Intensity Pro in MJPG at Dual-core 1.8Ghz at DVinfo.net

Jack Zhang · April 27th, 2008, 10:11 PM

I would just like to know if any Vista people have successfully captured 720 or 1080 footage via the Intensity Pro using MJPG on a 1.8Ghz dual-core?

I'm using Vista Home Premium SP1 and High detail/high motion stuff in both result in dropped frames. Should I get a RAID or a faster processor like a 2.4 Dual or even Quad?

The last I checked, my disk speed is 77MB/s.

So far, after experimenting, I suspected I need a faster processor since the hard drive is more than capable of writing at MJPG data rates. A downgrade to XP is cautionable since I'm hearing that locked-up programs will lock up the whole computer, but the frame drops do happen when the data is written to the drive on Vista so that could solve it. I found out my Compaq comes with a LGA775 slot that is compatible with Quad-Core. and after all this, would I need a faster Video Card as well?

Sorry if I seem extremely confused as to why there are frame drops. Any suggestions?

Jack Zhang · May 2nd, 2008, 08:33 PM

Correction: The write speed uncached is 10 to 15MB/s. Could it be the hard drive?

Jack Zhang · May 12th, 2008, 02:50 AM

I'm getting even more confused, In the release notes, I'm seeing that I need 4GB ram for Vista yet it only needs 2GB for XP. Can low amounts of RAM affect performance in MJPG?

Edit: Never Mind, this page says 2GB is fine: http://www.blackmagic-design.com/sup...asp?techID=177

Jack Zhang · June 28th, 2008, 03:10 AM

Further confusion: I just upgraded to the Q6700 and 9600GT card but still... dropped frames... This time it only occurs around 13-20 seconds after capture starts. I notice the multiplier is at 6x when frames drop out, but a Hard Drive is kinda a likely culprit but I can't confirm that. Is my config all ready for non-dropped out captures and my Hard drive is to blame or is my motherboard (a nForce 630i) not suitable for the Intensity?

Help me out here, I'm very stumped.

Jack Zhang · June 30th, 2008, 01:32 AM

I have finally fixed my dropped frames problem (partially). My system drive just wasn't capable of being written to reliably and I was using a internal SATA drive externally through USB 2.0 (a Lacie 500GB drive, which is basically a Seagate Barracuda in a fancy casing.) causing the 20 seconds before dropping a frame. All problems were solved when I hooked the formerly external Lacie Seagate Barracuda directly to the motherboard's SATA. The last problem on my agenda is the capture disk is FAT32 so my captures are still limited in time. So, should I get another HDD (cause the FAT32 one has all of our personal and hobbyist D80 photos, so I don't want to risk a FAT32 to NTFS transition.) or 2 HDDs and a SATA2 PCI RAID card? (The 2nd PCI-X 1x port is blocked because we bought a dual-slot video card.)

Will the speed of RAID SATA2 be fast enough through PCI? What's some benchmarked speeds through PCI?

Jerry Hatfield · July 31st, 2008, 05:28 PM

Jack,
I have been using my Intensity Pro for about a year now. I do all of my capturing through this device as opposed to using firewire. I edit mostly on Edius 4.62 with either uncompressed or MJPEG files. I can capture to 1 of 3 raids that I have set up.
The on board raid consists of 4 250gb SATA 2 drives striped raid 0 and gets 350 read and 350 write speed results from the Decklink test program. It does uncompressed like a breeze.
This raid cost a mere $277 through newegg. My other two raids are 10 drive and 8 drive setups.
If you are capturing HD MPJPEG or uncompressed stay away from usb drives. Either use a dedicated raid card or if your motherboard has 4 or even 6 open SATA ports go that route.
Also format using NTFS.
If you capture uncompressed the load is mainly on the drives. If you capture to MJPEG or other compressed codec the load is mainly on the processor. Your updated processor should take in mjpeg without issue. Get the latest video card drivers, make sure you have the correct chipset driver in place, update your bios--especially since you added a newer processor,
and verify that all bios settings are correct.
As far as your ram quandry:
Windows XP sees 2gb total unless you are using the PAE switch and then it may or may not display up to 3.5gb.
I would recommend at least 4gb for Vista and more if you are doing HD editing.

