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

[phoronix]

Phoronix: 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...

http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Intel-Gen12-12-Bit-Decode

[HyperDrive]

Strange… I thought Gen12 would be the first to support hardware AV1 decoding, but I guess not.

[tildearrow]

4:4:4

Amazing!!!

AMD, why don't you catch up already? There is no excuse to not support 4:4:4 encode/decode today!
It's been several years.... NVIDIA did it in Maxwell, Intel in Ice Lake...

...and AMD? Never! Come on :<

VCE 1.0? Only 4:2:0. OK, that's fine though...
VCE 2.0? 4:4:4 but only for I-frames and not all cards support it.
VCE 3.0? Nope, just 4:2:0
VCE 4.0? Nothing new here
...
VCN 1.0/2.0? Blegh


Furthermore, not only that, also they have been slacking off with every new generation.
Here are some examples:
- VCE 3.0 added H.265 encoding/decoding support but they removed H.264 B-frames support in the encoder.
- VCE 3.1 made the H.264 encoder slower for no reason!
- VCE 3.4 made the H.264 encoder slower again
NVIDIA and Intel never made such sacrifices before!!

[HyperDrive]

4:4:4 chroma subsampling

At 4:4:4, by definition, you are not subsampling.

[tildearrow]

At 4:4:4, by definition, you are not subsampling.

Yes, I know 4:4:4 is not actually subsampling.
It just feels weird to just call it "4:4:4".

[mikkl]

Strange… I thought Gen12 would be the first to support hardware AV1 decoding, but I guess not.

Gen12LP not Gen12 in general. There are AV1 encode/decode strings in the windows driver but most are directed to DG2 which is based on Gen12HP.

[ksec]

No AV1 support. This is great.

[Marc Driftmeyer]

And people think HEVC is not going to be everywhere? Think again.

[CommunityMember]

Strange… I thought Gen12 would be the first to support hardware AV1 decoding, but I guess not.

Timing is everything. You don't do fixed function hardware until the bitstream is finalized, and then it typically takes 18-24 months for products to become available. The first available Gen12 devices could easily have gone either way based on the exact timings and priorities for refinement in the entire Gen12 architecture. And while I want it all, and I want it now, and I want it free, sometimes that is not to be.

[Guest]

And people think HEVC is not going to be everywhere? Think again.

It's been 6-7 years since HEVC launched. Only Apple uses it for many things. It's also sometimes used for image and video recording on some Android devices.

Otherwise no one else uses it. Netflix uses VP9 in production, and is already experimenting with AV1. Hotstar has started to use VP9.

Everyone else is sitting on H.264 and hasn't bothered with H.265.

They're all jumping straight to AV1 (hardware decoders that support upto 8K are already being worked on).