Renderer Test Utility
Macula can utilize GPU for some operations in order to decrease the CPU load. To enable GPU acceleration, run the Renderer Test Utility from the Macula suite on the Macula Monitor workstation.
There are two supported GPU operations are:
frame decoding on Macula Monitor side
rendering on Macula Monitor side
Before configuring GPU acceleration, make sure you have installed the latest official drivers for all your graphics cards. We also recommend having more memory for GPU (the more, the better). For integrated video cards, you can change this setting in BIOS. For discrete graphics, choose ones with more onboard memory (1GB per display or more).
GPU Test and Configuration
On every client workstation where you want to enable GPU usage, launch the Renderer Test Utility by locating it in the Start menu, or simply by typing a part of the name in the Windows search.
The first wizard screen is a summary. Here, you can select, which graphics cards will be used for decoding and for 3D rendering. To be able to do so, first run the GPU test so that Macula can learn about your GPU capabilities and possible maximum load. During the test, each GPU is consequently loaded with test videos of different resolutions, starting from bigger ones. As a result, a value list is created for each GPU, which is then used by the Macula Monitor application for load balancing.
To run the performance test: hit the Test GPU button in the bottom left corner. In the list, mark all GPUs that you wish to engage by putting check marks in the Test column, then click Test below.
If you have already launched the test earlier, the Status column will reflect the last test results. For the GPUs that have passed the test, there is no need to re-launch it, unless you have made changes to that video card configuration (e.g., added memory for the integrated card, installed a different device driver etc.). The test may take some time. If your Macula Monitor application is open, the wizard will ask you to close it and re-open later (and offer to do so automatically).
During the test, click the Show log button to see how the test is going. After the test is finished, the wizard will automatically switch to the previous screen, and you still will be able to view the last test log.
Log colors:
red: most important (errors, failures)
yellow: warnings
blue: information
black: default
grey: trace, details or low importance
Flags used in the test log indicate GPU capabilities:
supported: graphics card is supported
unsupported: hardware decoding is not supported by OS for this GPU
legacy: video card is old or has old drivers, max resolution will be limited to 1080p
canDecode: the GPU is OK to be used for decoding
canRender: the GPU is OK to be used for rendering
As a result, the previously Not passed GPUs will change their status. GPUs that have passed the test, will be available for decoding (putting a check mark in the Decode column). Below the table, you can choose, which GPU will be used for rendering.
If you graphics card can decode both H.264 and H.265, you will have both codecs enabled after the test. However, you can deselect H.265 if you do not wish it to be decoded by GPU. Do not forget to restart Macula Monitor if you have just opened the wizard to change the settings (without running the test).
Click OK to save the settings and exit. If you close the wizard by clicking Cancel or X, the GPU settings will not be saved.
If you open the wizard and change any settings without running the test, please manually restart the Macula Monitor application for the changes to take effect.
You can re-open the wizard at any time to run the test again and/or change the settings.
Usage in Macula Monitor
After you have enabled GPU settings via wizard, the Macula Monitor application on the same machine will be able to use GPU capabilities. Using GPU will significantly decrease the CPU load and will allow you to output more channels simultaneously on the same workstation. By combining GPU acceleration with substream usage you can gain even more, as using lower resolution streams for multichannel output is more efficient.
Macula Monitor will automatically use GPUs enabled via wizard, you do not have to enable anything else in the application settings. Limitations:
live view and DPTZ
fisheye dewarp (supported dewarp mode must be set in Macula Console, as described above)
stream codec must be H.264
stream resolution must be supported (see GPU test log for details), e.g., legacy GPUs will not be used for resolutions greater than FullHD
If you want to check whether the decoding is currently performed by GPU, enable rendering info in the Macula Monitor application settings. In the main menu, choose Edit > Settings > select the Usability tab > enable the Show decoder information option > Save.
After you have enabled this setting, each viewport in the live mode will have a label next to the timestamp (upper right corner):
CPU: decoding is performed using CPU (GPU is not configured or overloaded, or stream codec/resolution is not compatible)
GPU: the corresponding graphics card type will appear as a label - Intel, Nvidia, AMD, or other GPU.
Troubleshooting
If, immediately after enabling hardware acceleration, your Macula Monitor application behaves strangely, crashes, or causes other problems, try running it without GPU decoding. To do so a single time - for troubleshooting - use the Macula Monitor without GPU decoding shortcut from the Start menu (similar icon but in grey colors). This shortcut activates a so-called "safe mode" for the Macula Monitor application, which completely ignores the GPU settings configured via GPU test utility.
After launching the Macula Monitor application in "safe mode", check if the issue is gone. If the no-GPU mode helps, disable GPU decoding via Renderer test utility by de-selecting GPUs in the list (remove the check mark in the Decode column). If you have multiple graphics cards, the issue may be caused by one of them, so a wise approach would be to enable/disable the graphics adapters one by one in order to find out, which one is causing problems.
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