Lenovo ThinkPad W541
Windows 10
CPU: Intel Core i7-4810MQ 2.80GHz
GPU: Nvidia Quadro K2100M
RAM: 32 GB
Vegas 19 info:
Dynamic RAM Preview max: 20083 MB (62% of 32393MB)
Maximum number of rendering threads: 48
GPU acceleration of video processing: Optimal - Nvidia Quadro K2100M
I updated the Nvidia drivers a few days ago. Any clues what could be the issue? Let me know what other info would be useful.
Try the same with Dyn. RAM Preview Max set to the default value
@Seifo If I would guess, this a typical laptop issue, being suboptimal cooling (pretty much the weakness of all laptops). Your CPU and GPU throttle down in speed if they get to hot after a while. Your processor can boost up to Max Turbo Speed of 3.8 GHz; I see you are down to 3 GHz. In the beginning you may have turbo speeds with better playback, but the CPU does not maintain this if it gets to hot. Same goes for the NVidia. I not saying this is the issue, but just one of the many possibilities. Try to track the temperature of processor and Nvidea over time.
It looks normal to me for a system from ~2013. You are still above base frequency so the system isn't overheating. You have an old iGPU that isn't fully supported in VP 18+ so you don't get the performance benefits you would see with a newer one.
Can you share a screenshot of preferences/ file i/o?
Beyond that I'd put dynamic ram preview back to a lower value unless you are really using it and don't need ram for other things.
You can also right-click on media and "create video proxy" for tough to play back media (some HEVC, for example). You can also highlight a selection of the timeline and press shift+b to create a ram preview or shift+m to do a selective prerender. It's great for tricky sections.
Playback? Do you mean in Vegas Preview, or in a video player?
Requisite fijle properties, please.
Hey, thanks a lot for the helpful responses, fellas.
1. @j-v and @RogerS mentioned the dynamic RAM preview, so I went ahead and reset that (i.e., I double-clicked on the slider and it went to 1619 - 5% of 32393MB). I figured higher probably wouldn't hurt and I wasn't getting performance issues, but I can't say I've noticed it affecting performance good or bad. And yes, I've used the shift-B preview at times and that can be helpful. Is the shift-B preview the only thing that the dynamic RAM preview affects, as far as you all know?
2. @bitman and @RogerS -- yes, I've wondered if it could be heat. My laptop does get quite hot when I'm editing. Definitely hot enough that I wouldn't want it on my lap. I had never thought of the point that @RogerS makes: If the system is allowing itself to operate above base frequency, it suggests there's no throttling going on, huh? Either way I downloaded some CPU and GPU monitoring software per @bitman's suggestion.
3. @RogerS, for some reason the forum isn't allowing me to upload that screenshot yet, so I'll try it in a separate post. And yes, the shift-B tip has been useful, and I didn't know about the shift-M one. I'll hafta give it a shot and see if it's helpful. I use proxies often for tougher footage, like 4K drone stuff (which, incidentally, it seems should run better without proxies, since it plays fine in VLC).
4. @Musicvid, I mean in Vegas preview. The performance isn't unacceptable by any means, and if my CPU/GPU were maxed out I wouldn't have any question or problem. But since they're not maxed out, it seems to suggest I'm leaving some performance on the table, ya know? And here's the info from the file property windows.
Plug-In
Name: so4compoundplug.dll
Folder: C:\Program Files\VEGAS\VEGAS Pro 19.0\FileIO Plug-Ins\so4compoundplug
Format: AVC
Version: Version 1.0 (Build 8532)
Company: MAGIX Computer Products Intl. Co.
Your CPU can process a maximum of 8 threads at once.
Some codecs also decode slowly... what media are you using?
But since they're not maxed out, it seems to suggest I'm leaving some performance on the table, ya know?
No, There's a lot going on that doesn't show up in those figures.
Reduce your number of cores from 48 to 8.
Yesterday I thought I would do a little test to see on my setup the effect of dynamic ram setting as it's supposed to have been optimised in V19 I added five 4K clips with level filter on each to adjust image, cross fade between clips, vegas legacy stabilization on each and fade in and out. Codec sony xavc rendered to Internet HD template max bit rate (no gpu with this codec). DRam set to 0 render time 1min 46 sec, DRam set to default 5% 1min 29sec, DRam 33% 1min 32sec, DRam set to 66% 1min 33 sec. So the default DRam setting provided the optimum render time.
Your file i/o tab looks fine to me. You can try changing decoder from your older Intel CPU to NVIDIA and see if it helps performance but if you have stability issues switch back.
It has the Intel® HD Graphics 4600 iGPU but Vegas wants the HD 530 or newer.
4. @Musicvid, I mean in Vegas preview. The performance isn't unacceptable by any means, and if my CPU/GPU were maxed out I wouldn't have any question or problem. But since they're not maxed out, it seems to suggest I'm leaving some performance on the table, ya know? And here's the info from the file property windows.
