Slow Rendering in CS4
 

I just purchased a new HP xw4600 workstation (core 2 duo 3GHz, 3GB RAM, Nvidia Quadro FX1700, XP Pro 32 bit, separate system and video drives) and installed CS4.

Now, when I render a dv.avi to MPEG-2 DVD from Premiere, it is very slow (5 min for a 3 min clip with no fx but the render time varies quite a bit each time I repeat it), and stops/starts intermittently in progress bar in media encoder during render. When I render the identical clip from the folder it was captured to (NOT from its sequence in Premiere) using stand alone Media Encoder (with Premier closed), the render is smooth and only takes 47 seconds.

Any idea why my renders from Premiere timeline are soooooo slow? My renders in CS3 are much shorter (about 3 min) with my old Pentium 4 setup??

Press CTRL-SHIFT-ESC, go to Processes tab and sort them by CPU usage. Tell us what takes up the most CPU. I think you have some process hanging there...

It all seems odd in comparing CS3 to CS4 to get such varied results.

It's probably not systemic. I've heard some reports of CS4 rendering performance being significantly slower than CS3. To date, I haven't heard of a cure.

Thanks! I tried what you suggested, and when the progress bar is moving the cpu is 90-100% Adobe Media Encoder, then when the progress bar stops moving (sometimes for 10 sec or more) the cpu is 99% System Idle Process. The time it takes to render the exact same clip to the same format varies anywhere from about a minute to over 6 min, with nothing else going on in the background.

Any help with this most appreciated!

Try to install latest Adobe updates, they included Media Encoder update too. Do you say it renders in chunks and pauses every now and then?

Yes, it renders in chunks, but only seems to do this when rendering from PP. The progress bar on the Media Encoder just stops (for varying amounts of time, up to ten seconds or so) and then starts back up.

I did a complete CS4 uninstall / install last night and it seemed to be working fine. Then I updated online, and the problem returned! Maybe I should uninstall PP only, reinstall PP only, and then not update PP until Adobe comes up with their next update???

That`s really weird but... as they say, if it ain`t broke, don`t fix it :) I guess it`s your best option for now.

Well, I reinstalled PP to no avail, then reinstalled CS4, and I still have the same problem with rendering. But it only hangs up when rendering in Premiere. Rendering the dv.avi clip (not the Premiere sequence containing the clip) from stand alone Media Encoder works fine, as does rending the same dv.avi in After Effects.

Suggestions, anyone???

Maybe dynamic link send the sequence to AE and render from there for now, until they fix it.

Post it as a bug too:
Adobe - Feature Request/Bug Report Form

The same for me
 

Just working on a first project with CS4... Try to export to WMV (to send my customer): 35 mn for 4mn SD video!!!! Try to export just to DV... 15mn! The whole things on a Quad Core. I think there is a big bug in the coder. And on the standalone version of the encoder, no trouble...
So i reopened my CS3 to work... faster.

CS4 is even more buggy, slow and unstable than CS3 ever was. Adobe should scrap Premiere altogether and start from scratch. It's just a big stinking pile of useless, half-baked features now. I've had it with Premiere and won't edit with it any more (if I don't have to).

I have to say I am starting to agree more and more. I have spent the last 6 months trying to get a stable editing work flow with CS3. Cineform makes it much better but it's like "lipstick on a pig" - Premier is the equivalent of a nasty adopted dog, an untamed beast that bites and poops all over the place frequently, I might well take it back to the pound :)

I upgraded 3 weeks ago to Vista 64 bit (seriously tweaked system for editing) with 8 GB of RAM, I have multiple fast TB raid 0 arrays, quad core, matrox bla bla bla and it's better, much better running 64 bit then on XP 32. But it's still too soon to tell as I have had multiple huge older projects to fix due to weird import issues with the CF latest build. Hopefully next week I can put the new system through it's paces and report back.

Vegas on the other hand is rock solid, I have never had an issue, it's not a pretty and well frankly I don't think the interface and work flow is all that and it seems a bit limited in some regards, but sometimes having a happy puppy is better.