I have a question. I know quad core processors are great for video encoding, and a lot of people on the forum do it, but what does that mean exactly. Is it editing videos that they take? I'm just a little confused about what it is since there are SO many people on the site that do it.
Thanks

Basically it refers to the process of compressing video files to reduce their file size. Either to fit more of them onto a dvd or just to save harddrive space, legitimate usage includes compressing home movies using video codecs like Xvid or Divx, but most people use them to encode illegally obtained movies and the like.

thats what I do. (edit: not the illegal stuff mentioned above) I edit promotional videos (non professional) for my real estate business in Colorado. I also do some home videos.
Encoding is a very time consuming process and very frustrating. I searched and searched for a program that would not need to encode but never did find one.... Anyway, i'm stuck on a pentium D

^I have felt your pain on the Pentium D.

What about my Pentium III?

Back to my statement above: Does anyone know of or foresee a program that will be able to edit in a compressed format and thus not need to encode to DVD? Is there one now?

I haven't researched this in about a year. Back then, I couldn't find anything.

Takes me all night to re-encode an h264 movie into wmv-hd format to be streamed to the 360. Why I encoded all my HD movies off discs into h264 format is beyond me...

This is on a 2.6GHz P4 btw.

illegally obtained? According to whom is it illegal? The movie industry. If they had their way, everything content related would be on a pay per view/listen basis. Im a big proponent of fair use policy, and ripping dvds that I buy and encoding them to h264 is a very legitimate use, and a good excuse to buy a quadcore :]

@firebird, screw the xbox... I have my PC hooked up directly to my TV... and my receiver doesn't have optical input, so the xbox can only do stereo output, while my pc can do 5.1 :]

@BC, can you clarify a little bit? Are you trying to take a compressed source, edit it, and burn it to a dvd?

Skittle thanks for the reply, here's what i'm currently doing and am always looking for improvement:

I have a standard introduction that is approximately 40 minutes long.
I then add a 3 min clip that is individualized for each disk.

My problem is that it always seems to recode the entire disk (takes approximately 45 min per disk, using a Pentium D, 3 gig of ram (don't think I can upgrade processor as it is a Sony model RC-110g). It would seem that there would be software that would only need to encode the last 3 minutes before burning.

edit: neither section needs to be edited. i am importing via fire wire from a DV camcorder

so what, you have a mpeg2 source... then want to add a 3min uncompressed DV clip without re-encoding the whole thing?

oh yeah, the programs I have tried are:
click to DVD -- Sony (currently the best i've found)
sony vegas 6 platinum
adobe premium (i think cs2) edit: premium pro
adobe (it came with my computer, then I upgraded to above) edit: premium
pinnecle v10 (had to be the worst software experience of my life, as the audio track would always be off from the video track)

As you can see, i've made several attempts and even asked a couple of professional people. One who works for a local tv station editing videos and one who makes a living creating Wedding videos and no one could come up with a answer.

I edit video in an mpeg-2 format so that it doesn't need to be transfered to a different format before burning, but there is still quite a lag time. to burn the 40 min portion that has been saved without adding anything it takes around 10 minutes total.

by adding 3 minutes of mpeg-2, it increases the time to burn to about 40 minutes

If it only takes 4n min per disk, you must be using some low encoding settings, or just a 1 pass maybe?

Regardless of that. You won't be able to just merge the two files unless they are of the same codec and settings. If they are, you can use Virtual Dub...Just load the first file, then the second with the "File > Append AVI" segment. After that, click video and direct stream copy, than do the same for audio. This will just use the video that is already encoded, and just output the same thing, if you append avi segments (adds them to the end of the current ending), you can string up the video.

Keep in mind, they must use the same codec and settings. If your 40 minutes main file is always the same settings/codec, just make the 3 minute segment the same format/settings. Than you just append them together without the worry of re-encoding.

Hopefully I didn't lose you with this post, if you have any questions, just ask. Kinda hard to put into understandable words unless you know the software/codecs. But yea, my 13 years of video experience has never failed me yet ^_^.

I'm not 100% sure this would work but you might be able to do a DVD folder of your 40 minute intro and keep that on your hard drive. Then import your 3 minute clip and encode that to a DVD folder using your editing software. Finally, use DVD Shrink and "Re-Author" a DVD. First import your 40 minute intro as Title 1, then import your 3 minute clip as Title 2. Then burn it to a DVD.

You wouldn't have to re-encode the intro, just keep it on your hard drive. I can't say I've actually done this but in theory it should work. Might be worth a try at least.

My PC is in my room, while the my roommate's HDTV is in the living room, along with the 360. I re-encode the file and stick in on an external hard drive, connect my roommate's laptop to the 360 and connect the external hard drive to the laptop. Best way I can do for now, I'm sure my new PC will encode much faster.

well if your trying to make a single stream, your probably out of luck. You will have to reencode the entire stream before it can be burned to a dvd.

If your not trying to make a single stream, you can use something like nero vison to add the mpeg2 source, and add the DV source, and it should just encode the dv source...and burn it.

I always liked to use nero, its simple, multi threaded and worked perfectly.

Kamrooz, thanks for the suggestion. maybe you can help me before I try? From a very brief read through of vitualdub.org I think it only works for avi video? If that is true, then I would have to recode everything before the burn and I'd be stuck where I am at. If this is not so, please let me know and I'll give it a shot. Well, i'll give it a shot any way.

I'll have to double check my settings but i woul