x264 and Intel's Media Engine / Sandy Bridge

[iwod]

Hey dude, my new Intel computer encodes my new Dora episodes at wicked speeds.

That is exactly my point, my new Intel Computer would encode my new Dora episodes WITH or WITHOUT the hardware encoder at wicked speeds!!!!!

I seriously hope the final version of Sandy Bridge hardware encoder will be much faster then what is currently being tested.

[aegisofrime]

Originally Posted by Sharktooth

Avivo is different. it uses GPU acceleration... it's not just some silicon stuffed into the CPU.

From what I read and from my own experience with my Radeon 4870, it doesn't use the GPU. It's just a H.264 encoder that uses the CPU, the reason why it's somewhat fast is because it turns off all quality features.

There are plenty of reviews of it, and you will find that the quality it produces is downright awful, perhaps the worst of all H.264 encoders out there.

[Audionut]

Originally Posted by Sharktooth

Avivo is different. it uses GPU acceleration...

No it doesn't.

Originally Posted by iwod

That is exactly my point, my new Intel Computer would encode my new Dora episodes WITH or WITHOUT the hardware encoder at wicked speeds!!!!!

Yeah, most people on this board know that. But with the right marketing, I'm sure there are thousands of people who buy it thinking it's the best and fastest encoder based on the media encoder component.

[jpl]

I think the intended benefit of Media Engine is reduced power consumption. It may be the same speed as the CPU running flat out at max speed, but the hardware encoder will use much less power.

This would be most beneficial for mobile devices when running on battery.

[Sharktooth]

Originally Posted by Audionut

No it doesn't.

proof please.

from this SS avivo WORKS using the GPU (GPU usage ~20% on a 4870).
your statement is simply not true: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ATI_Avi...ideo_Converter

Edit: Btw, a software solution is different than a hardware solution. SandyBridge's media engine is crappy and you have it in your CPU. No possibilities to improve it unless a new silicon... Avivo is a software using GPU HW and can be improved anytime.

[mariush]

I remember reading somewhere (don't ask me, in the driver release notes or somewhere) AVIVO only uses GPU to accelerate DECODING of some content - MPEG 2 in particular and possibly VC-1 too. It does not use the GPU at the actual encoding process.

[Sharktooth]

that's on unsupported GPUs. the screenshot is self explanatory. you wont see any GPU usage from decoding a video source since decoding uses a dedicated silicon (UVD) not the GPU.
if you want to try the latest xcode (avivo converter) get it here: http://www.atizone.it/download?object=file&objid=8450
it needs catalyst 10.9 and a recent ati card though.

[mariush]

Well, with my 4850 (which should be supported, don't you agree?), the only place I can see some GPU acceleration is when transcoding a VOB (720x480) to the MPEG-2 profile:



You can see the gray line was at 0% all the time I tried MP4 1080p to MP4 720p, to MPEG2 720p and then went up to 15% gpu and increased gpu processor frequency when I started the VOB to MPEG-2 process.

This video converter is super crappy anyway - it reloads the video each time you go from one tab to another and each time you move the slider (I have about 20 Haali splitter icons in the system tray now - i'll have to kill the ccc process to get rid of them ) and is overall not so optimized.

[Sharktooth]

i didnt say it was any good...
however i dont know it 4850 is supported and i dont even know if the software makes choices depending on the CPU model/frequencies.
what i know is it is developed using stream sdk and "sometimes" it uses GPU acceleration and those cases were different with different xcode versions.

[Caroliano]

There is one thing that this hardware encoder will definitely bet by far x264: fps and quality per watt. Maybe a good thing for laptops. Other than that, seems like a little waste of 3mm^2 of silicon.

[Sharktooth]

encoding with a laptop... anyone that buys a laptop for encoding is insane...
OTOH x264 could deliver better performance and quality on a laptop too.

[Audionut]

Originally Posted by Sharktooth

proof please.

Originally Posted by Sharktooth

No, it's not in hardware since there is a "cracked" avivio encoder that runs on EVERY video card...

Originally Posted by Sharktooth

from this SS avivo WORKS using the GPU (GPU usage ~20% on a 4870).

