Vegas 11 GPU-accelerated rendering fails

kingpeterz@btinternet.com wrote on 10/31/2011, 3:51 PM

I know this subject is getting to be a bore, but I thought I would add my experience, just to keep up the momentum.

Most of us upgrading from Vegas 10 were enticed into so doing by the promise of faster rendering time and improved productivity. I have most certainly not experinced either.

I have experimented with GPU acclerated rendering with a most basic test clip, with just 10 seconds of 1920 x 1080 AVCHD video with one sound track. Trying the default templates, MainConcept MPEG2 Blu-ray - 25p failed unless rendering separate video and audio streams, which is of no use to me: . I want both in one file. XDCAM EX (.mp4) 35 mps will also render with the GPU, but there is no audio track. Reverting to CPU rendering, only one template is successful, and than is MainConcept AVC/AAC AVCHD Export to DVD Architect.

I wonder if the problem is with DirectX Video Acceration 2 not being enabled. I know tha acceleration with DXVA 2 is supported by my Radeon HD5770 but does anybody know how to ensure that it t is enabled?

Has anybody experience with GPU accleration using the CoreAVC H264 codec?

Comments

MPM wrote on 11/1/2011, 12:36 PM

Don't know if this will be useful or not...

AFAIK most ATI & Nvidia cards/chips have some level of hardware video acceleration built-in for HD video playback [ATI started this back with their 2XXX series, & I think Nvidia added it 'bout the same time]. Since then most video-related software takes advantage of it, some more than others, & what software you have installed [particularly Direct Show] can effect that hardware acceleration in other apps, like Vegas. Part of that hardware accel is DXVA, part of it is what ATI used to call Avivo. If you visit http://bluesky23.yu-nagi.com/en/index.html you'll find tools to test & use both to maybe get an idea of what's going on when you render using whatever software. At the same time you might watch/monitor in GPU-Z... keep an eye on voltage, freq., & %, as % alone will not always tell the full story.

Another part of the equation is the driver set you've installed -- there are several ATI files in the Common Files folder(s), with new versions with most every new driver. They don't always get installed/updated correctly, & you can also sometimes mix/match those files, using for example last month's versions with this month's drivers -- some versions work better than others. [Note, to check installs, install individually etc. the separate msi files are in the c:\ATI folder where setup expands everything, & Universal Extractor can unpack those msi files too.]

Along with DXVA & Avivo there's OpenCL which can be used for hardware acceleration. ATI also has Stream, which was their answer to Nvidia's Cuda, & AFAIK that still works. Unfortunately I don't know that there's any way to say which combination of the 4 is working when you render. And I consider the whole thing with hardware accel in the Vegas Pro 11 encoders a bit iffy so far, seeing as I got very different readings from GPU-Z doing the same exact encoding using 2 different versions of ATI's Cat driver packs.

Finally, be a bit careful when comparing AVC encoders -- FWIW I have yet to find a *Really* great one [x264 is Very good, but useless to me as it won't pass through DVDA etc.]. I try to do comparisons using Blu-Ray templates where the results will pass compatibility testing -- that way you know the same AVC features are being turned on or used, avoiding so-called apples & oranges issues.

-----------

"MainConcept MPEG2 Blu-ray - 25p failed unless rendering separate video and audio streams, which is of no use to me: . I want both in one file. "

Get used to muxing/demuxing. :-) Many apps only take them together, many more only take them separately. DVDA is an anomaly that likes m2v muxed without an audio track. Vegas 11 likes AVC muxed into m2ts, similarly without audio -- Sony's apps [+ many others] like the timing info in the file that muxing provides -- they can be lost without it -- & you might encounter stuff like losing audio sync because the opened file is read as being shorter than the original.

kingpeterz@btinternet.com wrote on 11/2/2011, 4:49 PM

Thanks for your reply MPM

I have looked at the C:\ATI folder and found all the earlier Catalyst driver verisions there. I deleted them, and reinstalled the latest version 11.9. This made no improvement. Vegas and GPU-Z confirm OpenCL is present and correct.

I watched the GPU load when rendering using the MainConcept MPEG2 Blu-ray 1920 x 1080 - 25p template, rendering to two separate streams. This will render successfully, but GPU-Z sensor indicates the GPU load is zero or 1%, suggesting the GPU is not being used. Unlike the other templates, I can find no option under the Customize tab for choosing the encode mode, and it appears from the evidence, that it is using the CPU only. Pointless having GPU acceleration in that case, even if it did work.

MainConcept AVC/AAC Export to DVD Architect template still results in failure unless set to use the CPU only.

Anyway, MainConcept MPEG2 with two separate streams is the revommendation by Sony for importing into DVDA, and I find this works fine, even importing markers from Vegas. So, I will have to forget GPU acceleration for the time being, and just accept that this upgrade was a waste of money.