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DUALAMDEPYC™PROCESSORSRUNNINGBEAMR5DELIVERSIX(6)BROADCASTQUALITY,REAL-TIME4KP60HEVCENCODES1TheBeamr5HEVCsoftwareencodertakesadvantageofseveralkeyfeaturesofthenewAMDEPYC™processorarchitecturetodeliverhighquality,highdensity,highperformance,highdynamicrange(HDR)inasimpletouse,easytodeployandflexiblesoftwarecomponent.OnadualsocketAMDEPYC7601processor-basedsystem,Beamr5iscapableofencodinguptosixchannelsof4Kp60HDR10-bitvideo,ataqualitylevelsuitableforlivelineardistributionofbroadcastandpremiumentertainmentcontent.1

EncodeuptosixHEVCUHDHDR10-bitlivechannelsonadualsocketAMDEPYC7601processor-basedsystemwithBeamr51Forreal-timelivestreamingserviceswhichrequirethehighestresolutionandframerates,thegreaterperformanceenvelopemeanslessequipment,smallerracks,reducedpowerandcoolingrequirements.

TheperformancebenefitsofBeamr5,runningontheAMDEPYC™processorarchitecture,extendfromlivelineartoVODfile-to-filevideoencodingapplicationswhereshorterwallclocktimesmeanmoretitlesmaybeencodedinthesameperiodoftime.Thesebenefitsareofparticularinteresttoentertainmentservicesthatmustmeetdayanddatecontentavailability,whenoftenthesourcefileisreceivedmerehoursbeforetheservicepublishingtarget.

TheAMDEPYC™PerformanceAdvantageBasedonanewmicroarchitecture,builtusingstate-of-the-artprocesstechnology,theAMDEPYCprocessorsrepresentthemostsignificantsetofplatformimprovementsinadecade.Acompletelyredesignedarchitecturedeliversmorethroughputperexecutioncore.Asaresult,hardwareparallelismissignificantlyincreased,withupto32corespersocketcontributingtoincreasedencodingdensity,allowingtheAMDEPYC7601SoCtodeliverhighdensityvideoprocessingwithina180WTDPenvelope1.

HIGHLIGHTSo TheAMDEPYCSoCbringsa

newbalancetothedatacenter.Utilizinganx86-architecture,theAMDEPYCprocessorcombineshighcorecounts,largememorycapacitywithamplebandwidth,andmassiveI/Owithoptimumratiostoreachnewperformanceheights

o Matchcorecountwithapplicationneedswithoutcompromisingprocessorfeatures.EPYC’sbalancedsetofresourcesmeansmorefreedomtoright-sizetheserverconfigurationtotheworkload.

o RunningtheBeamr5HEVCEncoderonAMDEPYC™processorsinadual-socketsystemcanencodeuptosixsimultaneous4Kp60HDR10-bitvideostreamsforreal-timebroadcastoperations,oracompleteABRstackwithupto15outputstreams1

o Beamr’sadvancedHEVCsoftwareencodingtechnologyexploitskeyfeaturesofthenewAMDEPYC™processortodeliverhighquality,highdensity,highperformance,highdynamicrange(HDR)withunparalleledflexibility,inasimpleeasytodeploysoftwarepackage.

Broadcast-Quality,High-DensityHEVCEncodingwithAMDEPYC™ProcessorsSolution Brief

December, 2018 2018


ExecutiveSummary

NewservicecapabilitiesandadvancedvideoformatssuchasCloudDVR,UHD,HighDynamicRange(HDR),HighEfficiencyVideoCoding(HEVC),andVRarebecomingkeyrequirementsinthesubscribergrowthrace.Whileatthesametime,InternetvideototheTVisprojectedtoexpand3.6-foldby2021withstreamingcontenttotheTVcomprising26percentoffixedconsumerInternetvideotraffic2.Meanwhile,thevolumeofVideoOnDemandtrafficissettonearlydoubleby2021,amountingtoanequivalentof7.2billionDVDsviewedeverymonth.2 As4KUltra-HighDefinition(UHD)displayandcapturecapabilitiesappearonmoresmartphones,wirelessserviceprovidersarefindingtheirnetworksincreasinglycongested.Demandforvideoservicesisincreasingevenascontentcostsarerisingwhilecustomerrevenueisundercompetitivepressure.Thesetrendsmeanoperatorscannotaffordtoinvestinfixedfunction,inflexiblevideoinfrastructurethatdoesnotscaleeconomically. Theolddaysofpurposebuilt,dedicatedhardwarearebehindus,asonlysoftwarecanmeetthearchitecturalflexibilityrequiredfortoday’smodernvideoworkflow.Beamr5,operatingonthenewAMDEPYCprocessor,directlysupportsthisobjectivebycombiningclass-leadingperformancewithflexiblesystemarchitecture.

