Apple Silicon Media Engine Launched in M1 Pro and M1 Max MacBook Pro Laptops

Channels DVR Server
#1

Apple’s new Apple Silicon M1 Pro and M1 Max chips used in the newly introduced MacBook Pro laptops include a “Media Engine” which features:

  • Hardware-accelerated H.264, HEVC, ProRes, and ProRes RAW
  • Video decode engine
  • Up to two video encode engines
  • Up to two ProRes encode/decode engines

Is there any chance that Channels will be able to take advantage of these advancements? Would this require massive changes in the codecs that are used for recording and transcoding used by DVR Server? Thanks and fingers crossed!

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#2

Our macOS DVR will automatically use these features for video transcoding. It already works on M1 Mac Mini which I use as my DVR.

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#3

Thanks. I’m using M1 mini, also, but I don’t recall that M1 already has a “Media Engine” on its die.

I’d assume faster performance with the new chips if DVR Server is already set up to take full advantage of Apple Silicon. :crossed_fingers:

#4

Apple originally introduced it's fast hardware encoders/decoders with the T2 chip on their Intel Macs. When they rolled out their own SOC, this was merged into its die.

It sounds like they've decided to put a brand on it, as Apple loves to do to things that have already existed in the past.

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#5

Is there any plan or opportunity to move from H.264 to HEVC (taking advantage of these built-in encoder/decoders) to further improve remote viewing? Getting better image for lower bandwidth?

#6

Yeah, we've talked about it for a while. It would definitely be helpful for remote streaming when transcoding. The support isn't very universal. It's something we'll eventually investigate and play with.

4 Likes
#7

I see an Experimental Feature now:

Use HEVC for transcoding

Use HEVC (H.265) for transcoding instead of H.264 for streaming to client apps. Requires hardware that can handle encoding HEVC.

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