AMD "Navi 48" To Feature AV1 Hardware Encoders with B-Frame Support

[btarunr]

The "Navi 48" silicon powering AMD's next-generation Radeon RX 9070 series could feature AV1 hardware-accelerated encoding with support for AV1 B-Frames. In video compression, a B-frame is an intermediate frame that lacks image information, but has motion-vector and other data from the previous and next image frames (or I-frames), which helps the decoder reconstruct the image component of the frame based on temporal frame data. This is compute-intensive, but greatly reduces file-size or bitrate of the stream, as almost every other frame lacks image information. Support for AV1 B-Frame hardware-accelerated encode was sniffed out by HXL in a recent commit to one of the SDKs AMD maintains in a public repository through its GPUOpen initiative.

AMD's Radeon RX 9000 series generation powered by the RDNA 4 graphics architecture will be based almost entirely on two chips, the "Navi 48" and "Navi 44," with the latter powering mainstream and mid-range SKUs; while the former powers performance-segment ones. There is no enthusiast-segment chip this time around. The "Navi 48" is expected to feature a more advanced video encode/decode hardware than the one RDNA 3.5 comes with; and AV1 is likely to get the bulk of development as the royalty-free codec gains popularity with online video streaming services. It remains to be seen if next-generation architectures like RDNA 4 or NVIDIA's "Blackwell" support acceleration for VVC.



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[Chaitanya]

Now that could be interesting upgrade over previous gen if the encoder is actually upto the mark.

 

[eidairaman1]

Forging their own path, this is a positive move, appears compelling.

 

[Nhonho]

I didn't expect B-frame encode support to arrive so soon on Radeons. Based on historical data, it would be normal if it took another 5 generations to reach Radeons.

It will be good if TPU publishes image quality tests of AV1 videos encoded with the new cards from Intel, AMD and Nvidia.

It remains to be seen if next-generation architectures like RDNA 4 or NVIDIA's "Blackwell" support acceleration for VVC.

I really hope that all GPUs from all manufacturers do not encode and decode the VVC codec, and that computer companies unite to continue developing only free codecs from AOMedia project (AV2, AV3, AV4, etc.).

 

[darakian]

For the uninitiated; what does this mean? Faster encoding? Higher quality? Both? Something else?

 

[dragontamer5788]

Note:

* I-frames are a full-image.

* P-frames are forward progressive frames. They say how the "last" image moved to make this new one, and thus have much less data than an I-frame. Most frames in today's video formats are P-frames.

* B-frames are forward-AND-backwards progressive frames. They use both "past" AND "future" images (usually future I-frames) plus the previous I-frames, and all the P-frames in between, to calculate the current frame. These offer the highest levels of compression but obviously have the largest possibility of noise, errors and other such problems.

For the uninitiated; what does this mean? Faster encoding? Higher quality? Both? Something else?

Better compression, if this actually works.

B-frames are considered the hardest to calculate.

 

[darakian]

Better compression, if this actually works.

B-frames are considered the hardest to calculate.

So, better compression ratios? I guess that could be independent of quality and speed as well?

 

[dragontamer5788]

So, better compression ratios? I guess that could be independent of quality and speed as well?

Better compression, worse speed (but with dedicated hardware in the GPU, maybe the speed hit won't be bad?)

Quality is funny and very complex. Maybe better maybe worse, we will see when it comes out.

 

[darakian]

Ya fair enough. Thanks!

 

[Iain Saturn]

.Encouraging

Does anybody know if current video editors are ready to take advantage of this? DaVinci Resolve? Final cut etc?

Thank you

 

[Chaitanya]

It will be good if TPU publishes image quality tests of AV1 videos encoded with the new cards from Intel, AMD and Nvidia.

Techgage used to do this kind of WS oriented testing quite a bit, unfortunately just like Anandtech they are gone and will be missed sorely.

 

[TumbleGeorge]

I don't know why, but from the description it seems to me that it's not much different from generating fake frames..

 

[Nhonho]

For the uninitiated; what does this mean? Faster encoding? Higher quality? Both? Something else?

A short explanation about b-frame encode:

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 Review, Feat. Zotac: Fighting Brute Force With Power Efficiency

www.anandtech.com

 

[Dr. Dro]

Finally. This should have been added in with RDNA 3, Ada already supported it. They should add hardware VVC (h.266) decoding as well.

 

[kondamin]

.Encouraging

Does anybody know if current video editors are ready to take advantage of this? DaVinci Resolve? Final cut etc?

Thank you

For amd? looking at the past maybe in 2030

 

[ZoneDymo]

Cool but does Twitch even support AV1 at this point?

 

[AusWolf]

What about the decode unit? Will it be able to handle a simple 1080p Youtube video without shooting power consumption above 50 W like it does on most RDNA 3 cards?

 

[Makaveli]

Finally. This should have been added in with RDNA 3, Ada already supported it. They should add hardware VVC (h.266) decoding as well.

Doesn't RDNA 3 already have AVI encoders and decoders?

 

[igormp]

I really hope that all GPUs from all manufacturers do not encode and decode the VVC codec, and that computer companies unite to continue developing only free codecs from AOMedia project (AV2, AV3, AV4, etc.).

Intel already supports H266.

Doesn't RDNA 3 already have AVI encoders and decoders?

AV1, yes, but no H266, nor b-frames within AV1.

 

[Makaveli]

Intel already supports H266.

AV1, yes, but no H266, nor b-frames within AV1.

Thanks for the update so AV1 but with no b-frames.

Does anyone use H266 currently?

 

[Dr. Dro]

Thanks for the update so AV1 but with no b-frames.

Does anyone use H266 currently?

Not yet. VVC adoption has been slow due to licensing model (same issue HEVC faces), but it is expected to be the next industry standard format for digital broadcasting. Currently, Intel is the only GPU vendor which currently provides hardware VVC support in Xe2 (Lunar Lake) hardware. Noteworthy that BMG (Arc B580) does NOT seem to support this codec.

 

[chrcoluk]

For the uninitiated; what does this mean? Faster encoding? Higher quality? Both? Something else?

Depends on how things are configured.

If you doing recordings which should be done on fixed quality, then the B frames should give you a smaller file size. On something like CBR for streaming it would be increased quality.

 

[nageme]

I don't know why, but from the description it seems to me that it's not much different from generating fake frames..

The article is wrong. B-frames do include image data.

It's not a new concept. It been in standard use for years, in Bluray (h264), BR UHD (h265), and older codecs such as MPEG4 ASP (like Xvid).
In x264 encodes with common settings, 70-75% of the your output frames would likely be B frames.

It's not image generation. It doesn't interpolate with no reference, but rather, it compresses source frames.

 

[R0H1T]

but it is expected to be the next industry standard format for digital broadcasting

Pure speculation, the only it becomes that is if broadcasters actually push for it otherwise I expect AV1 or AV2 to become the next "universal" format after H.264 & IIRC there's already(?) competing standards in China!

 

[TumbleGeorge]

The article is wrong. B-frames do include image data.

It's not a new concept. It been in standard use for years, in Bluray (h264), BR UHD (h265), and older codecs such as MPEG4 ASP (like Xvid).
In x264 encodes with common settings, 70-75% of the your output frames would likely be B frames.

It's not image generation. It doesn't interpolate with no reference, but rather, it compresses source frames.

But frame generation also uses data from previous states. Otherwise, something completely inappropriate would result.