ModernVideoWorkflowFlexibility

ManyoptionsexistforServiceOperators,VideoPlatforms,CDNs,andBroadcasterstouseBeamr5acrosspubliccloudandon-premisesdatacenterswithAMDEPYC™processors.WorkflowsbasedonBeamr5spanVODfiletranscodingandreal-timevideoencodingforreal-timelivestreamingTVapplications,andpremiumSVODandVODfiledelivery.

Figure1.Videodistributionfromcontentownertosubscriber

BeamrAdvancedVideoEncodingTechnology

AtthebaseoftheBeamr5technologyisyearsofadvancedcodecdevelopmentwhichhasresultedintenInternationalpatentsforinnovationssecuringBeamr’sdensity,efficiency


andqualityadvantage.ThecombinationofBeamrsoftwareandAMD-basedhardwareprovideskeybenefits,whichpositionprovidersforthesuccessfuldeliveryofvideoassummarizedinFigure2.

ServiceswishingtoadapttothelatestcontentformatswillappreciatethepowerofoperatingtheBeamr5HEVCencoderontheAMDEPYC7601processorforitsabilitytoscalecosteffectivelyasaresultofBeamr5’suniquecapabilitytosplitandre-deployvideoencodingworkflows,resultingincontentprocessinganddeliveryflexibilityforoperatorsneedingtodynamicallyconfiguretheirworkflows.OngoingjointimprovementsfromBeamrandAMDwillcontributefurthertoanexpandedvaluepropositionofBeamr’sindustryleadingHEVCencodingsolution.

Figure2.BenefitsoftheBeamr54KHEVCEncoderonAMDEPYC™processors

BeamrEncoderPerformance

Beamr5achievesitsbenchmarkperformancethroughtwo-levelmotionestimationandmicro-levelparallelization.Atwo-levelmotionestimationprocessallowsincomingframestobeanalyzedbytheencoder,whichinturndeterminesthescenecomplexityandcalculatesinitialmotionvectorswhileestimatingwithahighdegreeofprecision,thebitdemandoftheframe.Usingthisestimateguidesasecondstagewheretheencoderdirectsencodingactivitiesonthemostmeaningfulaspectsofeachframerefiningthepreviousestimate.Bypartitioningtheencodingprocess,unproductivecalculationsareavoided,andasignificantspeedupresults.Asproofofperformance,intesting,Beamr5encodeda4Kp60clipatthesamequalitywithupto50%higherthroughput(60fpsvs40fps)whileutilizingonly25%oftheCPUresourcesascomparedwithx265.3

Micro-levelparallelizationtechnologyplaysanimportantroleintheamazingspeedofBeamr5.ThisinnovativetechnologywasdevelopedfromthesoftwareengineeringlessonslearnedfromearliergenerationsofBeamr’sreal-timesoftwareencoders,whereportionsoftheencodingtasksarestaggeredinacontrolledmanner,suchthateachmicrotaskstartsonlywhenitsdatabecomesavailable,andwhilethedataisstillresidentinthecache.ThismeansthesystemdoesnotwastepowerandCPUcyclesrepeatedlywritingandfetchingdatatoandfrommemory.

Carefuldesignofthemicrotasksassurestheycanexecuteefficientlyacrossthewholeframe,inaperfectlybalancedmanner,soallcoresarekeptuniformlybusy,andnoneareleftwaitingforthenexttask.It’simportanttonotethatsoftwareoptimizationslikethis


havebeenengineereddirectlyintotheencoderimplementationandtheydonotdependonusingaspecificOSorspecialAPIprocessoraccess.Beamr5alsomakesextensiveuseofAVX2instructions.

