Multi-Transcoding Sample

Media SDK API Version 1.35

 Multi-Transcoding Sample
Overview
Multi-Transcoding Sample works with Intel® Media SDK (hereinafter referred to as "SDK")
It demonstrates how to use SDK API to create a console application that performs the transcoding (decoding and encoding) of a video
stream from one compressed video format to another, with optional video processing (resizing) of uncompressed video prior to encoding.
The application supports multiple input and output streams meaning it can execute multiple transcoding sessions concurrently.
The main goal of this sample is to demonstrate CPU/GPU balancing in order to get maximum throughput on Intel® hardware-accelerated
platforms (with encoding support). This is achieved by running several transcoding pipelines in parallel and fully loading both CPU and GPU.
This sample also demonstrates integration of user-defined functions for video processing (picture rotation plug-in) into SDK transcoding
pipeline.
This version of sample also demonstrates surface type neutral transcoding (opaque memory usage).
The sample is able to work with HEVC Decoder & Encoder (hereinafter referred to as "HEVC").
Features
Multi-Transcoding Sample supports the following video formats:
Format type
input H.264 (AVC, MVC – Multi-View Coding), MPEG-2 video, VC-1, JPEG*/Motion JPEG, HEVC (High Efficiency Video Coding),
(compressed) VP8, VP9, AV1
output H.264 (AVC, MVC – Multi-View Coding), MPEG-2 video, JPEG*/Motion JPEG, HEVC (High Efficiency Video Coding), VP9
(compressed)

Hardware Requirements
See <install-folder>\Media_Samples_Guide_Windows.pdf.

Software Requirements
See <install-folder>\Media_Samples_Guide_Windows.pdf.

How to Build the Application

See <install-folder>\Media_Samples_Guide_Windows.pdf.

