Adobe Media Encoder CC 2017

Like 3D rendering, video encoding is a task that now takes very good advantage of multi-core processors. Although a lot of reviews focus on Open Source encoders such as Handbrake, this is a review of professional applications, so we have chosen Adobe Media Encoder CC 2017 (AME) for our test bed instead. You can download a trial of this software from Adobe. For an encoding source, we used the 4K UHD (3,840 x 2,160) version of the Blender Mango Project Tears of Steel movie.

We encoded with the Vimeo 1080p HD preset in AME. This is a MP4 H.264 preset, using High Profile and Level 4.2. There are two modes available for the AME rendering engine (called the Mercury Playback Engine, presumably because it's smooth and, erm, shiny). One uses software only, so will just employ the CPU. But you can also call in CUDA on NVIDIA graphics and OpenCL on AMD graphics. We tried both GPU-accelerated and CPU-only options on both systems.

This is perhaps the most surprising result of all. With the Mercury Playback Engine in Software Only mode, the AMD Ryzen Threadripper was 29 per cent faster than the Intel Core i9. Bring in the GPU, and the difference is even more pronounced, with the AMD system providing 47 per cent faster encoding.

We were definitely not expecting the AMD-AMD option to be supreme in this test over Intel-NVIDIA. If you are video editing with Adobe applications, it looks like AMD is not just value for money, but actually the best choice for performance as well. Again, optimisation is likely a factor, but these are real results with real production software that is widely used in industry.

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