Video Conversion Laptop Optimal Build

[Omnytrix]

Trying to decide the optimal components to look for when considering a laptop that would be used mainly for video conversion and distribution. Weight is no objection, I just need to be able to lift it. Any ideas anybody?

 

[jaguarskx]

You basically need a quad core CPU since video conversion is very CPU intensive. Basically you are looking at Core i5 and Core i7 CPU without the "u" designation such as the i5-6200u which are dual core CPUs.

Modern video codecs like H.264 and H.265 can take advantage of Hyper Threading (HT). That means if you can afford a quad core i7 CPU, then go for it. HT basically means each CPU core can process 2 threads (streams of data) at once instead of only 1 thread. That does not mean a quad core i7 will be 2x faster at processing video compared to a quad core i5 CPU though. The performance gain is much lower than that, but there is a performance gain. You simply need to determine if the additional performance is worth the extra expense.

See the link below to Anantech which compares the performance of Core i5-6600k and Core i7-6700k; those are desktop CPUs.

http/www.anandtech.com/bench/product/1543?vs=1544


A dedicated GPU can come in handy of you are going to make heavy use of special effects in the video; which as when using an effect to transition from one cut to another. Other integrated graphics will be fine.


For myself, I would likely select the 15.6" Dell XPS 15 which is actually close the size of an average 14" laptop due to the thin "Infinity Bezel". It does come with a GTX 960m though which adds to the cost of the laptop. Additionally, opting for the 4k screen instead of a 1080p screen would also increase the cost.

http/www.dell.com/en-us/shop/productdetails/xps-15-9550-laptop

 

[Omnytrix]

This is my current laptop.
http/www.microcenter.com/product/443211/satellite_p55-b5162_156_laptop_computer_-_brushed_aluminum_in_satin_gold
Only differences are an Intel AC wireless card, a Samsung 850 EVO 250GB, and 16 GB of RAM. I've tried using this to convert videos, but it's actually slower than my 5 year old desktop with a 1GB Radeon 5750 card, 8GB of ram, and a 6 core AMD processor. What gives?

 

[jaguarskx]

I can't say. The laptop should outperform your desktop as long as you are using the same video encoding settings on both machines.

Maybe a clean install of Windows will fix the problem on the laptop. It's possible the Windows Registry file could be bloated or partially corrupted that is causing the issue.

 

[Omnytrix]

How do I go about fixing that? I did a clean install when I got it.

 

[TMTOWTSAC]

Check the power settings for your laptop. It may not be performing at full speed when plugged in. Some models also set fan speed independently which can limit performance.

What sort of transcoding times are you seeing on each processor btw? I could see a fast AMD 6 core beating out your i7, but just barely. Are the times close at all or is the AMD significantly faster?

 

[Omnytrix]

Check the power settings for your laptop. It may not be performing at full speed when plugged in. Some models also set fan speed independently which can limit performance.

What sort of transcoding times are you seeing on each processor btw? I could see a fast AMD 6 core beating out your i7, but just barely. Are the times close at all or is the AMD significantly faster?

The difference isn't much. The laptop is significantly faster when doing single conversions. The desktop excels at multiple conversions at one time. Using the same program on both computers. As far as I know I have set the laptop to high performance mode all the time, but whenever I check with my conversion software to see if it recognizes the discrete AMD card, it can only find the intel display chipset. I tried switching to the discrete graphics only, but it wouldn't let me. The same program on the desktop recognizes the graphics card right away, and I can tell it's being used because the fan on the card speeds up. Any ideas?

 

[TMTOWTSAC]

What software and codecs are you using? Some formats are proprietary and will only work with specific brands. The quality will vary too.

 

[Omnytrix]

What software and codecs are you using? Some formats are proprietary and will only work with specific brands. The quality will vary too.

I'm using Wondershare Video Converter Ultimate. My usual format is h.264 codec MP4 video files.

 

[TMTOWTSAC]

I looked at the Wondershare website and they had a list of supported GPU's:

https/www.wondershare.com/topic/gpu-optimization.html

I didn't see the R9 on there. That card does have dedicated hardware for this though. OpenCL, DVXA, or DirectX support. If Wondershare really doesn't support that card, you still have a few options.

One is to use your processor, it has Intel Quick Sync and Wondershare seems to recognize it. I think it's usually called h.264/avc. Another is to try a different program that may recognize the card, like Handbrake. Hardware accelerated codecs are usually lower in quality than software, but obviously much, much faster render times.