4k HEVC HW encoding graphics card reviews?

[eoniverse]

I've been searching for information on the best options to use a new graphics card for hardware 4k encoding. I can't find any comparisons.

Would anyone be able to steer me in the right direction to make a choice?

I do not game and only wish to have fast transcoding ability to x265.

 

[IEC]

I would test for you using my AMD RX 480s, but it doesn't look like A's video converter supports hardware AMD h.265 or x265 yet. If you would like me to test using some other application that does have AMD hardware encoding support, I'd be happy to.

 

[eoniverse]

TY. Most kind. I know of no program to share. The lack of information in general is frustrating but fingers crossed that it'll be available shortly

 

[Bacon1]

Computerbase did some testing here: https://www.computerbase.de/2016-06...gramm-videos-abspielen-h265-codec-lav-filters

Not sure if that is what you are looking for, they have lots of other non-gaming tests on the other pages too.

 

[24601]

These kinds of casual hardware encoders are horrifically bad quality compared to proper CPU encoding.

These things aren't going to be used for anything other than people livestreaming.

 

[eoniverse]

These kinds of casual hardware encoders are horrifically bad quality compared to proper CPU encoding.

These things aren't going to be used for anything other than people livestreaming.

Interesting. Would you have any links to support that view?

I'm hoping that software developers would take advantage of the hardware to enhance the quality and speed of transcoding to HEVC.

The one site that I found that had a transcoding article used a GTX 260 with linux and the writer seems impressed. I'm a windows person so it didn't really pertain to what I want to see.

Basically a review showing quality ( subjective I know) vs various bitrates vs transcoded speed. How does a GTX260 handle transcoding HEVC vs. a GTX980 vs AMD etc etc.

 

[eoniverse]

Computerbase did some testing here: https://www.computerbase.de/2016-06...gramm-videos-abspielen-h265-codec-lav-filters

Not sure if that is what you are looking for, they have lots of other non-gaming tests on the other pages too.

Thank you for the link. Not quite the focus I am looking for.

 

[24601]

Interesting. Would you have any links to support that view?

I'm hoping that software developers would take advantage of the hardware to enhance the quality and speed of transcoding to HEVC.

The one site that I found that had a transcoding article used a GTX 260 with linux and the writer seems impressed. I'm a windows person so it didn't really pertain to what I want to see.

Basically a review showing quality ( subjective I know) vs various bitrates vs transcoded speed. How does a GTX260 handle transcoding HEVC vs. a GTX980 vs AMD etc etc.

If they have gotten significantly better in relation to CPU software encoding they would have put it into the reviewer's guides as doing an encoding test takes next to zero effort.

In this case, no news means it's probably the same or worse ratio of quality for casual hardware encoding and CPU software encoding.

You have to remember that the GPUs aren't actually utilizing the GPUs to do these tasks, they have dedicated units like ARM smartphones have for this with similar quality profiles between them.

 

[Viper GTS]

Interesting. Would you have any links to support that view?

I'm hoping that software developers would take advantage of the hardware to enhance the quality and speed of transcoding to HEVC.

The one site that I found that had a transcoding article used a GTX 260 with linux and the writer seems impressed. I'm a windows person so it didn't really pertain to what I want to see.

Basically a review showing quality ( subjective I know) vs various bitrates vs transcoded speed. How does a GTX260 handle transcoding HEVC vs. a GTX980 vs AMD etc etc.

Quality isn't all that subjective, and they really are terrible. They are certainly capable of great results (I have roughly 20 GPUs worth of Elemental deployed currently) but the consumer stuff sadly is garbage.

I'm not sure exactly why this is the case, perhaps just lack of development resources in the free/cheap segment. I would love for this to change.

Viper GTS

These kinds of casual hardware encoders are horrifically bad quality compared to proper CPU encoding.

These things aren't going to be used for anything other than people livestreaming.

Thank you for the link. Not quite the focus I am looking for.

 

[eoniverse]

If they have gotten significantly better in relation to CPU software encoding they would have put it into the reviewer's guides as doing an encoding test takes next to zero effort.

In this case, no news means it's probably the same or worse ratio of quality for casual hardware encoding and CPU software encoding.

You have to remember that the GPUs aren't actually utilizing the GPUs to do these tasks, they have dedicated units like ARM smartphones have for this with similar quality profiles between them.

Thanks for the explanation. I haven't had the need to follow graphics cards enhancements since the 8800GTS days. I'm a bit out of the loop.

Got excited to see scattered info claiming >400 FPS HEVC...and so began my thread hunt. Quality is almost everything. I know the speed issue will getvsolved. Was hoping the HW on these graphics cards was the answer.

 

[eoniverse]

Quality isn't all that subjective, and they really are terrible. They are certainly capable of great results (I have roughly 20 GPUs worth of Elemental deployed currently) but the consumer stuff sadly is garbage.

I'm not sure exactly why this is the case, perhaps just lack of development resources in the free/cheap segment. I would love for this to change.

Viper GTS

Pretty sure it's cause the money isn't there to develop it....or it's perceived to not be there.

I'm running a 5960x with multiple SSD's.....I know this is off topic slightly but any suggestions to maximize my ability to transcode x265? Either HW or software based?

 

[SViscusi]

Pretty sure it's cause the money isn't there to develop it....or it's perceived to not be there.

I'm running a 5960x with multiple SSD's.....I know this is off topic slightly but any suggestions to maximize my ability to transcode x265? Either HW or software based?

This site has some benchmarks.

 

[Elixer]

This site has some benchmarks.

That is for CPU, not GPU.

Still looking for someone to actually review the 480 and other cards that can do 4k H.265 encoding @ 60fps or better.
Seems, so far, you have to pay for H.265 encoding support on GPU.

http://bluesky23.yukishigure.com/en/AsVideoConv.html

This program is a video converter using AMD, Intel, NVIDIA and Microsoft Encoder, and it has the following features.

Hardware H.264 encode using AMD VCE (Video Codec Engine)
Hardware H.264 and H.265/HEVC encode using Intel QSV (Quick Sync Video)*1
Hardware H.264 and H.265/HEVC encode using NVIDIA NVENC*2
Software H.264 and H.265/HEVC encode*1

You need win 10 to do H.265 encoding for some reason... and, as you can see, they didn't update the AMD one for H.265 yet.

 

[ViRGE]

Quality isn't all that subjective, and they really are terrible. They are certainly capable of great results (I have roughly 20 GPUs worth of Elemental deployed currently) but the consumer stuff sadly is garbage.

I'm not sure exactly why this is the case, perhaps just lack of development resources in the free/cheap segment. I would love for this to change.

Viper GTS

Elemental is all software, isn't it? I don't think they're using the hardware encoder blocks found in GPUs...

 

[Viper GTS]

Elemental is all software, isn't it? I don't think they're using the hardware encoder blocks found in GPUs...

Software yes, but heavily accelerated by GPU. Up to four GPUs in a 1U chassis depending on model.

Viper GTS

 

[ViRGE]

Software yes, but heavily accelerated by GPU. Up to four GPUs in a 1U chassis depending on model.

Viper GTS

Well I mean they aren't using NVENC. They're doing it all in CPU + CUDA Cores.