@johnebaker

I checked in the Windows settings, and VPX is set to let Windows decide. There are a few fade effects applied, and some resizing of clips, audio panorama (rebalancing) and rendering images as the main focus instead of the clips (so the clips are smaller in size compared to the images which take up the whole screen).

VPX uses 0.3% of the nVidia GPU and nothing of the intel IGPU, and it only uses around 11% CPU (not near the max of one core which is 16.67%).

I only changed the framerate from 50 to 60 fps, nothing else.

The drivers I have are the Game Ready Driver, version 446.14 (which are indeed the gaming drivers).

Hope I have given you enough information.

- TechWizard

@TechWizard

Hi.

VPX needs the nvidia studio drivers, not the game drivers.

But you have asked the program to create 10 extra frames per second from examining previous and future frames and I suspect you have also left the GOP structure set to 50 instead of manually setting it to 60 (The GOP structure should match the frame rate) as that would need altering as well I think.

Also try setting the Windows setting to Power Saving for VPX. That I know is counter intuitive but forces VPX to use more of the Intel GPU's resources. (Do not do this with the program running)

Some sections may still render at 1 fps or longer depending on what effects have been applied and it's not unusual to see not much going on CPU of GPU wise, again depending on what VPX is doing at any particular time within the encoding process.

Notice your PC seems to think the program is using a large amount of resources even if you don't. (The bit saying 'very high' in red). so some part of your system is being stressed.

Titling in particular can slow down encoding a lot and estimated times of rendering will quickly fall and frame encoding speed up when those sections have been done.

How much of your ram is being used and are you using more than one Disc for reading from and writing to? What does disc activity show?

Ray.

@TechWizard

Actually, looking at the project length and not knowing what you are doing specifically, that may not be a bad render time. There may also be other factors involved. Such as how much compression you are using and how much free space the drives have.

Ray.

@TechWizard

Hi

. . . . VPX uses 0.3% of the nVidia GPU . . . .

Yet the power usage would indicate that the GPU 1 is under load at times - its power usage is high at the time you took the screenshot yet the trend is Low..

Can you post a screenshot of the Task Manager performance tab - showing the GPU 1 graphs.

Is there a reason to change the frame rate from 50 to 60 fps - are the source video clips 50 or 60 fps and approx what proportion of the total time is video?

@CubeAce

. . . . . so some part of your system is being stressed. . . . .

That is GPU 1 - the GTX 1080 Ti.

John EB

@CubeAce

The RAM usage shown in my previous screenshot is about 5% of my total RAM available, and currently has dropped to 1%.

The disk I am writing to has 446 GB of free space (the SSD) and the disk I am reading everything from has about 1.5 TB of free space (the HDD).

I find it very strange that a vide0 of 11 minutes (at a relatively normal resolution and framerate in this day and age) takes more than 12 hours to render with not many special effects going on. I don't do any colour correction or complicated movements, all I do is a little fading and making the clips smaller with an image in the background (which doesn't change often mind you, a grand total of 17 images have been used in the whole 11 mintues). Currently I am sitting at 0.6 fps, where I believe the progress is not limited by my hardware so I don't understand where it is coming from. Don't get me wrong, I don't expect it to be done in 30 minutes but that it takes more than 12 hours is beyond my expectations.

Also there is little to no titling going on, I only added two titles throughout the whole project and I believe the rendering has moved beyond one of those points and is currently not at such a point.

I'll try your suggestions whenever the current render has finished, I can't afford to cancel it now and try the new settings. But thanks for the suggestions anyway.

- TechWizard

@johnebaker

Here is the screenshot of the graphs, I have not made a screenshot of the IGPU as it is not showing any usage.

EDIT: I changed it to 60 fps as some of the source material is indeed 60 fps. All of the project is source material, with images as background and the clips being reduced to about 25% of their normal screen size

- TechWizard

@TechWizard

Can you see the progress of the video in the export box? Does it seem OK?

I have put up what I see in a typical export of one of my projects.

I have to admit apart from you changing the frame rate (especially if you didn't change the GOP structure to match) I can't think why this should be that slow. In fact an hour would seem slow but you do not have the Studio drivers which may make a slight difference.

From an export point of view it is better to bin frames than add them but you need to alter GOP lengths to match the nearest frame rate.

[Edit]

Has your PC become sluggish outside of MEP while the render is in progress?

Ray.

@CubeAce

The vide preview looks okay, apart for the resolution (which I think is due to the small size of the preview window). Here is how it looks like (face redacted due to privacy concerns):

My PC is in no way shape or form slow or sluggish, I am even capable of gaming during the rendering process without a significant slowdown (it generates a frame around every 4 seconds which was during as wel as before and after playing a game).

- TechWizard

@TechWizard

That's good. I was worried that if you got a blank screen you may have an unviable export. It can happen.

When this is finished try setting up the project again with the studio drivers installed and MEP set to power saving in Windows.

Make sure you set your project up in movie settings to match your eventual export settings.

