HVEC Transcoding

#1

I'm running my channels server on an Nvidia Shield. I'm on the 2022.09.14.0104 Pre-Release and have "Use HEVC for transcoding" enabled on the server settings.

When I look at my logs below it appears that I am still Transcoding at h264 not 265

My client is a Galaxy S20

Does the Nvidia Shield support 265?

2022/09/14 12:31:50.936862 [TVE] stream timestamps: espn2: start_at=2022-09-14T12:31:24-04:00 end_at=2022-09-14T12:31:42-04:00 live_delay=5.995846932s
2022/09/14 12:31:50.972582 [TNR] Opened connection to TVE-RCN for ch6141 ESPN2
2022/09/14 12:31:50.993631 [HLS] Starting live stream for channel 6141 from (bitrate=7652)
2022/09/14 12:31:52.754657 [HLS] Probed live stream in 1.730143489s: h264 1280x720 progressive 6116465bps
2022/09/14 12:31:52.973530 [HLS] Session ch6141-dTVE-RCN-da2e84a4ba4b started in 3.813273592s
2022/09/14 12:31:53.175343 [ENC] Starting encoder for ch6141 in /storage/emulated/0/Channels/Streaming/ch6141-dTVE-RCN-da2e84a4ba4b-3438690396/encoder-1-3972821564 at 1 (0.006011) (encoder=h264_mediacodecndk, resolution=720, deinterlacer=blend, bitrate=904, segment_size=0.01)
2022/09/14 12:31:53.569718 [HLS] ffmpeg: ch6141-dTVE-RCN-da2e84a4ba4b-1-hevc-aac-copy--904-96-720-0-40--blend-false-false-0.01-0: [hls @ 0x2a93da6040] Timestamps are unset in a packet for stream 0. This is deprecated and will stop working in the future. Fix your code to set the timestamps properly

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#2

This feature is not currently supported on the SHIELD's transcoder.

#3

Thank you

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#4

My Synology DS1520 has the Intel(R) Celeron(R) J4125 CPU, but the "View Debug Info" screen only shows h.264 not h.265 (even though Intel's spec shows both).

Does this mean the same as the Shield, that it's only going to use h.264? (If so, no worries... just curious!).

And while I'm at it: is it bad for us to check the Use HEVC for transcoding box if we're in this scenario? Like... should we leave it checked for a potential future where Channels does support it for our devices?

Thanks!

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#5

It is supported on Linux QuickSync. I will look into adding to the debug window

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#6

I'm (now) running channels on my QNAP TVS-h474 and channels (correctly) identifies its CPU as "4 cores / Intel(R) Pentium(R) Gold G7400". When I enable HEVC Transcoding, it happily "works", but it looks like this. Disabling that one checkbox fixes the video view. Any thoughts?

IMG_6224
IMG_62241179×2556 79.7 KB

#7

That's what the hardware is producing. Maybe doesn't actually support it. Generally only works on newer gen processors

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#8

How new, and how strong (maybe suggest a minimum passmark per stream)?

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#9

Good question. Intel states encode decode compatibility with 7th gen and later. However the above mentioned Pentium(R) Gold G7400 definitely falls in that category being an early 2022 processor and includes all the specs that matter for hevc. Seems it should be working for him. If it helps I can verify the i5-10400 does work with hevc encoding

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#10

Interesting, I didn't realize this was a new sku and fairly recent/powerful processor.

We use intel's quicksync drivers for encoding. Unfortunately it can be buggy and produce broken output in some cases.

We observed a similar issue on the NUC11PAHi7/NUC11PABi7 (11th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-1165G7 @ 2.80GHz), which was reported here a while ago with no update from Intel: [Bug]: Corrupted output when using HEVC hardware encoder with ffmpeg · Issue #1503 · intel/media-driver · GitHub

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#11

Crud. I just invested in a NUC11TNBi5 thinking it would be a worthwhile upgrade over the 9600T currently powering my Channels server. Hopefully HEVC will be the only issue it has. Am I correct that the primary advantage of HEVC is increased quality over low bandwidth connections at the cost of increased CPU utilization and heat generation?

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#12

Thanks for looking into it. I'll leave it disabled for now, obviously, but happy to do any testing if Intel ever gives you something to work with.

#13

This should be working now with the latest DVR prerelease.

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#14

Confirmed working here on my QNAP TVS-h474 with Pentium Gold G7400!

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