Encoders and Decoders

[flyoffacliff]

What are the names of the different possible encoders and decoders? I don't know what any of them are and which ones are best. I assume they are selected automatically depending on the game?

Thank you

[Makoto]

You have 4 types of encoders, 3 hardware and 1 software:

Intel Quick Sync or QSV: Uses the encoding unit in intel processors in modern core i processors having intel HD graphics (from 2xxx to 6xxx series)

AMF (AMD Media Framework): Uses the VCE unit inside latests AMD radeon GPUs (HD 79xx/R7/R9)

Nvidia/NVENC/NVIFR/NVFBC: Uses nVidia GPU encoding unit (from 6xx to 9xx series)

Software encoding: As it says, uses the CPU, can have a big impact on your game performance, but also shows the best image quality.



Quality wise you'll have:
Software > QSV > NVENC > AMF

Latency wise, it depends greatly on your selected settings (resolutions, bitrate...) but hardware encoding is always better than software.


On the stable steam client, they are selected by priority order, if you enable hardware encoding: AMF > QSV > Software or NVENC > QSV > Software

On latest steam beta, you have a setting in big picture mode that allows you to choose wich one you want to use.



For decoders you have either software or hardware accelerated decoding on latests GPUs.
AMD or nVidia doesn't matter here, the result and quality is the same.

[flyoffacliff]

Thank you very much. That is a big help. You really saved me a lot of time researching.

Originally posted by Makoto:

On the stable steam client, they are selected by priority order, if you enable hardware encoding: AMF > QSV > Software or NVENC > QSV > Software

I don't understand. You have QSV and Software listed twice.


Also, may I ask how you know all this? Is there documentation some ware? could you explain NVENC, NVIFR, and NVFBC?

I thought they were Nividia features. But Google keeps showing Steam streaming related information.


Thanks again.

[Makoto]

Originally posted by flyoffacliff:

I don't understand. You have QSV and Software listed twice.

Because it depends on the type of video card you're using:
Nvidia: NVENC > QSV > Software
AMD: AMF > QSV > Software

Hope it's clearer like that.

Originally posted by flyoffacliff:

Also, may I ask how you know all this? Is there documentation some ware? could you explain NVENC, NVIFR, and NVFBC?

I know all this because of tons of experimentation i made with in home streaming, i'm really enthousiastic with this new feature but for the moment it has its own quirks.
As for NVENC, NVIFR and NVFBC, i'm not using an Nvidia card so i can't tell you much about their quality and eventual drawbacks, they're 3 ways (API) to capture & encode the game you're streaming, i've heard the NVIFR and NVFBC are also handling the capture part and NVENC lets you handle the capture and do only the encoding part.