SVRT or Hardware Encoding For My Computer?

OffTheMark

Member Joined: Jun 12, 2016 10:39 Messages: 114 Offline

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Jan 16, 2017 09:59

Hi Everyone:

Any suggestions on whether to try SVRT or Hardware Encoding for my short video (about one minute 30 seconds) which is made up of about 15 or so short clips (the clips are about 6 seconds long each).

There is a simple fade between ALL the clips.

There aren't really any effects, but almost ALL the clips have a Fix / Enhance applied by ColorDirector to them.

I am trying to produce for youtube as a 1080p file at 24fps.

The source material is actually shot in 4K (but again, I am trying to produce to 1080p).

When I tried to produce as mpeg2 there were no options available for either SVRT nor for Hardware Acceleration

So I changed to H.264 and it allowed for Hardware Acceleration (I guess because in the preferences I had Hardware Acceleration checked, and that automatically turns off SVRT???)

I am currently producing this one-minute and thirty second video and I am already 23 minutes into rendering and it predicts another 25 minutes to finish rendering. Doesn't that seem like a long time to render a short clip with no effects and just colordirector grading and fades between clips?

I notiiced the bit rate is LOWER for h.264 and was wondering if that means the quality is lower too (compared to mpg 2) or whether it just means it is a more effecient codec?

My computer is:

Windows 10 64-bit on an SSD
i7-670024GB RAM
GTX 960 | 2GB DDR5

Any suggestions would be great. I know I could "test" it out, but I am kind of in a crunch this morning so instead of trying to tesxt out a bunch of different things, hopefully somebody knows already what would work best for my system.

Thanks in advance.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at Jan 16. 2017 10:02

BarryTheCrab

Senior Contributor Location: USA Joined: Nov 06, 2008 22:18 Messages: 6240 Offline

Jan 16, 2017 10:21

SVRT can only be aplied to video clips that are unaltered in any way.

From Help files:

Intelligent SVRT can be applied to video clips in the MPEG-1, MPEG-2, H.264 and DV-AVI (Type I) formats. In the following conditions, clips (or portions of clips) do not require rendering during production, and SVRT can therefore be applied:•The frame rate, frame size, and file format are the same as those of the destination production profile.•The bitrate is similar to that of the destination production profile.•The TV format is the same as that of the destination production profile. For more information, see Setting TV (Video Clip Interlacing) Format.If all of the above conditions are met, SVRT can be used. Any clips that do not meet the above criteria are fully rendered without SVRT.In the following conditions, clips (or portions of clips) must be rendered during production, and SVRT can therefore not be applied:•Adding a title or transition effect•Modifying the color of a video clip•Merging two video clips (clips within 2 seconds before or after the merged clips will be rendered)•Splitting a video clip (clips within 2 seconds before or after the split will be rendered)•Trimming a video clip (clips within 2 seconds before or after the trimmed clip will be rendered)•If the total duration of the production is less than one minute and any portion of the video requires rendering, the entire production will be rendered for efficiency reasons. HP Envy Phoenix/4thGen i7-4770(4@3.4GHz~turbo>3.9)
Nvidia GTX 960(4GB)/16GB DDR3/
Canon Vixia HV30/HF-M40/HF-M41/HF-G20/Olympus E-PL5.
Tape capture using 6 VCR, TBC-1000, Elite BVP4+, Sony D8 camcorder with TBC.
https://www.facebook.com/BarryAFTT

OffTheMark

Member Joined: Jun 12, 2016 10:39 Messages: 114 Offline

Jan 16, 2017 10:38

Quote SVRT can only be aplied to video clips that are unaltered in any way.

Ahhh... so will having JUST a fade transition between clips nullify the ability to use SVRT? Or do the clips have to be just "jump cuts" between them? (Meaning, right next to each other but with no transistions?

~~~~

And one more question: Any thoughts on why the rendering is still taking a pretty long time even with Hardware Acceleration and the GTX 960 card? It's a VERY simple video, just every clip has a minor color / sharpness adjustment that was created as a preset in color director.

Oh, and it is 4k footage that is produced as 1080p.

Richmond Dan

Senior Contributor Location: Richmond, VA Joined: Aug 07, 2014 17:17 Messages: 673 Offline

Jan 16, 2017 14:47

Quote

Quote SVRT can only be aplied to video clips that are unaltered in any way.

Ahhh... so will having JUST a fade transition between clips nullify the ability to use SVRT? Or do the clips have to be just "jump cuts" between them? (Meaning, right next to each other but with no transistions?

