Video Coding Engine Explained

Video Code Engine (VCE, was earlier referred to as Video Coding Engine, Video Compression Engine[1] or Video Codec Engine[2] in official AMD documentation) is 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 GPUs and APUs except Oland.

VCE was introduced with the Radeon HD 7000 series on 22 December 2011.[3] [4] [5] VCE occupies a considerable amount of the die surface at the time of its introduction[6] 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).

Overview

The handling of video data involves computation of data compression algorithms and possibly of video processing algorithms. As the template compression methods shows, lossy video compression algorithms involve the steps: 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.[7] [8]

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).

VCE 1.0

VCE[9] Version 1.0 supports H.264 YUV420 (I & P frames), H.264 SVC Temporal Encode VCE, and Display Encode Mode (DEM).

It can be found on:

VCE 2.0

Compared to the first version, VCE 2.0 adds H.264 YUV444 (I-Frames), B-frames for H.264 YUV420, and improvements to the DEM (Display Encode Mode), which results in a better encoding quality.

It can be found on:

VCE 3.0

Video Code Engine 3.0 (VCE 3.0) technology features a new high-quality video scaling and - since version 3.4 - High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC/H.265).[10] [11]

It, together with UVD 6.0, can be found on 3rd generation of Graphics Core Next (GCN3) with "Tonga" and "Fiji" (VCE 3.0) based graphics controller hardware, which is now used AMD Radeon Rx 300 series (Pirate Islands GPU family) and VCE 3.4 by actual AMD Radeon Rx 400 series and AMD Radeon 500 series (both Polaris GPU family).

AMD's Carrizo platform features VCE 3.1, retaining the same capabilities as the VCE found in "Fiji" and "Tonga".[12]

Stoney Ridge features a cut down version of VCE 3.4 without HEVC/H.265 encoding and is accompanied by a UVD 6.2 engine.[13]

VCE 3.0 removes support for H.264 B-frames.[14]

VCE 4.0

The Video Code Engine 4.0 encoder and UVD 7.0 decoder are included in the Vega-based GPUs.[15]

VCE 4.1

AMD's Vega20 GPU, present in the Instinct Mi50, Instinct Mi60 and Radeon VII cards, include VCE 4.1 and two UVD 7.2 instances.[16] [17]

Feature overview

GPUs

Operating system support

The VCE SIP core needs to be supported by the device driver. The device driver provides one or multiple 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,[18] but added it in December 2018[19]), to access the VCE hardware and make use of it.

AMD's proprietary device driver AMD Catalyst is available for multiple operating systems and support for VCE was added to it. Additionally, a free device driver is available. This driver also supports the VCE hardware.

Linux

See main article: AMD Catalyst for Linux.

Windows

The software "MediaShow Espresso Video Transcoding" seems to utilize VCE and UVD to the fullest extent possible.[24]

XSplit Broadcaster supports VCE from version 1.3.[25]

Open Broadcaster Software (OBS Studio) supports VCE for recording and streaming. The original Open Broadcaster Software (OBS) requires a fork build in order to enable VCE.[26]

AMD Radeon Software supports VCE with built in game capture ("Radeon ReLive") and use AMD AMF/VCE on APU or Radeon Graphics card to reduce FPS drop when capturing game or video content.[27]

HandBrake added Video Coding Engine support in version 1.2.0 in December 2018.[19]

Successor

See main article: Video Core Next.

The VCE was succeeded by AMD Video Core Next in the Raven Ridge series of APUs released in October 2017. The VCN combines both encode (VCE) and decode (UVD).[28]

See also

Video hardware technologies

AMD

Others

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Product brief. amd.com.
  2. Web site: Updates. amd.com.
  3. Web site: White Paper AMD UnifiedVideoDecoder (UVD) . 2012-06-15 . 2017-05-20.
  4. Web site: AnandTech Portal | AMD Radeon HD 7970 Review: 28nm And Graphics Core Next, Together As One . Anandtech.com . 2014-03-27.
  5. Web site: AMD's Radeon HD 7970 graphics processor - The Tech Report - Page 5 . 3 January 2012 . The Tech Report . 2014-03-27.
  6. Web site: AMD A-Series APU block diagram . 2011-06-30 . 2015-01-22.
  7. Web site: Video & Movies: The Video Codec Engine, UVD3, & Steady Video 2.0 . . December 22, 2011 . 2017-05-20.
  8. Web site: Radeon HD 8900 Specs . AMD . 2016-07-18.
  9. Web site: Introducing the Video Coding Engine (VCE) - AMD . developer.amd.com . 15 January 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20160604071338/http://developer.amd.com/community/blog/2014/02/19/introducing-video-coding-engine-vce/ . 4 June 2016 . dead.
  10. Web site: Mailing Lists . lists.freedesktop.org . 4 June 2015 . 25 September 2023.
  11. Web site: VCEEnc. June 10, 2023. GitHub.
  12. Web site: AMDGPU (vi.c) . GitHub.
  13. Web site: AMDGPU (vi.c) . GitHub.
  14. Web site: Video Encode API: BFrames not supported on RX 4xx? · Issue #8 · GPUOpen-LibrariesAndSDKs/AMF . GitHub . en.
  15. News: Larabel . Michael . AMD Sends Out 100 Patches, Enabling Vega Support In AMDGPU DRM . 25 August 2017 . Phoronix . 20 March 2017.
  16. Web site: [PATCH 50/57] drm/amdgpu/vg20:Enable the 2nd instance IRQ for uvd 7.2]. Deucher. Alex. 15 May 2018. 2019-01-13.
  17. Web site: [PATCH 42/57] drm/amd/include/vg20: adjust VCE_BASE to reuse vce 4.0 header files]. Deucher. Alex. 15 May 2018. 2019-01-13.
  18. Web site: HandBrake rejected VCE pull request . . 2016-12-08 . 2017-08-15.
  19. Web site: HandBrake added VCE support in v1.2.0. 2018-12-22 . 2018-12-31.
  20. initial VCE support . 4 February 2014 . 28 November 2015 . mesa-dev . König . Christian.
  21. OpenMAX state tracker . 24 October 2013 . 28 November 2015 . mesa-dev . König . Christian.
  22. Web site: AMD Open-Sources VCE Video Encode Engine Code . 2014-02-04 . . 2017-05-20.
  23. Web site: st/omx/enc: implement h264 level support . 2014-06-12 . 2017-05-20.
  24. Web site: MediaShow Espresso Video Transcoding Benchmark . 2014-01-14 . 2017-05-20.
  25. Web site: XSplit Broadcaster 1.3 maintenance update includes mainly performance enhancements and maintenance fixes including such noteworthy features such as support for AMD's VCE H.264 hardware encoder. https://archive.today/20140722041719/http://www.splitmedialabs.com/news/109-splitmedialabs-releases-xsplit-gamecaster-and-updates-xsplit-broadcaster-13 . dead . 2014-07-22 .
  26. Web site: OBS branch with AMD VCE support . May 2, 2014 . 2017-05-20.
  27. Web site: Radeon Software Crimson ReLive Edition 16.12.1 Release Notes . 2017-05-20.
  28. News: Larabel. Michael. Radeon VCN Encode Support Lands In Mesa 17.4 Git. 20 November 2017. Phoronix. 17 November 2017.

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Video Coding Engine".

Except where otherwise indicated, Everything.Explained.Today is © Copyright 2009-2025, A B Cryer, All Rights Reserved. Cookie policy.