Software Migration Considerations

This section of documentation covers the notable API differences between the current release of SDK, 1.2.1, and previous versions.

API Changes from Alveo U30

This sub-section describes differences between U30 and MA35D

FFmpeg API Changes

Options General	MA35D	U30
-c:v: Used for codec selection. Aside from naming convention changes, new AV1 codec and VP9 decoder are now available.	-c:v	-c:v
-filter_complex: Used for frame filtering operation. Aside from naming convention changes, new 2D composition and ML operations are now available.	-filter_complex	-filter_complex
-hwaccel: Used to select hardware accelerator engine. This option was previously referred to as xlnx_hwdev.	-hwaccel	-xlnx_hwdev
-vf: Used to select the DMA transfer direction between host and accelerator.	-vf	xvbm_convert

Options Encoder	Version 1.2.1	U30
-level: Used to specify encoder's level. It now supports AV1's levels.	-level	-level
-profile: Used to set encoder's profile. It now supports AV1's main.	-profile	-profile
-control_rate: Used to set rate control mode. Options to this setting have changed.	-control_rate	-control-rate
-tune_metrics: Used to tune VQ metrics. Options to this setting have changed.	-tune_metrics	-tune-metrics
-cores: Used to explicitly specify the number of processing cores.	Deprecated	-cores
-periodicity-idr: Used to determine IDR frame frequency.	Deprecated	-periodicity-idr
-disable-pipeline: Used to enable/disable pipelining.	Deprecated	-disable-pipeline
-aspect-ratio: Used to set video's aspect ratio.	Deprecated	-aspect-ratio
-expert-options: Used to set encoder's expert option.	Deprecated	-expert-options
-avc-lowlat: Used to enable/disable ULL for AVC.	Deprecated	-avc-lowlat

Options Decoder	Version 1.2.1	U30
-splitbuff_mode: Used to configure decoder's buffer mode.	Deprecated	-splitbuff_mode
-entropy_buffers_count: Used to set number of decoder's entropy buffers.	Deprecated	-entropy_buffers_count

Options Scaler	Version 1.2.1	U30
-out_{N}_width: Used to configure width of an output rung.	Deprecated	-out_{N}_width
-out_{N}_height: Used to configure height of an output rung.	Deprecated	-out_{N}_height
-out_{N}_rate: Used to configure frame rate of an output rung.	Deprecated	-out_{N}_rate

Gstreamer API Changes

Options Encoder	Version 1.2.1	U30
tune_metrics: Used to tune VQ metrics. Options to this setting have changed.	tune-metrics	tune-metrics
ultra-low-latency: Used to set ULL mode.	Set lookahead-depth to 0.	ultra-low-latency
target-bitrate: Used to set target bit rate.	bitrate	target-bitrate
control_rate: Used to set rate control mode. Options to this setting have changed.	rate-control	control-rate
dev-idx: Used to specify the index of the device on which the encoder should be executed.	device	dev-idx
aspect-ratio: Used to set video’s aspect ratio.	Deprecated	aspect-ratio
avc-lowlat: Used to enable/disable ULL for AVC.	Deprecated	avc-lowlat
dependent-slice: Used to specify slice dependency.	Deprecated	dependent-slice
enable-pipeline: Used to enable/disable pipelining.	Deprecated	enable-pipeline
ip-delta: Used to set IP delta.	Deprecated	ip-delta
loop-filter-beta-offset: Used to set loop filter beta offset.	Deprecated	loop-filter-beta-offset
loop-filter-tc-offset: Used to set loop filter tc offset..	Deprecated	loop-filter-tc-offset
slice-qp: Used to set slice QP mode.	Deprecated	slice-qp
scaling-list: Used to set lscaling list mode.	Deprecated	scaling-list
reservation-id: Used to set resource pool reservation id.	Deprecated	reservation-id
rc-mode: Used to enable custom rate control mode.	Deprecated	rc-mode
qp-mode: Used to set QP control mode used by the encoder.	Deprecated	qp-mode
pb-delta: Used to set PB delta.	Deprecated	pb-delta
periodicity-idr: Used to set periodicity of IDR frames.	Deprecated	periodicity-idr
num-cores: Used to set the number of encoder cores to be used for current stream.	Deprecated	num-cores
num-slices: Used to set the number of slices produced for each frame.	Deprecated	num-slices

