VEGAS PROS! Rendering Speed & System Steup help Needed!

spikes wrote on 6/25/2003, 6:49 AM
Folks, I'm about to drop some coin on a new editing system to run Vegas 4.0. Any Vegas techies out there that can give some advice would be much appreciated.

My main concern is rendering times.

My situation is this:

1) I have the never ending task of editing 15 gig avi captures into small 10 to 100meg wmv, mpeg & .mov files for websites. One of my obstacles has been storage. I'm editing down 15 gig movies at the rate of one per week and I need to keep the media on hand. So far I have been capturing to FireWire drives and storing media that way. Anyone have a better way to do this?

2) For the new system I'm about to have built I'm moving from a dual P3 1gig which I’ve been editing on for the past 2 years, into a new P4 3.06. What is the absolute best drive config to maximize rendering times? I.E WinXP and Vegas on one SATA drive and the avi data on the second SATA?

Is there a rendering time bottle neck caused from pulling the data from the FireWire drives?

Basically, I need to build a system and configure it for the absolute fastest rendering times possible.

Any suggestions would be MUCH appreciated!

Thanks!

Comments

TorS wrote on 6/25/2003, 8:05 AM
While the experts are having their breakfast, I'll throw in:
The render times depend mostly on cpu speed, less on memory or the presence of dual cpus. The benefit of dual cpus in Vegas is that you can continue to edit while you render.
Get the fastest P4 cpu(s) you can.
I would not think that the firewire drives would slow you down noticeably. If the IEEE connection seems safe and stable it should be OK.
Tor
TheHappyFriar wrote on 6/25/2003, 12:31 PM
For what you are doing, it might be wiser to invest in a realtime system (ie not vegas). You could always install vagas on it,but vegas wouldn't take advantage of the RT hardware.
jetdv wrote on 6/25/2003, 1:12 PM
Render time also depends on hard drive speed. I have a PIII 750 MHZ tower (80 Gig - 7200rpm) and a PIV 2.8 GHz laptop (60 Gig - 5400 rpm). For a complete render containing only dissolves, the PIII is actually faster (the majority of the time is spend COPYING the files). However, when doing a PTT where only "changed" sections are rendered, the PIV is MUCH faster (about 4 times faster on a regular weekly project). So, drive speed DOES have an effect.
J_Mac wrote on 6/25/2003, 2:02 PM
Can you edit on one system and render on the second?
jetdv wrote on 6/25/2003, 2:29 PM
I guess you could. I just keep one project on one computer and another project on the other computer. When one is rendering, I can work on the other. For instance, I may be editing on the laptop while capturing to the tower or rendering on the laptop while editing on the tower.

With multiple machines and projects, it's easy to keep both busy.
J_Mac wrote on 6/25/2003, 3:49 PM
'What is the absolute best drive config to maximize rendering times?'
Spike, after rereading your post I would suggest pulling the power cord and drive the beach. John
spikes wrote on 6/25/2003, 3:54 PM
TorS, what do you reccommend for a real time system?

Thanks!
spikes wrote on 6/25/2003, 3:55 PM
Friar,

What do you suggest for a real time system? Thanks!
spikes wrote on 6/25/2003, 3:56 PM
J Mac, IF I run 2 computers, how do I access all this data from both machines? Thanks!
MDVid wrote on 6/25/2003, 5:41 PM
Correct me if I'm wrong here. I thought the licensing of Vegas was such that you could have one instance running at any one time, and that using one on your desktop, while simultaneously using the same licensed Vegas copy on your laptop was a violation of your license? I know this to be the case with Spicemaster, and I thought that this is the info I received from SoFo tech when I asked this question?

JTH
jetdv wrote on 6/25/2003, 10:24 PM
I have multiple licenses for Vegas. In my case, the laptop and tower ARE two separate licenses.
J_Mac wrote on 6/26/2003, 1:29 AM
Back from the beach. Could you put the veg file and source files or clip folder on an external fire wire drive and transport to your 2nd machine? Or edit off the same drive and transport it? Or network the two, or direct fire wire connection as posted a few days ago, or install removable drives in both systems? As jetdv mentioned copying takes awhile. Good luck John
TorS wrote on 6/26/2003, 1:32 AM
I have never seen SoFo protest against someone using one Vegas lisence on two computers. I seem to remember several people on this forum saying that that's what they do. The lisence, I guess, is for you personally. But you will have to register the app from the second computer as well as the first. Can't use the same activation code. Even though you can have one computer render while you edit on the other, in principle you can only work on one at the time. Unless you have four arms and a very funny looking office chair.
Tor
LanceB wrote on 6/26/2003, 2:27 AM
Buy the 3.00GHz P4 with 800Mhz bus and 1GB of DDR 400 RAM - NOT the 3.06. Get the Western Digital 36GB 10,000rpm serial drive for system (C:) and get the biggest 7200rpm drive for storage. Once you're done cutting - do a Save As and select copy media and save it all to your firewire drive - you can then open that project on your old machine and render there if need be.
jetdv wrote on 6/26/2003, 9:23 AM
The license restriction is NOT that it can't be placed on two computers. That is setup so you COULD run it on a desktop and laptop. The restriction is that the two copies CANNOT BE RUN AT THE SAME TIME. If you rendered on one while editing on the other - it is at the same time because the program is running on both computers!