TechNote (Archived)

Optimize Windows XP for Adobe Premiere Pro 2.0

What's covered

Minimum system requirements

Optimize Windows XP for Adobe Premiere Pro 2.0

Minimum system requirements

Before you begin optimizing your system, be sure that it meets the minimum system requirements for Adobe Premiere Pro 2.0.

1. Make sure that the system meets the requirements for Adobe Premiere Pro 2.0.

The system requirements for Adobe Premiere Pro 2.0 vary depending upon the type of media with which you work. For example, if you work with low resolution media--that is, still images or audio files from your computer that you're outputting to CD-ROM or to the Web--you need less processing speed and memory than if you work with digital video. Some issues, such as poor playback of video or audio, can be the effects of not having enough RAM or processing speed in your system.

Make sure that the system also meets the requirements for the capture card you use. For details, contact the capture card manufacturer.

Minimum system requirements for Adobe Premiere Pro 2.0:

- Intel Pentium 4 1.4GHz processor for DV (Pentium 4 3GHz processor supporting Hyper-Threading Technology for HDV; dual Intel Xeon

2.8GHz processors for HD)

- Motherboard and CPU support for SSE2 (Streaming SIMD Extensions 2)

- Microsoft Windows XP Professional or Home Edition with Service Pack 2

- 512MB of RAM for DV; 2GB of RAM for HDV and HD

- 800 MB of available hard-disk space for installation

- 6GB of available hard-disk space for content

- Dedicated 7,200RPM hard drive for DV and HDV editing; striped disk array storage (RAID 0) for HD

- Microsoft DirectX-compatible sound card (multi-channel ASIO-compatible sound card for surround sound support recommended)

- DVD-ROM drive required for installation

- DVD +-R burner required for DVD creation

- 1,280x1,024 video display with 32-bit color adapter

- OHCI-compatible IEEE 1394 video interface card for DV and HDV (AJA Xena HS for HD)

- QuickTime 6.5 required to import/export QuickTime files

- For third-party capture cards: Adobe Premiere Pro certified capture card

- Internet or phone connection required for product activation

Note: The following CPUs do not have SSE2 support and will not work with Adobe Premiere Pro 2.0: Intel Pentium III, AMD Athlon/ Athlon XP/ Athlon XP-M

Note: Adobe doesn't recommend FireWire disk drives for use with Adobe Premiere Pro 2.0.

Optimize Windows XP for Adobe Premiere Pro 2.0

Optimizing Microsoft Windows XP can eliminate compatibility problems that interfere with video editing. To optimize Windows XP for Adobe Premiere Pro 2.0, work through the tasks in this section. To further eliminate problems, simplify the system to include only those components necessary for editing video.

2. Check hard disk speed.

To check the hard disk speed--and determine if it's fast enough to capture DV without dropping frames--test with a third-party hard disk utility, such as TCD Labs HDTach or Canopus EZDVtest.

Note: Before running a speed test on your hard disk, we recommend that you defragment your hard drive. For instructions, refer to your Windows documentation.

If you work with analog or Hi-definition (HD) video, contact the manufacturer of the capture card for hard disk speed requirements. If you work with DV video (IEEE 1394), Adobe Premiere Pro 2.0 requires a hard disk that can sustain a minimum data rate of 5 MB per second for smooth playback. If you work with HDV video, Adobe Premiere Pro 2.0 requires a hard disk that can sustain a data rate up to 20 MB per second (for best performance use a RAID array with two or more disks) for smooth playback.

In addition, disks should have a rotational speed of 7200 rpms or greater. As you save more content to the disk, access and transfer times to the disk increases and performance decreases. If you work with disks at near-capacity, add another hard disk or use a faster disk (for example, one with a speed of 10,000 rpms) to compensate for the decrease in performance.

