Why are my slideshow exports not using hardware acceleration?

Tjoeb123 wrote on 12/22/2017, 4:56 PM

When I make a slideshow, I start by using the Photostory wizard to import my media and specify the basic settings (effects, length, etc.) to be used. (I typically set my effects level to nearly high. Then I save the project, close the wizard and use the timeline view to add/fine-tune effects and other things as needed.

When it comes time to export to an MPEG-4 video, I do so using a custom preset (I forget which preset it's based on ATM, I'll get back with yall on that when the export in progress finishes) at 3840x2160 resolution, 60 FPS (not 59.94), Progressive Scan and hardware acceleration (in Advanced options) enabled. Everything else at default values. (including the computation of effects being done on the GPU)

But.... here's the thing. In the title bar of the progress window, it says "Mixing down...(no hardware acceleration)" despite me having it enabled in the render settings, as well as everywhere I see it in the program settings.

So what am I doing that's causing this behavior? How can I force it? Right now I'm in the middle of an export (of about 11 minutes of video) that's been running since 12:00 PM EST today, and I'm estimating the total export time to be about 9 hours total at most (I'll bet it probably would've taken about 3 if it wasn't done solely on the CPU).

Hardware and software I'm using:

--GIGABYTE B260M-DS3H rev.1.0 (Motherboard) (Latest BIOS version as of this post)

--Intel Core i5 7500 @3.4GHz

--8GB RAM

--EVGA GeForce GTX 960 (latest drivers as of this post)

--Windows 10 Pro (latest version as of this post)

--MAGIX Photostory Deluxe 2018 (latest version as of this post)

Comments

johnebaker wrote on 12/22/2017, 5:28 PM

. . . . Mixing down...(no hardware acceleration)" despite me having it enabled in the render settings . . . .

The most common cause of HWA acceleration not being used is due to the default render GPU not set to the Intel GPU when a NVidia graphics card is installed.

The NVidia has either disabled the i5 GPU or is set to be the default render device. You will need to check in the NVidia control panel if this is the case.

If you cannot get the Intel GPU to be the default render device, there are no settings in Photostory to select this, then if the NVidia card is not performing a task for which it is a necessity eg used for gaming, I would pull it - the Intel GPU is more than capable of rendering video with HWA.

HTH

John EB

Tjoeb123 wrote on 12/22/2017, 8:06 PM

Hold on, I'm confused though.... Why would I want the HWA to be done on the CPU? Wouldn't the GPU (with HWA) get the job done faster? (EDIT: Now that I think about it, people have said that high-end CPUs, like recent Intel i7s and AMD Threadripper, result in much faster rendering times, so maybe my assumption was incorrect...)

My PC is used primarily for gaming. Content creation comes second.

emmrecs wrote on 12/23/2017, 3:58 AM

Why would I want the HWA to be done on the CPU? Wouldn't the GPU (with HWA) get the job done faster?

Answer to first question: because that is how it works; because (answer to second question, and directly connected with first answer) NVidia cards do not allow/use HWA. Historically NVidia used CUDA, now I believe it is HEVC (?); neither of these protocols are or can be used by Magix products.

Jeff