Video Coding Engine: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 08:00, 9 July 2025

Revision as of 06:01, 6 August 2025

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'''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|title=Product brief|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 |title=Updates|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 accelerated processing units|APUs]] except Oland.

VCE 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 |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}}</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 were succeeded by [[Video Core Next]] (VCN).

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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).