Running the Software

See <install-folder>\Media_Samples_Guide_Windows.pdf.
The executable file requires the following command-line switches to function properly:
Usage: sample_multi_transcode [options] [--] pipeline-description
or: sample_multi_transcode [options] -par ParFile
options:
Option Description
-? Print this help and exit
-p Collect performance statistics in specified file
-timeout Set time to run transcoding in seconds
-greedy Use greedy formula to calculate number of surfaces
ParFile format:
ParFile is extension of what can be achieved by setting pipeline in the command line. For more information on ParFile format see readme-
multi-transcode.md.
Option Description
-par A parameter file is a configuration file of specific structure. It contains several command lines, each line corresponding to a single
transcoding, decoding or encoding SDK session.
Pipeline description (general options):
Option Description
-i::h265\ h264\
-i::i420\ nv12
-i::rgb4_frame Set input rgb4 file for compositon. File should contain just one single frame (-vpp_comp_src_h and -vpp_comp_src_w
should be specified as well).
-o::h265\ h264\
-sw\ -hw\
-mfe_frames maximumnumber of frames to be combined in multi-frame encode pipeline 0 - default for platformwill be used
-mfe_mode 0\ 1\
-mfe_timeout multi-frame encode timeout in milliseconds - set per sessions control
2 Multi-Transcoding Sample API
 Option Description
-mctf [Strength] Strength is an optional value; it is in range [0...20]
value 0 makes MCTF operates in auto mode;
Strength: integer, [0...20]. Default value is 0.Might be a CSV filename (upto 15 symbols); if a string is convertable to an
integer, integer has a priority over filename
In fixed-strength mode, MCTF strength can be adjusted at framelevel;
If no Strength is given, MCTF operates in auto mode.
-robust Recover fromgpu hang errors as the come (by resetting components)
-async Depth of asynchronous pipeline. default value 1
-join Join session with other session(s), by default sessions are not joined
-priority Use priority for join sessions. 0 - Low, 1 - Normal, 2 - High. Normal by default
-threads num Number of session internal threads to create
-n Number of frames to transcode
(session ends after this number of frames is reached).
In decoding sessions (-o::sink) this parameter limits number
of frames acquired fromdecoder.
In encoding sessions (-o::source) and transcoding sessions
this parameter limits number of frames sent to encoder.
-ext_allocator Force usage of external allocators
-sys Force usage of external systemallocator
-dec::sys Set dec output to systemmemory
-vpp::sys Set vpp output to systemmemory
-vpp::vid Set vpp output to video memory
-fps Transcoding frame rate limit
-pe Set encoding plugin for this particular session.
This setting overrides plugin settings defined by SET clause.
-pd Set decoding plugin for this particular session.
This setting overrides plugin settings defined by SET clause.
Supported values: hevcd_sw, hevcd_hw, hevce_sw, hevce_gacc, hevce_hw, vp8d_hw, vp8e_hw, vp9d_hw, vp9e_hw,
camera_hw, capture_hw, h264_la_hw, ptir_hw, hevce_fei_hw
Direct GUID number can be used as well
[-device Set graphics device for processing. For example: -device /dev/dri/renderD128. If not specified, defaults to the first
/path/to/device] Intel device found on the system.
Pipeline description (encoding options):
Option Description
-b Encoded bit rate, valid for H.264, MPEG2 and MVC encoders
-bm Bitrate multiplier. Use it when required bitrate isn't fit into 16-bit
Affects following parameters: InitialDelayInKB, BufferSizeInKB, TargetKbps, MaxKbps
-f Video frame rate for the FRC and deinterlace options
-fe Video frame rate for the FRC and deinterlace options (deprecated, will be removed in next versions).
- Forces decoder output framerate to be set to provided value (overwriting actual framerate fromdecoder)
override_decoder_framerate
- Overwrites framerate of streamgoing into encoder input with provided value (this option does not enable FRC,
override_encoder_framerate it just ovewrites framerate value)
-u Target usage. Valid for H.265, H.264, MPEG2 and MVC encoders. Expected values:
veryslow (quality), slower, slow, medium(balanced), fast, faster, veryfast (speed)
-q Quality parameter for JPEG encoder; in range [1,100], 100 is the best quality
-l Number of slices for encoder; default value 0
-mss Maximumslice size in bytes. Supported only with -hw and h264 codec. This option is not compatible with -l
option.
-BitrateLimit: Modifies bitrate to be in the range imposed by the SDK encoder. Setting this flag off may lead to violation of
HRD conformance. The default value is OFF, i.e. bitrate is not limited. It works with AVC only.
-la Use the look ahead bitrate control algorithm(LA BRC) for H.264 encoder. Supported only with -hw option on
4th Generation Intel Core processors.
-lad Depth parameter for the LA BRC, the number of frames to be analyzed before encoding. In range [0,100].
If depth is 0 then the encoder forces the value to Max(10, 2*GopRefDist) for LA_ICQ, and to Max(40,
2*GopRefDist) otherwise.
If depth is in range [1,100] then the encoder forces the value to Max(2*GopRefDist,2*NumRefFrame,depth).
May be 1 in the case when -mss option is specified
-la_ext Use external LA plugin (compatible with h264 & hevc encoders)
-cbr Constant bitrate control
-vbr Variable bitrate control
-vcm Video Conferencing Mode (VCM) bitrate control
-hrd Maximumpossible size of any compressed frames
-wb Maximumbitrate for sliding window
-ws Sliding window size in frames
-gop_size Size of GOP structure in frames
-dist Distance between I- or P- key frames
-num_ref Number of reference frames
-bref Arrange B frames in B pyramid reference structure
-nobref Do not use B-pyramid (by default the decision is made by library)
-bpyr Enable B pyramid

