OpenGL hardware support improves performance?

RichMacDonald wrote on 11/27/2001, 6:00 PM

This is probably a basic question, so basic that a google search on "sonic foundry opengl" or a sonic foundary "opengl" search turns up nothing.

I have a clunky PII 350Mhz computer with a graphic card so old that I am using OpenGL software emulation. Question 1: Would getting a new card help VV3 in any way?

I already have a basic firewire card so one of those combos is out. I'm looking at something like an nvidia GeForce2 which also has a TV out. Question 2: Could I use that to do TV preview? Question 3: If OpenGL hardware support is useful, what features in cards should I look for? Aside: The GeForce2 also has DirectX support which I assume will help the audio portion of VV?

Feeling very ignorant but not stupid. TIA.

Comments

Cheesehole wrote on 11/27/2001, 9:26 PM

i can tell you that having a good modern video card IS important in Vegas. OpenGL is a 3d API and has nothing to do with Vegas, so that doesn't matter. the part that matters is 2D performance.

I have two video cards, an old Matrox Mill II (PCI), and an AGP 4x GeForce2. the preview monitor performs better on the GeForce2. Video playback in general is much smoother on the GeForce2 which supports directX movie playback (unlike the Matrox).

if your graphics card is less than 1.5 years old, it should be fine. but if it's older than that, a GeForce2 would make a nice upgrade, esp if you have a good monitor to go with it.

- ben (cheesehole)

RichMacDonald wrote on 11/27/2001, 11:42 PM

Thanks. However, I thought that OpenGL included 2D as well. I've read many claims that OpenGL speeds up 2D apps.
I note that Premiere and Photoshop are both listed at the nvidai website as being "optimized" by the nvidia cards, whatever that means.

Preview isn't my problem, its rendering I'd like to improve...a lot :-/

Cheesehole wrote on 11/28/2001, 12:08 AM

forget about the OpenGL if your goal is to speed up Vegas rendering. OpenGL is a 3d API for 3d applications like 3dsmax and Quake. Vegas Video does not utilize any OpenGL acceleration that i'm aware of.

to answer one of your other questions, DirectX support on your video card will not help your sound card/cpu process DirectX sound effects. but it will help your Vegas preview window update it's display faster, and any other applications that support DirectX, like games and Windows Media Player.

The only way to make your _renders_ go faster is to increase the speed of your processor, or hard drive, depending on which is the bottleneck. in your case, it's the 350MHz processor. nothing else will make your renders go faster, unless you are running out of RAM and your system is swapping to the hard drive, but that is unlikely as long as you have at least 256MB, and don't have tons of imported hi-res images in your timeline.

you CAN turn down the quality setting of your renders to speed Vegas up. there are many posts about that... search the forum on 'render quality' and 'preview'. it is claimed that you can't tell much difference most of the time between preview good and best, except that preview renders a lot faster.

to answer your question about the GeForce TV out, no you cannot use that as an external monitor preview. you may be able to use it as a second monitor, and you may be able to put your preview window on it, but it isn't the same as having a TV preview. for that you need to go through your Firewire card.

for display:
a TNT2 is a good match for your 350MHz computer, so if you can pick one of those up for cheap, it's a nice card... has directX support...

for rendering:
you need a faster processor to speed up rendering.

- ben (cheesehole)