Speed and quality tests - VP19 versus PD365 on a RTX3080 with NVENC.

dape wrote on 8/7/2022, 6:28 PM

So following VEGAS_EricD's advice from another post on this forum regarding adding VP executable to (my) Windows 11 "Graphics settings" as a desktop app with High Performance i found out that both Vegas Pro 19 and PowerDirector 365 utilize almost all the processing power of my RTX3080 ! I am talking about 90-100% encode !

So, i rendered one of my gaming videos (no fx, no cuts, just full 25 min 1080p60 video) and i had the following durations in similar exporting presets:

PD365 - 3 min 5 sec

VP19 with Magix NVENC - 10 min 30 sec

VP19 with Voukoder NVENC - 7 min 20 sec

And then i installed FFMetrics v1.0 (stable) and added all three exports with the reference unedited file (recorded with quick sync in obs) and here is the result:

Which to my surprise put the Voukoder export on the first place regarding quality because i did another tests few months ago and Magix's nvenc encoder was better quality then.

If anyone cares about the edited file to see the motion - it's here: .

Comments

RogerS wrote on 8/7/2022, 10:13 PM

Could you share a screenshot of what the GPU is doing during render? There should be values for encoder and 3D, copy, etc. It's odd you would get 90% total usage with no Fx applied.

Not a surprise Voukoder can deliver better quality at a lower bitrate though I suppose it is settings dependent.

 

 

Former user wrote on 8/7/2022, 11:07 PM
 

And then i installed FFMetrics v1.0 (stable) and added all three exports with the reference unedited file (recorded with quick sync in obs) and here is the result:

Which to my surprise put the Voukoder export on the first place regarding quality because i did another tests few months ago and Magix's nvenc encoder was better quality then.

 

I don't think your frames are lining up, this is most likely the problem with encodes made using SO4 decoder cutting off the first 2-3 frames, Your graph should not look like that.

dape wrote on 8/8/2022, 3:08 AM

Could you share a screenshot of what the GPU is doing during render? There should be values for encoder and 3D, copy, etc. It's odd you would get 90% total usage with no Fx applied.

Not a surprise Voukoder can deliver better quality at a lower bitrate though I suppose it is settings dependent.

Hey, unfortunately not now, i have deleted the renders but i remember the encode at 90-100% while decode at around 10% or so.

I think in the last Voukoder update were made some better preset integrations with ffmpeg that really show their value now. Also: before adding VP19 to windows's high performance list in "Graphical Settings" i never seen VP doing more than 40-50% work on the video card..

dape wrote on 8/8/2022, 3:12 AM
 

And then i installed FFMetrics v1.0 (stable) and added all three exports with the reference unedited file (recorded with quick sync in obs) and here is the result:

Which to my surprise put the Voukoder export on the first place regarding quality because i did another tests few months ago and Magix's nvenc encoder was better quality then.

 

I don't think your frames are lining up, this is most likely the problem with encodes made using SO4 decoder cutting off the first 2-3 frames, Your graph should not look like that.

I did not make any so4 hackery in VP, it's just the default settings now.. should i change anything ?

Former user wrote on 8/8/2022, 5:58 AM

Hey, unfortunately not now, i have deleted the renders but i remember the encode at 90-100% while decode at around 10% or so.

If we work out your FPS based on your encode time, it's a bit over 200 frames per second, but that doesn't equal 90% of the encoder engine. Try your test again and take a screen shot. Did you have a screen recorder running or something else using the GPU encoder?

This is the encoder running at near 100% with a 1080P60 AVC in Resolve, the number at the top is the speed which is 436fps, so that's approximately the speed expected if your Nvenc encoder really was running near 100%

I think in the last Voukoder update were made some better preset integrations with ffmpeg that really show their value now. Also: before adding VP19 to windows's high performance list in "Graphical Settings" i never seen VP doing more than 40-50% work on the video card..

