How does QVR hardware acceleration work?
Applicable Products
QVR Pro, QVR Elite, Surveillance Station, QTS, QuTS hero
Overview
QVR hardware acceleration is a performance-enhancing feature that allows supported QNAP NAS devices to offload video decoding and processing tasks to dedicated hardware resources. This is particularly beneficial in surveillance environments managing multiple high-resolution camera streams, as it reduces CPU usage and enhances system responsiveness.
QNAP supports several types of hardware acceleration engines:
- Integrated GPU (iGPU) from Intel or AMD CPUs
- Discrete NVIDIA graphics cards
- QNAP AI accelerators (e.g., Mustang-V100, Coral USB)
These hardware resources accelerate video decoding (H.264/H.265) and AI-based video analytics, improving the efficiency and scalability of QVR for larger deployments.
Explanation
QVR solutions—including QVR Pro, QVR Elite, and Surveillance Station—use hardware acceleration to optimize live view and recording operations. By offloading video decoding tasks to compatible hardware, these applications can handle greater workloads with improved efficiency. The effectiveness of hardware acceleration depends on your NAS model, installed components, and supported video codecs.
Supported hardware acceleration types include:
- Intel/AMD integrated GPU (iGPU): Efficiently decodes H.264 and H.265 video streams.
- NVIDIA GPU: Offloads heavy video decoding and is ideal for high-resolution or multi-stream scenarios.
- QNAP AI accelerator: Supports real-time video analytics and AI-based event detection.
Recommendation
To benefit from QVR hardware acceleration, please follow these best practices:
- Use supported codecs: Ensure your cameras stream video using the H.264 or H.265 codec for optimal hardware decoding performance.
- Check hardware compatibility: Confirm that your NAS is equipped with one or more of the following:
- An Intel or AMD CPU with integrated GPU (iGPU)
- A supported NVIDIA graphics card
- An optional QNAP AI accelerator (for AI-based recognition and analytics)
- Install and update QVR software:
- Use the latest version of QVR Pro or QVR Elite.
- Keep your NAS firmware up to date for maximum compatibility and performance.
- Monitor system performance:
- Use the Resource Monitor or check QVR logs to verify that hardware acceleration is active and CPU usage has decreased accordingly.
