Media Engine
AMD’s software ecosystem is receiving substantial updates alongside RDNA4, with improvements that extend beyond just gaming performance. One area seeing significant enhancement is the media engine. As shown in the slides, RDNA4 features an upgraded encoding and decoding pipeline that supports H.264, HEVC, and AV1 codecs. Content creators will be pleased to see support for up to 8K resolution at 80 FPS for both encoding and decoding, which is perfect for high-resolution video production. The slides also highlight that there’s no limit on the number of sessions or encode streams, making this ideal for streamers who need to manage multiple video feeds simultaneously. There’s a visible quality improvement in the media engine as well. The side-by-side comparison of 1080p H.264 encoding at 6Mbps shows noticeably clearer details and better colour reproduction in RDNA4 compared to RDNA3. Plus, AMD has added accelerated post-processing effects, giving content creators more tools to enhance their videos directly through the GPU.
As we mentioned in our previous feature, AMD has finally fixed that weird RDNA3 quirk where AV1 1080p encoding was actually outputting at 1082p. However, it’s worth noting that RDNA4 won’t support 2-pass encoding at any resolution, which is a step backwards for content creators who need that kind of encoding flexibility. The Adrenalin software suite now includes AI-powered features, including what appears to be an AI assistant integrated directly into the driver interface. While the slides are somewhat redacted, they suggest this assistant can help with game settings optimization, troubleshooting, and possibly even gameplay tips. AMD Image Inspector seems to be a new tool for analyzing and enhancing games, with users reporting issues to AMD which are detected automatically like graphical corruption.