~~~~

And one more question: Any thoughts on why the rendering is still taking a pretty long time even with Hardware Acceleration and the GTX 960 card? It's a VERY simple video, just every clip has a minor color / sharpness adjustment that was created as a preset in color director.

Oh, and it is 4k footage that is produced as 1080p.

Until the experts weigh in: from what I've read on this forum, color adjustments take a lot of resources. Regards,
Dan
Power Director 21-Ultimate
v 21.0.3111.0
XPS-8940, Win-10 64-bit,
Intel Core i9-10900 processor
(10 core, 20M Cache),
32GB DDR4 RAM, 2TB M.2 PCIe NVME SSD, 2TB 7200 RPM SATA HDD,
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER 8GB GDDR6

OffTheMark

Member Joined: Jun 12, 2016 10:39 Messages: 114 Offline

Jan 16, 2017 15:06

Quote
Until the experts weigh in: from what I've read on this forum, color adjustments take a lot of resources.

Thanks for the input, Dan. Apparently, yes, coloring changes take a long time to render.

So I re-did my projecte and REMOVED all coloring changes... and I still couldn't select SVRT

SoNic67

Senior Contributor Joined: Sep 27, 2014 14:14 Messages: 1308 Offline

Jan 16, 2017 16:27

Quote
So I re-did my projecte and REMOVED all coloring changes... and I still couldn't select SVRT

SVRT is very finiky. The GTX960 should be able to do a faster job by using Hardware Encoding. You just need to select an output format that is compatible, like H264 or H265.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at Jan 16. 2017 16:28

OffTheMark

Member Joined: Jun 12, 2016 10:39 Messages: 114 Offline

Jan 16, 2017 18:43

Quote

Quote
So I re-did my projecte and REMOVED all coloring changes... and I still couldn't select SVRT

SVRT is very finiky. The GTX960 should be able to do a faster job by using Hardware Encoding. You just need to select an output format that is compatible, like H264 or H265.

Thank you, Sorin.

I will probably start a new thread about best workflow, but it looks like in terms of sheer rendering times, it is best to edit and do transitions in PD first, then produce it (still at 4K), then open it up in colordirector, then grade in CD, then produce the final from CD.

PowerDirector (still) seems agonizingly slow when it comes to producing either to a different resolution or when doing even minor color changes.

SoNic67

Senior Contributor Joined: Sep 27, 2014 14:14 Messages: 1308 Offline

Jan 16, 2017 18:47

From my photography experience, I know that the best is not to need any color grading in post processing. Adjust in advance the white balance with a 18% grey card if needed.

Now, I am not sure, but the GTX960 should be used during grading to accelerate the work - GPUZ can monitor the actual GPU usage.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at Jan 16. 2017 18:50

OffTheMark

Member Joined: Jun 12, 2016 10:39 Messages: 114 Offline

Jan 16, 2017 19:08

Quote From my photography experience, I know that the best is not to need any color grading in post processing. Adjust in advance the white balance with a 18% grey card if needed.

Now, I am not sure, but the GTX960 should be used during grading to accelerate the work - GPUZ can monitor the actual GPU usage.

While I agree that it would be great to get optimum footage right out of the camera, in some cases, one gets a better image by using the more advanced sharpening found in ColorDirector than the very basic sharpening in my Sony a6300 (as ColorDirector has a radius adjustment and a pretty good sharpening mask feature). Plus I often have to shoot in the ISO 1,600 to ISO 5,ooo range, so the noise reduction features of ColorDirector are really helpful as well.

Plus I have to work in mixed lighting and can't use any supplimental lighting to help with color casts, so the HSL sliders can be helpful. I try to set my white balance so that MOST of the scene is balanced correctly but can't correct ALL of it in camera unfortunately.

Plus I am a sucker for split toning...