Windows XP PRO CONFIG

[Steven Digges]

Just loaded Premier 6 onto my laptop and need a few XP PRO configuration questions answered. Any help will be appreciated.

Dell Inspiron 8100
Windows XP PRO
PIII 1 Gig
512 ram
40 Gig Hard Drive (OS)
60 Gig Western Digital 7200 RPM Fire Wire HD (video capture)
Canon XL1

Should DMA be enabled or disabled? Choices are DMA or PIO Only?

Write cashing enabled or disabled?

Does XP PRO run a background application (besides write cashing) that is saving files and slowing down the system for video? How do I shut it off?

When using my Windows ME based NLE I go to System Tools / Selective Start Up – and disable all unnecessary applications. I cannot find a selective start up option in XP Pro?

Ctrl/Alt/Del shows 29 processes (not applications) running when idle, using 2% CPU, should some of these be disabled?

Premier is currently capturing video just fine. Playback is not fine, it slows down and stops just like streaming video when it is buffering. I am experimenting with the playback settings (desk top / camera, VCR) to minimize the load on the CPU, some settings work better than others.

Steve

[Derrick Begin]

I disabled my DMA because I am using Avid Xpress.

Go into the Program Files---> Administrative Tools -->Services

That will give you all the loaded (started) services that are active on your Compu-TAH. There is a link with some XP tweaks at VIDEOGUYS.COM, I'll find it and post the link.

Rob Lohman on the boards uses Premiere, I'm sure he'll be here soon.

Cheers!

[Derrick Begin]

Here they are:

Premeire: http://www.videoguys.com/Premiere6tips.html

XP Tweaks: http://www.videoguys.com/WinXP.html

Hope this helps a bit...

[Simon Orange]

Derrick,

I'm suprised you disabled DMA. Normally drive performance with DMA enabled would be far superior than using PIO. Indeed taking a look at.....

http://www.avid.com/products/xpressdv/support/index.asp?problemID=81

. . . seems to suggest that DMA should be used.

In my experience WinXP works pretty well out of the box. There are one or two little tweaks worth doing, but certainly nothing that is going to radically speed up your system. Apart from the obvious advice to only install software that you need - don't clog your machine with junk and install plenty of memory.

The laptop Steven describes should be easily be fast/powerful for DV editing in Premiere. The actual disk requirement for DV capture/playback is actually quite low and virtually and machines produced in the last few years should be quick enough. All of the minor tweaks that are talked about don't affect performance that much. Indeed you could do more harm than good. As an aside I would be interested to see some before/after render times to see how much these tweaks affect the speed.

I suspect that the playback problems in premiere are not to do with the OS setup (unless you changed something you shouldn't have). For example, do you have the camera plugged in and on (try unpluggin it) when you are trying to play within Premiere - are you using one of the DV project presets - (try a blank project just using the preset) ? I would be suprised if the problem was with your OS.

In summary, don't worry too much about XP and if in doubt leave well alone (leave caching on/DMA on etc).

Simon

[Edward Troxel]

ALWAYS ENABLE DMA.

Only a few devices require PIO. For hard drives, DMA allows much faster access. So, if you like dropping frames, use PIO. If you like fast hard drives, use DMA.

[Derrick Begin]

Whoops!

You guys are right. I have my drives - - DMA. My mistake.

DMA all the way.

I can't remember why I shut it off at the moment.

ERASE WHAT I SAID, I was under the influence of lack of sleep.

Cheers!

[Robert Poulton]

Just a thought you might want to change your directory where you have you scratch disks assigned too. Also your cashe (sp) needs to be higher than the default I would think.

Rob:D

If your computer is having problems running the DV footage then there is something else that is wrong. Disable everything in your taskbar too Any program that runs in the task bar doesn't need to be there, unless it is sound and video drivers.

[Steven Digges]

Thanks Simon:

Under - project settings/general/playback settings - I was unchecking the box to playback on the camera. I figured this would lesson the demands on the system by sending the image only to the lap top monitor. Wrong, my bad, it was also greying out the playback on desk top, giving me the jerky playback. You gave me the tip. I have to enable camera playback and then turn the camera off and all plays well. Software design and my logic are often out of sync!

Derrick:

Thanks for the site with XP tips. I printed about 25 pages of it.

[Robert Poulton]

LOL the OLD 1394 plug in the 1394 port.....lol Oh I will be laughing about this one for a long time. Anyways it would be sad it we thought that problem with having the camera attached and on during playback is funny. Happy you found out your problem. I have done that several times and then I just chuckle.


Rob:D

[Garret Ambrosio]

Guys, DMA is Direct Memory Access, meaning it has direct access to the RAM without using much CPU time and PIO Programmed Input/Output ties the heck of your CPU. PIO relies on the CPU for command and control whereas DMA will use very little of the CPU's time... You would always want to enable DMA unless you are out of DMA channels or if the option is not enabled. But you already know this. :) Write Caching is a good idea to enable provided you have plenty of RAM and you do. IF you are editing and that's it on this PC then change your software cache settings so that it tips towards more RAM or resources allocated to the foreground programs. Simply making sure that the program is the first on the list in the task manager will also prioritize the NLE.

[Simon Orange]

Again.....I strongly suggest leaving Operating System settings alone unless you know what you are doing. XP does a pretty good job of sorting itself out.......It seems from the questions people are asking that many are unsure about what setting does what. I would take that as an indication that you shouldn't start fiddling with the OS.

Just blindly following instuctions from various websites, often contradictory, can lead to tears.

You have to ask yourself, what are you trying to achieve ? Most modern machines are so fast that a few background services taking miniscule amounts of CPU/memory will make no difference to you application.

In general if it ain't broke.....etc.

simon

[Garret Ambrosio]

Actually, Simon, here's a revision to the Cliche' If it ain't broke and you don't know how to fix it if you broke it, then leave it the heck alone.