3 Multi-Transcoding Sample API

 Option Description
-gpb: Enable or disable Generalized P/B frames
-CodecProfile Specifies codec profile
-CodecLevel Specifies codec level
-GopOptFlag:closed Closed gop
-GopOptFlag:strict Strict gop
-InitialDelayInKB The decoder starts decoding after the buffer reaches the initial size InitialDelayInKB, which is equivalent to
reaching an initial delay of InitialDelayInKB*8000/TargetKbps ms
-MaxKbps For variable bitrate control, specifies the maximumbitrate at which the encoded data enters the Video
Buffering Verifier buffer
-gpucopy:: Enable or disable GPU copy mode
-repartitioncheck:: Enable or disable RepartitionCheckEnable mode
-cqp Constant quantization parameter (CQP BRC) bitrate control method
(by default constant bitrate control method is used), should be used along with -qpi, -qpp, -qpb.
-qpi Constant quantizer for I frames (if bitrace control method is CQP). In range [1,51]. 0 by default, i.e. no
limitations on QP.
-qpp Constant quantizer for P frames (if bitrace control method is CQP). In range [1,51]. 0 by default, i.e. no
limitations on QP.
-qpb Constant quantizer for B frames (if bitrace control method is CQP). In range [1,51]. 0 by default, i.e. no
limitations on QP.
-DisableQPOffset Disable QP adjustment for GOP pyramid-level frames
-qsv-ff Enable QSV-FF mode (deprecated)
-lowpower: Turn this option ON to enable QSV-FF mode
-roi_file Set Regions of Interest for each frame from
-roi_qpmap Use QP map to emulate ROI for CQP mode
-extmbqp Use external MBQP map
Pipeline description (vpp options):
Option Description
-deinterlace Forces VPP to deinterlace input stream
-deinterlace::ADI Forces VPP to deinterlace input streamusing ADI algorithm
-deinterlace::ADI_SCD Forces VPP to deinterlace input streamusing ADI_SCD algorithm
- Forces VPP to deinterlace input streamusing ADI no ref algorithm
deinterlace::ADI_NO_REF
-deinterlace::BOB Forces VPP to deinterlace input streamusing BOB algorithm
-detail Enables detail (edge enhancement) filter with provided level(0..100)
-denoise Enables denoise filter with provided level (0..100)
-FRC::PT Enables FRC filter with Preserve Timestamp algorithm
-FRC::DT Enables FRC filter with Distributed Timestamp algorithm
-FRC::INTERP Enables FRC filter with Frame Interpolation algorithm
NOTE: -FRC filters do not work with -i::sink pipelines !!!
-ec::nv12\ rgb4\
-dc::nv12\ rgb4\
-angle 180 Enables 180 degrees picture rotation user module before encoding
-opencl Uses implementation of rotation plugin (enabled with -angle option) through Intel(R) OpenCL
-w Destination picture width, invokes VPP resize or decoder fixed function resize engine (if -dec_postproc specified)
-h Destination picture height, invokes VPP resize or decoder fixed function resize engine (if -dec_postproc specified)
-field_processing t2t\ t2b\
-scaling_mode Specifies scaling mode (lowpower/quality) for VPP
-WeightedPred::default\ implicit
- implicit
WeightedBiPred::default\
-extbrc: Enables external BRC for AVC and HEVC encoders
-ExtBrcAdaptiveLTR: Set AdaptiveLTR for implicit extbrc
-vpp_comp Enables composition fromseveral decoding sessions. Result is written to the file
-vpp_comp_only Enables composition fromseveral decoding sessions. Result is shown on screen
-vpp_comp_num_tiles Quantity of tiles for composition. if equal to 0 tiles processing ignored
-vpp_comp_dst_x X position of this streamin composed stream(should be used in decoder session)
-vpp_comp_dst_y Y position of this streamin composed stream(should be used in decoder session)
-vpp_comp_dst_h Height of this streamin composed stream(should be used in decoder session)
-vpp_comp_dst_w Width of this streamin composed stream(should be used in decoder session)
-vpp_comp_src_h Width of this streamin composed stream(should be used in decoder session)
-vpp_comp_src_w Width of this streamin composed stream(should be used in decoder session)
-vpp_comp_tile_id Tile_id for current channel of composition (should be used in decoder session)
-vpp_comp_dump Dump of VPP Composition's output into file. Valid if with -vpp_comp* options
-vpp_comp_dump Disabling rendering after VPP Composition. This is for performance measurements
-dec_postproc Resize after decoder using direct pipe (should be used in decoder session)
-single_texture_d3d11 single texture mode for d3d11 allocator
-TargetBitDepthLuma Target encoding bit-depth for luma samples. May differ fromsource one. 0 mean default target bit-depth which is
equal to source

