first open source cuda accelerated apps

[deadrats]

that's right folks, it looks like the open source community has jumped on the cuda bandwagon, first up the latest build of virtual dub:

http://www.slashcam.com/news/single/VirtualDub-1-9-3-supports-hardware-acceleration-7700.html

http://virtualdub.org/blog/pivot/entry.php?id=263#body

as you can see it's only just for filters, for now, and it's only in the experimental build, but it's a good first step.

for those that are into hi def mpeg-2 encoding and looking for a cheap gpu accelerated plug in, this might be perfect, seeing how it can be used by virtual dub to do mpeg-2 encoding:

http://www.gputech.com/gpeg2/

and last but not least, the latest build of media coder offer gpu acclerated h264 encoding:

http://www.mediacoderhq.com/

i can't seem to find any official announcement of said features, but according to this:

http://www.slashcam.com/news/single/Free-MediaCoder-encoder-with-CUDA-GPU-acceleration-7642.html

it's in there and as i was installing the latest build and looking through what optional components were listed, sure enough it listed gpu cuda components and looking through the gui it does have options for enabling it.

will be reporting my finds as soon as i run a few tests.

edit. just ran a few tests:

source is a 1920x1080i mpeg-2 at 20mb/s with 192 kb/s ac3 audio, target is 1280x720 3mb/s with 128 kb/s aac audio, encoding rate is 21 fps, using cuda, cpu maxed out.

same application, switching encoder to x264, exact same settings, speed is 7 fps, that's exactly 3 times slower than the same encode done using cuda.

for the mathematically challenged among you that means i would need a 6 core penryn based xeon (yes, they exist, codeman: dunnington) which costs somewhere in the region of 2 grand to match the speed of a $110 9600 gso.

intel must be pulling it's hair out, cuda is effectively removing one of the so-called "killer apps" that drives the cpu upgrade cycle.

[mh2360]

My experiments with CUDA assisted video encoders have been disappointing so far.

The quality is usually bad, and any encoding options that do exist are too limited. My old dual core Pentium could do with a little help, but I dont want to sacrifice quality to do it.

Here's hoping that x264 gets a little CUDA assistance in the future.

[Information]

Virtualdub doesn't support CUDA. CUDA ain't same as 3D hardware acceleration.

[disturbed1]

Virtualdub doesn't support CUDA. CUDA ain't same as 3D hardware acceleration.

It's does. Correct, it's not

Virtualdub has implemented CUDA accelertion for a couple of internel video filters. http://www.virtualdub.org/blog/pivot/entry.php?id=257

I guess in the other area of the site, the accelerations terms could be confusing, as Mr. Lee does state Filters: Added support for 3D hardware acceleration. Which doesn't sound the same as CUDA.

[deadrats]

My experiments with CUDA assisted video encoders have been disappointing so far.

The quality is usually bad, and any encoding options that do exist are too limited. My old dual core Pentium could do with a little help, but I dont want to sacrifice quality to do it.

Here's hoping that x264 gets a little CUDA assistance in the future.

quality wise i can see no difference between encodes done using the cuda h264 encoder and x264, to my eyes the results are indistinguishable. as far as encoding options are concerned, yes espresso purposely limits the options so that they don't cannibalize sales from power director.

same holds true for badaboom, the people behind it are the same guys behind the RapidHD plug in for premiere and likewise aren't going to cannibalize market share from their premium product, so naturally they limit some options.

give media coder a shot, it has much more options once you figure out how to manually edit them.

i just got through finishing a number of transcodes in record time and personally i can't imagine going back to software based encoders ever again.

my guess is that we will start seeing a mass exodus from software based encoders to gpu assisted ones, considering media coder is open source and relies on cuda h264 encoder, i would expect more projects to borrow some code and impliment hardware assisted encoding, i would guess that avidemux will probably be the next app to jump on the cuda bandwagon.

