[FFmpeg-devel] GPU Hardware Acceleration [was Re: openCL support]

Patrick Shirkey pshirkey at boosthardware.com
Fri Mar 16 00:14:16 CET 2012


> On Thu, 15 Mar 2012 22:45:24 +0100 (CET), Patrick Shirkey wrote:
>>Is there anything simple that would have a good overall purpose and lead
>>in the right direction?
>
> i think the stepping stone would be write a small api / wrapper to
> opencl in ffmpeg which is used by one codec/filter to do one thing.
>
> that will:
> a) show whats required to integrate ffmpeg with opencl (how to copy
> data into the gpu, how to handle mem/buffer etc)
>

Is this a complete list or can it be expanded? Is there something written
up already for previous efforts?


> b) show devels they can start hacking at codec gpu integration, like
> DCT/frame paralellization instead of working on api.
>
> basically i think people are unmotivated to work on it because api's in
> ffmpeg are bikeshedded to death, instead of just coded.
>

I appreciate everyone is busy. I'm just trying to leverage the combined
knowledge to get a better overview of the development priorities.

> which is true about anything in ffmpeg. michael has said time and time
> again its quicker to just code something than to talk about it for 3
> months and 400 replies about which is the _right_ way to do it. if we
> come to a blocking issue, lets deal with it down the road, not discuss
> first and code later.
>
> things to be done (note i have no experience in what i'm saying):
>
> 0. talk to nvidia, ati, intel, and whomever you can into getting some
> specs, api, reference encoders, code snippets, help, or anything that
> can possibly help speed things up.
>

I have some contacts in this regard.

> 0.1. write api in ffmpeg git branch repo. or send patch.
>

Is it the general consensus that spp is a good place to start? What do we
need most to get the ball rolling?

> 1. write api howto like codec howto and demuxer howto on multimedia
> wiki.
>
> 2. compile list of other projects which use opencl and gpu accel. (so we
> can reuse code, like x264, that jp2k project and vlc?)
>

While I figure any project that uses FFMPEG will have an immediate benefit
from work done to improve things here.


> 3. make news entry that you are looking for sponsors to sponsor gpu
> accel for codecs.
>
> 4. send proprosals to ffmtech for funding requests.
>

Can you point me to the right location to get more info on FFFMTech. I
tried ffmtech.org but that page is a placeholder.

Is there only the mailiing list for now?

> 5. write news entry asking for talented programmers to write code for
> sponsored money. start with small bounties and small code to find
> good programmers.
>

This may come once I have a better idea of what needs to be done.


> 6. ???
>
> 7. profit.

It can be useful but it may not be what drives people.




--
Patrick Shirkey
Boost Hardware Ltd


More information about the ffmpeg-devel mailing list