sebastian___
14th March 2008, 12:23
I searched Google and also this forum and I didn't find an answer to this approach.
I'm looking for the fastest codec to edit in Premiere (for example) . Size doesn't matter so much, as in these days you can easily buy some giant HDD, but of course if the resulting files will be too big, the HDD transfer will be a bottleneck.
The video quality doesn't matter too much since after you finished the editing, you can export with a different codec.
Is it HUffyuv ? Lagarith ? Maybe mpeg 4 ? Mpeg 2 ? How about the old Intel Indeo 5.5 which has a pretty good quality and it's also fast.
Alparysoft Lossless Video Codec claims that has beside the lossless setting, also has a "visual lossless" settings which can compress even 15 times better. But it doesn't say if it's also faster.
At the moment I use Huffyuv 2.1.1 - 24 bit RGB compression, but as I said, you don't need absolute perfect lossless quality when you are editing, since you can export the final result with a different quality solution. But you need the fastest option, especially when you are dealing with HD , realtime color correcting effects..and so on.
Or the answer is simple, and the Lossless codecs are also the fastest ones even comparing them with the lossy codecs ?
Since I didn't find the exact answer to this I decided to make my own test. Skip down to the conclusion if you don't wanna read the whole thing :)
==============================
Project in Premiere Pro with the following characteristics :
38 sec and 15 frames long
Frame Size : 848 400
fps : 24
A typical project with a few tracks
scattered on the tracks : 2 avi videos, one Tga sequence (series of TGA frames/pictures forming a movie) , some psd single frames and animated with move and scale. I applied a Fast Blur effect on some of the clips.
because the project is so short, the results were not much different , so for a longer project you should multiply the results
-----------------
All the clips had either an effect on them or animated opacity, so they had to be rendered (with Render Work Area)
- No audio tracks
Render Work Area speed TEST (the preview temp files are created on a different HDD - in this way HDD speed transfer are less taken into account)
Huffyuv 2.1.1
settings ......... time ........ size of the temp files
___________ ________ ______________________
rgb best ........ 39 sec ...... 333 MB
rgb fastest .... 39 sec ...... 351 MB
yuy2 fastest .. 37 sec .... 187 MB
yuy2 best ...... 38 sec ...... 178 MB
--------------------------
Lagarith 1.3.14
(with "Use Multithreading" the resulting time were almost identical, but I experienced crashes so I leaved that unchecked)
settings ... time ....... size of the temp files
_________ ________ _________________
rgb ......... 42 sec ...... 196 MB
yuy2 ....... 39 sec ..... 112 MB
yv12 ....... 38 sec ...... 89 MB
reduced resolution .. 35 sec .. 25 MB (and the quality was acceptable for temp purposes)
--------------------------
no codec .. 1 min .46 sec .. 899 MB
--------------------------
Avi File Format and codec : Uncompressed UYVY 422 8bit (exiting codec included in Premiere Pro)
........ 41 sec .... 599 MB
--------------------------
instead of avi file format - uncompr 8-bit 4:2:2 YUV
........ 36 sec ... 606 MB
--------------------------
indeo video 5.11 .. 1 min .25 sec ... 35 MB
--------------------------
xvid - 1 pass quality - quality 1 - search 0 -
... 38 sec .. 38 MB - but crash later on playback
1 pass CBR - bitrate 10 000 - search 0
.... 38 sec ... 40 MB + crash
- also mild compression artefacts
--------------
Divx 5.2.1 - encode fastest - bitrate max 4000
encode mode 1 pass
Max Keyframe interval : 2 frames
...... 40 sec ... 15 MB
- mild compression artefacts
---------------------------
MJPEG codec
custom quality - max
..... 37 sec ... 50 MB
format : Lossless jpeg
.... 51 sec .... 899 MB
---------------------------
Morgan M-Jpeg v3
fast integer - no interleave - no bitrate control - 4:2:2
..... 38 sec .... 140 MB
----------------------------
Export TEST
Export the Work Area to the same HDD. The export is "from scratch" without using the preview temp files.
the results are similar to the Render Work Area test.
uncompressed avi ....... 1 min 48 sec ....899 MB
Huffyuv rgb fastest ..... 36 sec ...... 351 MB
Huffyuv rgb best ........ 35.5 sec ..... 333 MB
Huffyuv yuy2 fastest ... 36 sec ....... 186 MB
Lagarith rgb .............. 40 sec ....... 196 MB
Lagarith yuy2 ........... 36 sec ........ 111 MB
Lagarith rgb - multithreading .. 39 sec ... 196 MB
instead of avi - uncompr 8-bit 4:2:2 YUV .. 35 sec .. 601 MB
instead of avi - uncompr 10-bit 4:2:2 YUV .. 35.5 sec .. 816 MB
----------------------------------
DECODE TEST VirtualDub - direct stream copy , no audio.
