Upgrading computer for AVCHD editing.

Jerry K wrote on 4/17/2009, 8:17 PM
A question for you computer experts.

I have tried editing AVCHD .mts files on my computer and it is imposable. The preview window is blurry, the playback hesitates and skips frames. This happens in any preview setting. The rendering time is 17 x real time and the rendered mpg-2 has
vertical wiggles when there's movement.

For two years I have edited DV avi files with no problems. The preview is good. The rendering time is fast and the finished video looks great.

I want to upgrade my computer so I could edit native AVCHD without file conversion. I would like to stay with Windows XP Pro. 32bit.

I would like to know if it is possible to upgrade my computer to handle AVCHD .mts 1920x1080 17mbps and have it perform almost as good as if I was editing DV .avi files?

What would happen if I was to overclock my cpu to 2.6GHz or a little higher like other guys are doing. Besides the cpu overheating with out the proper cooling how much of an improvement should I expect?

How much better is the new Intel Core i7 2.66 GHz Processor for editing .mts files if it was compatible with my computer setup?

My computer now consist of the following:

Sony Vegas Pro 8.0c
windows XP Professional.
CPU: (Sckt775)Intel(R) Core(TM) 2 Duo E6600 CPU @ 2.4GHz 1066FSB 2x2MB L2 Cache EM64T
2Gbs of Ram Corsair XMS2 Xtreme Memory w/ Heat Spreader DDR2 800 (PC2 6400)
Video Card NVIDIA GeForce 7950 GT 512MB 16X PCI Express
MOTHERBOARD: (Quad-Core Supports) Asus P5N-E nForce 650i SLI Chipset LGA775 FSB1333 DDR2 Mainboard.
Two CD: LiteOn LH-20A1H 20X Double Layer DVD+-RW Super Allwrite + Lightscribe.
All Hard Drives are Sata.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Jerry








Comments

Hulk wrote on 4/17/2009, 9:14 PM
1. Your computer should be able to preview raw AVCHD at realtime or close to it. My Core2Duo @3.2 can.

2. You should be able to edit AVCHD with a 2.6GHz Core2Duo. I do it all the time with my 3.2Ghz. There must be something wrong with your set up. Lots of background processes perhaps? Have you been instaling and uninstalling applications on it for a while now? You have to keep your video editing machine lean and clean.

3. 1080i AVCHD is pushing 4.5 times more data than DV and using a far more complex (and processor intensive) compression scheme. If Vegas were scaling linearly with cores (it is almost for rendering with most plugs but not for preview at this point in time) you would need 4.5 times more power plus say another factor of 3 or 4 to account for the AVCHD compression overhead as compared to DV. I'm making wild estimates here. So let's say you would need 10 to 15 times the processing power you now have to edit DV like 1080i AVCHD. Taking Hyperthreading for the i7 into account I'd say you'd need a single i7 system running at about 10-15Ghz. You could put together very expensive i7 dually at 3.2Ghz and get close.

4. If you are really unhappy with your current rig upgrade your system to a Q9550 or faster. Reformat the drive, reinstall Windows XP and only load the applications you need on that computer.

- Mark
craftech wrote on 4/18/2009, 4:13 AM
4. If you are really unhappy with your current rig upgrade your system to a Q9550 or faster. Reformat the drive, reinstall Windows XP and only load the applications you need on that computer.
-------
His motherboard can't take a 45nm processor like the Q9550, only 65nm processors like the one he has.

He is probably better off overclocking the Q6600.

You may run into a problem with that motherboard and a Quad Core overclock. There is only a 3 phase power regulation on the board and limited FSB and Voltage settings. The 0608 BIOS would help a great deal. 0609 is not as good.
Download and flash it to 0608 if you didn't already. Downgrade it if you have a more recent BIOS and don't believe people who insist that the latest BIOS is always better.
You may not be able to get it stable past 3.0GHZ though.

This guide may help.

John
srode wrote on 4/18/2009, 4:21 AM
If you want to speed up yours without doing a complete overhaul to an I7 - Find out what CPUs your MB will support - get up to a Q6700 (you won't see much difference with an Oc 6700 vs the top Quad core) if the board wil work with it - then get a 4GB ram set - and overclock that puppy after adding a good CPU cooler - you will get decent rendering times for AVCHD for about $400 - I have my Q6700 overclocked to 3.33 Ghz and it's very stable -
It should render complex AVCHD to MPEG2 at about 4x real time with that set up - not more than 6x.

