Abstract:
Innovations in video decoding and rendering operations in a graphics pipeline, in which at least some of the operations are performed using a graphics processing unit (“GPU”), are described. For example, a video playback tool aggregates texture values for intra-coded blocks of a picture in central processing unit (“CPU”) memory, then transfers the texture values for the intra-coded blocks from the CPU memory to GPU memory. The video playback tool performs operations to decode the encoded data and reconstruct the picture. For a given block (e.g., of a macroblock, coding unit) of the picture, a graphics primitive represents texture values for the given block as a point for processing by the GPU. The video playback tool uses one or more shader routines, executable by the GPU, to transfer texture values to a display buffer. In some cases, the video playback tool also performs decoding operations with the shader routines.