PCoIP Ultra

The Graphics Agent for macOS provides support for PCoIP Ultra. PCoIP Ultra is optimized for truly lossless support with bit-exact color accuracy and preservation of content detail at the highest frame rates.

PCoIP Ultra protocol enhancements propels our industry-recognized performance into the future of remote computing, with faster, more interactive experience for users of remote workstations working with high-resolution content.

For additional detail on PCoIP Ultra technical requirements for various use cases and troubleshooting steps, refer to KB 2109: PCoIP Ultra Troubleshooting.

About PCoIP Ultra

PCoIP Ultra is appropriate for users with the following requirements:

Auto Offload: Achieves the best balance between color accuracy and network efficiency. This setting is appropriate for work-from-home or WAN content creators who require optimized delivery of high resolution content, including video playback, while still achieving build-to-lossless color accuracy.

CPU Offload: Provides efficient scaling across multicore CPUs, leveraging AVX2 instruction sets. Appropriate for users that require CPU-optimized delivery of 4K UHD, high-framerate video playback and build-to-lossless color accuracy. It is also useful when GPU encoding resources must be reserved for video encoding applications, typically in LAN environments.

GPU Offload: PCoIP encoding is always offloaded to a GPU. Appropriate for users who demand the highest possible CPU efficiency.

Requirements

To take advantage of PCoIP Ultra, you need:

• An Anyware agent (any supported version)

• An Anyware Software Client (any supported version)

  Anyware Tera2 Zero Clients do not support PCoIP Ultra

  PCoIP Ultra is only available through Anyware Software Clients and Trusted Zero Clients.

• CPU offload requires the agent machine to be either Apple Silicon-based or an Intel-based Mac with AVX2 support. Connecting client machines must have CPU support for the AVX2 instruction set. Apple Silicon-based Mac clients are supported.

• GPU offload requires a GPU (all Macs have a GPU, so this requirement is normally met automatically).

Configuring PCoIP Ultra

To enable PCoIP Ultra features, open a Terminal window and enter the following command:

sudo defaults write "/Library/Preferences/com.teradici.pcoip-agent.plist" pcoip.ultra <ultra_mode_setting>;

...where <ultra_mode_setting> is one of the following:

• 1: PCoIP Ultra CPU Offload.
  CPU offload requires CPU support for the AVX2 instruction set on both the remote host and client. The Anyware Zero client is not supported. CPU offload is recommended for 4K UHD resolutions with video playback requirements of 30 fps (or more), and the highest possible image quality and color accuracy.

• 2: PCoIP Ultra GPU Offload.
  GPU Offload is recommended when the CPU impact of pixel encoding should be minimized.

• 3: PCoIP Ultra Auto Offload.
  This setting allows PCoIP to automatically switch between CPU and GPU Offload modes; CPU offload is used by default to provide the best image fidelity, and GPU offload is used during periods of high display activity to provide improved frame rates and bandwidth optimization.

  This setting is only effective if the remote host and client endpoints are capable of both CPU and GPU Offload.

All PCoIP Ultra settings take effect on the next PCoIP session. No configuration is required on the Anyware Software Client.