Exports not using CPU fully
 

I've installed the latest prospect build and using CS4 do to an export from a DV project. It successfully exports a cineform avi file. But it takes a long time and the CPU usage is only about 25-30% during the export.

I've noticed that as well. It's taking about 8x realtime to export CF timeline to CF.avi, and CPU usage is only 25-30% on 8 core i7.
Oddly enough, I also see that just playing previews of CF.avi on the timeline requires 25% CPU usage. That doesn't seem right.

We are working with Adobe on these issues, it seemed odd to us also.

Also surprising, on playback of CFHD timeline clips, besides the cpu spinning up to 25%, I notice that it is mainly utilizing only 2 of the 8 cores in the i7 even though the project is configured for performance. If it were using the entire cpu, usage would probably only be 10% or less. Folks over on the Adobe PPro Forum are complaining about it as well.
I hardly know what to make of all of this. CS3 had some problems, but after v 3.2 it quit being "strange" anyway. Certainly more complete than CS4.1.
But with Premiere CS4, it's as if their reach has exceeded their grasp. This certainly does not seem close to pro level software in it's present state. I do not envy CF and the other vendors having to work around all of these flaws.
IMO the push to release entire suites of complex software simultaneously, even tho some elements are incomplete or are poorly designed, is probably the culpret. We may be looking at CS5, before they ever get CS4 working as it should.
Gloom!! Doom!! Ashes!! :-(

Come on Robert, you're just frustrated you can't use all that V8 horsepower... :)


Me, I'm just 4-banging along happily in CS3, while one CS4 workstation sits idle behind me...no more frustration...no high blood pressure...no more bleeding edge for me...

Bob,

I'm trying to decide whether to upgrade to CS4 with new computer, etc from CS3 and your experiences aren't encouraging me to do so. I can't tell though whether this poor cpu utilization is an Adobe problem or Cineform.
In this thread (to which you may be referring), apparently Premiere can be set to utilize all 8 cores for rendering apparently a non-cineform timeline (Post #6 with this thread : Adobe Forums: Poor Rendering CPU utilization), so if they don't use all 8, then it must be the Cineform problem. Is that what you're thinking?

I guess when I can see a screenshot of a Cineform render of 8 cores pegged to 99% then I can consider updating. Right now CS3 with ProspectHD seems to be adequate.

John Rich

John if you need to get work out fast and without hassle, then stay on CS3 and Cineform.

CS 4.1 works pretty good now all by itself, but with Cineform, both Adobe and Cineform still have some work to do. They are getting closer, and you can make it work, but there are still some rought edges.

I like the rest of the CS4 suite a lot, so I use CS4 apps and edit on Premiere CS3.2

John
I get the same pattern when previewing non CF footage- i.e. raw EX1 mp4 clips run only 2 cores @ around 22% total CPU usage. I think it is a CS4 problem, and David Newman has sort of confirmed the notion as well.
Stephan's comment is well taken: I'm still actually using my Quad/CS3 machine. The i7/CS4 is just a big, interesting paperweight right now.
It might be fun to try installing only PPro CS3.2 on the i7 machine, leaving CS4 as is, & see how that runs with Vista 64 & big RAM.
Would I be asking for trouble to do that???

Sounds like something worth trying ... on another partition.

Call it paranoia, but best would probably be using the Win 7 beta and try the CS3 with it. If I had the time, I'd probably do it too just for fun and curiosity. Just Win 7, just CS3.

I'm going to try that this weekend. I like some of the new features in PPro CS4, and I like the other CS4 apps, but I was happy enough with PPro CS3- I think my system just didn't have enough horsepower to keep it running smoothly on big projects.
I'm going to leave the CS4 suite in place & try to install Production CS3 on the i7/Vista 64 system with only Premiere CS3.2, reinstall PHD 4, load up the CS3/CF project I'm working on & see what happens.
I'll let you know if it results in a mushroom cloud. (also gonna make an image of my C: drive before I start)

HI Guys,
I'm having the same issues and have been looking at this for a few days now. I tried to stay with XP, but I've had a terrible time with audio and CF. I kept getting skipping and sync errors in CS3 when in XP SP3 and even later in Vista 64. Finally seems to be solved by updating to the latest M-audio 64 bit driver for Vista. I used all the latest drivers in XP but could never get it to work well on the timeline, though renders were fine.


Anyway, I tried rendering two different timelines on both CS3 and CS4 in Vista 64 on a new i7 920, 12GB ram with all updates. What is obvious to me is that HDV renders relatively fast in both CS3 and CS4, using significant CPU power, whereas CS4 has the problems already mentioned, except that it renders the timeline faster than CS3. I also find that it scrubs HDV projects well.

Here's what I've seen.

Cineform project:
CS3 CPU utilization is around 13 to 15 % when rendering a timeline (performance mode).
CS4 CPU utilization is around 40 to 60 % when rendering a timeline (performance mode).

CS3 CPU utilization is around 30 to 60 % when rendering to mpeg2 DVD.
CS4 CPU utilization is around 20 to 24 % when rendering to mpeg2 DVD.

CS3 CPU utilization is around 80 to 90% when rendering a blu-ray h264.
CS4 CPU utilization is around 30 to 50% (peaks of 90% with non-CF media) when rendering a blu-ray h264.

HDV project:
CS3 CPU utilization is around 50 to 85 % when rendering a timeline (performance mode).
CS4 CPU utilization is around 30 to 100 % when rendering a timeline (performance mode).

CS3 CPU utilization pegs at 50% (only 4 cores working) when rendering to mpeg2 DVD.
CS4 CPU utilization is 60 to 100% when rendering to mpeg2 DVD.

CS3 CPU utilization is around 75 to 85% when rendering a blu-ray h264.
CS4 CPU utilization is around 80 to 90% when rendering a blu-ray h264.