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upgrade graphics card to get by?

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upgrade graphics card to get by?

Postby Soggy McBottom » Tue Dec 27, 2011 4:38 pm

Hey folks! Gotta newbie question.

I’m in the process of saving up for a new PC built for video editing. I bought Pre Elements 9 last year and had pretty good luck with it. I upgraded my camera and now I’m filming in HD. The problem is Elements is really slow now and keeps locking up. I guess my question is can I upgrade my graphics card and get by until I get a new PC?

This is what I have at the moment:

Windows Vista Home Premium (2007)
Service pack 2
Manufacture: Dell
Model: XPS XPS_420
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM) 2 Dow CPU E8400Hz 2.99 GHz
Memory (RAM): 3.00 GB
System type: 32-bit Operating system

Thanks for any info!
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Re: upgrade graphics card to get by?

Postby Steve Grisetti » Tue Dec 27, 2011 5:06 pm

What model of camcorder are you shooting your video on?

A new graphics card won't give you much if any of a performance boost, if that's what you're looking for. It certainly won't cure lock-ups.

Something else is probably responsible for your problems. It could be the type of video you're trying to edit or how you've got your project set up. Or it could be fragmentation or lack of free space on your hard drive.

Can you give us more information about your system? How much free, clean, freshly defragmented space is on your C drive? Are you editing on your C drive or on a second or external drive? When did you last run a program like Advanced System Care on your computer to clean it up and defragment it? http://www.iobit.com/advancedsystemcareper.html

What project settings did you select when you started your Premiere Elements project?

Welcome to Muvipix! We can likely help you -- but you've got to be our eyes and ears and provide us with lots of details we can't see.
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Re: upgrade graphics card to get by?

Postby Soggy McBottom » Wed Dec 28, 2011 9:20 am

"What model of camcorder are you shooting your video on?" --------->Sony HXR-NX5U AVCHD

"A new graphics card won't give you much if any of a performance boost, if that's what you're looking for. It certainly won't cure lock-ups.

Something else is probably responsible for your problems. It could be the type of video you're trying to edit or how you've got your project set up. Or it could be fragmentation or lack of free space on your hard drive."

"Can you give us more information about your system? How much free, clean, freshly defragmented space is on your C drive?"-----------> I’m sure there’s not much (can’t look now I’m at work)

"Are you editing on your C drive or on a second or external drive? Hmm…I’m guessing C drive but my content is saved on an external drive.
When did you last run a program like Advanced System Care on your computer to clean it up and defragment it? http:…..iobit/advancedsystemcare" --------->I defragged when I first started getting problems but I will try that link.

"What project settings did you select when you started your Premiere Elements project?" ----------->I didn’t change the settings.

"Welcome to Muvipix! We can likely help you -- but you've got to be our eyes and ears and provide us with lots of details we can't see"

---------->I didn’t have trouble at first.Things started slowing up when I had about 2-3 minutes of my project saved. The first thing I noticed was I would need to render any little change I made and it would take for 3-4 minutes to render a simple transition.

Thanks for taking time to answerer my questions. As you can see from my answers I need plenty of help. I really do appreciate it!
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Re: upgrade graphics card to get by?

Postby Chuck Engels » Wed Dec 28, 2011 11:14 am

Hi Soggy, welcome to Muvipix :)

For AVCHD HD video we highly recommend a quad core processor, yours is a little on the slow side for this type of video format.
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Re: upgrade graphics card to get by?

Postby Steve Grisetti » Wed Dec 28, 2011 12:16 pm

It is also important that, when you start up a Premiere Elements project, you select project settings that match your source footage. This will get you optimized performance.

Parts 1 and 2 of our free 8 part Basic Training tutorials will show you how to properly set up and start a project.
http://muvipix.com/products.php?searchp ... 2&btn.y=15

Also, do check to see how much free, clean, freshly defragmented space is on your C drive. If you're editing video on that drive, you're going to need at least 50-100 gigabytes free even for basic editing.

As Chuck says, AVCHD video in particular has some pretty high system demands. But, if your system and project settings are optimized, you should be able to do at least some basic (if a bit sluggish) editing work with your machine.
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Re: upgrade graphics card to get by?

Postby Barb O » Wed Dec 28, 2011 1:04 pm

Steve and Chuck,

I wonder if any of the following would help Soggy as a temporary means of processing that AVCHD video ?

1 -- convert that AVCHD video to HDV format and then use the HDV files in Premiere Elements (with its appropriate PE project setting)

I have read about AVCHD UpShift from New Blue -- I am considering that alternative but have not yet used this software.

2 -- add a second internal hard drive

Computer shown is Dell XPS 420 so perhaps an additional internal hard drive (7200 rpm) would be possible.
Last edited by Barb O on Wed Dec 28, 2011 1:08 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: changed wording of point 2 in order to clarify
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Re: upgrade graphics card to get by?

Postby Soggy McBottom » Wed Dec 28, 2011 1:39 pm

I will check out the link. Thanks for your help everyone. You are saving me time, money and headaches!!
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Re: upgrade graphics card to get by?

Postby Steve Grisetti » Wed Dec 28, 2011 2:16 pm

Those have been our goals from the beginning, Soggy!
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Re: upgrade graphics card to get by?

Postby John 'twosheds' McDonald » Thu Dec 29, 2011 3:50 am

....and Welcome to Muvipix from me! :wcm:

Have a look here to see if you can free up some more disc space.

viewtopic.php?f=4&t=3968
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Re: upgrade graphics card to get by?

Postby Soggy McBottom » Thu Dec 29, 2011 11:06 am

Barb O wrote:Steve and Chuck,

I wonder if any of the following would help Soggy as a temporary means of processing that AVCHD video ?

1 -- convert that AVCHD video to HDV format and then use the HDV files in Premiere Elements (with its appropriate PE project setting)

I have read about AVCHD UpShift from New Blue -- I am considering that alternative but have not yet used this software.

2 -- add a second internal hard drive

Computer shown is Dell XPS 420 so perhaps an additional internal hard drive (7200 rpm) would be possible.



Since it sounds like I screwed the project up from the beginning I will start the project over and give that a try. Thanks!
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Re: upgrade graphics card to get by?

Postby Barb O » Thu Dec 29, 2011 3:24 pm

Soggy,

I was hoping that someone who had experience with AVCHD UpShift from New Blue would comment before you invested time and money on this software.

At http://www.newbluefx.com/avchd-upshift.html
I noticed that the trial converts only the first 10 seconds of video and that the purchase price is $79.95. Of course some limit on the trial is reasonable, but 10 seconds seems a bit short to evaluate impact.

However, if you do decide to go ahead and try AVCHD Upshift, please do post feedback to Muvipix.
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Re: upgrade graphics card to get by?

Postby jackfalbey » Sun Jan 01, 2012 1:26 pm

I haven't tried AVCHD UpShift, but I have used Cineform's NeoScene and it helps a lot. Basically, it converts the AVCHD into a "digital intermediate" codec that is much easier for your computer to process. They offer a full-featured 15-day free trial download so you can try it and see if it helps your situation. There are several other advantages to using NeoScene, but you can read up on that at their website. The Cineform files will be about 4-5x larger than the AVCHD files, so you'll need plenty of free hard drive space.

Before you upgrade your PC, keep an eye on this thread for updated DIY examples. I'll have them posted within a few days.
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