Prefer software encoding over hardware

[rechigo 364]

I think it would be a nice addition to be able to select whether you want to prefer software decoding over hardware decoding or vice versa. An example of this is I want to be able to select software encoding first, and if I have no more power left to software transcode due to the amount of transcoded streams, move to hardware transcoding.

[Luke 42077]

Hi there, have you explored server transcoding settings?

[rechigo 364]

Yes, but there is no option to use CPU encoding over hardware encoding when hardware encoding is enabled

[Happy2Play 9780]

Yes, but there is no option to use CPU encoding over hardware encoding when hardware encoding is enabled

 

Have you toggled the setting from "Yes" to "Advanced" you choose decoding and encoding options

Edited August 10, 2019 by Happy2Play

[Luke 42077]

Yes, but there is no option to use CPU encoding over hardware encoding when hardware encoding is enabled

 

What is the difference between doing that and just turning it off?

[ebr 16169]

 if I have no more power left to software transcode due to the amount of transcoded streams, move to hardware transcoding.

 

^^This - I think...

 

However, I'm not sure why software is preferred over hardware so need more clarification on that.

[rechigo 364]

Because I would prefer to use software transcoding. Say I I'm transcoding a movie because the container isn't supported, but for X reason (e.x. too many streams being transcoded), the CPU isn't available so it will use my GPU to transcode

[ebr 16169]

Because I would prefer to use software transcoding.

 

My question is why?

[Happy2Play 9780]

So the opposite of what HWA already does.  But if your CPU is already overloaded your system is already in a struggling state.

[rechigo 364]

@@Happy2Play, there could be some sort of cap placed on the load with software transcoding. @@ebr, the reason is that x264 transcoding looks better than hardware transcoding

[Luke 42077]

OK I understand. So essentially you want smart load balancing between all of the available options.

[rechigo 364]

Yes, I guess you could say that. Essentially I want to be able to be able to choose my "preferred" option for transcoding

[Happy2Play 9780]

Yes, I guess you could say that. Essentially I want to be able to be able to choose my "preferred" option for transcoding

 

Still the wrong choice of word as you can already do the that.  You can choose software or hardware per the existing settings.

[Guest asrequested]

Still the wrong choice of word as you can already do the that.  You can choose software or hardware per the existing settings.

 

No it doesn't. It's hardware acceleration on or off. There is no way to choose software first, and fall back to hardware. The server is designed in the opposite way. Choose hardware and when that is maxed, fall back to software.

 

[Guest asrequested]

My question is why?

 

Because software is always the best quality. All of the mpv devs always recommend using software over hardware. 

[Happy2Play 9780]

Because software is always the best quality. All of the mpv devs always recommend using software over hardware. 

 

To me that is perspective as I can not see a difference in my encodes. To me if you prefer software there is no need for hardware.  As you have to throttle/limit cpu in order to force use of hardware with this suggestion. But I guess this still only applies to a specific hardware set of users.  As one transcode will max out the majority of users cpus..

[Guest asrequested]

To me that is perspective as I can not see a difference in my encodes. To me if you prefer software there is no need for hardware.  As you have to throttle/limit cpu in order to force use of hardware with this suggestion. But I guess this still only applies to a specific hardware set of users.  As one transcode will max out the majority of users cpus..

 

I don't disagree, but this is what he is requesting. In my case, my CPU can handle more than most GPUs.

[cybergrimes 93]

Maybe this isn't the most relevant thread but along these lines, I recently upgraded my CPU and can do software transcodes now except with H265 content... it's too close to the frame rate of the content so it can't build a buffer.

Right now I can turn on NVDEC for H265 only along with NVENC to H264 but that means I end up with software decode and NVENC for all of MPEG2, VC1 and H264 content. I want those to be software encoded.

 

Are there any plans to allow selecting hardware encoding per codec the way we do with decoding?

[Luke 42077]

The encoding options are done exactly the same was as decoding, so it should already be there.

[cybergrimes 93]

The encoding options are done exactly the same was as decoding, so it should already be there.

 

As far as I've ever seen you can specify which hardware you want to encode with but not at a codec level... it's all or nothing.

Edited November 18, 2019 by cybergrimes

[Luke 42077]

Can you show a screenshot of your options? Thanks.

[cybergrimes 93]

Sure, its the same way it has been for a long time now.

Select the hardware you want to use for decoding specific codecs then select hardware you want to use for encoding everything. I want to say "use this hardware when re-encoding from this specific codec"

 

 

[Luke 42077]

All of the available encoders are listed.

[cybergrimes 93]

All of the available encoders are listed.

 

Could you re-read my question please?

[Happy2Play 9780]

Why do you want to re-encode in a format that is requiring transcoding from that format in the first place?  Or is this more about Converting to the same codec?