Very low framerate when creating DCP (SOLVED)

[KrisSP]

Hey guys,

Sorry if this question has been asked before, I couldn't find anything by search.

I'm pretty new with DCP-O-Matic, but I seem to be getting suspiciously low fps when I'm creating a DCP.

I have a Blu-Ray I have ripped to a .mkv, which I now try to convert to a DCP. I have a HP z600 with dual X5650 CPUs and 12GB RAM, and hyper-threading turned on. I've set DCP-O-Matic to use (all) 24 threads.

I'm seeing only 3–4 fps, putting a 2h film at around 13h to convert. When I look at the activity monitor, CPU activity is (naturally) constantly hovering around 100%, but the RAM load is only 25–30%.

Is there any obvious settings I'm missing, or another typical error to check for?

I'm not sure exactly what kind of fps I should expect, but I guess it sure should be higher than this …

[Carsten]

I have seen long conversion times when an MKV contained certain audio codecs. You could try to benchmark e.g. with the Sintel 5.1 trailer.

For a dual 5650, see here:


http://dcpomatic.com/benchmarks/input.php?id=1

(and that is for a very old version 1.77, which significant speed improvements since DOM 2.7x)

Are you sure there is nothing else consuming CPU time on that machine?

What resolution is your footage, and I assume you are doing 2k DCPs?

- Carsten

[KrisSP]

Thanks Carsten,

Yes, doing a benchmark is good. Is this the correct link to the trailer used in the benchmark?
https://durian.blender.org/download/

(Btw, I see the x5650 benchmark is done with 32 threads – shouldn't it be max 24?)

There is nothing else running on the computer while converting. And I'm doing a 2K DCP.

I will also try with a couple of other films (and non-BR-rips) to see if it turns out differently.
What kind of frame rate should I reasonably expect?

One other unrelated thing. The Blu-Ray I ripped by default has black bars on the sides (as it is of course 16:9). Is it a good idea to scale it to full width, or is it better not to, for image quality?

[Carsten]

Hi Kris,


back in the days of 1.x until 2.7x, the code was not optimized as it is now, so you had to configure more threads to max out the machine. Since 2.7x, configuring the number of encoding threads to the same number of available hardware threads will give 100% on all logical cores.

The official benchmark file is: http://peach.themazzone.com/durian/movi ... rround.mp4


The scaling thing for 1920 sources - there is no clear recommendation. When I do a scope DCP from a 1920 source that will be shown at our house only, I do not scale, because I am old-school and avoid scaling if possible - and because I have presets on our projector to fill the screen/adjust the masking to that 'ScopeInHD' format.

If the DCP is meant for a general release, I would scale it to 2048, because you can't expect other cinemas to have those presets, and you still want them to have a proper presentation, whatever their masking system may be. So, if it is a scope movie, it should fill the full scope 2048 width.
The scaling in DOM is certainly good enough to not see artifacts with typical material. So, I wouldn't be too concerned about this. As I said, I'm just old-school.

- Carsten

[KrisSP]

My framerate seems to hover quite consistently around 4fps, but it seems something with my CPU setup is wrong. I'm starting to think that only one of the two CPUs is actually. And, on top of that, I'm unsure if I have all logical cores available that I should on the one that runs.

When I run the MsConfig and go to Boot > Advanced, I get up to 6 "processors" in the list. When I run the Device Manager, it lists that I have an x5650, but it reports 3 cores (6 logical). But shouldn't even one CPU be twice that? I have hyperthreading activated in BIOS.
https://ark.intel.com/products/47922/In ... -Intel-QPI
(Maybe I'm just not understanding the numbers right, and I'm comparing apples and oranges)

But anyways, from what I can understand, the second processor doesn't seem to be running at all. I can't find any option to activate it in BIOS, or is that done from Windows?

[Carsten]

Please post a screenshot from task manager -> Performance. You should see 24 individual logical cores there if everything is right with your system.

What do you see in the BIOS here?

C_UsersOwnerPicturesiCloud PhotosDownloadsIMG_9493_zpsxiqirywa.jpg (129.38 KiB) Viewed 11142 times

- Carsten

[KrisSP]

Sorry the slow reply, I was travelling. Thanks again – here are some screenshots, in case you have further ideas!

My BIOS looks like this:

IMG_8094.JPG (252.41 KiB) Viewed 11107 times

Ant then my task manager looks like this (only 6 logical cores):

IMG_8095.JPG (230.23 KiB) Viewed 11107 times

Kris

[Carsten]

Pffff... now that is weird... the machine should show 24 logical CPUs, but only displays 6 in task manager, and that is what DOM will use max. I don't have access to my z600 currently, but can you check BIOS options to enable HyperThreading?

If BIOS settings can't fix it, I can only assume that the windows installation went wrong. I would assume that Google will reveal possible reasons for this.

What exact version of windows are you running? As far as I know, WIN7 Home will not support Dual CPU systems.

This viewtopic.php?f=2&t=865&start=20#p3094 seems to suggest you are in fact running WIN7 Home.

Now, with Hyperthreading, there should still 12 logical cores being shown. Maybe try this: http://windows7themes.net/en-us/how-to- ... windows-7/

https://www.sevenforums.com/performance ... ading.html

Also, more descriptive: https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/win ... e=5&auth=1

So, you may be able to get 12 logical cores if you manage to enable HT, but in order to enable the second CPU, you need to install a Pro Version of WIN7.


BTW - your BIOS screenshot seems to suggest you use 2*4GB RAM on the first bank, but only 1*4GB in the second bank (D2:0). I may be wrong, but this may cause problems.

- Carsten

[KrisSP]

Thanks! I will try this suggestions. HyperThreading should be activated. But the Win7 is indeed the Home version. My license is for Pro, but I couldn't for the life of me find an image to download of Win7 Professional. I will try the upgrade option others have suggested here, but I need to get the computer online first.

I'll give all these things a shot and report back. Thanks a million for all help!

[Anders M Olsson]

If you have a license key for Windows 7 Professional, you can download the Media Creation Tool from Microsoft and use it to create the installation disc for Windows 10 Professional.

https://www.microsoft.com/software-download/windows10

It's usually no problem to install and activate Windows 10 with a Windows 7 license key (unless it's a "Volume License Key"). If your license key is on an original Microsoft label on the computer, you should be good to go.