Options Decoder	Version 1.2.1	U30
dev-idx: Used to specify the index of the device on which the decoder should be executed.	device	dev-idx
avoid-dynamic-alloc: Used to set a flag to avoid dynamic allocation of output buffers.	Deprecated	avoid-dynamic-alloc
avoid-output-copy: Used to set a flag to avoid output frames copy.	Deprecated	avoid-output-copy
disable-hdr10-sei: Used to configure whether to passthrough HDR10/10+ SEI messages or not.	Deprecated	disable-hdr10-sei
interpolate-timestamps: Used to configure interpolation of output buffers PTS.	Deprecated	interpolate-timestamps
num-entropy-buf: Used to specifie the number of decoder internal entropy buffers.	Deprecated	num-entropy-buf
reservation-id: Used to set resource Pool Reservation id.	Deprecated	reservation-id
splitbuff-mode: Used to configure decoder in split/unsplit input buffer mode.	Deprecated	splitbuff-mode

Options Scaler	Version 1.2.1	U30
dev-idx: Used to specify the index of the device on which the scaler should be executed.	device	dev-idx
avoid-output-copy: Used to set a flag to avoid output frames copy on all source pads.	Deprecated	avoid-output-copy
coef-load-type: Used to configure coefficients loading type for scaling.	Deprecated	coef-load-type
enable-pipeline: Used to enable buffer pipelining to improve performance in non zero-copy use cases.	Deprecated	enable-pipeline
reservation-id: Used to configure resource pool reservation id.	Deprecated	reservation-id

CLI Changes from 1.1.2 to 1.2

This sub-section describes differences between 1.1.2 and current version.

PCIe Addressing

Unlike the previous version, where PCIe devices were addressed as DBDF, this release uses BDF scheme. See Card Management.

FFmpeg CLI Changes

Options General	1.2	1.1.2
-c:v: New still image codecs are now available. See -c:v for details.	-c:v	-c:v

Options Encoder	1.2	1.1.2
-control_rate: cabr has been removed as a rate control mode, and can now be applied as a modifier to all encoding modes.	-control_rate and -cabr	-control_rate
-crf: Changes have been made in the call parameters.	-crf <value>	-crf 1 -qp <value>

Options Decoder	1.2	1.1.2
-resize: Option to perform downscaling through decoders has been added.	-resize

Options 2D Engine	1.2	1.1.2
crop, pad, drawbox, and other 2D operations: 2D operations that were previously sub-commands of 2d_ama are now invoked with a simpler syntax.	2D Engine	-scaler_ama and -2d_ama

Card Management

Options	1.2	1.1.2
maflash has been deprecated and it is now a sub command of mamgmt.	See mamgmt.	mamgmt
Syntax for creation of VF has been updated.	See mamgmt.	mautil

C APIs

See relevant sub-sections in C API Programming Guide.

CLI Changes from 1.2 to 1.2.1

This sub-section describes differences between 1.2 and current version.

FFmpeg CLI Changes

Options Encoder	1.2.1	1.2
-control_rate: cbr, vbr, and cvbr modes have to have their bit rate values set, explicitly. const_qp mode have to have its qp value set, explicitly.	-control_rate	-control_rate
-crf: -crf mode have to have its value set, explicitly.	-crf <value>	-crf <value>
hwupload and hwdownload: hwupload and hwdownload plugins are deprecated.	hwupload_ama and hwdownload_ama	hwupload and hwdownload

Gstreamer API Changes

Options Encoder	1.2.1	1.2
rate-control: cbr, vbr, and cvbr modes have to have their bit rate values set, explicitly. cqp mode have to have its qp value set, explicitly.	rate-control	rate-control
crf: crf mode have to have its value set, explicitly.	crf <value>	crf <value>

C APIs

See 1.2.1 SDK API.