Make sure the GOP setting is the same number as frames per second of the export and try exporting again under a slightly different file name.

See if there is any improvement. If there doesn't seem to be you can always abort but give it a minute or two before deciding.

Ray.

@TechWizard

Please see this Topic which is just been revisited at the top of the forum:

https://www.magix.info/us/forum/hardware-acceleration-for-hevc-encoding--1213116/#ca1558950

You must make sure the Windows 10 > Settings > Display > Graphics Settings are set to Power Saving Intel iGPU as in the 3rd to last comment screen shots - of course using VPX as the app.

If the High performance GPU is assigned to VPX you will find that HW encoding is disabled even though it says "HW encoding" in in the Export progress window.

BTW what is the full version number (Help>About VPX) of your VPX installation?

Peter

@Scenestealer

I will provide you with the full version number as soon as the export is finished as well as applying the settings, as I currently cannot afford the risk of the render not making it in time for the deadline (which may or may not happen if I start the export again, it is currently at 86% done).

I will report back as soon as it has finished and I can access the whole menu again.

- TechWizard

@TechWizard

In addition to @Scenestealer comment ensure that the VPX, Program, Display options are set as shown below

With these settings as above and based on what you have said is on the timeline and there are no effects other than transitions, and assuming this is a 'talking head video' and the background images are not animations:

A reconstruction with 17 images, 4K video clips resized to approximate the same as your image above and random transitions applied, a 11 min long project at 60fps rendered at 51 fps or approx 13 mins on my PC - spec is in my signature.

The RTX 2060 (Studio drivers) was averaging a 65% load, with CPU about 18% and virtually no activity on the Intel GPU.

A screenshot of the timeline may help

John EB

@Scenestealer

My current version of VPX is 18.0.1.77 (UDP3).

I decided to cancel the export after a little over 26 hours of rendering. Which I think is a bit of an absurd time for an 11 minute video. In the end I averaged around 0.4 fps. Tomorrow I'll try tweaking the settings and seeing whether it improves. Thanks for all the help everyone and I hope the tweaks bring results.

- TechWizard

@Scenestealer, @johnebaker, @CubeAce

I have just tried your suiggested tweaks and I can report that after half an hour of rendering we were about 25% done, at a rate of 6 fps. What I noticed though is that it solely renders on the iGPU, which starts out at 62% usage but quickly drops to about 17% and after about 20 minutes drops to 4% usage. The CPU was continuously chugging away at 17% which also dropped to about 4% when the iGPU usage also dropped to 4%.

Another thing I noticed is that I cannot select the GTX 1080 anymore in the program settings after setting VPX to power saving mode in the Windows graphics settings.

Also I read in various threads that I should uncheck "Calculate video effects on GPU", though I am worried it will go back to the enormous render times again. I really want to solve this problem for future projects, as I do not want to wait for 26 hours again.

- TechWizard

@TechWizard

Hi

I am beginning to suspect there may be an overheating issue - is this a PC or laptop?

If PC are the fans and heatsink full of acumulated dust and when were they last cleaned?

. . . . uncheck "Calculate video effects on GPU" . . . .

With this option checked it can extend the renders times - sometimes significantly.

John EB
Forum Moderator

@johnebaker

Let me take away your worries about overheating, the machine is a custom built, water cooled desktop pc. I have a second screen where I am continually monitoring the temperatures and they have not risen significantly. I also clean the dust filters at least once a month so overheating shouldn't be an issue.

I'll try diasbling the "Calculate video effects on GPU" option, though I still don't know why I no longer can select the GTX 1080 for playback...

- TechWizard

@TechWizard

Hi

Thanks for the clarification - pleased to hear you have a good maintenance schedule - nothing worse than having to clear out up to a years worth of dust from hundreds of PC's.

. . . . I still don't know why I no longer can select the GTX 1080 for playback... . . .

That is puzzling as I have VPX set to use the iGPU (Power saving) in Windows and can still select the RTX in the program.

Are you gaming on this PC - if not try changing to the NVidia Studio drivers for the 1080 Ti.

John EB

@johnebaker

I have now switched to the Studio drivers (and restarted the pc of course) but I am still unable to select the 1080. Strange thing is, when I switch the Windows graphics settings to high power, I can select the same settings as you have shown in your screenshot, but if I switch back to power saving I cannot, leaving me with the settings in my previous screenshot.

EDIT: I have currently set the Windows graphics setting to high power and within 11 minutes of rendering the video is about halfway, whereas with setting it to power saving, VPX would still be rendering minute 2 of the video. How strange that I get opposite results of everyone....

Maybe something has changed in the Windows graphics settings since the newest update, I am currenlt on Windows 10 Home version 2004, build 19041.329. Maybe they messed up and the options were actually reversed in the previous windows versions? I have no other explanation why it would work otherwise...

