GPU Computing

Video Encoding
In the past we have taken a look at the performance gains which can be achieved when converting small video files using Badaboom (See Here) but recently Elemental added support for additional codec’s to the application. This makes the software much more flexible. Shown below is the result of converting a 1920x1080 file which was recorded in FRAPS to the highest quality iPod setting within Badaboom.


For this clip we can see that passing encoding work to the GPU has huge benefits with a reduction in time of 52 seconds. When we consider that the program used to encode the comparison results actually uses all 8 threads of the Core-i7 CPU it makes this GeForce result even more impressive.
For more information on Badaboom visit: BadaboomIT.com

GPU Computing – Video Enhancement
In the ever expanding list of software which can be enhanced by GeForce GPUs/CUDA one of the latest additions is vReveal from MotionDSP. This application allows us to take videos which are of less than average quality and significantly enhance them. A few simple button clicks can fix brightness, sharpness and even shaky camera work but it is an intensive process and GPU acceleration is very beneficial.

Shown above are the performance results for a small video which required various enhancements through vReveal, essentially everything but camera shake fix. Even though we have the use of a Core-i7 965 CPU the processor usage is still in the high 80’s and the preview framerate never rises above 7FPS. Enabling CUDA on the GTX 275 doubles the framerate and drops CPU usage to an excellent 11%.

Shown below is a comparison screenshot from another video. The left part of the image is pre-enhancement and the right part is post enhancement. One of the great aspects of vReveal is that you can move the split in real time and that is demonstrated by the video at the base of this page.



For more information visit: Vreveal.com