Video Project Template to test

Reyfox wrote on 3/1/2022, 3:34 AM

Users come asking what hardware will give them the best performance with the software. I think that is a valid question to ask because there are differing opinions on the subject based on personal usage of hardware.

I am a neophyte with the software. I can edit and do what I want when needed, but I do not have the long term skills/yunderstand that others here have. In Vegas Pro forum, there is a "standard" of sorts test that everyone can run and see where their PC hardware ranks in the scheme of things. It gives users some sort of baseline to see how different components/combinations perform. It's not speculation, but actual test runs done by the users and reported. I think this would go a long ways in helping new people and people considering upgrading their hardware.

Comments

AAProds wrote on 3/1/2022, 3:57 AM

@Reyfox

I think that would be a great idea. The source files could be zipped up and distributed. It would necessarily be pretty big to get meaningful export times, if Magix is talking about 5 times real time encoding, you'd need a project of at least 5 minutes, otherwise things might happen too fast. 5 minutes of UHD is going to be pretty hefty.

An issue may be how to get effects to work; you'd have to rely on the project using the effects already installed on each computer.

Reyfox wrote on 3/1/2022, 4:10 AM

@AAProds yes, the project has to have "stock" effects/titles/etc. As for video files, I would opt of 4K mp4. And since MEP can't handle 10bit, they would have to be 8bit 4:2:0 files.

Third party plugins would have to be exempt. The project would have to be sort of challenging to stress the computer.

In Pinnacle Studio, you can create a project package that you can share with anyone that will have all the project settings and put the assets on the timeline. I'm not sure that there is anything like in MEP.

As I wrote, I am not qualified to create the project. Someone with more knowledge than I would have to create this project.

johnebaker wrote on 3/1/2022, 5:37 AM

@Reyfox

. . . . In Vegas Pro forum, there is a "standard" of sorts test that everyone can run and see where their PC hardware ranks in the scheme of things. . . . .

The Vegas test project is a baseline test and does not push/utilise CPU/GPU components to a high degree which is, IMO, necessary to get a more realistic performance data with programs such as Movie Studio, Video Pro X.

I agree with the need for a 'standard' test project, ideally the Demo project would have been useful, however it is not a realistic example to use as the video clips are very low resolution (512 x 288) and importing/exporting does not put any significant load on the system - on my PC it takes 11s for H.264 at the original video resolution and framerate, and 25s upscaling to 1080p both using the RTX 2060.

@CubeAce uploaded one of his experimental projects for testing which truly stressed high end spec PC's, lower end PCs would struggle to just to load the project.

A point of importance is the test project must be suitable for running on the trial version of the software, this would introduce some restrictions on what effects etc could be used in a test project - my own thoughts on what is needed are:

Project length 1 minute
Source video 1920x x1080p h.264 25/30 fps
Intro title and outro credits (scrolling?)
Transitions - cut, crossfade, fade through
Effects: Brightness/Contrast, Sharpening, Collage (basic), Keyframed animation eg fly in/out, rotation
Export settings: 1080p, h.264, 25/30fps

A 4K UHD version of above may also be useful.

John EB

Reyfox wrote on 3/1/2022, 6:05 AM

@johnebaker while the Vegas test doesn't push everything to the limit, it is there to show what various configured computers can do. It's better than nothing and anyone can run it.

I don't know the specifics of "what" will trigger either the GPU or CPU in exporting the finished video or how smooth the timeline will play back a particular project without proxies.

AAProds wrote on 3/1/2022, 5:34 PM

Ha. I've started making up a test project. I dragged a 3d text thingee onto the timeline and MEP froze immediately. Required a Task Manager kill. I guess I'll try some other text. 😎