Video Coding Engine: Difference between revisions

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{{Short description|AMD hardware accelerator for encoding MP4 H.264 videos, built into AMD GPU's}}

'''Video Code Engine''' ('''VCE''', was earlier referred to as '''Video Coding Engine''',<ref name="amd-introducing"/> '''Video Compression Engine'''<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.amd.com/en/media/43876/download {{Bare URL inline|datetitle=AprilProduct 2022brief|website=amd.com}}</ref> or '''Video Codec Engine'''<ref>{{cite web|url=https://subscriptions.amd.com/newsletters/channelnews/pdf_guides/51884i_update_to_the_qrg_october2014.pdf {{Bare URL PDF|datetitle=March 2022Updates|website=amd.com}}</ref> in official AMD documentation) is [[Advanced Micro Devices|AMD's]] [[video encoding]] [[application-specific integrated circuit]] implementing the [[video codec]] [[H.264/MPEG-4 AVC]]. Since 2012 it was integrated into all of their [[List of AMD graphics processing units|GPUs]] and [[List of AMD Acceleratedaccelerated Processingprocessing Unitunits|APUs]] except Oland.

Video Coding EngineVCE was introduced with the [[Radeon HD 7000 Seriesseries]] on 22 December 2011.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.amd.com/Documents/UVD3_whitepaper.pdf |title=White Paper AMD UnifiedVideoDecoder (UVD) |date=2012-06-15 |access-date=2017-05-20}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.anandtech.com/show/5261/amd-radeon-hd-7970-review/9 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120107150652/http://www.anandtech.com/show/5261/amd-radeon-hd-7970-review/9 |url-status=dead |archive-date=January 7, 2012 |title=AnandTech Portal &#124; AMD Radeon HD 7970 Review: 28nm And Graphics Core Next, Together As One |publisher=Anandtech.com |access-date=2014-03-27}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://techreport.com/review/22192/amd-radeon-hd-7970-graphics-processor/5 |title=AMD's Radeon HD 7970 graphics processor - The Tech Report - Page 5 |date=3 January 2012 |publisher=The Tech Report |access-date=2014-03-27}}</ref> VCE occupies a considerable amount of the [[die (integrated circuit)|die]] surface at the time of its introduction<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.abload.de/img/llano-blockdiagramm-95qhq1.jpg |title=AMD A-Series APU block diagram |date=2011-06-30 |access-date=2015-01-22 }}{{Dead link|date=August 2025 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> and is not to be confused with AMD's [[Unified Video Decoder]] (UVD).

As of [[AMD Raven Ridge]] (released January 2018), UVD and VCE waswere succeeded by [[Video Core Next]] (VCN).

==Overview==

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The handling of video data involves computation of [[data compression]] algorithms and possibly of [[video processing]] algorithms. As the template [[Template:Compression methods|compression methods]] shows, lossy video compression algorithms involve the steps: [[motion compensation|motion estimation]] (ME), [[discrete cosine transform]] (DCT), and [[entropy encoding]] (EC).

AMD Video Code Engine (VCE) is a full hardware implementation of the video codec H.264/MPEG-4 AVC. It is capable of delivering 1080p at 60 frames/sec. Because its entropy encoding block is also a separately accessible Video Codec Engine, it can be operated in two modes: full-fixed mode and hybrid mode.<ref name="AnandTech">{{cite web |url=https://www.anandtech.com/show/5261/amd-radeon-hd-7970-review/9 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120107150652/http://www.anandtech.com/show/5261/amd-radeon-hd-7970-review/9 |url-status=dead |archive-date=January 7, 2012 |title=Video & Movies: The Video Codec Engine, UVD3, & Steady Video 2.0 |publisher=[[AnandTech]] |date=December 22, 2011 |access-date=2017-05-20}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.amd.com/en-us/products/graphics/desktop/oem/8900 |title=Radeon HD 8900 Specs |publisher=AMD |access-date=2016-07-18}}</ref>

By employing [[AMD APP SDK]], available for Linux and Microsoft Windows, developers can create hybrid encoders that pair custom motion estimation, inverse discrete cosine transform and motion compensation with the hardware entropy encoding to achieve faster than real-time encoding. In hybrid mode, only the entropy encoding block of the VCE unit is used, while the remaining computation is offloaded to the 3D engine of the GPU, so the computing scales with the number of available compute units (CUs).

