Slow DVD encoding time, how to speed it up, help!

[jurdex]

I recently purchased a DVD burner (NEC ND3520 Internal Black 16X DVD Burner OEM) for my computer and I am slightly depressed at how long it takes me to encode movie files to then actually burn them onto the dvds..

For example, it takes me sometimes upwards of 6 hours to encode just a fraction of that in actual movie time so that I can then burn it onto my DVDs..

I am wondering what I can do to speed up the process..

I have an AMD Athlon 850 with 320 MB of RAM ..

Am currently running win 98se but should be able to upgrade to XP in a few days.

Getting a new processor isn't really in my budget so any cheaper solutions?

Also, what is the best program to run to encode movies for burning to speed up the process? Nero isn't very good.. half the time it freezes up..

Thanks for the help!

Always,
Brian

[JayC30]

A faster processor and memory would help, but that would also mean you would have to upgrade your motherboard. I have an AthlonXP 2000+ and it can take upto 4 hours to encode an avi file.

As to progs, Mainconcept to encode and TMPGEnc DVD Author to make and burn are my progs of choice. Others will recommend other programmes, when that has happened you can then try them and see which gives you good results. When I first started using TMPGEnc they did a trial 30 day version but I can't say if they still do as I own the full version.

[harley2ride]

I'm pretty close to 1 to 1 for encoding movies. It takes me about 2 1/2 hours to encode a 2 hour movie, but I have a top notch setup, and very little running in the background.

[jurdex]

A faster processor and memory would help, but that would also mean you would have to upgrade your motherboard. I have an AthlonXP 2000+ and it can take upto 4 hours to encode an avi file.

As to progs, Mainconcept to encode and TMPGEnc DVD Author to make and burn are my progs of choice. Others will recommend other programmes, when that has happened you can then try them and see which gives you good results. When I first started using TMPGEnc they did a trial 30 day version but I can't say if they still do as I own the full version.

If I buy more RAM I'll need a new motherboard? How much RAM would I need to show a significant increase in performance? Can it do the trick?

I downloaded TMPGEnc and have used it before to encode for me, but I can't figure out how to make it also burn the file after I've encoded it.. I end up switching back to nero to burn the file with it encoded..

Thanks for the feedback!

Always,
Brian

[JayC30]

There are two TMPGEnc progs one is an encoder the other is a DVD author, one encodes the other converts that to the relevant audio and video ts folders and then allows you to burn using the built in burning programme.

You are using an old Duron processor, depending on how old the motherboard is will decide if it can support Athlon XP or Sempron processors you would have to check the compatability of the motherboard, you can do that either on the makers website or on AMDs website.

If your motherboard won't support the XP or Sempron processors you will need a new mobo, which means you will have to get new memory as it is extremely difficult to find a mobo now that supports PC 133 or older memory. That is why I said processor first and memory second.

As to how much of an increase that depends on the processor and memory combination, as you can see by harleys systems he has a high spec and so his will work faster, I have and Athlon XP 2000+, 512 PC2700 memory, Asus A7V8X-MX mobo, and as I said it can take a while for my PC to encode.