[x264-devel] vaapi ??

[Sean Darcy]

On Wed, Jul 25, 2012 at 11:47 PM, Jason Garrett-Glaser <jason at x264.com> wrote:
> On Wed, Jul 25, 2012 at 7:32 PM, Sean Darcy <seandarcy2 at gmail.com> wrote:
>> I'm using x264 to encode on an i3 sandybridge laptop. This is an
>> underpowered machine for the task.
>>
>> vaapi would allow use of the gpu for encoding:
>>
>> vainfo
>> libva: VA-API version 0.33.0
>> ...........
>> vainfo: VA-API version: 0.33 (libva 1.1.0)
>> vainfo: Driver version: Intel i965 driver - 1.0.18
>> vainfo: Supported profile and entrypoints
>>       VAProfileMPEG2Simple            : VAEntrypointVLD
>>       VAProfileMPEG2Main              : VAEntrypointVLD
>>       VAProfileH264Baseline           : VAEntrypointVLD
>>       VAProfileH264Baseline           : VAEntrypointEncSlice
>>       VAProfileH264Main               : VAEntrypointVLD
>>       VAProfileH264Main               : VAEntrypointEncSlice
>>       VAProfileH264High               : VAEntrypointVLD
>>       VAProfileH264High               : VAEntrypointEncSlice
>> ...........
>>
>> Is there any way to have x284 use vaapi?
>
> x264 is a video encoder, Intel QuickSync (as available through libva)
> is a different video encoder. x264 can't "use" libva in much the same
> way that a Toyota can't "use" a Ford. If you're using libva, you're
> not using x264, much like if you're driving a Ford, you're not driving
> a Toyota.
>
> QuickSync also isn't GPU-powered, it's a dedicated hardware encoder.
>
> Jason

Interesting. I'd thought libva exposed an api(?) to the gpu that any
encoder could use.

Also, I once messed with QuickSync. Unless it's changed, it's quite
slow, and, as you said, does not use the gpu.

As far as I can tell, no encoder uses the sandybridge gpu, at least on linux.

I'll stick with the Toyota.

Thanks,
sean