NGCodec, a company focused on FPGA-based H.265/HEVC video codec development, is working with Amazon Web Services (AWS) in the development of RealityCodec for hardware-accelerated AWS-based video encoding and virtual/augmented reality (VR/AR) processing.

RealityCodec allows for AWS-based, ultra-high-performance video compression (at up to 4K resolution) and ultra-low sub-frame latency cloud-based VR and AR (should this feature be implemented by Amazon) for all AWS customers. By running the compute function in the cloud, it is possible to send only the graphics pixels in the form of a video feed to the head-mounted display. The benefits to this approach are higher performance, lower cost and longer battery life for the consumer VR/AR hardware.NGCodec’s RealityCodec technology runs on NGCodec-designed FPGA instances, presenting significant advantages for AWS cloud computing compared with traditional software encoding.“We have hand-selected a small number of companies to demonstrate FPGA acceleration at AWS re:Invent 2016,” AWS noted in a statement. “In just three weeks, NGCodec, a leader in video compression, was able to port its FPGA encoder to run on the AWS Cloud using the new F1 instance type. We are looking forward to working together to enable these FPGA benefits to AWS Cloud customers.”