Slow H264 Export - OpenCL?

[highend]

Hi,

I'm running Edius v6.0.7 on an older Quadcore 6600 Intel CPU, 8GB Ram with an ATI 4850 graphics card. The current ATI driver is installed (12-04) as well as the media coder driver package.

Other OpenCL applications are running fine, e.g. Arcsoft MediaConverter 7.5 and they are very fast when they utilize OpenCL converting a 1280x720 50i transport stream video with the h264 encoder. Usually only about 2,5 minutes for 1GB (=11 minutes).

Edius is very slow when I try to export the same source video using the h264 codec (.mp4 dst format). It takes about twice the time of the original length, so in this case about 22 minutes.

All 4 cores are used up to 100% but it seems it doesn't make any use of the graphic card's gpu.

How do I utilize OpenCL on my system?

Tia,
Highend

[Jerry]

Edius exports H.264 by way of cpu horsepower. H.264 files are heavily compressed. It takes extra time and horsepower to accomplish this type of compression.

I would recommend using the mpeg exporter for your project, and your machine. It will use all cores and the project will not look any different to you. The only difference is the file will be bigger.It will take less time as well. I have a 980x, and a QX9650 and I still use mpeg2. Give it a try.

If you are dead set on h.264, a new z68 or z77 chipset system will give you extremely fast h.264 export times.

[highend]

If you are dead set on h.264

I wouldn't call it "dead set" but h.264 has the best compression ratio while maintaining perfect quality. That's why I want to use it.

a new z68 or z77 chipset system will give you extremely fast h.264 export times.

The chipset is only one requirement. Additionally I'd need a new cpu as well. Without an integrated Intel HD 2k, 2,5k, 3k or 4k graphic core you can't make use of Intel's Quick Sync at all.

And the problem still persists. Atm Edius doesn't make use of OpenCL on my system. The question is: why and how to fix it?

I've tried the demo version of Cyberlink's Powerdirector 10 yesterday (which supports OpenCL) and it encodes the same source video to h.264 in about 4 minutes. That's more than 5 times faster than Edius...

Something seems to be wrong with Edius, not with OpenCL in general.

Regards,
Highend

[Zorro]

Something seems to be wrong with Edius, not with OpenCL in general.

Regards,
Highend

Why should there be something wrong with Edius? If you want really fast H.264 encoding then use a 'Sandybridge' setup. That's the way to go and clearly stated by GV:

http://www.grassvalley.com/docs/Application_Notes/professional/edius/PRV-4140M_EDIUS_SandyBridge_AN.pdf

Have you've been told that Edius would use OpenCL when exporting H.264? If so then you have asked the wrong persons.

[burnandreturn]

I just upgraded from the same processor that you have the Q6600. For under a 1000 Euros I now have blazing fast H.264 encoding available.

Zorro recommended the "Sandy Bridge" but I would recommend the "Ivy Bridge" but I have only had it a little over a week so take that with a grain of salt!

[burnandreturn]

I did a little experiment today. I disconnected the monitor that was connected to the onboard graphics and then rebooted and started Edius. No quicksync.

THen I connected the cable that would normally be connected to the monitor for the onboard graphics to the VGA input on my main monitor. So now I have the two cables connected to my main monitor. One DV-i and one VGA. With that setup quicksync works. Just in case someone is dead set against having two monitors and really needs the ability of the discrete graphics card they can still have their cake and eat it too!

You all probably already knew that but I didn't!

[GrassValley_BH]

Good workaround!

One of the annoying side-effects of DVI and HDMI is that the system can "see" the connection and knows whether it's connected or not.

I slightly prefer the forgiveness of "less intelligent" connections like VGA (and traditional serial ports, heh). :)

[dpalomaki]

Just wondering, can the system "see" if the connction to the monitor is through a DVI-capable KVM and is activelyconnected to a diffent computer?

I note that WIN 2K had boot resolution issues if the KVM was on another PC, while Win 7 and XP were OK.

Any acceleration scheme that requires a monitor to be actively connected is IMHO lame, and mandating use of a MB video contolleer is doubly lame.

[GrassValley_BH]

I can't guarantee it as I don't have one (nor do I have Sandy or Ivey bridge) but you might be able to get away with using a DVI Detective or DVI Detective Plus (if you need HDCP)...

[Long John Silver]

THen I connected the cable that would normally be connected to the monitor for the onboard graphics to the VGA input on my main monitor. So now I have the two cables connected to my main monitor. One DV-i and one VGA. With that setup quicksync works.

So are you using the vga output on your sandybridge onboard graphics and the dv-i of discrete card?
Which input is active on your monitor?

Thank you in advance

[Ron Evans]

I use 2 Dell 24" monitors both from theGTX560 Nvidia card, the onboard VGA is connected to the VT2300LED as is the HDMI from the Spark. I have also tried the connection to either of the Dells and it works fine too. However I have one of the Dells on the VGA through a KVM ( to my email and WEB PC) which is why I eventually opted for the connection to the VT2300LED.

Ron Evans

[burnandreturn]

So are you using the vga output on your sandybridge onboard graphics and the dv-i of discrete card?
Which input is active on your monitor?

Thank you in advance

I have the main number 1 monitor connected to my Nvidia card. The second monitor is connect to the onboard graphics via DV-i.

[David Clarke]

You are right - this is a way to get quicksync going with just one monitor. However I always found it would only work if you set the monitors to extend the desktop onto the second screen, rather than clone the screen. With extend set up you might get a program which opens on the "second" screen (ie the VGA one) and you can't see it because your monitor is showing the DVI connection.

When this has happened to me I have always jumped to the conclusion that there is something wrong with the computer or program and then messed around trying to fix it when all I really needed to do was look at the output from the second screen.

Another alternative is a keyboard shortcut - windows key, shift and right (or left arrow) will move the active window from one screen to another. So if something odd happens and you suspect this is the problem you can try the short cut and see if a window suddenly pops up on your display.

[Long John Silver]

You are right - this is a way to get quicksync going with just one monitor. However I always found it would only work if you set the monitors to extend the desktop onto the second screen, rather than clone the screen. With extend set up you might get a program which opens on the "second" screen (ie the VGA one) and you can't see it because your monitor is showing the DVI connection.

A friend of mine has just one Dell U2412M monitor. He connected the i7 onboard Intel graphics vga and the Nvidia DVI output to the monitor. Usually he works with DVI input active coming from the Nvidia card. When he needs Quick Sync for H.264 export he switch the active input to VGA through the monitor input panel.