The unusual thing is I"ve tried 4K, 1080P and 720P benchmarks using voukoder before comparing with MagixAVC NVENC, Using voukoder I saw 13% faster at 4K, 0% faster at 1080P and 43% faster at 720P, but I am seeing the same as you about a 25% faster encoding speed at 1080P, which I originally believed to be the case, but changed my mind when I tested again.

At least for 1080P60 AVC transcoded I see the same 25% faster encode, I"ll have to test more 1080P at a later date.

The problem with your VMAF results is that Vegas when using default AVC gpu decoder cuts off frames at the beginning when you make an encode, so when you try to compare the files, you're comparing the wrong frames, not the identical frames. Because they are still similar frames (normally) your results don't fully tank, but where you see the VMAF results plummet to zero, that could be due to a scene change, so the 2 frames being compared are completely different.

dape wrote on 8/8/2022, 6:06 AM

Try your test again and take a screen shot. Did you have a screen recorder running or something else using the GPU encoder?

I will try again in few months after updates (or maybe VP20). No: nothing using the gpu engines except Edge with a 1080p live stream.

dape wrote on 8/8/2022, 6:09 AM

The problem with your VMAF results is that Vegas when using default AVC gpu decoder cuts off frames at the beginning when you make an encode, so when you try to compare the files, you're comparing the wrong frames, not the identical frames. Because they are still similar frames (normally) your results don't fully tank, but where you see the VMAF results plummet to zero, that could be due to a scene change, so the 2 frames being compared are completely different.

Uhm.. so you want me to change Vegas' default avc gpu encoder.. ? I don't know about that: i want to be as close as i can to VP default stuff - without making excessive and intrusive tuning in it..

Former user wrote on 8/8/2022, 6:32 AM

Uhm.. so you want me to change Vegas' default avc gpu encoder.. ? I don't know about that: i want to be as close as i can to VP default stuff - without making excessive and intrusive tuning in it..

You must create an encode which doesn't cut off the first frames (it's the first 1-3 frames that are cut off, can't recall exactly) A logical approach to take is leave a space at the beginning of the file you wish to transcode. Move your file 1 to 3 frames to the right on the timeline and include the space at the beginning in your encode

. Compare your results by bringing in the encode and place it under your original file, Have opacity at 50% for top track. The first frame of original must match first frame of encode or you're wasting your time with FFMetric

 

 

Reyfox wrote on 8/8/2022, 8:15 AM

@dape Vegas Pro has never been a speedster in rendering the finished project. But that is not what I bought it for. I might spend many minutes in waiting for a finished render, but that doesn't compare to the hours I've spent working on the actual project. And for me, this is where Vegas excels. I can edit much faster with Vegas than my consumer editors or Resolve Studio. This is where I save a lot of time. More than what would be lost in rendering.

The consumer editors I used today are Pinnacle Studio Ultimate 25 and Videostudio Pro Ultimate 2022. As for plugin usage, only with Pinnacle Studio I can use Smartsound, which is a necessary component of my editing.. As for other plugins that I have, forget about BorisFX, and Ignite Pro 5, although NBFX TFX7 appears in both Pinnacle and Videostudio Pro with TP7 as standalone.

What I've noticed is that hardware is important with any editing software. I did a non-scientific test with VP19, and the two consumer editors. @Former user, I didn't use MEP2022 because I could not change the export bitrate to match.

It was just 4 clips of non-descript mp4 gaming recordings with no effects/transitions/titles, placed on the timeline of each editor. Total time of the movie (MP4) was 2 minutes. Render times were VP19: 34seconds, VS2022: 35seconds, PS25: 44seconds.

My hardware is in my signature below. I made sure in Vegas that the bitrate of the finished file is about the same as in the other files exported. At no time did the GPU get used over 20%. I used MAGIX/AAC MP4>Internet HD 1080P 59.94 fps (AMD VCE) and customized the bitrate to match the other editors.

But if you read PCMag's VP19 review, you will see his numbers were different if you scroll down to performance. VP19 is in the middle. Still not a bad place to be.