[Information]

There isn't any CUDA in Virtualdub. Phaeron the dev of Virtualdub has tried CUDA stuff, but all optimizations in Virtualdub are free from single developer limitations (CDUA is NVIDIA only). Virtualdub 3D hardware support means that you can use Pixel Shaders to process videos. http://www.virtualdub.org/blog/pivot/entry.php?id=256#body

[mh2360]

quality wise i can see no difference between encodes done using the cuda h264 encoder and x264, to my eyes the results are indistinguishable. as far as encoding options are concerned, yes espresso purposely limits the options so that they don't cannibalize sales from power director.

In the case of Espresso, the bitrate seems to be fixed at around 6000kbps, so there's little point in using it for something like DVD conversions, as the output files will be around the same size as the original.

Media Coder is by far the best at the moment, the quality is not quite as good as x264 to my eyes, but if you have a slower system then the increase in speed might make up for that.

On my system converting a 720x576 DVD rip to MP4 (no cropping or resize), I get around 8fps using x264, using Media Coder's CUDA encoder I get around 40fps.

A 5x speed increase is pretty impressive, and if they can tweak the encoder a little to improve quality then they may earn themselves a donation.

[Nelson37]

Just tried Media Coder briefly.

This is the first CUDA encoder I have seen with some decent options. 6 to 7 times speed increase, Main profile, two-pass available. Fast enough to be able to explore some options.

Built-in cropper. Not perfect, but good enough.

Quality at first glance perhaps not the best, but I still have to try some more sources and experiment with a few settings. This is definitely worth a look.

[Nelson37]

Bummer. Two-pass doesn't seem to be compatible with CUDA.

Bummer #2. The cropper doesn't work quite right.

Bummer #3. It doesn't seem to react well to minor glitches in captured OTA video. Or Interlacing.

BUT - Fed it a high-quality DVD-Rip, bitrate 3000, size reduced by half with nice quality. FAST. Better than 2X real-time. No Synch issues.

[deadrats]

quality wise i can see no difference between encodes done using the cuda h264 encoder and x264, to my eyes the results are indistinguishable. as far as encoding options are concerned, yes espresso purposely limits the options so that they don't cannibalize sales from power director.

In the case of Espresso, the bitrate seems to be fixed at around 6000kbps, so there's little point in using it for something like DVD conversions, as the output files will be around the same size as the original.

Media Coder is by far the best at the moment, the quality is not quite as good as x264 to my eyes, but if you have a slower system then the increase in speed might make up for that.

On my system converting a 720x576 DVD rip to MP4 (no cropping or resize), I get around 8fps using x264, using Media Coder's CUDA encoder I get around 40fps.

A 5x speed increase is pretty impressive, and if they can tweak the encoder a little to improve quality then they may earn themselves a donation.

i just did a similar test, source was the movie 8 MILE, 720x576 25fps, i transcoded to avc, same resolution and frame rate, 2500 kb/s with 128 kb/s ac3 audio, using x264, default settings my E7400 managed an average of between 18-19 fps, using the cuda h264 encoder with my 9600 gso the same encode was done at 85 fps, just unbelievable.

makes me wonder what a gtx 280 would do...

[mh2360]

BUT - Fed it a high-quality DVD-Rip, bitrate 3000, size reduced by half with nice quality. FAST. Better than 2X real-time. No Synch issues.

I did notice some sync issues with the DVD to MP4 coversions I tested. The audio was only very slightly out of sync, but it was noticable enough to be annoying. This is a shame actually because I was beginning to like Media Coder.

It might be because I tested it my my Windows 7 machine, but Handbrake's output is in perfect sync, so I doubt it.

[deadrats]

BUT - Fed it a high-quality DVD-Rip, bitrate 3000, size reduced by half with nice quality. FAST. Better than 2X real-time. No Synch issues.

I did notice some sync issues with the DVD to MP4 coversions I tested. The audio was only very slightly out of sync, but it was noticable enough to be annoying. This is a shame actually because I was beginning to like Media Coder.

