Intel Gen12/Xe Graphics To Support 12-Bit HEVC/VP9 Decode

We are learning more about the media engine capabilities with the forthcoming Intel "Gen12" (Xe) Tiger Lake graphics.

The documentation for Intel's open-source media-driver that exposes VA-API capabilities on the Linux desktop was recently updated. That updated Intel VA-API Media Driver points to Intel Gen12 dropping VP8 video capabilities but expanding when it comes to 12-bit codec support.

Gen12/Tigerlake will be able to support encode and decode with HEVC/H.265 12-bit while just supporting decode for 12-bit 4:2:2 and 4:4:4. Also, Gen12 will support VP9 12-bit decode, including for VP9 12-bit 4:4:4. NVIDIA meanwhile has already been supporting 12-bit VP9 and HEVC since the Pascal GPUs.

The Intel Gen video encode/decode matrix can be found here.

Recent Intel driver work also confirms Gen12 supporting VP9 encoding up to 8K x 8K resolution.

Gen12 is also introducing a new HEVC Parallel HDCP Secure Encode feature intended for "secure content" situations.