==={{Anchor|1.0|DEM}}VCE 1.0===

As of April 2014, there are two versions of VCE.<ref name="amd-introducing">{{cite web |url=http://developer.amd.com/community/blog/2014/02/19/introducing-video-coding-engine-vce/ |title=ArchivedIntroducing the Video Coding Engine (VCE) - copyAMD |website=developer.amd.com |access-date=15 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160604071338/http://developer.amd.com/community/blog/2014/02/19/introducing-video-coding-engine-vce/ |archive-date=4 June 2016 |url-status=dead}}</ref> Version 1.0 supports H.264 YUV420 (I & P frames), H.264 SVC Temporal Encode VCE, and ''Display Encode Mode'' (DEM).

It can be found on:

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** Mobile Radeon R9 M385, M385X

** Mobile Radeon R9 M470, M470X

** FirePro cardsW4300, withW5100, 2ndW8100, GenerationW9100, GCNS9100, (GCN2)S9150, S9170

** Mobile FirePro M6100, W6150M, W6170M

==={{Anchor|3.0}}VCE 3.0===

Video Code Engine 3.0 (VCE&nbsp;3.0) technology features a new high-quality video scaling and - since version 3.4 - [[High Efficiency Video Coding]] (HEVC/H.265).<ref>{{cite web | title=Mailing Lists | website=lists.freedesktop.org | date=4 June 2015 | url=https://lists.freedesktop.org/archives/dri-devel/2015-June/084083.html [pull]| amdgpu drmaccess-next-4date=25 September 2023}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://github.2com/rigaya/VCEEnc|title=VCEEnc|date=June 10, 2023|via=GitHub}}</ref>

It, together with [[Unified Video Decoder|UVD]] 6.0, can be found on 3rd generation of Graphics Core Next (GCN3) with "Tonga", "Fiji", "Iceland", and "CarrizoFiji" (VCE 3.10) based graphics controller hardware, which is now used [[AMD Radeon Rx 300 Seriesseries]] (Pirate Islands GPU family) and VCE 3.4 by actual [[AMD Radeon Rx 400 Seriesseries]] and [[AMD Radeon 500 Seriesseries]] (both Polaris GPU family).

* Tonga: Radeon R9 285, 380, 380X; Mobile Radeon R9 M390X, M395, M395X, M485X

* Tonga XT: FirePro W7100, S7100X, S7150, S7150 X2

* Fiji: Radeon R9 Fury, Fury X, Nano; Radeon Pro Duo (2016); FirePro S9300, W7170M; Instinct MI8

* Polaris: RX 460, 470, 480; RX 550, 560, 570, 580; Radeon Pro Duo (2017)

AMD's [[List_of_AMD_accelerated_processing_units#"Carrizo"_(2016)|Carrizo]] platform features VCE 3.1, retaining the same capabilities as the VCE found in "Fiji" and "Tonga".<ref>{{cite web | title=AMDGPU (vi.c) | url=https://github.com/ROCm/ROCK-Kernel-Driver/blob/master/drivers/gpu/drm/amd/amdgpu/vi.c#L282-L289|website=GitHub}}</ref>

[[List_of_AMD_accelerated_processing_unit_microprocessors#"Stoney_Ridge"_(2016)|Stoney Ridge]] features a cut down version of VCE 3.4 without HEVC/H.265 encoding and is accompanied by a UVD 6.2 engine.<ref>{{cite web | title=AMDGPU (vi.c) | url=https://github.com/ROCm/ROCK-Kernel-Driver/blob/55cf32d54948f98f1cc6d6b3fdc05b32fab9b3f0/drivers/gpu/drm/amd/amdgpu/vi.c#L2153-L2169|website=GitHub}}</ref>

