Encoding Avi --> Mpeg1 using TMPGEnc takes me 5 hrs!

[d_chew]

Hi,

I am doing an encoding of AVI (1hr clip) --> Mpeg1 using TMPGEnc.
My settings is: MPEG-1, 352X240 29.97fps 2 layer VBR 2, 44Khz 128kbps.

It takes me about 5 hours to encode. My system is: AMD Athlon XP 1.8 (1500Mhz), 512 SDRAM(PC-133), Voodoo2 3000 16MB Graphics, 80GB IDE-7200rpm Maxtor HDD. Windows XP (with DMA enabled for hdd controller)

I am curious to know if this is perfectly normal for a system that I have to encode at such a speed? As I know, my graphics card is old, I wonder if upgrading my graphics card has any improvement on the encoding?

Pls help & advice.
Thanks.

[setarip]

"It takes me about 5 hours to encode. My system is: AMD Athlon XP 1.8 (1500Mhz)"

This doesn't sound out of line for TMPGEnc and your system...

[LT. Columbo]

especially for VBR. i always use CBR but i did use it a while ago and i believe that tmpgenc makes 2 passes....CBR encoding would be faster....and i agree with setarip, that encoding time (5hrs) seems perfectly normal with those settings and your pc

[d_chew]

May I enquire if upgrading a graphics card will help to improve performance of encoding?

My understanding of encoding performance is determined mostly by:

1. CPU (Mhz)
2. Multithread (if using software that support it)
3. Disk (RAID or SATA)
4. RAM


Pls advise.

Cheers

[setarip]

"May I enquire if upgrading a graphics card will help to improve performance of encoding?"

I don't believe so. What WILL improve the processing time when using TMPGEnc is to avoid multitasking (including Internet activity and any unnecessary programs running in either the foreground or background)...

[reboot]

There are only two things that will really increase speed.
1) A much faster CPU.
2) A different encoder.