Originally Posted by williedigital

the transcode acceleration will not be ready by that time. ATI has committed to delivering the transcode acceleration by the end of this year,

Nice to see that in 5 years they've managed to get the GPU usage to 20%.

And here we have speculation that it is from decoding, not encoding. Can you prove that 20% is being used to encode!

[Sharktooth]

as i said it's developed using stream sdk. also, UVD usage (that's the silicon used for decoding) is not measured in the GPU usage since it's a standalone unit.

[Caroliano]

Originally Posted by Sharktooth

encoding with a laptop... anyone that buys a laptop for encoding is insane...
OTOH x264 could deliver better performance and quality on a laptop too.

You don't need to "buy it for encoding" to encode in it. And I said performance and quality PER WATT. In a laptop this can mean how many hours you can encode on one charge, as a benchmark.

[Didée]

Some days ago...

Originally Posted by Didée

CPU: Intel i7-860
GPU: GeForce GT240

Source: 1280x720@50fps, Avi/Huffyuv


CUDA @ default / --bitrate 4150: 94 fps

x264_x64 --preset superfast: 101 fps

Results: LINK (~13MB, MediaFire)

With GPU/Hardware encoding becoming more popular, the world will be flooded with bad quality videos.

[iwod]

Originally Posted by Sharktooth

encoding with a laptop... anyone that buys a laptop for encoding is insane...
OTOH x264 could deliver better performance and quality on a laptop too.

Well, you can now finally drag all kinds of Video into iPhone and the Hardware encoder will do the transcoding for you at decent speed ( i wouldn't say very fast unless it is 1000fps + ) .

Even at 450 fps, 120 Min Video would still takes 6 min..... not including the time to transfer that file to iPhone........

[deekey777]

Originally Posted by aegisofrime

From what I read and from my own experience with my Radeon 4870, it doesn't use the GPU. It's just a H.264 encoder that uses the CPU, the reason why it's somewhat fast is because it turns off all quality features.

Try this one:
http://www.cyberlink.com/downloads/t...oad_en_US.html
Your HD4870 will encode videos to H.264 (eg for PS3) or MPEG2. And if you enable video decoding over GPU, your HD4870 will encode with UVD clocks.

There are plenty of reviews of it, and you will find that the quality it produces is downright awful, perhaps the worst of all H.264 encoders out there.

I've played with the MSE several times: You get the best result, when MSE lets the graphics card decode the video and the CPU encode it. For me (HD4850&Q6600) it was the best way: Same speed and much better quality.

(But MSE is still piece of s...)

[bsoft]

(Sorry to reopen a dormant thread, but SB is shipping soon so this will affect a lot of people)

Anyone who's comparing the performance of the Intel Sandy Bridge media engine to x264 is missing the point. The SB media engine is not really about permanent transcoding.

You're going to get better results with a software encoder. Always. Hardware is harder to implement and there are real cost/power constraints that x264 doesn't have to face because it can always just use more time.

SB's H.264 encoder is good where low CPU usage is more important than high bitrate efficiency. Want to stream your StarCraft II matches without stealing CPU time from the game? Want to stream to your DLNA TV or WiDi device without killing your battery? Want to watch a recorded program on your smartphone or tablet without sucking down 100W from the wall?

For these uses, how fast the SB streaming engine is doesn't matter - as long as it's at least realtime. Hell, in the LAN cases how efficient it is doesn't matter much either, since you can always throw more bitrate at the problem.

No matter how good x264 is you can't get away from the fact that it keeps the CPU busy. Busy CPUs mean crappy battery life. Busy CPUs mean that there are less cycles for other tasks.

Does the prospect of being able to screencast to my TV with near-zero CPU load interest me? You bet it does.

[Dark Shikari]

Originally Posted by bsoft

(Sorry to reopen a dormant thread, but SB is shipping soon so this will affect a lot of people)

AFAIK, the Sandy Bridge shipping in January will not have the transcoding engine. You're going to be waiting quite a while.

[aegisofrime]

Originally Posted by Dark Shikari

AFAIK, the Sandy Bridge shipping in January will not have the transcoding engine. You're going to be waiting quite a while.

May I ask where you heard that from? I have not seen anything saying that on the usual tech news sites.