April 27th, 2008, 10:11 PM	#1
Jack Zhang Inner Circle Join Date: May 2005 Location: Burnaby, BC, Canada Posts: 3,053	Intensity Pro in MJPG at Dual-core 1.8Ghz I would just like to know if any Vista people have successfully captured 720 or 1080 footage via the Intensity Pro using MJPG on a 1.8Ghz dual-core? I'm using Vista Home Premium SP1 and High detail/high motion stuff in both result in dropped frames. Should I get a RAID or a faster processor like a 2.4 Dual or even Quad? The last I checked, my disk speed is 77MB/s. So far, after experimenting, I suspected I need a faster processor since the hard drive is more than capable of writing at MJPG data rates. A downgrade to XP is cautionable since I'm hearing that locked-up programs will lock up the whole computer, but the frame drops do happen when the data is written to the drive on Vista so that could solve it. I found out my Compaq comes with a LGA775 slot that is compatible with Quad-Core. and after all this, would I need a faster Video Card as well? Sorry if I seem extremely confused as to why there are frame drops. Any suggestions? Last edited by Jack Zhang; April 28th, 2008 at 03:42 AM.

May 2nd, 2008, 08:33 PM	#2
Jack Zhang Inner Circle Join Date: May 2005 Location: Burnaby, BC, Canada Posts: 3,053	Correction: The write speed uncached is 10 to 15MB/s. Could it be the hard drive?

May 12th, 2008, 02:50 AM	#3
Jack Zhang Inner Circle Join Date: May 2005 Location: Burnaby, BC, Canada Posts: 3,053	I'm getting even more confused, In the release notes, I'm seeing that I need 4GB ram for Vista yet it only needs 2GB for XP. Can low amounts of RAM affect performance in MJPG? Edit: Never Mind, this page says 2GB is fine: http://www.blackmagic-design.com/sup...asp?techID=177

June 28th, 2008, 03:10 AM	#4
Jack Zhang Inner Circle Join Date: May 2005 Location: Burnaby, BC, Canada Posts: 3,053	Further confusion: I just upgraded to the Q6700 and 9600GT card but still... dropped frames... This time it only occurs around 13-20 seconds after capture starts. I notice the multiplier is at 6x when frames drop out, but a Hard Drive is kinda a likely culprit but I can't confirm that. Is my config all ready for non-dropped out captures and my Hard drive is to blame or is my motherboard (a nForce 630i) not suitable for the Intensity? Help me out here, I'm very stumped.

June 30th, 2008, 01:32 AM	#5
Jack Zhang Inner Circle Join Date: May 2005 Location: Burnaby, BC, Canada Posts: 3,053	I have finally fixed my dropped frames problem (partially). My system drive just wasn't capable of being written to reliably and I was using a internal SATA drive externally through USB 2.0 (a Lacie 500GB drive, which is basically a Seagate Barracuda in a fancy casing.) causing the 20 seconds before dropping a frame. All problems were solved when I hooked the formerly external Lacie Seagate Barracuda directly to the motherboard's SATA. The last problem on my agenda is the capture disk is FAT32 so my captures are still limited in time. So, should I get another HDD (cause the FAT32 one has all of our personal and hobbyist D80 photos, so I don't want to risk a FAT32 to NTFS transition.) or 2 HDDs and a SATA2 PCI RAID card? (The 2nd PCI-X 1x port is blocked because we bought a dual-slot video card.) Will the speed of RAID SATA2 be fast enough through PCI? What's some benchmarked speeds through PCI?

July 31st, 2008, 05:28 PM	#6
Jerry Hatfield New Boot Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Orlando, Florida Posts: 7	Jack, I have been using my Intensity Pro for about a year now. I do all of my capturing through this device as opposed to using firewire. I edit mostly on Edius 4.62 with either uncompressed or MJPEG files. I can capture to 1 of 3 raids that I have set up. The on board raid consists of 4 250gb SATA 2 drives striped raid 0 and gets 350 read and 350 write speed results from the Decklink test program. It does uncompressed like a breeze. This raid cost a mere $277 through newegg. My other two raids are 10 drive and 8 drive setups. If you are capturing HD MPJPEG or uncompressed stay away from usb drives. Either use a dedicated raid card or if your motherboard has 4 or even 6 open SATA ports go that route. Also format using NTFS. If you capture uncompressed the load is mainly on the drives. If you capture to MJPEG or other compressed codec the load is mainly on the processor. Your updated processor should take in mjpeg without issue. Get the latest video card drivers, make sure you have the correct chipset driver in place, update your bios--especially since you added a newer processor, and verify that all bios settings are correct. As far as your ram quandry: Windows XP sees 2gb total unless you are using the PAE switch and then it may or may not display up to 3.5gb. I would recommend at least 4gb for Vista and more if you are doing HD editing.