It might be because I tested it my my Windows 7 machine, but Handbrake's output is in perfect sync, so I doubt it.

i think the sync issues might be the result of the version of MP4Box media coder uses (in case you haven't noticed it demuxes the video and audio streams, encodes each, then muxes them together) or with the default settings it uses.

i get no sync issues but then i choose a transport stream as the container.

[mh2360]

I managed to cure the sync problem by ripping the DVD to a simple .MPG file. This will cause problems when I convert a movie with forced subs, but I think only 2 movies out of my whole collection have those.

Another thing I noticed is that my Xbox 360 has issues with the MP4 files. They play fine for a while, but most eventually freeze and refuse to play any further. Maybe the encoder's settings need a tweek to make them 360 friendly, I'll do some experimenting .

[Raycaster]

Conversion to my Apple touch via Badaboom is awesome. I may give Expresso a try as Badaboom's development is very,very,very slow. The Badaboom forum is filled with requests for future features (batch +++) and the developer quickly replies it is on their list. 6 months later a highly awaited UPDATE comes out with... wait for it.....updated languages for most countries...

Badaboom first out of the gate fame seems to be fading as Expresso and other packages including announced Nero cuda support will be hard to keep up to.

My question is the use of cuda for BluRay to MKV. Is there a cuda app that I could mix into the workflow of converting my BluRays to .x264 files for the WDTV HD?

Like others I'm blown away by the CUDA speed and always wonder why more people on this board don't jump all over it. Threads 10 pages long will discuss conversion optimizations of less than 5% when a simple $150 GFX board will cut some conversion by 75%.

I do realize CUDA is still young and perhaps the quality is not quite up to software only applications but sheez...

I'm heading over to the MediaCoder site asap!

[neomaine]

... Like others I'm blown away by the CUDA speed and always wonder why more people on this board don't jump all over it...

I'd jump but I'm all ATI at home...

[TheFamilyMan]

A few months ago I downloaded the latest version of the MSU_denoiser filter which uses your GPU if it's capable. With my 8800gt, this denoiser now SMOKES when compared to using the CPU (4x to 5x faster). And if you ever used this filter, it is SLOW; what a massive improvement! Definately looking forward to more of this sort of GPU utilization.

[Nelson37]

Still experimenting with MediaCoder, apparently it will not accept any other CUDA mode but specified bitrate. Multi-pass or CQ mode errors out.

Hitting 150 FPS on SD files, quality and synch quite reasonable. 8800gt and dual core 3.0.

Unfortunately my eyesight is no longer good enough for real quality analysis. Saving some space without taking days to do it seems worthwhile so far.

[mh2360]

Still experimenting with MediaCoder, apparently it will not accept any other CUDA mode but specified bitrate. Multi-pass or CQ mode errors out.

I noticed that too, but around 3500k for a DVD conversion gives very good quality, and produces a file about half the size of the original, so it's not a total loss.

If only I could find out why the MP4 files produced make my Xbox 360 eventually freeze, I have used all the usual xbox 360 friendly settings, but there's still something about the files that the 360 doesnt like.

[lordsmurf]

I'd use GPEG2 if it could do standard def from VirtualDub.

[Nelson37]

The cropper seems to work best, as in fewer errors, when set to increments of 16. Autocrop does not seem to be effective, have to do it manually, though that part is nicely implemented. Haven't tried re-sizing much.

Interlacing effects seem to be exagerated, particularly on 1080i material.

I am surprised there does not seem to be more interest in this software.

Have been testing mostly ATI-captured MPGs, both interlaced and progressive. Also some Hauppage-capped HD files, all 1080i. For documentaries and older TV series, I'm happy. Still not ready to convert my best movies and such.

I arbitrarily picked bitrates of 2000 for 720x480 material, and 4000 for HD stuff. Probably need to go a bit lower and higher, respectively. HD at 2000 blew chunks, no surprise.