4 Multi-Transcoding Sample API

 Option Description
-TargetBitDepthChroma Target encoding bit-depth for chroma samples. May differ fromsource one. 0 mean default target bit-depth which
is equal to source.
stat logging:
Option Description
-stat Output statistic every N transcoding cycles
-stat-log Output statistic to the specified file (opened in append mode)
-stat-per- Output per-frame latency values to a file (opened in append mode). The file name will be for an input session: input_ID.log or, for
frame output session: output_ID.log; - a number of a session.
The command-line interface allows 2 usage models (which can be mixed within one parameter file):
1. Multiple intra-session transcoding: several transcoding sessions, any number of sessions can be joined. Each session includes
decoding, preprocessing (optional), and encoding.
2. Multiple inter-session transcoding: output of a single decoding session serves as input for several encoding sessions. Either all or
none of the sessions are joined. Any of the encoding sessions can optionally include preprocessing (resizing).
Below are several examples of parameter file contents.
Single intra-session transcoding:
-i::vc1 input.vc1 -async 10 -o::h264 output.h264 –n 100 –w 320 –h 240 –f 30 –b 2000 –u speed
Multiple intra-session transcoding, several sessions joined:
-i::vc1 input1.vc1 -async 10 -o::mpeg2 output1.mpeg2
-i::h264 input2.h264 -o::mpeg2 output2.mpeg2 –join
-i::h264 input3.h264 -o::mpeg2 output3.mpeg2 –join
Multiple inter-session transcoding, all sessions joined:
-i::h264 input.h264 -o::sink –join
-o::mpeg2 output1.mpeg2 -i::source –join –w 640 –h 480
-o::mpeg2 output2.mpeg2 -async 2 -u 3 -i::source -join
Mixed model:
-i::vc1 input.vc1 -async 10 -o::h264 output.h264 –n 100 –w 320 –h 240 –f 30 –b 2000 –u speed
-hw -i::h264 input.h264 -o::sink –join
-o::mpeg2 output1.mpeg2 -i::source –join –w 640 –h 480
-o::mpeg2 output2.mpeg2 -async 2 -u 3 -i::source –join
Single intra-session MVC transcoding:
-i::mvc input.mvc -async 10 -o::mvc output.mvc –n 100 –w 320 –h 240 –f 30 –b 2000 –u speed
Please, also pay attention on “Running the Software” section of <install-folder>/Media_Samples_Guide_Linux.md document
where you will find important notes on backend specific usage (drmand x11).
ROI file format description
ROI file has the following format:
roi_count_frame_1;
roi1_left1; roi1_top1; roi1_right1; roi1_bottom1; roi1_dqp1;
roi2_left1; roi2_top1; roi2_right1; roi2_bottom1; roi2_dqp1;
roi_count_frame_2;
roi1_left2; roi1_top2; roi1_right2; roi1_bottom2; roi1_dqp2;
roi2_left2; roi2_top2; roi2_right2; roi2_bottom2; roi2_dqp2;
roi_count_frame_n;
roi1_leftn; roi1_topn; roi1_rightn; roi1_bottomn; roi1_dqpn;
roi2_leftn; roi2_topn; roi2_rightn; roi2_bottomn; roi2_dqpn;
...
Values are separated by semicolons. Each entry starts with a count that represents the ROI information for a single frame. The count
indicates the number of (5 entry) ROI descriptions provided for the frame (up to 256 ROIs).
Example: a ROI file for a two frame stream where the first frame has two ROIs with -8 and 5 delta QP values, and the second frame includes
three ROIs with -8, 8, and -4 delta QP values:
2;
1104;592;1216;928;-8;
1200;544;1504;848; 5;
3;
1088;576;1200;912;-8;
1200;528;1488;832; 8;
944; 400;1264;512;-4;
Tips
1. To achieve maximumthroughput use –async >= 5 and the –join option when running several transcoding pipelines.
2. If you need only one transcoding session you can avoid creating a par file and pass the arguments of this session to the application
using command line. E.g.:
sample_multi_transcode -i::mpeg2 input.mpeg2 -async 10 -o::h264 output.h264
–n 100 –w 320 –h 240 –f 30 –b 2000 –u speed -p 1.perf –hw

