-
Slow render time question
Hi all
I’m rendering a composition using Adobe Media Encoder, and the below spec is coming in at a render time of nearly nine hours. Does this appear to be about right? Or am I doing something wrong?
1920 x 1080
25fps
Format: H.264
VBR 1 Pass, Target 2mbps, Max 4mbps,
Progressive Software Encoding
Renderer: Mercury Playback Engine Software
Composition length 60minAudio, ACC, 320kbps, 48khz, stereo
iMac
3.6GHz Itel Core i5
12GB DDR3
ATI Raden HD 5670 512MBThe composition has 10 layers, mainly text layers, a still background image, an audio waveform layer (it appears small within the composition). There is very little movement in the composition, no 3D etc. it’s virtually a still. It has a sound track throughout.
I have tried looking to render to nearly every other format I have available, using the render queue or the media encoder, and H.264 gives me the best render time of the lot, by a couple of hours, but it still seems an excessive render time for what it is.
Any thoughts and opinions are most welcome.
-
5 Replies
-
Oh and I have Media Encoder set up to use 9gb of memory, leaving 3 for the rest of the machine.
-
There’s always a lot of variables at play during compression. Do you have any color correction effects applied, are all your sources the same frame rate, do you have really large 300dpi stills in your comp for some reason, what other effects are applied, etc.
Of course VBR is longer than CBR and your RAM level is relatively low. My “normal” compositions that aren’t too effect heavy usually take over a minute to render a minute of content (h.264) and I have 64GB of RAM with a large portion dedicated to this process. But of course, this varies by complexity as some are much quicker and some are much longer. Also, sometimes the time estimate isn’t accurate… especially if you have more intensive content at the beginning of your video.
———————————————-
Video Producer / Digital Marketer / Gear Reviewer / Author
—– http://www.AndyFordVideo.com —– -
‘usually take over a minute to render a minute of content (h.264)’
Thanks Andy, this is the info I was looking for! I had no idea how far off I was.
I have no effects in the comp and the one image is cut to the exact size / depth required. I guess I’m just hitting up against the limits of my RAM / processor etc.
Interestingly, I don’t seem to gain anything from CBR over VBR, the render times are essentially the same.
Thanks for the info!
-
Well, if your project is relatively simple like you say, you probably won’t see much of a difference in CBR and VBR. VBR performs calculations to vary the amount of data throughout the piece and use it where needed more and pull from where needed less. But, if the project is relatively uniform throughout, this makes the VBR calculations simpler and therefore faster. There is also 2-pass VBR, which you’ve probably seen, and this will obviously take longer because it does a second pass to get more refined results.
———————————————-
Video Producer / Digital Marketer / Gear Reviewer / Author
—- http://www.AndyFordVideo.com —- -
if your project is relatively simple like you say, you probably won’t see much of a difference in CBR and VBR.
Yeah, thinking about it, that makes sense. Again, thanks for the info, greatly appreciated.
Reply to this Discussion! Login or Sign Up