Then run video analysis pass
- I used the files exported in the previous test
- this is a very imprecise test. I just read the numbers while VirtualDub is trying to playback the files as fast as possible.
uncompressed avi ......... ~ 70 fps ..... 13 sec
Huffyuv - rgb fastest .... ~ 180 ? ...... 5 sec
Huffyuv - rgb best ........ ~ 190 ? ...... 5 sec
Huffyuv - yuy2 fastest .. ~ 330 ........ 2.5 sec
Lagarith rgb .............. ~ 300 fps ..... 3 sec
Lagarith yuy2 ............ ~ 500 fps ..... 1.5 sec
instead of avi - uncompr 8-bit 4:2:2 YUV .. 105 fps ... 8 sec
--------------------------------
DECODE TEST in Premiere
Playback in premiere and encode in one of the fastest encode codec
- in instead of avi - uncompr 8-bit 4:2:2 YUV , clips repeated twice on the timeline
- first clip altered position (in screenspace) - instead of 200 I wrote 220
- the preview temp files were created on a different hdd
Further explanations : Here we test the playback speed (decoding speed) in Premiere. By using the different codec clips in timeline and rendering. Premiere first has to decode/read the clips , then render them on HDD.
uncompressed avi ........... 26 sec
Huffyuv - rgb fastest ....... 29 sec
Huffyuv - rgb best .......... 30 sec
Huffyuv - yuy2 fastest .... 23 sec
Lagarith rgb .................. 49 sec
Lagarith yuy2 ................ 41 sec
instead of avi - uncompr 8-bit 4:2:2 YUV ... 18 sec
Conclusion ? The best quality codecs (the lossless ones) seem to offer also the fastest working speed in editing. And on top of that you also get the benefit of working with the best visual quality.
I think that the playback speed is equally important when working in Premiere. Many times when you apply a "mild" effect, you don't need to render even if you get the red line. A faster playback / decode speed means less CPU is used for video decoding and more CPU for real time effects rendering.
It seems the encoding time were similar for Huffyuv and Lagarith but the decoding time were significantly faster for Huffyuv.
The "Huffyuv - yuy2 fastest" delivers almost identical quality with RGB 24 bit lossless while being faster. So for editing (and sometimes even for final rendering) I will use this mode.
I'm looking for the fastest codec to edit in Premiere (for example) . Size doesn't matter so much, as in these days you can easily buy some giant HDD, but of course if the resulting files will be too big, the HDD transfer will be a bottleneck.
The video quality doesn't matter too much since after you finished the editing, you can export with a different codec.
Is it HUffyuv ? Lagarith ? Maybe mpeg 4 ? Mpeg 2 ? How about the old Intel Indeo 5.5 which has a pretty good quality and it's also fast.
Alparysoft Lossless Video Codec claims that has beside the lossless setting, also has a "visual lossless" settings which can compress even 15 times better. But it doesn't say if it's also faster.
At the moment I use Huffyuv 2.1.1 - 24 bit RGB compression, but as I said, you don't need absolute perfect lossless quality when you are editing, since you can export the final result with a different quality solution. But you need the fastest option, especially when you are dealing with HD , realtime color correcting effects..and so on.
Or the answer is simple, and the Lossless codecs are also the fastest ones even comparing them with the lossy codecs ?
Since I didn't find the exact answer to this I decided to make my own test. Skip down to the conclusion if you don't wanna read the whole thing :)
==============================
Project in Premiere Pro with the following characteristics :
38 sec and 15 frames long
Frame Size : 848 400
fps : 24
A typical project with a few tracks
scattered on the tracks : 2 avi videos, one Tga sequence (series of TGA frames/pictures forming a movie) , some psd single frames and animated with move and scale. I applied a Fast Blur effect on some of the clips.