You should try changing GPU decoders as RogerS said. If your playback is dramatically slower like in the following example may not be much you can do. This slow down can also be seen randomly during playback and often when you try to playback timeline immediately after loading. A characteristic of this problem is that usually if you pause playback for a second then resume it will play back properly until ti goes slow again.
If your problem is that it's always slow, you never see normal playback speed then that could be something else and you may be able to fix.
1. @fr0sty and @Musicvid, I changed the max rendering threads from 48 to 8.
2. @fr0sty, I'm shooting XAVC on a Sony A7III, usually 1080p and occasionally 4K.
3. @RogerS and @Former user, I made that switch and it got much slower (just like in the video @Former user shared) with high GPU usage.
To sum things up, are you all thinking that the bottleneck is not the CPU or GPU, but the codec? And does that mean the codec is out-of-date, my 8-year-old laptop doesn't support the up-to-date codecs, and therefore if I want smooth playback I'll hafta upgrade my laptop to something with at least an Intel HD 530?
The newest 11th gen Intel cpus have a uhd750/Iris igpu on board which supports the most formats. The previous 10th and earlier gens still in production all have the uhd630 which covers most of the same formats, lacking hevc 422, and otherwise seems to perform equally well at decoding. Btw, checking that legacy hevc box tends to slow decoding a bit on the uhd630 and later, but raises quality significantly. Not sure what it does with the Graphics 4600... I expect it bypasses the igpu completely for 4k 10-bit hevc as I don't think that chip supported it. The Task Manager utilization display, Intel Graphics 4600, Video Decode chart, would give a good clue. I see you have 10% utilization on the igpu overall but it might all be 3D and Copy utilization if its all due to the fact that your laptop is hard-wired to use it for hdmi display processing. Not sure what the Quadro supports... looks like allot of decoding utilization there. You might try unselecting legacy hevc while leaving Quadro selected for decoding and see what effect that has.
Like-a so?
Just tried with those settings, and it's no better than it was without legacy HEVC selected.
The newest 11th gen Intel cpus have a uhd750/Iris igpu on board which supports the most formats. The previous 10th and earlier gens still in production all have the uhd630 which covers most of the same formats, lacking hevc 422, and otherwise seems to perform equally well at decoding.
So if I'm shooting only XAVC, You're thinking a 9th or 10th gen Intel CPU might perform as well as an 11th gen? That could be useful info if I need to shop for a new lappy. In fact, it seems a lot of the guys here have more technical knowledge than I do, so I wouldn't turn down guidance on what to be looking for specs-wise in a replacement ThinkPad.
AFAIK no GPU supports XAVC decoding.
1. @fr0sty and @Musicvid, I changed the max rendering threads from 48 to 8.
2. @fr0sty, I'm shooting XAVC on a Sony A7III, usually 1080p and occasionally 4K.
3. @RogerS and @Former user, I made that switch and it got much slower (just like in the video @Former user shared) with high GPU usage.
To sum things up, are you all thinking that the bottleneck is not the CPU or GPU, but the codec? And does that mean the codec is out-of-date, my 8-year-old laptop doesn't support the up-to-date codecs, and therefore if I want smooth playback I'll hafta upgrade my laptop to something with at least an Intel HD 530?
What are you specifically playing back. That file which gave that Decode can you post the media info for that
AFAIK no GPU supports XAVC decoding.
Are you saying the CPU is the only thing that will affect playback speed/quality within Vegas? I seem to hear conflicting info on what the GPU's role in video editing is.
What are you specifically playing back. That file which gave that Decode can you post the media info for that
Here ya go.
I tried the 4K version of your camera file, same color space, and frame rate and did not experience any problems using GPU decoder or with GPU decoder OFF
Pretty much any GPU can decode a file like this in recent versions of Vegas. It's just a flavor of 8 bit AVC.
Vegas officially does not support your Intel IGPU Not sure if that means it simply doesn't work or maybe it behaves strangely. As for your Nvidia GPU, it doesn't appear to contain a GPU decoder. Maybe an earlier version of Vegas such as VP16 still supported your intel IGPU decoder but for VP19 need to upgrade
If your IGPU decoder really doesn't work, you should play an AVC file with it turned on , and then turn it off and play back again, see if any change in performance or CPU use
@Former user, I'd love to be able to play 4K back smoothly🤤
@RogerS, yeah, it seems like a very common format, so it seems like support should be less of an issue. Still, perhaps my hardware is just out of date.
@Former user, I think I tried that already in one of the above posts. Or are you talking about something else that I'm missing?
Long story short, fellas, am I right that for smooth Vegas 19 playback, I'll need to upgrade my computer? If that's the case, what would you say are some minimum system requirements for smooth editing of 4K AVC footage without proxies and with some video FX applied (most common are color curves, color correction on all clips, plus stabilization and sharpen as needed)? The company I'm with typically shoots 1080p, but that may change if my laptop were beefy enough. I'd be in heaven if I could get smooth enough playback that I don't need to render out drafts while I'm working.