Most server hardware thats out there right now doesn’t support av1 encoding, so all of those, literally tens of thousands of them in thousands of spread out data centers have to be replaced with brand new +$1,500 a pop cards that do support it before they can use it
Most hardware is only really true if you account for older hardware in circulation, most new hardware will be shipping hardware decoder support for AV1.
On top of this, the software decoder support is remarkable for AV1, libdav1d is a marvelous piece of software, bringing access to a plethora of devices lacking hardware decoder support.
This is only really true if you have extreme throughput requirements, a regular VOD operation can get by fine on software encoding.
If you have the kind of throughput needs that warrant hardware encoders you’re going to want to go ASIC anyway, so regular server hardware won’t cut it. Like YouTube for example had to build their own ASICs because of the downright absurd scale they are running at
Here’s why it does matter
Most server hardware thats out there right now doesn’t support av1 encoding, so all of those, literally tens of thousands of them in thousands of spread out data centers have to be replaced with brand new +$1,500 a pop cards that do support it before they can use it
And those servers are what process your Twitchs, your YouTubes, your Netflixs and etc services
Most hardware can’t decode it either which is very important. Also it’s currently being sued over patents
Most hardware is only really true if you account for older hardware in circulation, most new hardware will be shipping hardware decoder support for AV1.
On top of this, the software decoder support is remarkable for AV1,
libdav1dis a marvelous piece of software, bringing access to a plethora of devices lacking hardware decoder support.This is only really true if you have extreme throughput requirements, a regular VOD operation can get by fine on software encoding.
If you have the kind of throughput needs that warrant hardware encoders you’re going to want to go ASIC anyway, so regular server hardware won’t cut it. Like YouTube for example had to build their own ASICs because of the downright absurd scale they are running at