ToillustratetheeffectivenessofBeamr5’soptimization,Beamrutilizedadual-socketboardwithAMDEPYC7601processorstoencodesix(6)4Kp6010-bitlivechannelswhereBeamr5successfullyloaded128threadsallatanimpressive90%orhigherutilization,demonstratingtheeffectivenessofBeamr’smicro-leveltaskparallelization.1

TheAMDEPYC™PerformanceAdvantage

Basedonanewmicroarchitecturebuiltusingthelatestprocesstechnology,theAMDEPYCprocessorsrepresentthemostsignificantsetofplatformimprovementsinadecade.Acompletelyredesignedarchitecturedeliversmorethroughputperexecutioncore.Asaresult,hardwareparallelismissignificantlyincreased,withupto32corespersocketcontributingtoincreasedencodingdensityallowingtheAMDEPYC7601SoCtodeliverhighdensityvideoprocessingwithina180WTDPenvelope1.PerformancecontributorsoftheAMDEPYCprocessorsincludethefollowing:

• Highcorecount-efficientthreadmanagementmaximizesutilizationofCPUcyclesforproduction

• EfficientPowerAdvantage-32coresdelivertheircomputeresultswithina180WTDPenvelope,enablingdenserackpacking

• Amplememorychannels–eightmemorychannelsincreasethememorythroughputthatisoneofthemainperformancefactorsforvideoworkloads.

• Alarge,low-latencyL1/L2cachehierarchyimprovesefficiencyofon-diedatahandling,supportingmemoryintensivevideoworkloads.

• Supportforhigh-speedmemory-DDR4-2666increasesdatathroughput.

• AVX2256bitparallelinstructions

Conclusion

Increasingvideoprocessingdensityinvideotranscodinginfrastructuresisrequiredtosecureacompetitiveadvantageforvideoplatforms,multi-serviceoperators,over-the-top(OTT)streamingservices,andonlinevideodistributionnetworks.Videoarchitectsmustdesignworkflowsthatareadaptableandabletodeliveradvancedentertainmentcontent.ThecombinationofBeamr’sclass-leadingvideotechnologyandencodersoftwareimplementationframework,withAMDprocessors,providesvideoservicestheabilitytomeetcustomerexpectationsandperfectlycomplimentthedensity,efficiency,quality,andflexibilityofvideo-encodingoperations.


79%ofindustryprofessionalsreportedthattheyseeHEVCasaviablereplacementforH.264for4Kand77%reportedthesameforHD4.Incombinationwithagrowingnumberof4Kcapabledevicesintheconsumers’home,andwithalmosteverysmartphonenowsupportingHEVCnatively,videoservicesnotplanningamovetoHEVCwillfindthemselvesatacompetitivedisadvantagecomparedwiththosewhodo.

TheopportunitythatBeamr5runningonAMDEPYCprocessorsprovidestoallvideodistributorsisarobustsolution,abletomeettechnicalandbusinessrequirements,whileprovidingameaningfulimprovementtothevideoprocessingcapabilitiesofanyvideoencodingandstreamingapplication.

Footnotes

1. Beamr5(version4.2)4KHEVCencodingtestedbyBeamr-August,2018.Datareflectsperformancemeasurementsonatwo-socketsystemusingAMDEPYC™[email protected],32cores.TheseresultshavenotbeenindependentlyverifiedbyAMD.

2. https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/solutions/collateral/service-provider/visual-networking-index-vni/vni-hyperconnectivity-wp.html

3. Beamrinternaltesting:http://beamrvideomedia.s3.amazonaws.com/pdf/Beamr_How_to_Encode_Video_for_the_Future.pdfTheseresultshavenotbeenindependentlyverifiedbyAMD.

4. https://go.beamr.com/HEVC-Industry-Insights

©2018AdvancedMicroDevices,Inc.Allrightsreserved.AMD,theAMDArrowlogo,EPYCandcombinationsthereofaretrademarksofAdvanced Micro Devices, Inc. Beamr and the Beamr logo are registered trademarks of Beamr, Inc. in the United States and otherjurisdictions.Otherproductnamesusedinthispublicationareforidentificationpurposesonlyandmaybetrademarksoftheirrespectivecompanies.Theinformationpresentedinthisdocumentisforinformationalpurposesonlyandmaycontaintechnicalinaccuracies,omissionsandtypographicalerrors.AMDreservestherighttorevisethisinformationandtomakechangesfromtimetotimetothecontenthereofwithoutobligationofAMDtonotifyanypersonofsuchrevisionsorchanges.