EDIT 2: It appears that power saving mode and high power mode in the Windows graphics settings have very little to do with it. The slowdown comes from creating multiple movies and rendering the movies together, instead of doing everything on one timeline. I have merged the different movies together, such that they are on the same timeline and the rendering time consistently hovers around 25 minutes (irregardless of power saving or high power mode in Windows graphics). Did not realise that a habit I got from programming (modularising, splitting stuff up into their own little thing) had such a significant effect on the rendering performance.

- TechWizard

@TechWizard

Hi

. . . . I still don't know why I no longer can select the GTX 1080 for playback... . . .

Do you mean you cannot see it as a choice in "Preview in arranger > Video Mode"?

Forget about the selection for "Video Output" that you have highlighted in your screenshot. This is only relevant (when ticked) for the output of video to a separate (maybe broadcast) monitor or a Video recorder.

Do you have the program interface across 2 screens?

What I noticed though is that it solely renders on the iGPU, which starts out at 62% usage but quickly drops to about 17% and after about 20 minutes drops to 4% usage.

This looks fairly typical the loads will fluctuate depending on the material and effects applied in the timeline. You should see however some heavy Video decode activity on the GTX in TM if it is rendering an HEVC clip on the timeline during an HEVC export. What is the source of your HEVC material? Could you analyse the clip with Media Info and post the tree view here.

Maybe something has changed in the Windows graphics settings since the newest update, I am currenlt on Windows 10 Home version 2004, build 19041.329. Maybe they messed up and the options were actually reversed in the previous windows versions? I have no other explanation why it would work otherwise...

It's possible but it could also be a change in the latest version VPX12, which I do not have (nor Win2004), as Magix were aware of the fact that setting the Win10 Graphic setting to High performance GPU would disable HW Acceleration in their programs since Windows 10 added that feature of assigning Apps to a specific GPU.Perhaps @johnebaker could test?

It all sounds a bit strange though. Your footage looks like output from a Graphics program so could you place a standard HEVC clip, from a camera (not a phone) or an HEVC export from VPX, on a new project timeline and record a screen shot of all the graphs in TM for the Intel GPU0 and Nvidia GPU1, whilst exporting to HEVC using an unaltered VPX template,and post here?

Are you on the very latest Intel Graphics driver?

Peter

...The slowdown comes from creating multiple movies and rendering the movies together, instead of doing everything on one timeline. I have merged the different movies together, such that they are on the same timeline and the rendering time consistently hovers around 25 minutes (irregardless of power saving or high power mode in Windows graphics). Did not realise that a habit I got from programming (modularising, splitting stuff up into their own little thing) had such a significant effect on the rendering performance.

- TechWizard

@TechWizard

Hi,

Could you please explain how you were able to render multiple movies together? Are you using nesting? In this case meaning that you created multiple movies and then put each movie itself on the timeline of another movie and rendered this movie. That would be an extreme case of nesting and it would be good to know if nesting causes a slowdown in exporting.

John CB

@Scenestealer

Do you mean you cannot see it as a choice in "Preview in arranger > Video Mode"?

No I meant I could not select it for the "Video Output".

Do you have the program interface across 2 screens?

Sometimes I do, but this time I did not.

This looks fairly typical the loads will fluctuate depending on the material and effects applied in the timeline. You should see however some heavy Video decode activity on the GTX in TM if it is rendering an HEVC clip on the timeline during an HEVC export. What is the source of your HEVC material? Could you analyse the clip with Media Info and post the tree view here.

There was about 3% of decode activity on the GTX, there was fairly little use on both GPUs (for the succesful render mind you) to be honest. The case where I had the 62% load was with an aborted render where I used nesting as described by @browj2. Also to answer you @browj2 yes this is exactly the case. I split my whole video up into 6 parts (6 seperate movies) and edited everything in those 6 movies. Then I added a fade transition between movies and I suspect this is what caused the extreme render times. In my previous project (which I mentioned earlier, the one that was 7 minutes long) I did not nest and had no complaints about the render time.

It's possible but it could also be a change in the latest version VPX12, which I do not have (nor Win2004), as Magix were aware of the fact that setting the Win10 Graphic setting to High performance GPU would disable HW Acceleration in their programs since Windows 10 added that feature of assigning Apps to a specific GPU.Perhaps @johnebaker could test?

Also possible, I tested it with both settings and I noticed very little difference. Both in load and in render times.

It all sounds a bit strange though. Your footage looks like output from a Graphics program so could you place a standard HEVC clip, from a camera (not a phone) or an HEVC export from VPX, on a new project timeline and record a screen shot of all the graphs in TM for the Intel GPU0 and Nvidia GPU1, whilst exporting to HEVC using an unaltered VPX template,and post here?

I do not have a dedicated camera, or one that can record in a decent resolution so I guess any camera material I might get my hands on is not going to be a representative sample.

Are you on the very latest Intel Graphics driver?

I did not check, though I will do that soon.

- TechWizard

@TechWizard

Hi

Following on from the low GPU usage and not being able to select the Video output mode, are both your monitors connect to the integrated GPU?

John EB