Scott, no screen shots attached.

Even under the best circumstances and the information you provided on the laptop, I would expect a 10 or more to 1 ration for encoding. Yours is not out of line with that.

I have two different computers with I7 2.9 chips and I can get the encoding of HD video down to 2 to one or so.

Do you have lots of computer hard drive space (external included)? What format are you getting from that reel to reel/camcorder set up? Avi files are not compressed so they are easier to edit.

Do not try to convert reel to reel to HD; the video may come out poorer than the original by a lot. That reel to reel is probably standard definition; capture that if you can. You cannot make a silk purse out of a sow's ear ! .
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BoilerPlate: To posters who ask for help -- it is nice to thank the volunteers who try to answer your questions !
Anything I post unless stated with a reference is my personal opinion.

Thanks for your response Steve.

First, when I tried to attach my screen shots, I clicked attachments at the bottom. I then clicked on browse, found the file I wanted and clicked on it. The file showed directly to the right of the browse button and nothing was in the description field. Can you tell me what I did wrong there?

I am using a Canon Vixia HG20 camcorder. I can only adjust frame rate for recording and my output which can be 480i or 1080i. Right now I use 24fps and 1080i output. (what frame rate would you recommend? I can choose 24,30, or 60.) I have been creating MPEG4 files when I produce the videos. I will try creating an AVI file and see what that does.

When I removed all editing to my project; video enhance, white balance, etc.; the one hour project took only about one hour to render. So I guess that tells me something.

When you referred to a 10 to 1 ratio I am not really sure what you mean. Is that 10 hours of rendering for every 1 hour of video? The advertising for PD12 talks about faster rendering, or something along that line. Will I gain anything if I choose to go to PD12, or should I expect the same performance?

Thanks again for responding to my inquiry.
Scott Scott Wright
Wichita, KS

Yes, 10 to 1 was what you thought it was.

Never upgrade software to fix a hardware issue. Your computer(s) are underpowered to give faster rendering especially when you add all the enhancements.

I have more than one computer. I use the other when I am doing some heavy editing or I set it up to run overnight.

I'm not sure why you are having trouble with attachments. Just click the "attachment button", select the file you want to attach, you select your name as the description. For the dxdiag, just attach that file; do not attach the entire text expanded.

What file format are you trying to attach if it not the dxdiag text file.

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BoilerPlate: To posters who ask for help -- it is nice to thank the volunteers who try to answer your questions !
Anything I post unless stated with a reference is my personal opinion.

I tried rendering using AVI and it made no difference on rendering time with video enhancements, etc. added to it. I guess I will be using my Mac until I can afford a better laptop. If the film is in good shape I can still us PD as it has better features and flexibility with title screens and transitions, etc.

As for adding attachments I was leaving the description blank. I tried to add them on this response and will see if they go through. The attachments are a screen capture using a photo editing software that creates a jpg file. I captured the computer properties screen which is same as dxdiag.

Scott Wright
Wichita, KS

Scott. Why are you trying to make a 16 by 9 high definition video out of a 4 by 3 standard definition? I'm sure your camcorder will capture at the standard definition.

That has little to do with the rendering time but may have a lot to do with final quality.

No, the Windows screen your captured and posted has little in common with the dxdiag file. I can't help any more unless you post that dxdiag text file. .
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BoilerPlate: To posters who ask for help -- it is nice to thank the volunteers who try to answer your questions !
Anything I post unless stated with a reference is my personal opinion.

I can record in 4:3. I still have a lot to learn working with HD. I just thought that recording 16:9 HD would give the slightest bit better improvement. I will switch to 4:3 and see if quality changes.

Here are is the dxdiag. I copied the system and display tabs. Let me know if you need the others.

Again, I appreciate you helping me on this.

Scott Wright
Wichita, KS

Still no prize.

What part of this is giving you problems? You don;'t even have to zip it; just post the text file from the evaluation:


PART B - How To create a Diagnostic File (This is not exactly the process for Windows 8 but should work for other things.)

