicksync".
Since I do not have Intel or Nvidia, there should not be any quality loss in exporting that supposedly using Quicksync can cause.
Still unclear on exactly what type of hardware acceleration gives the best results.

[dans]

I miss wrote. My question should have said, "does VS use Intel Quicksync".
Since I do not have Intel or Nvidia, there should not be any quality loss in exporting that supposedly using Quicksync can cause.
Still unclear on exactly what type of hardware acceleration gives the best results.

it's 27 pages, but this is an interesting read.
http://www.hardware.fr/articles/828-1/e ... -test.html

[bitman]

Have you been able to verify that it's actually using the videocard when decoding/encoding?

Good question, I was running with all the HW accelerations active.
Today I re-ran the render with hw accelerations disabled and again enabled. I do not see any difference in speed. It renders around 23 seconds each time.
So you may not need an expensive titan, at least not for the output render. Maybe it helps with editing, I do not know.
I disabled smart render, because once it only took 5 seconds in one of my re-runs...
The CPU was loaded around 93 % I observed.
My best guess it uses the cpu for render if HW acceleration is enabled and not my videocard. I am not sure, but somewhere I recall that for my cu type (Broadwell?) it can do video hw rendering, but it is disabled if you do not use the on CPU chip video, which is my case as I use the external videocard. Maybe the HW acceleration corel uses is only beneficial if you use the on CPU chip video. It is really a dilemma, as the on chip video is no match with a good external video card, but it may use some hw encode/decode routines that programs such as corel can use.
This may explain why I do not see any difference with acceleration on or off. It also could be that the source video is to short to notice any difference or has no particular contend where acceleration makes a difference.

[TonyP]

Bitman, interesting results. I'll try turning on and off different features to see what works fastest. With all the marketing words that are used, like "faster, Intel 6th gen, 64bit, etc.", it's hard to discern what is true and what is fiction.

[SoNic67]

Please re-run the encoding while GPU-Z is running in background. That will show if actually any GPU is used, in the past my experience (X8, X8.5) it wasn't used. The video card to be monitored can be selected, in case that there are multiple cards.
See attached the results of encoding process on a competitor's video editing software. The "Video Engine Load" is the actual hardware encoder embedded in the video card - used at 44% here for 1080p h264, jumps to 46% for 4K encoding, and to 73% for h265 encoding. The "GPU Load" are the actual GPU cores - they will be used more during transitions, effects.
And for modern GPU (nVidia maxwell 2 generation or intel Skylake) the encoding quality is identical to the software one, manufacturers added those profiles. Don't rely on quality tests done ages ago, with older generation GPU (like Kepler for nVidia case or previous generation intel cpu's).

The fact that Corel doesn't support hardware encoding (h264 or h265) with other video cards (nVidia Maxwell 2 generation) than the intel Skylake one is a deal-breaker for me. It doesn't even have support for 4K video without Skylake!

Encoding with GPU, h264, other NLE

Encoding with GPU, h265, other NLE

[TonyP]

Interesting results, but I still see video usage going on. Not as much in one as the other. IF you were able to show a comparison between the competitor and VS, I think that would translate better in the images.
I've had 4K files in X9 with no problem and no Skylake. The file we all have been working with is a 4K file. Ideally, to edit smoothly, creating proxies would be the way to go for most people. Yes, it is a delay, but nothing beats smooth editing. As for HEVC, yes, you need the hardware to work with this format. In the User Manual for X9, it's clear about that, so it does work with the hardware.

[dans]

Please re-run the encoding while GPU-Z is running in background. That will show if actually any GPU is used, in the past my experience (X8, X8.5) it wasn't used. The video card to be monitored can be selected, in case that there are multiple cards.
]

This is the application I use as well. On my machine, it shows no measurable difference with hardware acceleration on or off.

[dans]

I forgot to add, that I've been advised by several people in the know, that i should wait for the release of Intel's Broadwell-E cpus before i build a new machine.

[SoNic67]

Or just switch to an NLE that can use the hardware you have efficiently... Personally I am disappointed.

[bitman]

[quote="SoNic67"]Please re-run the encoding while GPU-Z is running in background. .........
....
/quote]

to SoNic67 : I reran the rendering in VSX9 with GPU-Z running in the background, and guess what, I get a video engine load of 44% on my Titan-x card.
So it does seem that Corel uses the power of the videocard (at least in the X9) to render.
Screenshot taken during second run (you can still the first run in the sliding graph!)

VS9 ultimate render

titan-x

[SoNic67]

OK, cool. What format did you output to? And from what format? I am really interested since on my GTX960 with X8.5 I never get any GPU activity with Corel.
Do you have encoding options for more than 1080P resolution?