When Apple introduced the M1, their first Arm-based processor, the market took notice. Since then, the Apple M series has replaced Intel x86, the decades long incumbent, in all laptop and desktop systems from Apple. With the M3, the latest generation, the combined hardware and software from Apple works more smoothly and faster, fully taking advantage of all the Arm architecture has to offer.
But Microsoft Windows PCs still dominate the market. Until recently, these devices predominately used non-Arm-based processors from Intel and AMD. However, this is expected to change with the recent release of Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite and Plus compute platforms.
| Qualcomm Snapdragon chipsets are already pervasive in mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets, and as such, it’s only natural for Qualcomm to extend their capabilities into the PC world. Capitalizing on their experience with Arm-architecture and working side-by-side with Microsoft, earlier this year Qualcomm released the Snapdragon X Elite and Plus compute platforms powering over 20 PCs from Acer, Asus, HP, Lenovo, Microsoft, Samsung and others. Each Snapdragon X Elite or Plus processor employs from 8 to 12 cores and an Adreno GPU, and many come with a price tag well below non-Arm PCs. |
Some of the available PCs*
Full list at qualcomm.com * prices accurate as of date of publication |
For video production, these Snapdragon X PCs include built-in software and hardware codecs based on Microsoft’s Media Foundation, capable of processing video up to 4:2:0 8-bit. Supported codecs include AVC/H.264 and HEVC/H.265, the most widely used codecs in video production today. With the addition of the MainConcept software video codecs, Snapdragon X PCs achieve professional grade production formats like 4:2:2 10-bit.
In the video production and broadcast market, support for a wide range of high-performance video codecs and formats in pristine quality is essential. For this reason, MainConcept is at the forefront of the professional video industry to ensure the transition to Windows on Snapdragon is seamless for content creators who require superior quality video.
MainConcept SDKs for Arm offer high performance, reliability and quality from the artisans of professional video. In fact, we’ve been powering the digital video universe for professionals for more than 30 years. Our Arm optimized HEVC/H.265 and AVC/H.264 encoders and decoders elegantly support 4:2:2 10-bit formats which aren’t natively supported, as well as 4:2:0 10-bit. MainConcept offers the largest codec library in the industry, including both audio and video codecs and related components that are essential for video production, TV broadcast, OTT content creation, transcoding and much more. These include MPEG-2, DVCPRO, xHE-AAC/AAC, color conversion and scaling, multiplexing and demultiplexing plus MPEG-DASH, HLS and CMAF packaging and streaming. Because they use the same API across all platforms and operating systems, integrating the MainConcept libraries into your Arm solution is quick and easy.
You may be wondering about performance, so please be assured that MainConcept has detailed benchmarking and tools for independent testing. Our engineers routinely run performance tests that extend far beyond unsupported formats to include benchmarking built-in software solutions. While there are too many variables to test for all known use cases, our teams are always available and ready to assist our clients to find the best solution for each use case.
For benchmarking the professional grade experience, we used a Samsung Galaxy Book4 Edge 960XMB-KB1 with Snapdragon X Elite CPU (X1E-84-100), 12 cores/12 threads, 3.8 GHz (boost 4.2 GHz), Adreno GPU, 16 GB RAM running on Windows 11. We used the latest MainConcept AVC/H.264 and HEVC/H.265 libraries to measure decoding speed on the Snapdragon laptop running Windows.
Let’s look at the impressive results!
This test focused on professional production formats using AVC and HEVC 4:2:2 10-bit. For the test streams we used Sony XAVC Intra and XAVC LongGOP streams covering resolutions from HD to 8K with bitrates of up to 1200 Mbps. Similar formats also exist from Canon and Panasonic. Because they are not supported by the laptop’s native codecs, we could only measure the performance of the MainConcept software decoders to get an idea about the hardware’s capabilities in processing professional camcorder formats. The diagrams below summarize our test results:
In this test, the MainConcept AVC/H.264 decoder can decode up to 10 concurrent XAVC-Intra HD videos on the Snapdragon X Elite. For our HEVC/H.265 decoder, it could process at least 5 XAVC-H streams in parallel. XAVC-H in 4K60 was more of a challenge and 8K real-time decoding remains impractical with today's technology.
Next came the test runs for XAVC Long GOP formats in AVC and HEVC. For professional camcorder formats up to AVC or HEVC HD, our decoders achieve real-time decoding even for several streams simultaneously. With XAVC-H 4K, the device can perform real-time decoding of a single stream at up to 50 fps.
Real-time 4:2:2 10-bit professional production use cases with the MainConcept AVC and HEVC software decoders are suitable for a variety of use cases up to 4K on the Samsung PC tested, which as mentioned before, is not possible natively. From experience we can say that other Arm-based PCs with comparable technical specifications show similar results.
Reviews for the new Windows on Snapdragon PCs are universally positive, showing exceptional performance and extended battery life. In the case of video processing, the MainConcept AVC/H.264 and HEVC/H.265 video decoders running on Snapdragon X Elite gave the system an extra oomph, delivering test results that improved upon native capabilities. This means that Windows on Snapdragon PCs can be used for tasks across professional production, OTT streaming and TV broadcast workflows, using MainConcept’s codecs, positioning Windows on Snapdragon as a serious competitor in the PC-world.
What’s more, Windows on Snapdragon PCs are generally priced far below those of their x86 competitors, allowing professional creators to do far more for much less cost.
Want to put us to the test and experience the difference? Our dedicated, highly optimized libraries of the latest MainConcept SDKs for Arm are available for Snapdragon X, Apple Silicon and AWS Graviton, Ampere Altra or similar systems. These SDKs use the same API across all platforms and operating systems, making for a smooth switch from x86. With MainConcept SDKs, it’s never been easier to expand your footprint in the market.