Quick Sync hardware encode w/ nVideo card as primary

[joshua12]

Try adding shiki.kext with this config.plist. Also, is AirPlay enabled for you?

Airplay shows up, I don't have anything to test it with and MacX shows that it is enabled however when I run VDADecoderCheckerSierra it fails. As well as when I use Final Cut the system becomes unstable, just a minute ago it did a force logout after freezing. FCP drops frames, runs really slow (but the rest of the system runs fine) and appears to not be using Quick Sync.

It's also critical to apply the DSDT patch GFX0->IGPU

<key>Comment</key>
<string>Rename GFX0 to IGPU</string>
<key>Disabled</key>
<false/>
<key>Find</key>
<data>
R0ZYMA==
</data>
<key>Replace</key>
<data>
SUdQVQ==
</data>

One thing to mention, I have not created a DSDT or an SSDT, mostly because I don't know how or have run into issue when creating one. I was thinking of trying @erik's SSDT as it matches my CPU and the overclock I am looking to do.

What should I try next?

Thanks for all the help!

 

[canyondust]

Airplay shows up, I don't have anything to test it with and MacX shows that it is enabled however when I run VDADecoderCheckerSierra it fails. As well as when I use Final Cut the system becomes unstable, just a minute ago it did a force logout after freezing. FCP drops frames, runs really slow (but the rest of the system runs fine) and appears to not be using Quick Sync.



One thing to mention, I have not created a DSDT or an SSDT, mostly because I don't know how or have run into issue when creating one. I was thinking of trying @erik's SSDT as it matches my CPU and the overclock I am looking to do.

What should I try next?

Thanks for all the help!

Sure, try that SSDT and see what happens.
Here'a s helpful discussion on getting quick sync encode and decode working, from the Shiki Github:

https://github.com/vit9696/Shiki/issues/10

EDIT:
Also this for those on iMac 18,3

https://github.com/vit9696/Shiki/issues/12

 

[pastrychef]

Airplay shows up, I don't have anything to test it with and MacX shows that it is enabled however when I run VDADecoderCheckerSierra it fails. As well as when I use Final Cut the system becomes unstable, just a minute ago it did a force logout after freezing. FCP drops frames, runs really slow (but the rest of the system runs fine) and appears to not be using Quick Sync.



One thing to mention, I have not created a DSDT or an SSDT, mostly because I don't know how or have run into issue when creating one. I was thinking of trying @erik's SSDT as it matches my CPU and the overclock I am looking to do.

What should I try next?

Thanks for all the help!

When the VDADecoderChecker was failing for me, this is what fixed it for me: #322

I assume you are talking about creating an SSDT.aml file for power management. You don't need it since you've already enabled it in your config.plist via PluginType=True.

 

[macbrush]

I checked FCP, smoothly, compressor seems a bit sluggish but using minimum CPU resources encoding HEVC 10 bit.

Also tried using MacX Video Convertor to encode a 5 mins files with and without hardware acceleration, end file sizes are different by 30%, so definitely different encoder. Also hardware render time differ by about +50%.

Above show approx 2:40s to render the whole file without hardware acceleration checked.

Above show approx 1:14s to render the whole file with hardware acceleration checked, obviously faster.

 

[joshua12]

When the VDADecoderChecker was failing for me, this is what fixed it for me: #322

I assume you are talking about creating an SSDT.aml file for power management. You don't need it since you've already enabled it in your config.plist via PluginType=True.

I applied the patch in that post, worked like a charm. I know have full Quick Sync support. Yet to see if FCP crashes on me but I think I will be ok. Defiantly will post with final results soon.

I checked FCP, smoothly, compressor seems a bit sluggish but using minimum CPU resources encoding HEVC 10 bit.

Also tried using MacX Video Convertor to encode a 5 mins files with and without hardware acceleration, end file sizes are different by 30%, so definitely different encoder. Also hardware render time differ by about +50%.

View attachment 303920
Above show approx 2:40s to render the whole file without hardware acceleration checked.

View attachment 303921
Above show approx 1:14s to render the whole file with hardware acceleration checked, obviously faster.

After making everything work, render time on a 1080p 1min video dropped from 1:03 to 17sec I am stoked.

Only question I have is will the system ever take advantage of more resources? Looking at exports from FCP it seems like there is still a lot of meat on the bone. Especially when compared to readings from my MacBook Pro. Looks like the IGPU will only get to 0.35GHz on the desktop with very little CPU utilization where on the laptop the IGPU hits 1.30 GHz with ~80% (editing off of the same sever). I'm not complaining especially after the performance numbers I'm getting now, just want to know if this is normal.

Thanks for all the help!

 

[joshua12]

Only question I have is will the system ever take advantage of more resources? Looking at exports from FCP it seems like there is still a lot of meat on the bone. Especially when compared to readings from my MacBook Pro. Looks like the IGPU will only get to 0.35GHz on the desktop with very little CPU utilization where on the laptop the IGPU hits 1.30 GHz with ~80% (editing off of the same sever). I'm not complaining especially after the performance numbers I'm getting now, just want to know if this is normal.

Just ran a quick test and my MacBook just beat out the MacPro, exporting a 4min30sec in 1min25sec (all over the network) with the MacPro exporting the same project (local to that system) in 1min54sec.

So is it normal for hacks to not have full support for Quick Sync?

Thanks

 

[macbrush]

Maybe PCIe NVME play a big part? I have a small NVME for my fusion drive, and if I put a master file there and use compressor to encode immediately, it's about 30% faster than my usual SATA SSD scratch drive. I am tempting to get another NVME just for that purpose.

 

[macbrush]

Now another question, h.264 hardware encode works, but Compressor thinks that I don't have the hardware for HEVC 8-bit encode (10-bit is software and is painfully slow). I tried changing my Mac model from 13,1 to 18,3, board-id and other stuffs like serial number (which is a pain for me, many paid softwares are registered to that Mac Pro serial) to no avail. Anyone know what Compressor is using to determine my hardware capabilities?

Here is some console log when I select HEVC 8-bit in compressor, not sure if that helps:

Edit: I removed other logs, since I found that only the following entry is relatival.

Error loading /System/Library/Video/Plug-Ins/VCPHEVC.bundle/Contents/MacOS/VCPHEVC: dlopen(/System/Library/Video/Plug-Ins/VCPHEVC.bundle/Contents/MacOS/VCPHEVC, 262): no suitable image found. Did find:

/System/Library/Video/Plug-Ins/VCPHEVC.bundle/Contents/MacOS/VCPHEVC: no matching architecture in universal wrapper

/System/Library/Video/Plug-Ins/VCPHEVC.bundle/Contents/MacOS/VCPHEVC: no matching architecture in universal wrapper

 

[unklemac]

Hello guys - Will this work with Vega cards too?

I hope this IGPU trick can help with my “stabalization” (analyze dominant motion) crash I have in FCP X, with certain H.264 files.

Do I need to turn on iGPU and make certain config edits with my build?

Any help is greatly appreciated

 

[pastrychef]

Hello guys - Will this work with Vega cards too?

I hope this IGPU trick can help with my “stabalization” (analyze dominant motion) crash I have in FCP X, with certain H.264 files.

Do I need to turn on iGPU and make certain config edits with my build?

Any help is greatly appreciated

Yes it should work the same way with Vega. Enable the IGPU in BIOS but keep your Vega as primary.

Find out the headless ig-platform-id for your CPU/IGPU and enter it in to config.plist.

You may or may not need Lilu.kext and IntelGraphicFixup.kext. I did not need it for my Ivy Bridge but needed it for Sky/Kaby/Coffee Lake.