Video Coding Engine: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 15:54, 26 September 2021

Revision as of 23:23, 28 November 2021

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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>https://www.amd.com/en/media/43876/download</ref> or '''Video Codec Engine'''<ref>https://subscriptions.amd.com/newsletters/channelnews/pdf_guides/51884i_update_to_the_qrg_october2014.pdf</ref> in official AMD documentation) is [[Advanced Micro Devices|AMD's]] [[video encoding]] [[Applicationapplication-specific integrated circuit|ASIC]] implementing the [[video codec]] [[H.264/MPEG-4 AVC]]. Since 2012 it iswas integrated into all of their [[List of AMD graphics processing units|GPUs]] and [[AMD Accelerated Processing Unit|APUs]] except Oland.

Video Coding Engine was introduced with the [[Radeon HD 7000 Series]] 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 |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 |publisher=The Tech Report |access-date=2014-03-27}}</ref> VCE occupies a considerable amount of the [[die (integrated circuit)|die]] surface and is not to be confused with AMD's [[Unified Video Decoder]] (UVD).

As of [[AMD Raven Ridge|Raven Ridge]] (released January 2018), VCE has beenwas succeeded by [[Video Core Next|VCN]] (VCN).

==Overview==

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[[File:AMD VCE hybrid mode.svg|thumb|The entropy encoding block of the VCE ASIC is also separately accessible, enabling ''"hybrid mode"''. In ''"hybrid mode"'' most of the computation is done by the 3D engine of the GPU. Using [[AMD APP SDK|AMD's Accelerated Parallel Programming SDK]] and [[OpenCL]] 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.]]

The handling of video data involves computation of [[data compression]] algorithms and possibly of [[video processing]] algorithms. As the template [[Template:Compression methods|Compressioncompression methods]] shows, lossy video compression algorithms involve the steps: [[Motionmotion compensation|Motionmotion estimation]] (ME), [[Discretediscrete 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. The ASICIt 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 |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 ([[Graphics Core Next|GCN]]) of the GPU, so the computing scales with the number of available compute units (CUs).

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

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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 |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}}</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 has beenwas 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.

===Linux===

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{{Main|AMD Catalyst|Free and open-source graphics device driver#ATI/AMD|l1=AMD Catalyst for Linux|l2=Free Radeon driver}}

* Initial VCE support has beenwas added on 4 February 2014 by Christian König of AMD to the free radeon driver.<ref>{{cite mailing list |url=https://lists.freedesktop.org/archives/mesa-dev/2014-February/053203.html |title=initial VCE support |date=4 February 2014 |access-date=28 November 2015 |mailing-list=mesa-dev |last=König |first=Christian}}</ref>

* [[Gallium3D|Gallium3D state tracker]] for [[OpenMAX]] was added 24 October 2013 to [[Mesa 3D]].<ref>{{cite mailing list |url=https://lists.freedesktop.org/archives/mesa-dev/2013-October/046943.html |title=OpenMAX state tracker |date=24 October 2013 |access-date=28 November 2015 |mailing-list=mesa-dev |last=König |first=Christian}}</ref>

* The [[free and open-source graphics device driver#ATI/AMD|free and open-source Radeon driver]] has beenwas adapted to usinguse OpenMAX with the [[GStreamer]] OpenMAX (gst-omx) support for exposing the VCE video encode engine.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=MTU5MTc |title=AMD Open-Sources VCE Video Encode Engine Code |date=2014-02-04 |work=[[Phoronix]] |access-date=2017-05-20}}</ref>

* AMD employee Leo Liu implemented [[H.264/MPEG-4 AVC#Levels|h264 level support]] into the Mesa 3D state tracker.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://cgit.freedesktop.org/mesa/mesa/commit/?id=e2db7c10d63399b6a34ba5fa56ce9e1eac402416 |title=st/omx/enc: implement h264 level support |date=2014-06-12 |access-date=2017-05-20}}</ref>