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Socionext announced a prototype AV1 encoder implementation on an FPGA hosted in Amazon EC2 F1 in June 2018. AWS later described a real-time video path that sent a camera stream through MediaConnect to the FPGA instance, then delivered the encoded stream through CloudFront. These were prototype and demonstration accounts—not confirmation that Socionext’s specific AV1 encoder is currently sold as a commercial service.
What Socionext announced in 2018
On June 6, 2018, Socionext said it had implemented AV1 video-encoder functions on an FPGA in Amazon EC2 F1, AWS’s cloud FPGA platform. The company described the work as a prototype and said it had presented the result at AWS Summit Tokyo on June 1. This was a cloud-hosted hardware-acceleration implementation, not a conventional retail encoder appliance. Socionext’s announcement said development took one and a half months.
Socionext also claimed the implementation ran “10x faster than existing encoders running on a CPU only.” The announcement does not provide benchmark methodology, workload, hardware configuration, quality settings, or test content. Treat 10x as the company’s 2018 reported comparison, not an independently validated or reproducible performance result.
How AWS described the cloud workflow
In a 2019 account, AWS outlined an end-to-end real-time AV1 workflow with four stages:
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- Capture: A JVC CONNECTED CAM that supports the Zixi protocol supplies the camera stream.
- Transport: AWS Elemental MediaConnect receives and transports the stream.
- Encode: An Amazon EC2 F1 instance performs AV1 encoding using its FPGA.
- Deliver: Amazon CloudFront distributes the resulting stream.
This describes a pipeline assembled from cloud services and an example camera, rather than a single standalone product. AWS presented FPGA processing as a way to reduce processing time and delivery costs; those are benefits claimed in its account, not independently established outcomes. See AWS’s workflow description.
What the performance figures do—and do not—mean
The 10x figure concerns encoder speed in Socionext’s comparison of its FPGA implementation with CPU-only encoders. It does not establish a general 10x speed-up for all AV1 encoding, hardware, or workloads.
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A separate Socionext statement in 2019 characterized AV1 as offering about 30% more efficient compression than HEVC at the same image quality. That is a codec-level characterization, not a measured result for this FPGA implementation. Compression efficiency and encoder throughput are different comparisons: the former concerns how much data is needed for comparable image quality, while the latter concerns how quickly an encoder processes video. Socionext’s 2019 APSARA announcement discussed the codec efficiency figure in the context of AV1, not as a benchmark of this design.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What later announcements establish about availability
Socionext said it would showcase an AV1 cloud-based encoding system at APSARA 2019. In a November 2019 item, it described the AV1 encoder as under development and noted AWS’s article about the FPGA implementation. These references document continued development and demonstration activity at that time; they do not establish present commercial availability. Socionext’s November 2019 item
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The available public accounts support describing a 2018 prototype and a 2019 cloud workflow. They do not confirm whether this specific Socionext AV1 encoder is currently offered as a commercial service.
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