because the project is so short, the results were not much different , so for a longer project you should multiply the results
-----------------
All the clips had either an effect on them or animated opacity, so they had to be rendered (with Render Work Area)
- No audio tracks
Render Work Area speed TEST (the preview temp files are created on a different HDD - in this way HDD speed transfer are less taken into account)
Huffyuv 2.1.1
settings ......... time ........ size of the temp files
___________ ________ ______________________
rgb best ........ 39 sec ...... 333 MB
rgb fastest .... 39 sec ...... 351 MB
yuy2 fastest .. 37 sec .... 187 MB
yuy2 best ...... 38 sec ...... 178 MB
--------------------------
Lagarith 1.3.14
(with "Use Multithreading" the resulting time were almost identical, but I experienced crashes so I leaved that unchecked)
settings ... time ....... size of the temp files
_________ ________ _________________
rgb ......... 42 sec ...... 196 MB
yuy2 ....... 39 sec ..... 112 MB
yv12 ....... 38 sec ...... 89 MB
reduced resolution .. 35 sec .. 25 MB (and the quality was acceptable for temp purposes)
--------------------------
no codec .. 1 min .46 sec .. 899 MB
--------------------------
Avi File Format and codec : Uncompressed UYVY 422 8bit (exiting codec included in Premiere Pro)
........ 41 sec .... 599 MB
--------------------------
instead of avi file format - uncompr 8-bit 4:2:2 YUV
........ 36 sec ... 606 MB
--------------------------
indeo video 5.11 .. 1 min .25 sec ... 35 MB
--------------------------
xvid - 1 pass quality - quality 1 - search 0 -
... 38 sec .. 38 MB - but crash later on playback
1 pass CBR - bitrate 10 000 - search 0
.... 38 sec ... 40 MB + crash
- also mild compression artefacts
--------------
Divx 5.2.1 - encode fastest - bitrate max 4000
encode mode 1 pass
Max Keyframe interval : 2 frames
...... 40 sec ... 15 MB
- mild compression artefacts
---------------------------
MJPEG codec
custom quality - max
..... 37 sec ... 50 MB
format : Lossless jpeg
.... 51 sec .... 899 MB
---------------------------
Morgan M-Jpeg v3
fast integer - no interleave - no bitrate control - 4:2:2
..... 38 sec .... 140 MB
----------------------------
Export TEST
Export the Work Area to the same HDD. The export is "from scratch" without using the preview temp files.
the results are similar to the Render Work Area test.
uncompressed avi ....... 1 min 48 sec ....899 MB
Huffyuv rgb fastest ..... 36 sec ...... 351 MB
Huffyuv rgb best ........ 35.5 sec ..... 333 MB
Huffyuv yuy2 fastest ... 36 sec ....... 186 MB
Lagarith rgb .............. 40 sec ....... 196 MB
Lagarith yuy2 ........... 36 sec ........ 111 MB
Lagarith rgb - multithreading .. 39 sec ... 196 MB
instead of avi - uncompr 8-bit 4:2:2 YUV .. 35 sec .. 601 MB
instead of avi - uncompr 10-bit 4:2:2 YUV .. 35.5 sec .. 816 MB
----------------------------------
DECODE TEST VirtualDub - direct stream copy , no audio.
Then run video analysis pass
- I used the files exported in the previous test
- this is a very imprecise test. I just read the numbers while VirtualDub is trying to playback the files as fast as possible.
uncompressed avi ......... ~ 70 fps ..... 13 sec
Huffyuv - rgb fastest .... ~ 180 ? ...... 5 sec
Huffyuv - rgb best ........ ~ 190 ? ...... 5 sec
Huffyuv - yuy2 fastest .. ~ 330 ........ 2.5 sec
Lagarith rgb .............. ~ 300 fps ..... 3 sec
Lagarith yuy2 ............ ~ 500 fps ..... 1.5 sec
instead of avi - uncompr 8-bit 4:2:2 YUV .. 105 fps ... 8 sec
--------------------------------
DECODE TEST in Premiere
Playback in premiere and encode in one of the fastest encode codec
- in instead of avi - uncompr 8-bit 4:2:2 YUV , clips repeated twice on the timeline
- first clip altered position (in screenspace) - instead of 200 I wrote 220
- the preview temp files were created on a different hdd
Further explanations : Here we test the playback speed (decoding speed) in Premiere. By using the different codec clips in timeline and rendering. Premiere first has to decode/read the clips , then render them on HDD.
uncompressed avi ........... 26 sec
Huffyuv - rgb fastest ....... 29 sec
Huffyuv - rgb best .......... 30 sec
Huffyuv - yuy2 fastest .... 23 sec
Lagarith rgb .................. 49 sec
Lagarith yuy2 ................ 41 sec
instead of avi - uncompr 8-bit 4:2:2 YUV ... 18 sec
Conclusion ? The best quality codecs (the lossless ones) seem to offer also the fastest working speed in editing. And on top of that you also get the benefit of working with the best visual quality.
I think that the playback speed is equally important when working in Premiere. Many times when you apply a "mild" effect, you don't need to render even if you get the red line. A faster playback / decode speed means less CPU is used for video decoding and more CPU for real time effects rendering.
It seems the encoding time were similar for Huffyuv and Lagarith but the decoding time were significantly faster for Huffyuv.
The "Huffyuv - yuy2 fastest" delivers almost identical quality with RGB 24 bit lossless while being faster. So for editing (and sometimes even for final rendering) I will use this mode.