If you use external drives, make sure that the cables can handle the drives' data rates and rotational speeds. Adobe recommends that you use large capacity UDMA 133 IDE/SATA or SCSI drives dedicated to video only. If you use an IDE disk drive for capturing video, see the next task in this document, "Optimize IDE disks." Adobe Premiere Pro 2.0 doesn't support multiple devices on a FireWire chain or multiple devices on a FireWire card.

3.Optimize IDE disks.

Windows XP enables Direct Memory Access (DMA) by default on most IDE devices. If DMA has been disabled, re-enable it to improve the transfer rate of IDE disks and prevent dropped frames and jerky video during capture and playback. For more information on DMA mode, visit the Microsoft Web site at http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/device/storage/IDE-DMA.mspx.

For further instructions on how to optimize IDE disks, refer to your Windows documentation.

4. Verify that device drivers are compatible with Windows XP.

Device drivers are files that allow Windows to communicate with devices such as capture cards, video display adapters, SCSI cards, and disk drives. Contact the device manufacturer to ensure that you have the latest driver for it.

For instructions on how to verify that device drivers are compatible with Windows XP, refer to your Windows documentation.

5. Optimize the video display.

Display options and hardware acceleration can conflict with capture card drivers, resulting in a system error, and screen savers can interrupt the flow of data when you capture video, causing dropped frames. In addition, display options use system resources, decreasing resources available to Adobe Premiere Pro 2.0.

Adobe Premiere Pro 2.0 works best with video cards that support Direct 3D. Video cards that don't support Direct 3D (and use GDI mode) may have performance issues that affect speed and make the video appear to have dropped frames.

For instructions on how to disable hardware acceleration in Windows XP or optimize display options, refer to your Windows documentation.

Important: If you have a Sony VAIO with DVGate Motion, don't disable video display acceleration; doing so may affect the overlay capabilities of the video display adapter.

6. Disable nonessential applications that load during startup.

Quit Premiere Pro and then remove any startup items and services that aren't related to your work in Premiere Pro.

To disable startup items and services:

1. Quit all applications.

2. Choose Start > Run, type msconfig in the Open box, and then click OK.

3. Click the Startup tab, and select Disable All.

4. Select startup items that are essential for your work (For example, any capture card related files or utilities. Contact your card's manufacturer for a list of required startup items). If you are unsure if an item is essential, leave it selected.

5. Click the Services tab, select Hide All Microsoft Services, and then select Disable All.

6. Click OK, and then restart Windows.

7. Right-click to close or disable any items in the Notification Area (called the System Tray in earlier versions of Windows).

Note: To reenable the startup items, perform steps 1-2 and select Normal Startup from the General tab.

7. Adjust the size of the virtual memory paging file.

Virtual memory enables the system to use hard-disk space to store information normally stored in RAM. Windows manages virtual memory using a paging file. To improve performance in Premiere Pro, adjust the size of the paging file to a maximum of twice the amount of installed RAM.

To adjust the size of the virtual memory paging file:

1. Log into the system as an administrator.

2. Quit all applications.

3. Choose Start > Settings > Control Panel, and then double-click System.

4. Select the Advanced tab; in the Performance section, select Settings, and then click the Advanced tab.

5. In the Virtual Memory section, click Change.

6. From the Drive list, select a hard disk that has available space equal to at least twice the amount of the installed RAM on the system. For example, if your computer has 1 GB of RAM, select a hard disk that has at least 2 GB of free space.

Note: To determine the amount of space available on a disk, click the drive letter in the Drive [Volume Label] section. The amount of space available is displayed in the Paging File Size For Selected Drive section.

7. In the Paging File Size For Selected Drive section, enter an Initial Size equal to the amount of RAM installed on the system plus 12 MB (i.e. 1036 for a system with 1 GB of RAM. 1 GB = 1024 MB)

8. In the Maximum Size box, enter a value equal to twice the amount of your computer's installed RAM.

9. Close the System Properties dialog box:

a. Click Set, and then click OK.

b. Click OK in the Performance Options dialog box

c. Click OK in the System Properties dialog box.

10. Click Yes in the System Settings Change dialog box to restart Windows.