You can configure VMware Blast options for remote desktop and published application sessions that use the VMware Blast display protocol.

You can allow H.264 decoding and High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC). H.264 is an industry standard for video compression, which is the process of converting digital video into a format that takes up less capacity when it is stored or transmitted. When H.264 decoding is allowed, you can also allow increased color fidelity. Increased color fidelity is not supported on ARM processors.

The maximum resolution that is supported depends on the capability of the graphical processing unit (GPU) on the client. A GPU that can support 4K resolution for JPEG/PNG might not support 4K resolution for H.264.

H.264 decoding is supported on AMD, NVIDIA, and Intel GPUs.

If your environment uses a proxy server, you can specify whether to allow VMware Blast connections to an operating system proxy server.

For an SSL proxy server, you also need to configure certificate checking for secondary connections through the SSL proxy server. For more information, see Setting the Certificate Checking Mode in Horizon Client.

You can configure VMware Blast options before or after you connect to a server.

For administrators - You can configure the VMware Blast HEVC and proxy server options so that end users cannot change them by setting keys in the /Library/Preferences/com.vmware.horizon.plist file on the Mac client. To configure the HEVC option, set the Allow HEVC key to one of the following values.

  • 1 enables High Efficiency Video Decoding (HEVC)
  • 0 deactivates High Efficiency Video Decoding (HEVC)

To configure the proxy server option, set the Blast via Proxy Mode key to one of the following values.

  • 1 enables Allow Blast connections to use operating system proxy settings
  • 0 deactivates Allow Blast connections to use operating system proxy settings

Prerequisites

To use High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC), your environment must meet the following requirements:
  • Horizon Agent 7.13 or later must be installed.
  • For increased color accuracy with YUV 4:4:4, Horizon Agent 7.13 or later must be installed.
  • Client system must have a GPU that supports HEVC decoding.

For full-range color and improved color fidelity when using H264 or HEVC, Horizon Agent 2203 or later and Horizon Client for Linux 2206 or later must be installed. These features apply only if YUV 4:4:4 is being used.

Verify that the client device meets the following GPU requirements:
  • To use H.264 decoding with an AMD or NVIDIA GPU, install the graphics library OpenGL 3.2 or later.
  • To use H.264 decoding with an NVIDIA GPU, install VDPAU (Video Decode and Presentation API for UNIX). VDPAU is no longer included with the latest NVIDIA driver and must be installed separately.
  • To use H.264 with an Intel GPU, the Intel VA-API driver and the GLX VA-API libraries are required. Running the command vainfo shows the H.264 profiles.
  • To use HEVC 4:4:4 decoding with an Intel GPU, a Gen 10 (Ice Lake) or later CPU is required.

Depending on the Horizon Agent version that is installed, a Horizon administrator can use agent-side group policy settings to enable or deactivate VMware Blast features, including H.264 and HEVC high color accuracy. For information, see "VMware Blast Policy Settings" in the Horizon Remote Desktop Features and GPOs document.

Procedure

  1. Start Horizon Client.
  2. Select File > Configure VMware Blast from the menu bar.
  3. Beginning with Horizon Client for Linux 2206, both Allow H.264 decoding and Allow BlastCodec Decoding options are on by default. If you leave both options selected, BlastCodec is used for receiving remote screen content. If you deselect Allow BlastCodec Decoding, H.264 is used.
    • When Allow H.264 decoding is selected and Allow BlastCodec Decoding is deselected, and the client GPU has an H.264 hardware decoder, Horizon Client uses H.264 4.2.0 hardware decoding.
    • When Allow H.264 decoding is selected and Allow BlastCodec Decoding is deselected, and the client GPU does not have an H.264 hardware decoder and the increased color fidelity feature is not allowed, Horizon Client uses H.264 4.2.0 software decoding.
    • When Allow BlastCodec Decoding is selected, Horizon Client uses JPG/PNG decoding (with Horizon Agent 7.x) or Blast Codec decoding (with Horizon Agent 2006 and later).
  4. To allow increased color fidelity when H.264 decoding is allowed in Horizon Client, select the High Color Accuracy (reduces battery life and performance) check box.
    When this option is selected, Horizon Client uses H.264 4.4.4 software decoding, regardless of whether or not the client GPU has an H.264 hardware decoder. Selecting this option might reduce battery life and performance. This feature is deactivated by default.
  5. To allow HEVC, select the Allow High Efficiency Video Decoding (HEVC) check box.
    When this option is selected, performance and image quality are improved if the client machine has a GPU that supports HEVC decoding. This feature is enabled by default.
    If this option is selected but the client machine does not have a GPU that supports HEVC decoding, or the agent does not support HEVC encoding, Horizon Client uses H.264 decoding instead if H.264 is selected. Horizon Client uses Blast Codec decoding if H.264 is not selected.
  6. To allow VMware Blast connections through a proxy server, select the Allow Blast connections to use operating system proxy settings check box.
  7. Click OK to save your changes.

Results

Changes take effect the next time a user connects to a remote desktop or published application and selects the VMware Blast display protocol. Your changes do not affect existing VMware Blast sessions.