元素揭示实时编码解决方案

As we head toward the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) show in Las Vegas, 下个星期, companies are busy rolling out their product announcements.

One rumor that's been floating around for some time has been that Elemental Technologies, 一家专注于大规模并行转码解决方案使用现成的图形处理器单元(gpu), was going to launch a live version of its GPU solution.

Elemental hinted at the idea of a live encoding solution using GPUs during last September's IBC show, 当公司推出元素服务器时, 它的开始, 多比特率转码设备.

Today, the company announced Elemental Live, a single 1U (1.75") encoding appliance that it claims will do the work of multiple boxes from competitors.

Part of the reason that Elemental is pushing GPU solutions is the sheer number of streaming cores available in a GPU. While Intel recently announced a 6-core Xeon processor, Nvidia announced a 480-core GPU based on its Fermi architecture. 有能力访问那么多核心, 即使每一个都不如一个CPU核心强大, is key to the programming of a GPU into a massive parallel processing engine.

非常适合广播公司, 网络视频平台和其他新媒体提供商,该公司的新闻稿称, "Elemental Live delivers four times the performance of competitive CPU-only solutions at half the price."

做数学计算
Whenever a company makes a claim like this—which is much more concrete than the generic "we are the market leading [insert noun]" claim—it's worth exploring.

Elemental对Elemental Server也做了类似的声明, which has been shipping for a few months and which my consulting firm will be benchmarking over the next two months as part of a shoot-out between relevant CPU, DSP, 和GPU设备.

"We welcome potential customers to examine our claim in depth,萨姆·布莱克曼说, Elemental首席执行官兼董事长, 在元素服务器发布的时候, and he repeated this comment during an Elemental Live pre-announcement briefing last Friday.

“对于单流解决方案, CPU解决方案很难被击败,布莱克曼说。, 而是用于自适应比特率流, where every stream requires three or more streams encoded simultaneously, the GPU parallel processing really shines and does so in a single box."

The company breaks its claim down this way: Using suggested retail prices (MSRP) and a typical use case that output a variety of streams for adaptive bitrate streaming (nine streams with four archive files including editing), Elemental looked at the cost for non-redundant and redundant solutions.

"We figured a typical editing file for a 1080p source would require one 1080p archive, 剩下的流分成720p高清, SD, 及到岸价(移动),布莱克曼说。. "So nine streams with four archive files including editing is 1x 1080p, 3x 720p, 6x SD, and 3x CIF."

The breakdown of equipment needed also included the need for SDI splitters, to split a single source out to multiple encoders—the company claims one competitor requires three boxes to do what Elemental does in a single box, while another competitor requires four boxes to match Elemental Live—so additional costs beyond the encoding boxes would be required.

“我们的估计是SDI分离器约为250美元/产量, 所以一个双输出版本是500美元, 3 is $750, 4是1000美元,布莱克曼说。. “除了, 在所有编码器之间保持时间码同步, for frame-accurate keyframes required by some adaptive bitrate solutions, a box such as Miranda Little Red linear timecode boxes is priced at about $400."

“一个竞争对手的解决方案需要三个盒子,布莱克曼说, ，这意味着三个单位的价格约为92美元,000年总, 包括支持, 再加上2000美元的3个SDI分路器和时间码盒. 同样地, 另一个竞争对手的解决方案需要四个盒子, 大约82美元,000年总 MSRP and $3000 for 4x SDI splitters and the timecode box."

Elemental声称Elemental Live的建议零售价为44美元,000, 不需要SDI分配器或时间码盒, since all synchronization is handled internal to the box across the four GPUs.

"These numbers double in the case of the fully redundant solution,布莱克曼说。, adding "obviously these numbers are rough (and rounded) based on MSRPs but definitely right in the ballpark."

对于冗余解, Elemental声称成本为89美元,000 for its own solution (with the need for a 2x SDI splitter and timecode box) versus a comparative price of $170,000-188,与竞争对手相比，这一数字为1000万美元.

性能怎么样??
These amounts answer the "half the price" portion of the claim, but what about the "four times the performance" claim?

为那, Blackman points to the fact that a single four-GPU Elemental Live appliance is capable of encoding four 1080p, 八720便士, 或者同时播放16个480p流, 在高清和标清输出之间混合和匹配.

"Based on the fact that we can do this many encodes on a single box,布莱克曼说, “我们要求的是四倍的性能, especially when multiple Elemental Live appliances are used in a robust live encoding workflow."

I plan to examine the claim in more detail once the Elemental Live appliance is released.