Does anyone know how the different versions of Avid handle rendering across multiple processors? Curious if it is better to have a slower Quad Core, or a faster Dual core when it comes to rendering. I've tried to look for an answer all over the place but can't seem to get a real answer.

Any insight would be appropriated.

Thanks!

I would definitely recommend a quad core for Media Composer 3.0 and above.

It really depends on which codec you're exporting to. Some codecs are multi-threaded, others are not.

It really depends on which codec you're exporting to. Some codecs are multi-threaded, others are not.

What about internally to AVID, before export? Same thing, based on what codec?

As far as I know, Media Composer on a 32 bit platform is not multi-threaded. In other words, internal processing would not be much different on windows XP pro whether quad core or not. I understand that there are some processes that are multi-threaded, such as the 10-bit color correction module, but, that's about it.

According to Avid rep's, they will be going to multi-threaded processing when they go fully to 64-bit engines.

Bill is right in that some functions can be written as multi threaded, while others are not. For instance, Quick Time itself is single threaded. I understood that the MC 3.x series had greater multithread functionality, so I typically watch the MS performance monitor for anything that takes any noticeable time. I can report that transcoding HDV to DNxHD145 uses all eight of my cores to about 80% each, drastically reducing workflow time. Other aspects of avid that are instantaneous may be single threaded or multithreaded, but I don’t care if I don’t have to wait.

Unfortunately for me, Sorenson 5.04 seems to be single threaded when producing mpeg-2 output from QT reference files of the DNxHD145 media.

I recommend Intel Core 7 quad processors (920 is a bargain) for any new computer. This CPU will overclock itself if it finds some of the cores are unused.