AMD and Leading Application Providers Make Accelerated Video Experiences Possible for Millions of Consumers

That graphics cards can do much more than just squeeze out pixels at high rates is not news. But when we talk about GPGPU and especially video acceleration it’s usually NVIDIA’s CUDA concept that comes to mind. AMD has also made some progress with its equivalent, Stream, which has gained a broader software support. The company has announced that Stream can be used by multiple applications to speed up video conversions and such, among others in software from Cyberlink, ArcSoft and its own ATI Video Converter.

More on AMD’s Stream acceleration in the press release;

AMD and Leading Application Providers Make Accelerated Video Experiences Possible for Millions of Consumers 

− Graphics and PC Processors Work in Tandem via ATI Stream technology to speed work across a range of popular formats−

AMD announced that users of its computing platforms can accelerate new video editing and processing software from a range of developers, designed to vastly reduce the time required to perform increasingly popular, but highly compute intensive tasks like converting a large, high-definition file into something suitable for viewing on a portable media player. 

AMD is able to accelerate this process by taking advantage of ATI Stream technology, a set of advanced hardware and software technologies that enable AMD GPUs to work in concert with its CPUs to accelerate applications beyond just graphics. As one example, comparative benchmark data of the video transcoding acceleration possible via ATI Stream technology shows impressive results.

• ATI Stream-enabled software titles for video editing and processing continue to be released by a growing list of independent software vendors (ISVs):
  
  
  
  • CyberLink’s MediaShow Espresso video converter application leverages AMD’s unique Unified Video Decoder (UVD) through its ATI Stream technology to quickly convert digital video files for use on portable devices like Apple iPhone and Sony PSP. CyberLink has also optimized its award-winning video editing software PowerDirector 7 to take advantage of ATI Stream. For more information or to purchase PowerDirector 7 or MediaShow Espresso, please click here.
    
  • ArcSoft will soon deliver a SimHD™ ATI Stream version to consumers, a plug-in to their video playback software ArcSoft TotalMedia™ Theatre. With ATI Stream technology, SimHD is able to take advantage of the GPU power, bringing near high definition viewing experience to users when watching standard definition content.” For more information, please click here.
  
  
• AMD’s latest graphics driver, Catalyst 9.5 includes a new, free downloadable update of AMD’s own ATI Video Converter utility that gives ATI graphics card users the ability to easily accelerate video transcoding tasks.
  
• As the only company in the world capable of offering x86 CPUs and consumer and professional GPUs, AMD is focusing on optimized platform technologies, like “Dragon” desktop platform technology, which balance performance between AMD CPUs and GPUs with ATI Stream technology to deliver outstanding value.

Supporting Resources

• ATI Video Converter “How To” video
  
• Details on ATI Stream supported products
  
• ATI Stream technology video application benchmarks

Supporting Quotes 
“ArcSoft SimHD™ provides users a close-to-high-definition viewing experience from lower definition content, a complex processing task perfectly executed by ATI Stream technology,” said George Tang, ArcSoft Vice President and General Manager of Video and Home Entertainment Group. “We continue to have a highly productive relationship with AMD which allows us leverage their GPU and CPU architectures in creative ways.”

“CyberLink was the first to support ATI Stream video processing in PowerDirector, our award winning video editing software,” said Alice H. Chang, CEO of CyberLink Corp. “As we developed our new video converter application, MediaShow Espresso, we worked closely with AMD to insure full support for ATI Stream technology. By taking maximum advantage of the full power of the CPU and GPU, we’re able to set new standards for consumer video applications.