--- Type: article State: [ draft ] Title: Intel QuickSync Project: HandBrake Project_URL: https://handbrake.fr/ Project_Version: Latest Language: English Language_Code: en Authors: [ Scott (s55) ] Copyright: 2019 HandBrake Team License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License_Abbr: CC BY-SA 4.0 License_URL: https://handbrake.fr/docs/license.html --- Intel Quick Sync Video ========================== Supported Hardware and Configurations -------------- - Intel Skylake Processors (6th Generation Core) CPU's with Intel HD Graphics better - Windows 10 (GUI and CLI) - Linux (Available in our flatpak build via a plugin) Please note, these are not hard limits and the feature *may* work on older cards and operating systems, but this is not officially supported. Enabling support -------------- Support for the QuickSync encoder can be enabled in preferences under the video tab. If your system is not supported, the option will be greyed out. Performance -------------- Take note that only the decode (when enabled) and encode portions of the pipeline is done on the Intel hardware. Every stage in the pipeline in-between including (decoding, filters, a/v sync, muxing etc.) all happen on the CPU. As a result, it is normal to have high, or 100% CPU utilisation during encodes. It is common, particularly on lower end hardware that the CPU may be a bottleneck for the encoder. To minimise this effect, turn off any filters that you do not require. Using the Advanced Options -------------- QuickSync does have a limited set of advanced encoder options that can be used. Generally speaking is is not recommended to change these parameters. The built-in presets offer a good range of options. From the command line, you can use the --encopts parameter as follows: --encopts="option1=value1:option2=value2" From the graphical user interface, just set the options in the dedicated text box: option1=value1:option2=value2 Option Types -------------- The following value types are supported (each option only accepts one value type): - integer A number that can be written without a fractional or decimal component. - boolean 0 means off (or disabled). 1 means on (or enabled). - string Takes a setting defined as s string. See comment for details. Available Options -------------- Available Options -------------- - target-usage (or tu) - Sets the trade-off between quality and speed, from 1 (best quality) to 7 (best speed). - Default: 2 - num-ref-frame (or ref) - Number of reference frames, from 1 to 16. - 0 means unspecified (set at runtime by the implementation). - Default: 0 (unspecified) - gop-ref-dist - Distance between I or P reference frames, from 1 to 16. - -1 means automatic (4 in constant QP mode, 3 otherwise). - 0 means unspecified (set at runtime by the implementation). - 1 means B-frames will not be used. - Default: -1 (automatic) - Note: may be sanitized to a lower value in some cases to avoid hangs. - gop-pic-size (or keyint) - Number of pictures within the current GOP (aka "keyframe interval"). - -1 means automatic (32 in constant QP mode, 1 second long otherwise). - 0 means unspecified (set at runtime by the implementation). - 1 means only I-frames will be used. - 2 means B-frames will not be used. - Default: -1 (automatic) - cavlc - Use CAVLC instead of CABAC entropy coding. Reduces compression efficiency. - It may improve encoding performance slightly, especially on older hardware. - Note: you can also use ''cabac'' (same as ''cavlc'' with reversed meaning). - Default: 0 (CAVLC off, CABAC on) - b-pyramid - Enables or disables "Pyramidal B-frames" which can improve compression efficiency. - It may be incompatible with some playback devices (such as the first generation AppleTV). - Note that this options modifies other parameters (gop-ref-dist, num-ref-frame, gop-pic-size). - -1 means automatic (on in constant QP mode, off otherwise). - 0 means off (disabled). - 1 means on (enabled). - Default: -1 (automatic) - Caveats: requires hardware support (4th gen. Intel Core processor or equivalent), and driver support for version 1.6 of the Media SDK API. - mbbrc - Enables macroblock-level bitrate control that generally improves subjective visual quality. - It may have a negative impact on performance and objective visual quality metrics. - Default: 1 (on) - Note: not compatible with Constant QP or !LookAhead rate control methods (ignored). - Caveats: requires hardware support (4th gen. Intel Core processor or equivalent), and driver support for version 1.6 of the Media SDK API. - extbrc - Use extended bitrate control algorithms. - It generally improves objective visual quality metrics and subjective visual quality, - but can also lead to violation of HRD conformance and may significantly reduce performance. - Default: 0 (off) - Note: not compatible with Constant QP or !LookAhead rate control methods (ignored). - Caveats: requires driver support for version 1.6 of the Media SDK API. - trellis - Enables trellis quantization. - 0 means trellis is disabled. - 1 means trellis is enabled for I-frames only. - 2 means trellis is enabled for I and P-frames. - 3 means trellis is enabled for all frames (I, P and B). - Default: 0 (disabled) - Note: ignored if the target-usage is too low (usually, only works in combination with tu=1). - Caveats: requires hardware support (4th gen. Intel Core processor or equivalent), and driver support for version 1.7 of the Media SDK API. - lookahead (or la) - Use the !LookAhead (LA or LA_ICQ) bitrate control algorithm. - Default: 1 (on) - Caveats: requires hardware support (4th gen. Intel Core processor or equivalent), and driver support for version 1.7 (1.8 for LA_ICQ) of the Media SDK API. - lookahead-depth (or la-depth) - If !LookAhead bitrate control is enabled, number of frames that are analyzed before encoding, from 11 to 60. - Default: 40 - Note: may be sanitized to a lower value in some cases to avoid hangs. - Caveats: requires hardware support (4th gen. Intel Core processor or equivalent), and driver support for version 1.7 of the Media SDK API. - force-cqp - In Constant Quality mode, use Constant QP rate control, even if Intelligent Constant Quality is available. - Default: 0 (ICQ enabled if available) - cqp-offset-i | cqp-offset-p | cqp-offset-b - In constant QP (CQP) bitrate control mode, specify offset from the global quality/QP value for I, P and B-frames. - Defaults are 0, 2 and 4, respectively. - vbv-maxrate - Sets the maximum rate the VBV buffer should be assumed to refill at, in kilobits per second (Kbps). - Default: 0 (set at runtime by the implementation) - Note: not compatible with Constant QP, Intelligent Constant Quality or !LookAhead rate control methods (ignored). - vbv-bufsize - Sets the size of the VBV buffer in kilobits (Kb). - Default: 0 (set at runtime by the implementation) - Note: not compatible with Constant QP, Intelligent Constant Quality or !LookAhead rate control methods (ignored). - vbv-init - Sets how full the VBV Buffer must be before playback starts. - If it is less than 1, then the initial fill is: vbv-init * vbv-bufsize. - Otherwise it is interpreted as the initial fill in kilobits (Kb). - Default: 0 (set at runtime by the implementation) - Note: not compatible with Constant QP, Intelligent Constant Quality or !LookAhead rate control methods (ignored).