5 Multi-Transcoding Sample API

 HEVC Plugins
HEVC codec is implemented as a plugin unlike codecs such as MPEG2 and AVC. There are 3 implementations of HEVC: Hardware or GPU (HW),
Software or CPU (SW) for both decode and encode and GPU-Accelerated (GACC) only for encoder.
Note 1: The HEVC SW and GACC plugins are available only in the HEVC package which is part of the Intel® Media Software Development Kit
2018. You can find the available plugins and their IDs from$MFX_ROOT/include/mfxplugin.h file.
Note 2: HW plugins for HEVC encode and decode are supported starting from 6th Generation of Intel CoreTM Processors, Intel® Xeon® E3-
1200 and E3-1500 v5 Family with Intel® Processor Graphics 500 Series (codename Skylake).
Note 3: Multi-transcoding sample loads the HW HEVC plugins with HW library and SW plugins with SW library by default. You can enforce a
plugin to be loaded by specifying its hexadecimal GUID or path using "-pe" parameter for encode plugins and "-pd" parameter for decode
plugins. If you need to run one plugin for multiple sessions, use "set" option.
At the example below multi-transcoding sample runs HWlibrary with HWdecode and encode plugins:
sample_multi_transcode -i::h265 input.265 -o::h265 out.h265 -w 480 -h 320
The following command line loads SWlib and SWplugins:
sample_multi_transcode -i::h265 input.265 -o::h265 out.h265 -w 480 -h 320 -sw
This is an example how to use HWlibrary with SWplugins:
sample_multi_transcode -i::h265 ../content/test_stream.265 -pd 15dd936825ad475ea34e35f3f54217a6 -o::h265
out.h265 -w 480 -h 320 -pe 2fca99749fdb49aeb121a5b63ef568f7
HWlibrary+SWdecoder+GACC encoder:
sample_multi_transcode -i::h265 ../content/test_stream.265 -pd 15dd936825ad475ea34e35f3f54217a6 -o::h265
out.h265 -w 480 -h 320 -pe e5400a06c74d41f5b12d430bbaa23d0b
Multiple intra-session transcoding with the same SWHEVC plugin is used in both cases:
set -i::h265 15dd936825ad475ea34e35f3f54217a6
-i::h265 input1.265 -o::h264 output1.264
-i::h265 input2.265 -o::mpeg2 output2.mpeg2
Multiple intra-session transcoding using set clause:
set -i::h265 /path/to/so/decoder_plugin.so
set -o::h265 /path/to/so/encoder_plugin.so
-i::h265 input1.265 -o::h264 output1.264
-i::mpeg2 input2.mpeg2 -o::h265 output2.265

Known Limitations
To use lookahead for HEVC encode, we need to have h264 LA plugin and the HEVC HW encode plugin, run in separate sessions.
Following par file is an example of lookahead bitrate for HEVC encode:
-i::h265 input.h265 -o::sink -hw -async 1 -la -la_ext -bpyr -dist 8 -join
-i::source -o::h265 output.h265 -u 4 -hw -b 500 -async 1 -bpyr -dist 8 -join
Configurations are not supported when sample application uses platform-specific SDK implementation on systems with Intel® HD
Graphics 3000/2000 and 4000/2500. Application can exit with error or hang. An example of a corresponding par file is given below:
-i::h264 input.h264 -o::sink –join
-o::mpeg2 output1.mpeg2 -i::source –join
-o::h264 output2.h264 -i::source –join
Systems with Intel® Iris™ Pro Graphics, Intel® Iris™ Graphics and Intel® HD Graphics 4200+ Series are free fromthis limitation.
Picture rotation sample plug-ins do not swap view order in the pipeline with MVC encoder. This should be considered if viewing of the
output video is involved.
In case of using HEVC plugin (h265 video type), plugin type (hardware or software) used by default is set depending on -sw or -hw
sample options. However, hardware HEVC plugins work on specific platforms only. To force usage of specific HEVC plugin
implementation, please use -pe and -pd options with proper plugin GUID.
SWHEVC plugin in 10bit mode cannot be used together with HWlibrary VPP. Although library allows that, this is bad practice because
additional per-pixel data shift is required. Please use HWHEVC + HWlibrary or SWHEVC + SWlibrary instead.
Sample may crash if composition filter is used with more than 10 sources (because of limitations in MSDK library).
-timeout option set in command line together with par file name may work incorrectly. Please use -timeout option set inside par file
instead.
Sample may not function properly on systems that have a non-Intel VGA controller as the first (primary) because Intel device is not
first in the list.
To workaround this issue, swap names of DRI device files:
$ cd /dev && mv card0 tmp && mv card1 card0 && mv tmp card1
and do the same for the files control64/65 and renderD128/129
In case of inter-session transcoding (with separate decoding and encoding sessions) -n option should be set both for sessions to get
exact number of output frames.

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PROPERTY RIGHT.

6 Multi-Transcoding Sample API

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7 Multi-Transcoding Sample API