1. Click START icon
2. In the Search box (XP users click RUN to see this box) type: DXDIAG and press <ENTER>
3. In the window that opens, select the <SAVE ALL INFORMATION> button and save the file somewhere you can find it (like your desktop).
NOTE: save as ****DxDiag.txt, (Replacing the **** with your name - to identify your file when downloaded).
4. If you know you have 64bit Windows, also select the <Run 64BIT DXDIAG> button and save a SECOND file as 64****DxDiag.txt, (again replacing the **** with your name).
5. Use a zip or rar program to package the data (recommended).
6. Return to the forum thread and click <POST REPLY> (not Quick reply) button in the thread.
7. Click the <ATTACHMENTS> button and attach the file(s).
8. Click <SUBMIT>
The Diagnostic file(s) will be needed by PowerDirector Editors on the forum & CyberLink Technical Support to analyze your PC set up.

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BoilerPlate: To posters who ask for help -- it is nice to thank the volunteers who try to answer your questions !
Anything I post unless stated with a reference is my personal opinion.

Here is another attempt. I followed your instructions to create the dxdiag attachment.

As you can tell, I am somewhat, (maybe more than somewhat ) unfamiliar with much of this. I hope this gives you what you need to help see if I can make my laptop perform better with PD.

Thanks again. Scott Wright
Wichita, KS

Quote: Here is another attempt. I followed your instructions to create the dxdiag attachment.

As you can tell, I am somewhat, (maybe more than somewhat ) unfamiliar with much of this. I hope this gives you what you need to help see if I can make my laptop perform better with PD.

Thanks again.

Why did I have to post that when I had created a link to it earlier in this conversation?

Ever try to run a Indi 500 race with a VW? It won't be a winner even if you try to tune it up.

1) Update your graphics driver; yours is very old. Toshiba was very poor at providing updates to their computer. That is why I don't buy them anymore. You have a AMD M880G with ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4200 Go to the AMD/ATI web site. They should have an automatic check for newer video drivers. Follow the instructions.
2) Your hard drive is pretty filled. Make some room on it. Get rid of trial software and software you no longer use, get rid of junk, tmp and temp files, and defrag (really after each project). Go here for free tools that are better/faster than Windows: Note this is a link to c/net site with the downloads. Hover over the blue text with the http and click on it.
http://download.cnet.com/best-windows-utilities-apps/?tag=rb_content;main

3) When you are doing any video editing, disconnect from the Internet and shut OFF your antivirus. Contact the supplier of your antivirus program to get the details on how to do that.
4) Make sure that NOTHING else is running when you are doing video work.
5) Download the free SOLUTO to help you stop other programs from starting when you boot up your computer. Even if they don;t look like they are running; their services are and they take up memory. I'm suggesting Soluto rather then msconfig.exe because I would be worried that you would disable somethign that needs to be started at boot.
http://download.cnet.com/1770-20_4-0.html?query=soluto&platform=Windows&searchtype=downloads Do not pay for anyhting ; the program is free and you don't need any of thier other services.
6) If you are serious about this business, look for a fairly good desktop and not a laptop. It will be cheaper for the same level of performance.
7) Find an organization near you that will help you with learning about computers. I volunteer at HAL-PC Senior Learning Center (SLC). That SLC is devoted to teaching seniors about how to run programs and how to fix their computer or will do it for them. All this at low cost. I know that there is a network of these types of organizations all over. I also know that some libraries also have computer classes for seniors. (I'm assuming that the 61 in your name is about your age). Mine is 10 years older. .
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BoilerPlate: To posters who ask for help -- it is nice to thank the volunteers who try to answer your questions !
Anything I post unless stated with a reference is my personal opinion.

Thanks for all of this. I will follow through on it right away.

My career was as a corporate pilot. Several years ago my health problems from being born with severe scoliosis and a club foot caught up with me. I have had to take medication that the FAA will not allow me to get a medical. With my back I have days that it's hard to do much at all. Most of my computer work is done laying on a couch with a remote keyboard and mouse.

I am doing these projects to learn and stay busy. I hate not being able to work full time, whether in aviation or something else. Even though I am on disability I still count myself very fortunate for family support and able to live in a nice, small house that I bought a little over a year ago.

Again, I really do appreciate your help and patience. I realize a desktop would give better performance, but I need to figure out how I can set things up and work with what I have to deal with physically. A laptop is much easier to move around and work with.

Thanks again,
Scott Scott Wright
Wichita, KS