 

Last changed by Reyfox on 8/8/2022, 8:25 AM, changed a total of 2 times.

Newbie😁

Vegas Pro 22 (VP18-21 also installed)

Win 11 Pro always updated

AMD Ryzen 9 5950X 16 cores / 32 threads

32GB DDR4 3200

Sapphire RX6700XT 12GB Driver: 25.5.1

Gigabyte X570 Elite Motherboard

Panasonic G9, G7, FZ300

Former user wrote on 8/8/2022, 9:23 PM
 

It was just 4 clips of non-descript mp4 gaming recordings with no effects/transitions/titles, placed on the timeline of each editor. Total time of the movie (MP4) was 2 minutes. Render times were VP19: 34seconds, VS2022: 35seconds, PS25: 44seconds.

My hardware is in my signature below. I made sure in Vegas that the bitrate of the finished file is about the same as in the other files exported. At no time did the GPU get used over 20%. I used MAGIX/AAC MP4>Internet HD 1080P 59.94 fps (AMD VCE) and customized the bitrate to match the other editors.

@Reyfox Could you try a full 25min video of AVC 1080P 59.94 fps. Based on your 2min video test 25mins would mean 7:08s (if I got the maths correct), your sample is too short to extrapolate accurately though. Also could you then try the same encode with voukoder using VCE h.264 preset "good quality (recommended).

It does look like your lower spec AMD GPU is faster than our 3080's using voukoder. It is ofcourse faster using MagixAVC hardware encode due to the vegas NVENC pausing bug during encode, but also faster then the 3080 using voukoder which doesn't have the pausing bug.

Former user wrote on 8/8/2022, 10:56 PM

Hi, I created a 25min 1080p 60fps video, the OP doesn't mention what the orig was apart from 'full 25 min 1080p60 video' So i just set the bitrate the same as the Vegas Magix AVC/AAC MP4 (NVENC) Template

It took about 13mins to export that bunch of clips, I missed the end time because the dialogue goes away at the end of export

I added that file to Vegas & Rendered

At no point did the GPU go over 50%

Final time was 9.21

I'll do this again if you want me to change something,

Former user wrote on 8/8/2022, 11:11 PM

Hi, I created a 25min 1080p 60fps video, the OP doesn't mention what the orig was apart from 'full 25 min 1080p60 video' So i just set the bitrate the same as the Vegas Magix AVC/AAC MP4 (NVENC) Template

 

Final time was 9.21

I'll do this again if you want me to change something,

@Former user Damn, that is impressive. My time was 10:20 with MagixAVC NVENC and OP's was 10:30. Would you mind doing a voukoder encode to NVENC h.264 preset "good quality (recommended) . If you don't have voukoder installed and have no interest in it, that's fine.

I guess the result could change depend on complexity of the test file. The file I was using had 2 B frames, but a file with no B frames would most likely render faster, however it's unlikely the file you produced for Vegas would not contain B frames, so I think that's an accurate test

Former user wrote on 8/8/2022, 11:54 PM

@Former user The same file that i rendered from MEP, imported into Vegas & rendered with Voukoder encode to NVENC h.264 preset "good quality (recommended) , 78% max GPU use, 7mins 22secs

This is the MEP file that i rendered out of Vegas in the pictures in my comment above yours using Magix AVC/AAC MP4 (NVENC), reimported into Vegas & rendered using Voukoder encode to NVENC h.264 preset "good quality (recommended), 81% about 2% higher GPU use, 7mins 6secs

Former user wrote on 8/9/2022, 1:04 AM

@Former user I forgot to write my Voukoder result down, I think it was a little less than the OP's of 7m20s. I"ll have to run it again later. So your GPU it seems makes a difference with both encodes but more of a difference with MagixAVC NVENC.

A possible reason is the buggy nature of that encoding, with the bursts of encoding then pause, burst then pause. It may be the case those bursts create GPU processing spikes that your GPU can absorb, but mine can't so needs longer to process each spike. An interesting result

Reyfox wrote on 8/9/2022, 11:37 AM

@Former user I copy/paste the timeline of the 60P 1080 clip to 25min.

