3 ms·

If they're not significant, then why does youtube build ASICs for doing video encoding? See e.g., https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2021/04/youtube-is-now-buildin

by foota 2y ago

If they're not significant, then why does youtube build ASICs for doing video encoding? See e.g., https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2021/04/youtube-is-now-building-its-own-video-transcoding-chips/ https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2021/04/youtube-is-now-build...

jupp0r 2y ago
Because when you are Youtube, even relatively marginal cost improvements can be huge in absolute. There is also the UX of having to wait X minutes for an uploaded video to be ready that is improved by this.
cebert 2y ago
Doing so wouldn’t hurt and would make a sizable impact at the scale of Google?
oneplane 2y ago
Because significance varies, as does optimisation. At YouTube scale it might matter more, or the benefits might be bigger, even if just to save some energy or carbon footprint (and even that might be just for a compliance or marketing line).
danielheath 2y ago
AFAICT, the answer to "why does Google do X" is basically always "because someone needed a launch to point at when they're up for promotion".
westurner 2y ago
VA-API, NVENC, nvenc > See also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nvidia_NVENC#See_also https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nvidia_NVENC#See_also NVIDIA Video Codec SDK v12.1 > NVENC Application Note: https://docs.nvidia.com/video-technologies/video-codec-sdk/12.1/nvenc-application-note/index.html https://docs.nvidia.com/video-technologies/video-codec-sdk/1... : > NVENC Capabilities: encoding for H.264, HEVC 8-bit, HEVC 10-bit, AV1 8-bit and AV1 10-bit. This includes motion estimation and mode decision, motion compensation and residual coding, and entropy coding. It can also be used to generate motion vectors between two frames, which are useful for applications such as depth estimation, frame interpolation, encoding using other codecs not supported by NVENC, or hybrid encoding wherein motion estimation is performed by NVENC and the rest of the encoding is handled elsewhere in the system. These operations are hardware accelerated by a dedicated block on GPU silicon die. NVENCODE APIs provide the necessary knobs to utilize the hardware encoding capabilities. FFMPEG > Platform [hw video encoder] API Availability table: https://trac.ffmpeg.org/wiki/HWAccelIntro#PlatformAPIAvailability https://trac.ffmpeg.org/wiki/HWAccelIntro#PlatformAPIAvailab... : > AMF, NVENC/NVDEC/CUVID (CUDA, cuda-nvcc and libnpp) (NVIDIA), VCE (AMD), libmfx (Intel), MediaCodec, Media Foundation, MMAL, OpenMAX, RockChip MPP, V4L2 M2M, VA-API (Intel), Video Toolbox, Vulkan
djtango 2y ago
If you make a billion, a 1% saving is 10 million. You can hire and fund a lot of activity with 10 million. If you make 1 million, 10k isn't going to go very far towards paying devs to save you 1%
throwaway984393 2y ago
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by foota 2y ago

jupp0r 2y ago

Because when you are Youtube, even relatively marginal cost improvements can be huge in absolute. There is also the UX of having to wait X minutes for an uploaded video to be ready that is improved by this.

cebert 2y ago

Doing so wouldn’t hurt and would make a sizable impact at the scale of Google?

oneplane 2y ago

Because significance varies, as does optimisation. At YouTube scale it might matter more, or the benefits might be bigger, even if just to save some energy or carbon footprint (and even that might be just for a compliance or marketing line).

danielheath 2y ago

AFAICT, the answer to "why does Google do X" is basically always "because someone needed a launch to point at when they're up for promotion".

westurner 2y ago

VA-API, NVENC, nvenc > See also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nvidia_NVENC#See_also https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nvidia_NVENC#See_also NVIDIA Video Codec SDK v12.1 > NVENC Application Note: https://docs.nvidia.com/video-technologies/video-codec-sdk/12.1/nvenc-application-note/index.html https://docs.nvidia.com/video-technologies/video-codec-sdk/1... : > NVENC Capabilities: encoding for H.264, HEVC 8-bit, HEVC 10-bit, AV1 8-bit and AV1 10-bit. This includes motion estimation and mode decision, motion compensation and residual coding, and entropy coding. It can also be used to generate motion vectors between two frames, which are useful for applications such as depth estimation, frame interpolation, encoding using other codecs not supported by NVENC, or hybrid encoding wherein motion estimation is performed by NVENC and the rest of the encoding is handled elsewhere in the system. These operations are hardware accelerated by a dedicated block on GPU silicon die. NVENCODE APIs provide the necessary knobs to utilize the hardware encoding capabilities. FFMPEG > Platform [hw video encoder] API Availability table: https://trac.ffmpeg.org/wiki/HWAccelIntro#PlatformAPIAvailability https://trac.ffmpeg.org/wiki/HWAccelIntro#PlatformAPIAvailab... : > AMF, NVENC/NVDEC/CUVID (CUDA, cuda-nvcc and libnpp) (NVIDIA), VCE (AMD), libmfx (Intel), MediaCodec, Media Foundation, MMAL, OpenMAX, RockChip MPP, V4L2 M2M, VA-API (Intel), Video Toolbox, Vulkan

djtango 2y ago

If you make a billion, a 1% saving is 10 million. You can hire and fund a lot of activity with 10 million. If you make 1 million, 10k isn't going to go very far towards paying devs to save you 1%

throwaway984393 2y ago

[dead]