VCE 3.0 removes support for H.264 B-frames.<ref>{{cite web |title=Video Encode API: BFrames not supported on RX 4xx? · Issue #8 · GPUOpen-LibrariesAndSDKs/AMF |url=https://github.com/GPUOpen-LibrariesAndSDKs/AMF/issues/8 |website=GitHub |language=en}}</ref>

==={{Anchor|4.0}}VCE 4.0===

The Video Code Engine&nbsp;4.0 encoder and UVD&nbsp;7.0 decoder are included in the Vega-based GPUs.<ref name='TR_vega'"TR_vega_patch" /><ref>{{cite news |last1=Larabel |first1=Michael |title=AMD Sends Out 100 Patches, Enabling Vega Support In AMDGPU DRM |url=https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=AMDGPU-Vega-10-Support |access-date=25 August 2017 |publisher=Phoronix |date=20 March 2017}}</ref>

====VCE 4.1====

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==Operating system support==

The VCE SIP core needs to be supported by the [[device driver]]. The device driver provides one or multiple [[Application programming interface|interfaces]], e. g. [[OpenMAX IL]]. One of these interfaces is then used by end-user software, like [[GStreamer]] or [[HandBrake]] (HandBrake rejected VCE support in December 2016,<ref>{{cite web |url=https://github.com/HandBrake/HandBrake/pull/88 |title=HandBrake rejected VCE pull request |website=[[GitHub]] |date=2016-12-08 |access-date=2017-08-15}}</ref> but added it in December 2018<ref name="Handbrake">{{cite web |url=https://forum.handbrake.fr/viewtopic.php?f=33&t=38539#p181659 |title=HandBrake added VCE support in v1.2.0 |date=2018-12-22 |access-date=2018-12-31 |archive-date=2022-03-04 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220304141623/https://forum.handbrake.fr/viewtopic.php?f=33&t=38539#p181659 |url-status=dead }}</ref>), to access the VCE hardware and make use of it.

AMD's [[proprietary software|proprietary]] device driver [[AMD Catalyst]] is available for multiple operating systems and support for VCE was added to it{{citation needed|date=June 2014}}. Additionally, a [[free and open-source graphics device driver#ATI/AMD|free device driver]] is available. This driver also supports the VCE hardware.

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===Windows===

The software "MediaShow Espresso Video Transcoding" seems to utilize VCE and UVD to the fullest extent possible.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/amd_a8_7600_apu_review,13.html |title=MediaShow Espresso Video Transcoding Benchmark |date=2014-01-14 |access-date=2017-05-20 |archive-date=2022-03-04 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220304141613/https://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/amd_a8_7600_apu_review,13.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>

[[XSplit Broadcaster]] supports VCE from version 1.3.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.splitmedialabs.com/news/109-splitmedialabs-releases-xsplit-gamecaster-and-updates-xsplit-broadcaster-13 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20140722041719/http://www.splitmedialabs.com/news/109-splitmedialabs-releases-xsplit-gamecaster-and-updates-xsplit-broadcaster-13 |url-status=dead |archive-date=2014-07-22 |title=XSplit Broadcaster 1.3 maintenance update includes mainly performance enhancements and maintenance fixes including such noteworthy features such as support for AMD's VCE H.264 hardware encoder}}</ref>

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==See also==

=== Video hardware technologies ===

==== AMD ====

* [[Video Core Next]] - [[Advanced Micro Devices|AMD]]

* Video Coding Engine - [[Advanced Micro Devices|AMD]]

* [[Unified Video Decoder]] - [[Advanced Micro Devices|AMD]]

* [[Video Shader]] - [[ATI Technologies|ATI]]

==== Others ====

* [[Intel Quick Sync Video]] – Intel's equivalent SIP core

* [[Nvidia NVENC]] – Nvidia's equivalent SIP core

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[[Category:Video acceleration]]

[[Category:Advanced Micro DevicesAMD IP cores]]

[[Category:Video compression and decompression ASIC]]