Can an Orin NX 16GB decode 4 × 1440p H.265 at 20 fps? Yes: 27 % of the rated NVDEC throughput, in every power mode.
Method v1.0 · dataset 2026-09-07 · verified 2026-09-07 · last updated September 2026
Asked on the NVIDIA Developer Forums as “Orin NX 16GB — NVDEC capacity for 4× 2560×1440 H.265 streams, and Super mode impact” (2026-08-16). This page is the EdgeAIStack answer with every number traced to its source; the same workload is reproducible live at the permanent link below.
Workload: 4 × 2560x1440 @ 20 fps H265 on Jetson Orin NX (16GB / 8GB) · detection yolov8s INT8 640x640 @ 15 fps · recording passthrough
Answer
Four 2560×1440 streams at 20 fps are 294.9 MP/s. NVIDIA rates the Orin NX H.265 decoder at 1,100 MP/s (18 × 1080p30, 4 × 4K30), so the request uses 27 % of the decoder: PASS with wide margin. 1440p20 is not a printed datasheet point, so the number is a pixel-rate comparison (class D) against the class A table; NVIDIA's own reply used the same reasoning by bracketing 1440p20 under the 4K30 figure.
The power-mode half of the question is settled by NVIDIA staff in the same thread: the NVDEC maximum clock is the same in every nvpmodel preset, so 25 W and MAXN SUPER decode identically. Power mode changes GPU and CPU clocks, which affects the inference row below, not decode. Verify at runtime with sudo tegrastats and watch the NVDEC line.
The question
- 2026-08-16 · thread 380328
“Is it correct to treat 4× 2560×1440 at 20fps as comfortably within the 4× 4K30 figure? … Is decode throughput the same at 25W as at the 40W MAXN SUPER profile?”
- 2026-08-17 · reply by NVIDIA staff (DaneLLL)
“Because it can do 4x 3840x2160p30 H265 decoding, it is supposed to work well for 4x [2560×1440]. Maximum frequency of NVDEC is same in different power modes.”
Every stage as a constraint
Required against available in the same unit; PASS below 80 %, NEAR_LIMIT from 80 %, FAIL at 100 %. Evidence class and confidence per row; the source line is the document the available figure came from.
| Stage | Required | Available | Utilization | Status | Evidence · confidence | Source / method |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| decode primary bottleneck | 294.9 MP/s | 1,100 MP/s | 27 % | PASS | D · MEDIUM | NVIDIA · DS-10712-001 v0.5 §1.10.1 Multi-Standard Video Decoder, Table 7 · verified 2026-09-07 |
| inference | 60 fps | 313.9 fps | 19 % | PASS | D · LOW | cross platform scaled |
| preprocessing | 60 frames/s | 480 frames/s | 13 % | PASS | E · LOW | heuristic |
| memory | 2,340 MB | 16,384 MB | 14 % | PASS | D · MEDIUM | memory budget |
| network | 10.7 Mbit/s | 1,000 Mbit/s | 1 % | PASS | D · MEDIUM | camera bitrate table |
Headroom ladder for this workload: 8 cameras comfortable (≤ 60 %) · 12 likely viable (≤ 85 %) · fails at 15. Overall confidence LOW (weakest stage).
Assumptions the engine used
- 2560×1440@20 is not a published datasheet point; capacity is interpolated from the 1100 MP/s throughput NVIDIA rates for H265 (Main, Main10).
- Orin NVDEC clock is identical in every nvpmodel preset; the power mode does not change decode capacity.
- Single-stream modelled 356.7 fps (cross_platform_scaled, Scaled from Jetson Orin Nano Super (TOPS sqrt scaling)); multi-stream efficiency 0.88 at 4 streams.
- Hardware (VIC/GPU) preprocessing budget ≈480 detection frames/s per node (engineering heuristic).
- Shared memory budget: weights 11 MB + workspace 1024 MB + decode buffers 64 MB + preprocess 128 MB + OS 900 MB + 10% reserve.
- 4 × ~1.67 Mbit/s average (2.67 peak) H265 at 1080p@20 from the camera bitrate table; 1 GbE ingress assumed.
Reproduce and cite
Live permalink (carries the method and dataset versions; the page flags if either has changed since):
https://edgeaistack.ai/engines/camera-stream-capacity/?hw=jetson_orin_nx&res=2560x1440&fps=20&mv=1.0&dv=2026-09-07
Static page: https://edgeaistack.ai/decode/answers/orin-nx-16gb-4x-1440p20-h265/
Sources
- NVIDIA · DS-10712-001 v0.5 §1.10.1 Multi-Standard Video Decoder, Table 7 · verified 2026-09-07 · class D
Jetson Orin NX (16GB / 8GB) H265 decode: 1 × 8K30, 2 × 4K60, 4 × 4K30, 9 × 1080p60, 18 × 1080p30 (1100 MP/s)
- D · Scaled from Jetson Orin Nano Super (TOPS sqrt scaling) · class D
yolov8s int8 tensorrt on jetson_orin_nx: 356.7 fps single stream
- NVIDIA · forums.developer.nvidia.com/t/380328 2026-08-17 · reply by NVIDIA staff (DaneLLL) · verified 2026-09-07 · class A
NVDEC/NVENC maximum clock is the same in every nvpmodel power preset on Orin, so decode capacity does not change with the power mode.
- NVIDIA Developer Forums, thread 380328 · reply by NVIDIA staff (DaneLLL), 2026-08-17 · class A
Method: Camera Stream Capacity methodology v1.0. Module decode tables: Jetson Orin NX (16GB / 8GB) H.265.
Change one input and re-run.
The live engine keeps every source line and gives you a fresh permalink, citation and forum-ready summary.