Haven't seen any detailed guides on this thing, time to make some HQ test clips and experiment with some of the options.

[RabidDog]

Well it works quite well on my 8600gt ... would be nice to have 2pass encoding or quality based (as even setting q=100 gives substd output) .. very fast tho, even setting motion estimation to hadamard exhaustive, 64, I still got 75fps, as opposed to 5-6fps ...

[isapc]

I just tried MediaCoder.
I can get over 4 times the speed using Badaboom transcoding at 6000 kbit on my GTX285
The latest version of badaboom dose not deserve the negitive views I have read.

[mh2360]

I want to like Media Coder's CUDA encoder, but the absence of 2 pass and CQ encoding, and the fact that I just can't nail down what it is about the output files that my Xbox 360 doesn't like, means that I just have no use for it yet.

Here's hoping that the encoder is improved enough in the future for me to change my mind, some great potential there.

The problem I have had with Badaboom is with the picture quality on the DVD conversions I have tried. The picture quality is strange in that it looks as though the video frame has been shrunk down, and then resized back to full, resulting in a "zig-zag" effect on diagonal lines, and a loss of detail.

[isapc]

I have never used badaboom on VOB files but with muxed bluray TS files its brilliant.It also has a output mode for the xbox havn't tried it though.

[mh2360]

I managed to solve my Badaboom problem, it only seems to occur on my Vista machine with a DVD ripped to the hard drive, the problem went away with on my XP machine using DVD43.

The Xbox 360 preset works OK with a little tweaking, like enabling CABAC and setting the level to main@4.1.

[isapc]

The latest version of DVD FAB uses Cuda to some degree for h264 encoding and has a xbox out put you will have to pay though
after the trial period.

[matt4345]

I too have been following the implementation of GPU transcoders and other video tools with interest. The speed is very impressive and quality is definitely improving, though CUDA encoders are still not quite ready for prime time for home theater applications in my opinion. NVIDIA's CUDA encoder appears to have the edge on quality while ATI's Stream GPU encoder has a slight edge in speed. PC Perspective has an interesting comparison here: http://www.pcper.com/article.php?aid=745&type=expert&pid=1.

Mediacoder's addition of NVIDIA's CUDA encoder is also very cool. I found that the latest version appears to have fixed the aspect problem noted by others in this thread. But the lack of CQ or two-pass vbr encoding really limits its utility. I suspect that this is a limitation in the current CUDA encoder, not Mediacoder (which is a gui front end). Still, it is fun to play around with.

[salohcin69]

Anyone used Nero Move it ? I'm reading that it supports avhc encoding with cuda?

[RabidDog]

Just to add to my post above, My graphics slot on my motherboard burnt out after running that... dunno if its related, or just a power issue. or just a general glitch/?? I went for an ATI card next.. just in case anybody else suffers any problems
that was a gf8600gt on a gigabyte n650i with a no-name 550w power supply. New mobo and new Gfx card, system now runs fine.. with all other parts the same.

[ulapines]

I have done some encodings with RipBot x264 and MediaCoder cuda.
The source was 1920x1080 m2ts from a blu-ray I own.
Audio was removed and m2ts video part muxed into mkv.
RipBot v1.15.0 in 2-pass mode, bitrate 5000 Kbps.
MediaCoder v0.7.2.4590 1-pass, bitrate 5000 Kbps.
RipBot encoding time: 12h 22min.
MediaCoder encoding time: 2h 10min.
OS: WinXP SP3.
Processor: Pentium Dual-Core 2.5 GHz OC'd to 3.0 GHz.
2 GB RAM
Graphics card: GeForce 9600 GT.
I would like some opinions if the difference in quality
is wortwhile the encoding time difference.
Download the two samples from here:
http://rapidshare.com/files/354166806/Samples.rar
JPG with encoding settings inside the rar.