Video Quality and Lag After Color Correction

Friction

Newbie Joined: Dec 26, 2021 19:35 Messages: 7 Offline

Solved by

Jan 11, 2022 20:15

Hi -

I have a laptop that I am using for editing with PowerDirector. It has a Core i7 processor, but it doesn’t have a dedicated graphic card. The drone I’m using is a Mini 2.

Three questions please:

1). My videos seem to come out fine except for when I color correct them. They lag after post and are very grainy. I’m sure the lag and the graininess are because of the non-dedicated graphic card. I’m I correct?

2). If I upgrade to a laptop with a decent graphic card, will I notice a difference in video quality before editing? In other words, will just playing the MP4 files without editing have increased quality?

3). Can anyone recommend a laptop and / or a graphic card if I decided to upgrade my computer?

Right now, I am mainly recording and editing short nature, outdoor videos.

My current laptop is only a few years old and it’s a pretty decent one. I just want to be sure I’m going to get better results before I invest in a newer computer.

Thanks alot.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at Jan 11. 2022 20:16

JL_JL

Senior Contributor Location: Arizona, USA Joined: Oct 01, 2006 20:01 Messages: 6091 Offline

Jan 11, 2022 21:10

Quote 1). My videos seem to come out fine except for when I color correct them. They lag after post and are very grainy. I’m sure the lag and the graininess are because of the non-dedicated graphic card. I’m I correct?

No, different GPU will not change video graininess. If by "post" you mean producing, check video bitrate relative to original and make sure to use similar for similar quality. "Profile Analyzer" may help define a proper profile similar to original.
If by "post" you mean timeline playback after color correction applied, no, a dGPU will not change this lag.

Quote 2). If I upgrade to a laptop with a decent graphic card, will I notice a difference in video quality before editing? In other words, will just playing the MP4 files without editing have increased quality?

No

Quote 3). Can anyone recommend a laptop and / or a graphic card if I decided to upgrade my computer?

No, for most laptops PD will always use the integral (iGPU) for all timeline editing except for "Producing" a video for which you potentially will have a option, iGPU or dGPU and of course CPU to do the encoding. Quality will be the nearly the same if produced to similar profiles.

Jeff

optodata

Senior Contributor Location: California, USA Joined: Sep 16, 2011 16:04 Messages: 8630 Offline

Jan 11, 2022 21:46

To add to JL_JL's responses, you'll need to think about your workflow with regard to color correcting.

If it's critical to the rest of your edits, you should probably produce the color-corrected clip(s) first (which will take a long time), and then import it/them onto the timeline then make the remaining edits. Since the corrections will be "baked in," you won't have any lag when working on the produced version(s) of those clips.

On the other hand, if you need to get everything else ready before producing, save the color corrections until the very end so they won't slow down the earlier editing.

the King

Senior Member Joined: Jun 30, 2010 04:10 Messages: 296 Offline

Jan 12, 2022 21:19

Quote Hi -
1). My videos seem to come out fine except for when I color correct them. They lag after post and are very grainy. I’m sure the lag and the graininess are because of the non-dedicated graphic card. I’m I correct?
.

Render Preview helps.