Overview: Processing building blocks
Hardware media processing combines engines and programmable operations within a decode, filter and encode sequence.
A fixed-function decoder, an encoder and a GPU compute operation perform different work. The pipeline connects their inputs and outputs, including any stages handled elsewhere. These building blocks provide a more useful description than treating every operation on a graphics device as the same kind of acceleration.
The decode-filter-encode pipeline
A hardware video pipeline connects encoded input, decoded surfaces, picture transformations and encoded output through compatible devices, memory formats and completion dependencies.Fixed-function media engines
Fixed-function media engines implement specialized video operations within a device, using dedicated processing paths rather than executing the entire job as general-purpose GPU shader work.GPU compute and video processing
GPU compute processes picture data with programmable parallel work whose layout, colour interpretation and completion requirements connect it to the surrounding media pipeline.