Problems with Intel QSV renders

jrappl wrote on 4/8/2015, 11:02 AM
I've been using Movie Studio for almost 2 years but have always rendered "CPU only" because I wanted the best quality output and I've read the hardware accelerated encodes are not as good.

I'm working on a complex project and wanted a faster "draft" encode to check the results on a large screen. I have an i7-3770 and I'm using the Intel HD Graphic 4000 without any other graphics card so I have Intel Quick Sync Video available. The CPU only encode was going to take about 7 hours. Using QSV (speed) it finished in 1:17:00, QSV (Quality) took a little longer (didn't save the time) but the output was unusable.

I was able to reproduce the problem on a smaller video. Using a source file from a Canon HFG10, I rendered a short (2m30s) HD mp4 low bitrate (6Mbs) file using Sony AVC with these results:

"CPU Only", took the longest to encode but the video quality looks good.
"QSV (Speed), encode was faster and the output was also pretty good without any visible problems
"QSV (Quality). Faster encode than CPU only, slower than Speed but the output was trash, very jerky, half black screens, flashing video/black screen and no smooth playing at all.

Am I doing something wrong? Are there know bugs with QSV and the Sony AVC encoder?

I did check my video driver and it was a few months old so I downloaded the newest one from the Intel website yesterday and have the exact same results.

I can use the "Speed" setting for my draft but it would also be nice to have what is suppose to be a higher quality output for final renders, or should I just still with CPU only for final renders?


Comments

MSmart wrote on 4/9/2015, 2:04 AM
What version of Movie Studio?

I don't know how much, if any, the Sony AVC encoder has changed between versions but you may want to download version 13 to use as a trial to see if it works better with QSV.

You could also go to Intel's web site to see if there is a newer firmware version for HD4000.
jrappl wrote on 4/9/2015, 2:03 PM
I'm using Movie Studio 12 Platinum. It's in my profile info.

As I mentioned I have downloaded the newest HD Graphics 4000 driver from Intel. There is no listing for a separate "firmware", just the graphics driver. Do you know that there is a separate "firmware"?

I've been debating upgrading to 13. At first I was not at all interested in an interface geared to touch screens and tablets for video editing on a desktop. I have now watched a few review videos and I guess it's not all that bad. Interesting new features to me are the 4K support and the built-in proxy editing capability...
MSmart wrote on 4/11/2015, 12:06 AM
Sorry, didn't look at your profile and missed that you have the latest driver. Firmware, driver, same thing.

Giving 13 a try will let you know if it's QSV or MS. If the same then the codec hasn't changed between 12 and 13.