GPGPU Transcoding

[trekiej]

Hello, I was wondering if anyone here has any experience with transcoding a video with a GPGPU. I am thinking of purchasing a video card but wanted to see if buying 6 core processor is better. I use a quad core cpu and it works well, the factory heat sink does not seem adequate.

Thanks for any help.

[ferrellsl]

Hi.  I've been using Badaboom for a couple years now to transcode video using my GTX295 and it works very well.  The speed increase over CPU transcoding is simply amazing.  I'm using a quad-core Intel CPU running at 3.1 Ghz (12MB of CPU cache) and it's simply no match for the GTX 295.  Invest in a decent GPU instead of sinking more money into multi-core CPUs if you're serious about transcoding.

[jj]

That program looks awesome.  Will have to give it a try.  Though not sure if my GPU is good enough.  Got a 512mb 8800 gts i think .need to check when back home

[trekiej]

Badaboom came up in the search on Google. I will look into it.
I hope and wish I could get a GTX 460 and above.
I was looking into a GTS 450 that cost about 125.00 US.
I am hoping the extra 50.00 dollars will be worth it for a higher card.

[nicholas]

Anyone know of a Linux equivalent?

[trekiej]

Sorry, I do not know, it is a good question.
I draw a blank to that question.
I wonder if it is possible to take a video back to raw before transcoding to a different type?

[nicholas]

I'll give it a try using WINE later.

[trekiej]

Handbrake can transcode on Linux but no GPGPU support, afaik.
Edit:
http://www.refractivesoftware.com has a program called Octane that can do some fast ray tracing with CUDA cards. Unfortunately it does not have any transcoding abilities,afaik.

[Karlos]

That program looks awesome.  Will have to give it a try.  Though not sure if my GPU is good enough.  Got a 512mb 8800 gts i think .need to check when back home

Your 8800GTS is a G80 part and should have 128 cores. For any highly parallel, streaming data intensive application it's going to wipe the floor with your CPU. Exceptions would only include tasks where threads take different directions on conditional statements. CPUs are good at this kind of work but GPUs can be a lot less forgiving.

-edit-

Speaking of which, I recently upgraded my GPGPU playground to CUDA 4 / OpenCL. Now I just need to make some time to enjoy it...

[stefcep2]

I used mediacoder a couple of times:http://www.mediacoderhq.com/getfile.htm?site=mc.rengaosh.com&file=MediaCoder2011-R8-5185.zip

[Duce]

Got a Intel Skulltrail server mobo (dual 9775's) with 2 295's in SLI in it.

The gfx cards run absolute circles around the CPU's with software that will make use of the GPU cores.

The difference is absolutely staggering when you are using software that can hit the gfx resources directly.

[jj]

So I tried it last night.  Windows 7 pro 64 bit.  4Gig RAM. Dual Core Pentimum, 2.6ghz and 512mb gts 8800.
 
Did an already ripped VIDEO_TS folder , of 30 min flithy, rich and catflap  from vob files to iphone , so format, size and fps  in 8 mins.
 
Did an avio to iphone, format and size in 5mins.  Hitting about 150 fps.  Very impressed
 
Download it, free trail not crippled, no water mark or length.  But you can only do 30 converts.
 
Im guessing people with much better cpu and much more recent gpu it will be more like the 400fps shown in the videos.
 
I was amazed, truly amazed

[trekiej]

I hope a GTX 460 will do a good job with a core config of 336:56:32 .

[ferrellsl]

A GTX460 will absolutely fly.  You will be amazed and wonder why ANYONE still uses CPUs for transcoding.

[trekiej]

I downloaded the demo from Badaboom. They compared it to Itunes and it took Bada. 6 seconds encode. Itunes was still working on the same video.