OT : slowing down rendering...

[mutrax]

Hi, this question may seem stupid but I'm short of ideas... I captured some 4 hours of video (352x240@29.97fps) from my G450 eTV using AVI_IO and Huffyuv. Next, I created a 22 min. video in MPEG-2 using Pinnacle Studio 8.
While rendering the MPEG-2 file, temperature of my Athlon 1.4 GHz was around 63C (I set my alarm at 65C).
Now, I want to take the same project and save it in WMV8 format but this time the temperature goes to 67C and I have to stop the rendering before my CPU is toasted.
I've tried to use WM Encoder 9 or Virtual Dub but they don't recognize the MPEG-2 file created by Studio 8 !!
Question : is there any -simple- way to slow down Studio 8, I mean, reduce CPU usage, in order to leave the temperature below 65C ?
I'm using Win2K Pro (764MB of PC133 RAM, 2 Maxtor 40GB 7200 rpm HD ATA-100, etc...)
Thanks in advance !!
Christian.

[KRSESQ]

That Athlon is running way hot. What's the average temp under normal load? When was the last time you vacuumed the dust out of the case? Nothing obstructing the case vents? Any idea what kind of thermal paste is between the CPU and the heat sink?

Your system BIOS should have a monitor that shows the RPM of the CPU cooling fan. It may be bogging down.

It's also possible that one or more IDE cables is blocking the airflow around the CPU.

My Athlon 1.2 GHz averages 40-45 C. under load, with the stock heat sink and fan. Yours shouldn't be THAT much hotter.

Kevin

[Peter B]

This isn't an experts opinion but if I had that problem and the above cleaning recommendations didn't work I would try it with out the case/sides on or reducing the multiplier and or FSB MHZ in the bios (underclocking). I can't say I've ever done that or if it is safe, but I would guess reducing the load on a CPU would not cause it any harm.

The only time I had an overheating problem was when I accidently unplugged the fan power cord when installing a PCI card, make sure the fan is working properly as a starting point.

[Technoid]

Lots of Athlon mobos over volts the Athlon chips

[Fred H]

Sometimes I am using a CPU Cooler: "CPUCool" http://www.podien.de/
and the temperature stays somewhere at 50 to 55° C with 98% to 100% CPU usage.
This program, allowes monitor and switch on or off an active software cooler, and it works fine on my Athlon TB 1333.
There is a demo version but the full ver. is very-very cheap.
Usually it is switched off here, but just now it is on and shows 26,3° C on CPU with a case temp of 24,4 ° C.

Edited: I'm using 3 extra 80mm case-fan + 1 80mm PSU fan +60 mm CPU fan over a Taisol 60x80mm copper cooler (+ArcticSilver2) + 40mm chip fan.

Fred H

[LvR]

captured some 4 hours of video (352x240@29.97fps) from my G450 eTV using AVI_IO and Huffyuv. Next, I created a 22 min. video in MPEG-2

Just wondering - why 352x240?.

If you are going for SVCD eventually, I feel pretty sure that the tempreature of the cpu can be made to stay way lower by simply capturing at something closer to the correct 480x480 SVCD resolution and thereby cutting down on the interpolation you are now asking it to do, as well as gain a lot in quality.

Edit: Why use the SVCD Mpeg2 as source to go to WMV? - why not the huff captured material, and once again gain a lot in quality?

Also:

I've tried to use WM Encoder 9 or Virtual Dub but they don't recognize the MPEG-2 file created by Studio 8 !!

See the attached bit from the Media Encoder FAQs

[Fred H]

mutrax,
you said Pinnacle studio 8.
Does it recognize the Marvel card?
My question is based on this: http://forums.murc.ws/showthread.php...light=pinnacle

Fred H

[LvR]

Studio does not support any Matrox capture hardware, thats why he had to capture with AVI_IO. However Studio can be used for editing once you have captured source material to work with.

[hippie91]

you're computer should NOT be running that hot, really it's better to keep it under 50C. you should turn your computer off, remove the fan from the heatsink and clean out any dust/dirt that's stuck in the blades of it. failing that, you could either get a new fan for your cpu, or if worst comes to worst and you don't want to mess with any of that, just take the case off your computer and set a normal room fan to plow directally into your computer. this obviously isn't a long-term fix, but it will drastically lower your tempatures for a short render, though really you need to fix the problem, not find a lot of temp fixes

[mutrax]

Thanks !

Thanks for the suggestions !! The reason why I recorded at 352x240 and then encoded in MPEG-2 is because I wanted the best resolution without generating a huge AVI file that my HD won't be able to read... Anyway, I think the fault comes from my cheap ARX Heathsink/Fan, I should replace it with a Swiftech.

My original project was to capture directly to MPEG-2 720x480 from my ATI TV Wonder card and then edit the project using MSP 6.5 or Studio8. The capture generated 4 files of about 4GB each. The problem was that my poor Maxtor ATA-100 40GB 7200rpm couldn' t handle the load. The final MPEG-2 file was completely out of sync. ... so I chose to capture in 352x240 and save the final project in MPEG-2 720x480. The quality wasn' t as good as the original MPEG-2 files I captured with the TV Wonder due to the recompression but it was better than the quality I had obtainded before in VCD format.

I'll have to try the SVCD format (480x480) as suggested previusly... may be it will give me a better size/quality result.

Thanks again !!

[LvR]

The problem was that my poor Maxtor ATA-100 40GB 7200rpm couldn' t handle the load.

That is simply not true - its more than able to handle datarates up to around 20M/s with no hassles on a properly setup and performing system - I have a few doing RAW YUY video captures without a problem!.

My guess is the real reason for the poor performance while capturing 720x480 in Mpeg2 is simply a system not able to keep up ........

[mutrax]

Maxtor hard drive

Hi Lawrence, the Maxtor drive WAS able to handle the MPEG-2 capture without problem, it was only when the final rendering started that the HD wasn't fast enough (I suppose) or may be I should have capture smaller pieces instead of 4 5GB files.
Anyway, I'll keep away from DVD authoring until I can afford a RAID system.
Christian.

[LvR]

Dont know what you mean by "final rendering" - you either captured MPeg2 at 720x480 or you did not. If you did, then the disk was able to keep up. If you did not, then you did not capture Mpeg2 at 720x480 but used a tool (Studio/MSP?) to create the Mpeg2 file from some other format in wich case fastest disk performance is of little if any use .

If you want to get a raid for "speed" , you will have no luck and will see no change when compared to your current system - as I said before - the Maxtor is fast enough for any editing/authoring task you care to mention - raw video requires around 19M/s, and with Mpeg2 the datarate is about a quarter of that at 5M/s(depends on personal choice).

[Greebe]

I can see him having issues if he has a VIA chipset MB... to which I may add...

Christian post up your hardware

[LvR]

Simply impossible to solve the problem if you cannot describe the symptoms properly..........