For the verticle wiggles - try burning a Bluray and see if it still shows up - computers won't play near the image quality that a Bluray player will. - I see dropped frames etc regularly on mine but plays great on the Bluray player. If it's still there you have something set wrong in the render set up.
Barefoot Joe wrote on 4/18/2009, 4:26 AM
Take this with a grain of salt because I'm a stark newbie, and this may be too simple. I am editing AVCHD and had preview problems. They went away when I reselected my project setting to AVCHD settings. Do you have your project preferences set to edit in DV always, as that what you did for years? Just a thought. Good luck!
Jerry K wrote on 4/18/2009, 6:49 AM
I have my project settings set for DV but when I open Vegas and want to edit AVCHD I go to file, open new project and select HD 1920 x 1080 60i which is the file size I used for shooting.

Today I tried shooting in a lower bitrate of 1440x1080 with my
Sony SR12. My computer did much better with this file size.

Is there a setting in preferences that's marked AVCHD? I have never come across it.

Could this be my problem? I will check it out tomorrow.

Jerry K
Barefoot Joe wrote on 4/18/2009, 7:37 AM
It sounds as though you are doing what I am talking about already. But, just to be clear, I go to....File/Properties which defaults to the Video tab. I then use the pulldown under Template and select HD 1080-60i (1920x1080, 29.970 fps). The Pixel Format is 8-bit, which seems to work better on my system than 32 bit for preview. I understand that the Pixel Format can be set back to 32 bit before a final render. This is all fresh to me as I am tweaking my system for AVCHD also. There is also a recent post about enabling multicore playback which appears to help in some systems. Keep in mind that I have not completed a single project in Vegas, it is new software to me...so, there is my disclaimer!
Addo wrote on 4/22/2009, 3:16 AM
System Requirements for V9
Microsoft® Windows® XP 32-bit SP2 (SP3 recommended) or Windows Vista™ 32-bit or 64-bit (SP1 recommended)
1 GHz processor (multicore or multiprocessor CPU recommended for HD)
200 MB hard-disk space for program installation
1 GB RAM (2 GB recommended)

if you have this (you got better) it's not about your computer cause it is supposed to work, do not throw the money!
rs170a wrote on 4/22/2009, 3:35 AM
s there a setting in preferences that's marked AVCHD? I have never come across it.

No there isn't but here's a workaround.
File - Properties - Video.
Click the Match Media Settings icon (looks like a folder).
Browse to the folder where your footage is, click on one of the video files and click Open.
The video properties will now match your source files and can be saved as something that makes sense to you.
Be advised that you'll need to set audio manually as these attributes are not done automatically.

edit: corrected "folder" naming error (thanks srode)

Mike
srode wrote on 4/22/2009, 4:32 AM
The icon looks like a folder - not a disk - the disk icon is to save the setting
Jerry K wrote on 4/22/2009, 10:40 AM
Yes, I've been using Match Media Settings icon to match the template to video source the way you discribed. This works great but my AVCHD footage still stutters in preview.

My CPU usage runs up to 95 - 100% when playing back AVCHD in preview on vegas. The PF usage is @ 700 - 800 MB.

Now if I play the same AVCHD clip in windows media player it plays as smooth as silk. The CPU usage is only 35 - 50% the PF usage is now @ 1200 MB.

Maybe vegas need to use more PF file usage like windows media player to solve the problem.

Figure that one out. Why can't vegas preview play smooth like windows media player?

JK
VanLazarus wrote on 4/22/2009, 11:37 AM
Hmmmmm....

The Match Media Settings doesn't seem to work for me.

When I select an MP4 file (generated by my Sanyo HD2000) it creates a custom template that is 2048x2048 and 59.94fps?!?!

The file is really 1920x1080 at 59.94fps.

Playback of these MP4 files within the trimmer or timeline is just a jerky and slow.

Weirder yet, it that when I select a different but similarly formatted file, Vegas creates a template that is 2048x2048 at 29.97fps.

Then I tried it again, and finally it chose the correct properties of 1920x1080 at 59.94fps.

Three different times I tried Match Media Properties on identically formatted files and I got different properties every time!!!!

And still these files are uneditable in realtime within Vegas.