VMS6 renders 3.5 times slower than VMS4???

Shaz wrote on 9/29/2005, 2:58 PM
Simple project, with about 40 minutes of footage. I'm in VMS6P and go to render it as a WMV file, and it is taking forever and the estimated time goes up and up until it finally starts counting down from about 3:30:00. I'm thinking, that seems extremely long compared to the same size of projects I used to render in VMS4. I restart the computer and try again, and it's the same thing.

So I bring up VMS4 and do the project over from scratch in there, and then go to render and it is only about an hour. Needless to say, I let it go to finish through VMS4. But what the heck is going on with that? Why would VMS6 be over three times longer of a render for the same exact project?

When I was in VMS6 I decided to look in Task Manager and my CPU usage was tapped out at 100%. I thought that was strange, but as it turns out, I looked during the shorter render in VMS4 and it was also at 100%. Should that be right? I've never checked that before, but I can't imagine that should be the case.

I've got an AMD Athlon XP 3200+, 2.2 with 1 GB RAM, running XP Home SP1, NVIDIA GeForce 2 400

Comments

RicCed wrote on 9/29/2005, 8:55 PM
Try let it rendering and see how long it actually takes. Based on my few rendering experiences, the time may creep up but the finish time is much less. I can only go off the timestamp, though, as I typically start the rendering and then go to bed. Doesn't hurt to try to see what the difference actually is.

Ric
Shaz wrote on 10/2/2005, 7:27 AM
Okay, I've figured it out. In VMS6 I was rendering a WMV file at 3 Mbps and in VMS4 it was at 1 Mbps. I timed a 30 second render in both 4 and 6 and it was the same at 3 Mbps (2:50), and the same at 512 Kbps (about 40 seconds). The rendering time stays exactly the same from 1 Mbps down, no matter what rate you choose, but it jumps significantly when using the 3 Mbps. But that is the same in either app, so no discrepency.

But I still reeeeally miss the 1 Mbps option in VMS6. That was my favorite setting for the best trade off between file size and quality (and as it turns out, render time) for rendering things like TV shows and rough demos of video projects. Why was that removed in VMS6???
discdude wrote on 10/2/2005, 3:09 PM
If memory serves, VMS 6 lets you customize the bitrate. So you should be able to create a file with a 1Mbs bitrate, even if there is no longer a preset for it.

To access the custom settings, select the "Advanced Render" option and click on the "Options" button.