HD Video Editing PC

[patricksbenson]

MY SPECS:

-Core i7 920 2.66GHz overclocked and stable at 3.8GHz

-Gigabyte GA-X58-UD3R Motherboard

-8GB of A-Data DDR3 12800 1600Mhz (Actual: 1520, 8, 8, 8, 25 timings)

-One (1) 150GB WD Raptor 10,000 RPM Harddrive (OS)

-Four (4) 300GB WD Raptor 10,000 RPM Harddrives in RAID 0 (Project Subsystem)

-Quadro FX 4600, 768MB Memory

-Operating System: Windows 7 Home Premium

-Editing Software: Adobe Premiere Pro CS4 (4.2.1)

-Video File Codec Used: AVCHD Full HD, 24p

MY ISSUE AND QUESTIONS:

Playback still lags in the timeline, especially with effects, color correction, reversing, transitions and/or dual layers of video.

I feel like I have a great system, but I've tried everything to get myself set up on a professional level.

Where do I make my next upgrade? The only thing left seems to be getting my memory up to 12GB or 16Gb.

Is this a software issue? I understand Adobe 4.1 or later can actually access up to 16GB of memory, although it's not a true or native 64-bit designed program. I've tried Sony Vegas, which is native 64-bit and have the same results.

Run dual Quadros in SLI Mode?

 

[p55ibexpeak]

What's your monitor resolution?

What's your startup apps?

 

[patricksbenson]

Main Monitor is 1920 x 1200 (24" Acer HDMI)

Secondary Monitor 1366 x 768 (32" Samsung LCD TV HDMI)

Results are the same wheather I run one monitor or two.

Start up apps are minimal, Raid Tool, M-Audio Sound Card (ProFire 610), Anti-Virus (although I disable when I'm editing), and Nvidia - that's it.

Thanks.

 

[coldsleep]

To clarify (I'm not a video editing expert), you're seeing the video playback performance suffer? But you're satisfied while editing the video?

If yes, that sounds like your graphics card might not be able to keep up. It looks like that card is a couple of years old. I'm looking at a review from over a year ago where the 4600 seems to be old technology.

If no, then I'm certain I don't have enough expertise to solve your problem.

 

[p55ibexpeak]

Is write cache enabled on all drives?

http://www.windowsreference.com/windows-server-2008/enable-disk-write-caching-to-improve-performance-in-windows-7-windows-server-2008/

You store your project files on the RAID 0?

Is all software up to date?

Is playback of regular video files (avi, mkv, etc.) choppy on 1 and both monitors?

 

[bgd73]

is it a brand new system?
Did you get exact details for the system memory?

that overclock is insane. go right back to normal...try again.

if serious edit, consider an ecc registered memory system, check what your motheboard has for memory capable.

raid 0 is always a winner, but I did find for the 48bit LBA and later, just two drives twinned works.

you mentioned lag in timeline. on fresh system windows is playing with what goes where in the caches , and movie editing is always fighting with it. Try leaving the editor and project open, and go have a coffee, see if it gains more attention.

My own choice for edit was corel media studio, it has a startup helper in the run part of registry, to gain a priority. Check if adobe does this correctly. (they do this for thier reader as well)

if it is a newer setup, play music with a visual, and a few games for up to a week. Smack that system arounda bit at normal clocks, there would be less excuses for desynching.

 

[patricksbenson]

Thanks for the recommendations. The write caching is a good call, all software up to date. Core i7s are made to overclock, so I won't go back to normal 2.66 settings, if I'm running perfectly stable at 3.8Ghz. Overclocking is easy if you know what you're doing and allows you to optimize performance on a budget. Some people suggest not doing it for video editing, but because there are no instability issues, which is often the concern.

I already tested a Nvidia Geforce GTX 285, which has greater bandwidth than my Quadro, just to see if it affects playback performance in the timeline and it does NOT, so I'm sticking with my Quadro FX4600 as it doesn't seem to be a bottleneck at all.

The more I read about AVCH, the more I realize it may simply be the codec and AVCH in full HD is simply too taxing on the processor. Instead of making additional upgrades to memory, my processor or video card, I'm looking at converting the AVCH files into Cineform AVI files prior to editing. The files retain the original quality and resolution, but create a file that is less taxing on the system than AVCH. I've tested NeoHD and using the Cineform AVI file allows me to run up to 6 simultaneous full HD video layers with effects and transition elements without any issues or lag in timeline playback. It appears this is what a lot of pro level film editors use as well. www.cineform.com