Here is the screenshot of the finish. Bitrate is 15Jb/s, variable frame rate footage that is all over the place (27-77fps) but the capture was set at 60fps. I'll do the test again later with ReLive footage which is 60fps and a bitrate of 28Mb/s.

Newbie😁

Vegas Pro 22 (VP18-21 also installed)

Win 11 Pro always updated

AMD Ryzen 9 5950X 16 cores / 32 threads

32GB DDR4 3200

Sapphire RX6700XT 12GB Driver: 25.5.1

Gigabyte X570 Elite Motherboard

Panasonic G9, G7, FZ300

Reyfox wrote on 8/9/2022, 11:47 AM

@Former user where did you get the OP files?

Newbie😁

Vegas Pro 22 (VP18-21 also installed)

Win 11 Pro always updated

AMD Ryzen 9 5950X 16 cores / 32 threads

32GB DDR4 3200

Sapphire RX6700XT 12GB Driver: 25.5.1

Gigabyte X570 Elite Motherboard

Panasonic G9, G7, FZ300

dape wrote on 8/9/2022, 12:02 PM

@Former user where did you get the OP files?

My original file? it's here if you guys want to test and compare.

Reyfox wrote on 8/9/2022, 12:27 PM

@dape, I just rendered out using Magic/VCE at the settings of the clip.

Here is a screenshot at the end. CPU usage was around 38-41%. GPU usage around 17-20%.

My computer is not overclocked..... yet.

 

Newbie😁

Vegas Pro 22 (VP18-21 also installed)

Win 11 Pro always updated

AMD Ryzen 9 5950X 16 cores / 32 threads

32GB DDR4 3200

Sapphire RX6700XT 12GB Driver: 25.5.1

Gigabyte X570 Elite Motherboard

Panasonic G9, G7, FZ300

Former user wrote on 8/9/2022, 6:34 PM

@Former user where did you get the OP files?


@Reyfox I didn't get any OP files. I created my own 25mins in MEP,,, ?

Former user wrote on 8/9/2022, 8:12 PM

@Former user I copy/paste the timeline of the 60P 1080 clip to 25min.

Here is the screenshot of the finish. Bitrate is 15Jb/s, variable frame rate footage that is all over the place (27-77fps) but the capture was set at 60fps. I'll do the test again later with ReLive footage which is 60fps and a bitrate of 28Mb/s.

@Reyfox I guess we should be using the same media to do the transcode to make valid comparisions, even so that's extremely fast. You tried @dape 's file and got 10m37s, whereas I got 8m03s(voukoder) which is interesting too. His file is computationally quite complex, using 3 B frames

Former user wrote on 8/9/2022, 8:31 PM

Ok, I'm downloading that OP's file, it'll take a while, in the meantime i'll entertain with a view of building Dynamic RAM on Colorization clip of Blondie, I have Dynamic RAM set to 50% so don't think it'll go any higher 😁

it did this much

Former user wrote on 8/9/2022, 9:05 PM

Magix AVC (NVENC) 9.31

Voukoder Best Quality (Recommended) 7.31

Former user wrote on 8/9/2022, 9:15 PM

@Former user I may have to restart my computer. @dape and I have very similar computers, he's getting 7.20, you're getting 7.31 and I"m 8.03. I know I was suspicious of cpu frequency of 4.3ghz, normally with encodes it's over 4.4ghz

Former user wrote on 8/9/2022, 9:32 PM

@Former user My CPU is only 3.50Ghz, I think i remember reading that my motherboard & CPU's history was in servers, so it was more about stability rather than speed, the newer Threadripper CPU's are designed a bit better, also my RAM is 2666MHz, I went for amount over speed for Dynamic RAM like i posted above, I do have a 32GB £150-£200 3200Mhz stick sitting on my desk that one day i'll try in the machine but i'll only be able to get 4 in if it does work, finding RAM for this board ain't easy,