SSSLLLLOOOOWWWW!

[crizazykid2]

I have a xpress 200 card, athlon 3400, 512 ram, 160 gb hd. Burning home DVD's takes an eternity...Is my video card what is holding the speed back?

 

[kitchenshark]

Need more info.

Are you converting/compressing from raw DV data from the camera? If so, it's the transfer from the camera holding you back.

If your home video file is on your HDD, then it would be the processor speed mainly.

 

[crizazykid2]

thanks, but sonic DVd is the only program I run when i burn dvds

 

[crizazykid2]

yes it is raw video from analog camera on my computer, but digital video is slow to burn also.

 

[kitchenshark]

Some may have different ideas, but IF you're converting the video from raw to finished format FROM your HDD to your burner, these are the bottlenecks in my estimation.

Processor
HDD
RAM

More processor speed always helps with large chunks of data like video files.

Hard drive can have a dramatic impact in performance. Case in point, I encoded a video stream twice. Once from a IDE drive and a second time from my WD Raptor 36Gb. The faster Raptor reduced encoding time from 44mins to 20mins.

Ram, possibly. Fast RAM i think would be more important than a lot of it. ALthough I think 1Gb might give you a bit of a boost as well. If the program has a large bit of itself on the swap file, or if lots of the data to be encoded is there, you're going to experience slower encoding performance.

 

[crizazykid2]

Thanks alot for the help...I'm not about to get a new processor or hd on this computer, but I will porbably get more ram...will 1.5 gb have a noticeable difference over 1 gb?

 

[luminaris]

Chances are probably not. Somewhere along the chain, something is slowing down the process. Check all connections and make sure all cables are good.

 

[kitchenshark]

Hmmm, possibly. The more data that fits onto system ram, the better. HOWEVER, most programs will only load so much to memory, still sticking the rest onto the swap file and slowing you down still. Some programs you MIGHT be able to set the physical memory usage, in which case having tons of memory would be the best.

Heh...I have 2gb of ram and could never figure out why I never got more performance from my games with the extra memory. I did a lot of research and found out about programs having internal limits to their memory usage. In some games I can use a command line option to manually set memory usage and it does give me a few FPS here and there.

 

[Rabidpeanut]

1,5 is a bad idea, go for even numbers of ram chips you will likely lose some potential performance if you use an odd number of chips.

 

[g-paw]

I think a big part of the problem is that it just takes a really long time to redering and burn video files. While a faster processor and more memory will help, it will still take a long time. Right now when I want to burn a video, I wait till I'm done using the machine and then start burning and leave it run over night. I think the best solution right now, when you have the money, is to get a dual core processor. Then you'll be able to do other things while burning. Won't speed it much but will let you use the machine while burning.

 

[kitchenshark]

I agree. Even with an extremely fast processor it's still going to take time. Dual core and a nice 2Gb of RAM would ensure that you could encode and play games/surf/etc with little or no slow down on those other activities.

 

[illicitsc]

are u using slo ass dvds???

 

[crizazykid2]

no, i'm using them at 8x speed

 

[AntiHax0r]

Check and see in Device Manager to see if your DVD drive is running in PIO(SLOW) instead of Ultra DMA 2 or something like that... that could be a possible cause.

My Computer(right-click)/Properties/Hardware(tab)/Device Manager/Expand-IDE ATA/ATAPI Controllers/Select the Channel that your DVD drive is installed on (CD and DVD rom drives are typically Secondary) and show properties for it, somewhere in one of the tabs... it will show the transfer mode(s).

If its PIO then you could uninstall the controller and restart the comp, windows should reinstall everything automatically setting it in Ultra DMA

 

[crizazykid2]

nope, it is not in pio...I guess it is just my hardware.

 

[blue68f100]

If you have a resident program like Antivirus, spyware. You may wont to try to disable them. Disconnect from the outside world first. I have seen Norton try to filter everything, thinks the activity is a worm.

 

[crizazykid2]

dude, what are you talking about? This has nothing with antivirus programs blocking burn speed...I mean it works, it is justr slow

 

[DuxSyagrius]

When I used Ulead DVD studio, I had to convert whatever file into an ISO image or the VOB folders etc etc. At about the 47% mark, I could here my HDDs go nutz and start going to town. I guess I had ran out of memory and i was switching to virtual memory or something. This would go on for about 18 minutes non-stop. Does this happen to you? Other than that, I would say it just takes a long time to encode video. The more compression, the more time it takes. But you should be converting at a little over real time with your CPU (a 2ghz athlon XP does Divx encoding at real time) Other than that I would also say you might want to swtich programs. ATI has a tweaked out encoder that is about twice as fast as the Nero version it is based off of (no comment on quality though) Also, you made need a new codec or something. For instance, newer Divx codecs in the past have imprved the performance of Dr Divx alot.

 

[falsterbo]

You have an AMD processor... That´s a big problem.

Buy an Intel with HT, then you´ll see performance changes. Maybe not if you play games, but with a lot of apps running...

 

[RichPLS]

Ding Ding Ding Ding, We have a winner! :mrgreen:

 

[Rabidpeanut]

More Like DUMB DUMB DUMB, hyper threading slows your pc down like a bitch if you are runnng high memory programs.

 

[levicki]

More Like DUMB DUMB DUMB, hyper threading slows your pc down like a bitch if you are runnng high memory programs.

More like you are talking out of your ASS?!?

All shitty answers in this thread. Not that the question is much better when we have to use pliers to get some details that should be in his post.

@crizazykid2:

You have to clarify your claims if you want help:

Is the burning slow like -- you start burning process, the DVD light goes on and it burns slower than it should? For 8x DVD speed approx. 7min burning time is normal. If it takes more than that, then probably DVD or the application doesn't recognize the media as being writtable at 8x speed. Test with another burning application like Nero. If it is the same and your DMA and cabling is properly configured, then the DVD drive is shitty -- get NEC ND4550A for $40 and it will fly.

If you are doing video conversion/compression and if that part takes too much time -- well, you should have bought Intel CPU with at least Hyper-Threading or any dual-core solution which start as low as 240$. I have Pentium D 930 and it compresses 720x576 into DivX using latest codec at the average of 60 FPS meaning that the 3hr 12min movie takes 1hr 20min to compress and I can still use my computer for other tasks.

It can also be the software -- try to find some alternative applications that do the same things you need so you can compare the speed.

Hopefully your PC is not loaded with spyware, trojans, etc? Several of those can bring even the strongest machine down to Pentium 166.

Btw, Xpress 200 -- is that an ATI chipset with integrated graphics? If you opted for such a low end chipset, tell me honestly what kind of performance were you expecting?

 

[blue68f100]

You are talking about authorized a dvd, that is slow. Antivirus and spyware programs eatup a lot for ram and resources. Especially if it is made by symantic. All I am suggesting is to disable them and see if there is an improvement. You are running on a min amount of ram. Should be at least 1gig.

If you are going to blow off on people trying to help you. Pull the plug, and keep running at a snail pace.

 

[crizazykid2]

When I used Ulead DVD studio, I had to convert whatever file into an ISO image or the VOB folders etc etc. At about the 47% mark, I could here my HDDs go nutz and start going to town. I guess I had ran out of memory and i was switching to virtual memory or something. This would go on for about 18 minutes non-stop. Does this happen to you?

No, thankfully I don't have that issue.

 

[crizazykid2]

You have an AMD processor... That´s a big problem.

Buy an Intel with HT, then you´ll see performance changes. Maybe not if you play games, but with a lot of apps running...

I've already said in this forum that I'm not getting a new processor for this computer.