help with softwares that use cuda

[hmrneves]

Hello folks,

Im trying to find a really good software that can PUSH my GPU to encode videos.

I use FRAPS to capture video while im playing, after tthat i have used virtualdub, but, it takes sooooo long to encode to xvid.

Can you please tell me a good software to encode videos using the gpu instead cpu?

Regardss

[jagabo]

You'll find CUDA delivers inferior quality. If you have a quad core (or better) CPU you can get similar speed from the CPU by using fast encoder settings -- and still get better quality than CUDA delivers.

Mediacoder
TMPGEnc Video Mastering Works
Badaboom
MediaEspresso
Freemake Video Converter

[hmrneves]

Hi jagabo,

Are you saying, if I encode with CUDA i will loss quality? I have a Intel Q9400, its quad core. So may I stay on virtualdub?

Regards

[jagabo]

I don't think CUDA supports MPEG 4 part 2 encoding (Xvid, Divx, ASP). As far as I know it only supports MPEG 2 and MPEG 4 part 10 (h.264, AVC). If you need ASP (for a Divx,/Xvid DVD player, for example) you're out of luck with CUDA. But if you can live with AVC you might get better results than with Xvid at the same bitrate. But you won't get as good results as you would with CPU encoding with x264 (or any of the GUI front ends).

This article has some good comparisons of GPU vs CPU endcoding:

http://www.behardware.com/articles/828-27/h-264-encoding-cpu-vs-gpu-nvidia-cuda-amd-st...-and-x264.html

It's a bit old but I don't think the quality of GPU encoding has improved much since then.

[deadrats]

i can't believe that i'm about to say this, and frankly any regular member of this forum that has read my posts in this forum will probably be shocked to read what i'm about to say, but here goes:

for the most part, gpgpu is a bill of goods, a pipe dream that sounds good in theory but in practice fails to live up to the hype.

there's a slew of reasons why this is true but here are the one's that present the biggest insurmountable obstacles:

1) few programmers know how to properly code for gpgpu.

2) running any program that utilizes the gpu for general purpose computing on a single gpu setup will result in the pc being rendered next to unusable for anything else. if you load up the gpu with an intensive task, like encoding, then it becomes almost impossible for the windows gui to run smoothly, as all the video cards onboard ram and spare cycles are used for the intensive task; to benefit from gpu acceleration without slowing down the computer you really need 2 video cards, a primary one for running the gui and display purposes (that the monitor is hooked up to) and another dedicated to gpgpu.

3) as jagabo pointed out, and thanks to reason number one, cuda, opencl and quick sync based encoders don't offer the quality that software encoder due, primarily because software encoder have many more settings and are capable of multipass encodes, add to that the extensive use of simd used by any modern encoder and the really fast simd units found intel processors based on the sandy bridge and ivy bridge architectures and for encoding you can't beat an SB/IB based setup running a good software encoder.

now video cards do have a place in the decoding portion of the workload, so in your case you should be looking at software that uses the gpu for decoding whether via cuda (tmpg video mastering works can use cuda for both mpeg-2 and avc decoding) or DXVA (i know a couple of apps use DXVA decoders), this will free up your cpu from the decoding duties and allow it to just do the heavy lifting of the encoding.

if you do upgrade, pick up a quick sync enabled k series intel processor (2500k/2600k/2700k/3570k/3770k) and you'll be able to use the quick sync decoder built into the integrated graphics core for the decoding duties (as well as encoding, if you so choose) and believe me, the higher rez the source the more hardware assisted decoding becomes a must.

[Selur]

+ for CUDA support most encoders (and decoders) simply use the nvenc library which uses the encoder chip on the gpu. Yes, nearly all encoders and decoders out there do not use CUDA itself, but only the nvenv/-dec libraries and which use specific chips and not really CUDA.
As far as I remember the only encoders out there that do not simply use the libraries are the onces from mainconcept.
http://www.mainconcept.com/products/sdks/gpu-acceleration/cuda-h264avc.html
+
http://www.mainconcept.com/products/sdks/gpu-acceleration/opencltm-h264avc.html

you'll be able to use the quick sync decoder built into the integrated graphics core for the decoding duties (as well as encoding, if you so choose) and believe me, the higher rez the source the more hardware assisted decoding becomes a must.

Are there any free encoding tools out there that can use QuickSync for decoding (and or encoding) and not just for preview?

[deadrats]

just to clarify, nvenc is a general term used by nvidia to describe it's cuda based encoder; prior to the release of kepler based gpu's, nvenc referred to the reference h264 encoder written in cuda; with the release of the 301.10 drivers nvidia enabled the hardware encoder chip built into kepler class gpu's (gtx 680 and family).

my comments about the video card being rendered unusable when doing heavy encoding on the single gpu system was meant at pre-kepler video cards (and of course amd video cards), obviously my comments don't apply to systems with a kepler class card or better.

Are there any free encoding tools out there that can use QuickSync for decoding (and or encoding) and not just for preview?

free? how about this? its now part of all ffdshow builds available. i also remember reading something over at the intel developer forums about a project to incorporate quick sync encoding into ffmpeg but i have not seen anything else about it.

there's plenty of paid apps that will use quick sync for decoding and/or encoding though, as i'm guessing you are aware.

[Selur]

That's a DirectShowDecoder and not an encoding tool -> so question to those with QuickSync capable CPUs:
will it help to use ffdshow with QuickSync through
a. GraphEdit&Co: building a filter graph and encode ?
b. a filtergraph when loading it through Avisynths DirectShowSource ?

there's plenty of paid apps that will use quick sync for decoding and/or encoding though, as i'm guessing you are aware.

yes, that I'm aware of and I also new Lav Filters and ffdshows QuickSync support,...

I'm looking more for something that can e.g. decode a video stream with QuickSync and output it to stdout, this way on could feed x264/vpxenc/... with it.

[poisondeathray]

i can't believe that i'm about to say this, and frankly any regular member of this forum that has read my posts in this forum will probably be shocked to read what i'm about to say, but here goes:

for the most part, gpgpu is a bill of goods, a pipe dream that sounds good in theory but in practice fails to live up to the hype.

Wow.... what did you do with the real deadrats ???

[jagabo]

i can't believe that i'm about to say this, and frankly any regular member of this forum that has read my posts in this forum will probably be shocked to read what i'm about to say, but here goes:

for the most part, gpgpu is a bill of goods, a pipe dream that sounds good in theory but in practice fails to live up to the hype.

Wow.... what did you do with the real deadrats ???

LOL. He also now prefers Intel over AMD! What's next? Apple over Microsoft? Disney over porn?

[poisondeathray]

i can't believe that i'm about to say this, and frankly any regular member of this forum that has read my posts in this forum will probably be shocked to read what i'm about to say, but here goes:

for the most part, gpgpu is a bill of goods, a pipe dream that sounds good in theory but in practice fails to live up to the hype.

Wow.... what did you do with the real deadrats ???

LOL. He also now prefers Intel over AMD! What's next? Apple over Microsoft? Disney over porn?

No... That last one will never happen for Mr. Rats

[deadrats]

actually my tastes have evolved from hardcore porn to stuff that's just below being classified porn, i found a couple of Brazilian and Spanish sites that are connected with tv stations in various south american counties and these sites host hd clips of hot chicks in thongs dancing around and modelling competitions and things like that, very entertaining.

i would post the links as the content doesn't violate this forum's expressed rules, they are neither pornography nor pirated but i have a feeling someone may object.

[jagabo]

I guess the world really is coming to an end Friday!