Video editing and encoding

Windows Media Encoder x64 Edition Advanced Profile
We asked Windows Media Encoder to convert a gorgeous 1080-line WMV HD video clip into a 320x240 streaming format using the Windows Media Video 8 Advanced Profile codec.

Windows Media Encoder

Adobe Premiere

VideoWave Movie Creator

Video encoding is one case where wider multithreading is quite possible and common. The QX6700 takes the top spot in our Windows Media Encoder Advanced Profile test, outdoing the higher-clocked Core 2 Extreme X6800 by a small margin. Unfortunately, the three video editing applications that are part of WorldBench simply don't appear to use more than two threads.

To be fair, none of these tests is a prime example of the video encoding potential of a quad-core processor. I had hoped to include an additional video encoding test here, but time limits didn't permit it. We'll have to look into adding another codec, perhaps with H.264-class compression and HD source video, in a future review.