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We are working on a project where we convert multiple live h.264 (MPEG-4 AVC) videos in real time. At the moment we are using an Intel Core i7-6700K CPU, so its clock speed is the barrier of the number of simultaneous streams.
Is it possible to increase the conversion performance by adding 1 or more video cards? If so, will it be automatically faster, or will it require a special software/method to utilize the extra hardware? (In case it cannot be done this way, we will build another converter machine...)
Additional info: Currently we are using multiple instances of VideoLAN VLC media player. The source videos are various, the output is always the same size and type, so it's usually downscaling (1 mbps output from 10-20 mbps sources).
iPog
Posted 2016-12-17T17:26:09.160
Reputation: 21
Why did anyone downvote my question? Is it a duplicate? At least provide a reason with the -1... – iPog – 2016-12-17T17:40:27.127
I can't explain the downvotes, but I upvoted because it seems like an interesting question. You're not asking for specific hardware recommendations re the card, so that wouldn't be a fair reason for a downvote, it seems to me. – Steve Rindsberg – 2016-12-18T04:10:48.340
Only if you're using a GPU-based encoder such as nvenc. But CPU based encoders such as x264 are more mature. – Gyan – 2016-12-18T19:40:49.163
Do you absolutely need to use h.264 ? – yoyo_fun – 2016-12-28T00:44:52.567
Thanks @Mulvya, your comment helped me to step forward in the topic. – iPog – 2016-12-28T07:21:51.730
@yoyo_fun, well, the output has to be MPEG-4 AVC. – iPog – 2016-12-28T07:22:51.947
Update: We went with the nvenc method, and it is great. GTX cards are limited to only 1 stream at a time, but newer Quadro cards can provide "unlimited" simultaneous transcodings. With low bitrate (SD video, 1 mbps) the h264_nvenc output quality is not worse than x264. – iPog – 2018-02-02T11:44:43.810