Version 22.1.1 of the Intel Media Driver has been released to the GitHub repository, as revealed by Phoronix. This driver is used by Linux systems to accelerate video decoding, encoding, and processing on Intel GPUs. What makes this version particularly interesting is that it adds support for Intel Arc Alchemist GPUs , which still lack a final release date, but their inclusion indicates they are advanced enough to already have their drivers.
Although it has been released today, the Intel Media Driver 22 is listed on its GitHub pages as the 2021 Q4 version. In addition to hardware compatibility and enhancements, the driver includes some important fixes.
Intel ay prepares its drivers for Intel Arc Alchemist
The GitHub release page shows that Intel Media Driver 22.1.1 supports video acceleration on platforms dating back to Broadwell, the 5th generation Intel Core processors. The support list specifically mentions Alchemist (DG2). It also references ATS-M (Arctic Sound Mainstream), a high-performance Xe-HP GPU for workstations, which was last reported in May of last year.
This new Intel/Linux driver supports a sub-family of processors that has not yet been released: a 12th generation ULV processor range , which falls below the ADL-M family. Some of the changes offered by the new driver version include improved robustness of AV1 video decoding for stability with problematic files, better performance with NV12 format files, HEVC sub-function reporting, and improved overall compatibility.
The Intel Arc Alchemist still does not have a fixed release date from Intel, and it was expected at one point in early 2022. But the fact that there are already compatibility drivers suggests that its launch is closer.
