I have to ask - PC and Software

[Phoenix Drone]

I currently use an ASUS G75: i7-3610QM 4 core 2.30 GHz, 16GB ram, Samsung SSD, nVidia GeForce GTX 660M 2GB GPU. I want to smoothly edit H.265 at full frame rates. This was a screaming machine in it's day and expensive, but it's studders and is unacceptable. Using CyberLink PowerDirector 17 (64-bit) - and can do better there too.

I am looking at many reviews and wanted to ask what you are using. I am looking for a PC notebook (I know MACs are great for this but prefer a PC). What are you using. Also what S/W do you prefer? I need a new system and editing software. Do you use any from this list The Best Video Editing Software of 2018

Thanks, Greg

 

[IShouldBeWorking]

I just got a Mavic 2 Pro and I've been doing some research on this same topic. I"m looking to replace an aging laptop that doesn't handle h.265 well. From what I've read, having a processor that can hardware decode h.265 / HEVC is the key. Intel processors started supporting it in the 6th gen Core chips. My laptop has a 4th gen. Current machines are mostly sporting 8th gen ones. So they should do a nice job of working with h.265's, regardless of your preferred software. I've been considering a Dell XPS 15 on the Windows side. Might be worth a look.

 

[Mrmund]

I upgraded to a Dell XPS 15, works great with Premier pro

 

[Mossiback]

I am not familiar with H.265, but you may only need to upgrade your video card. The specs on the editing software should tell you what is needed.

 

[simonr23]

This is a can of worms!

I have a great gaming machine, but h265 kills it.

I don’t know heaps yet, but apparently this format/codec is heavily cpu dependent.

I have a 8700k @ 4.8ghz(all 6 cores), 32gb ram, rtx2080, and running on a nvme drive.

If I want to export/save a file, from raw 10bit footage on my m2, the original 4gb clip(5mins) of raw footage, just colour graded, it takes a calculated 3-4hrs(haven’t bothered to complete yet) to process at premier pro cc’s Highest settings.

It can go down to about 10mins if I use the default settings(4gb down to about 200mb)

Either way, my pc is running at 95-100% cpu utilisation and gets hot. Hotter than prime95 stress tests(if that helps anyone) the pc is almost unresponsive while doing its thing

Actual workflow is fairly smooth and responsive at least. Until theres audio/effect tracks anyway.

 

[CanadaDrone]

If you want everything to be butter smooth and as fast as possible, you are going to need a desktop. Generally speaking, video encoding likes lots of cores/threads, and that is not something you can get in your average laptop. 4K video editing is quite an intensive task. Even the most powerful laptops aren't very powerful these days, and heat is such an issue that almost all of them throttle under load unless you go with a bulky gaming laptop where cooling is prioritized.

If you want hardware decoding of H265 you need at least Kaby Lake architecture from Intel for 10bit or Skylake for 8bit. As for Nvidia's GPUs, here is their support matrix:

Video Encode and Decode GPU Support Matrix

If you need to stick with a laptop, wait just a little bit longer for the Nvidia 2XXX mobile GPUs to make their rounds which is rumored to be happening as early as CES in January. Whatever DELL updates the XPS 15 to will almost certainly be the best bang for your buck.

For software, personally speaking I like LumaFusion (iPad) and DaVinci Resolve for PC.

Rumor has it AMD's CES announcements for Ryzen 3000 will include a 16c/32t SKU with XFR up to 5.1GHz for $499.

Whatever you do I'd at least wait until CES is over to see where the dust settles.

Also, there is nothing special at all about Macs when it comes to video editing - almost all the parts are off the shelf from Intel, AMD, Samsung/Toshiba, etc. About the only thing they do different is throttle faster because they are built so thin haha, and they do not offer matte displays for critical color/graphics work. Their performance ceiling is also much lower.