1210726 - [meta] Add hardware playback capabilities on Linux

Status: RESOLVED DUPLICATE of bug 1580166

(Core :: Audio/Video: Playback, task, P3)

Description

[Jean-Yves Avenard [:jya]]

This bug will track support for hardware decoding on Linux and the various system available (VA-API, VDPAU, DXVA and others)

There's so many frameworks available, it's hard to keep track!

Comment 1

[Stebs]

IMHO this Bug needs Plattform set to Linux (easier to search)
[POWER] tag to the Whiteboard
Probably also should become Meta Bug
And Bug 563206 should be duped to this Bug

Comment 3

[Anthony Jones (:ajones, :kentuckyfriedtakahe, :k17e)]

Mass change P2 -> P3

Comment 4

[sheepdestroyer]

Is there a reason the priority would go from P2 to P3?

Lack of hardware acceleration is the worse offender on Linux right now. Some youtube videos can not even play at a decent framerate because of that, especially the 4K / 360 ones. And that's without speaking of the heat generated by those poor CPUs...

I do not get why it would not even go the other way, right to P1 ?

Comment 5

[Anthony Jones (:ajones, :kentuckyfriedtakahe, :k17e)]

(In reply to sheepdestroyer from comment #4)
> Is there a reason the priority would go from P2 to P3?

We were using P1, P2 and P5. Now we're using P1, P3 and P5. The priority hasn't changed.

> Lack of hardware acceleration is the worse offender on Linux right now.

How did you come to that conclusion?

The following things are more important:

* Basic layers is slow in 47; much better in 48
* GL Layers isn't enabled yet
* WebGL does readback (only affects 360)

Even if you enable H.264 hardware decoding you miss out on the network performance (better compression) of VP9. If you fix the above issues then most users will be network constrained by a significant margin.

> Some youtube videos can not even play at a decent framerate because of that,
> especially the 4K / 360 ones. And that's without speaking of the heat
> generated by those poor CPUs...

You may be barking up the wrong tree. Consider that what you're really after is better video performance. Most CPUs that have struggle to decode video don't have working VA-API. 

> I do not get why it would not even go the other way, right to P1 ?

P1 is mostly used for security, crash, regression and significant webcompat issues. P3 is for backlog which is everything else that matters.

Comment 6

[Vincent Bernat]

Hardware acceleration is not just about performance. On a laptop, it has a significant impact on battery life.

Comment 7

[albertogomezmarin]

when will linux get video decode in a browser? the only browser that supports it and not by default is chromium with a patch and with some amd cards is not fucntion well

Comment 8

[Anthony Jones (:ajones, :kentuckyfriedtakahe, :k17e)]

(In reply to albertogomezmarin from comment #7)
> when will linux get video decode in a browser?

Not soon.

Comment 9

[ch.mercesmoreira]

I have already VA-API properly set up on my system (Arch Linux up to date):

> $ vainfo
> libva info: VA-API version 0.39.2
> libva info: va_getDriverName() returns 0
> libva info: Trying to open /usr/lib/dri/i965_drv_video.so
> libva info: Found init function __vaDriverInit_0_39
> libva info: va_openDriver() returns 0
> vainfo: VA-API version: 0.39 (libva 1.7.1)
> vainfo: Driver version: Intel i965 driver for Intel(R) Ivybridge Mobile - 1.7.1
> vainfo: Supported profile and entrypoints
>       VAProfileMPEG2Simple            :	VAEntrypointVLD
>       VAProfileMPEG2Simple            :	VAEntrypointEncSlice
>       VAProfileMPEG2Main              :	VAEntrypointVLD
>       VAProfileMPEG2Main              :	VAEntrypointEncSlice
>       VAProfileH264ConstrainedBaseline:	VAEntrypointVLD
>       VAProfileH264ConstrainedBaseline:	VAEntrypointEncSlice
>       VAProfileH264Main               :	VAEntrypointVLD
>       VAProfileH264Main               :	VAEntrypointEncSlice
>       VAProfileH264High               :	VAEntrypointVLD
>       VAProfileH264High               :	VAEntrypointEncSlice
>       VAProfileH264StereoHigh         :	VAEntrypointVLD
>       VAProfileVC1Simple              :	VAEntrypointVLD
>       VAProfileVC1Main                :	VAEntrypointVLD
>       VAProfileVC1Advanced            :	VAEntrypointVLD
>       VAProfileNone                   :	VAEntrypointVideoProc
>       VAProfileJPEGBaseline           :	VAEntrypointVLD

Using Firefox I'm unable to force hardware acceleration, but using Chrome/Chromium if I follow these steps:
> To force Chrome / Chromium to use hardware acceleration, open a new tab, type "chrome://flags" (without quotes), search for "Override software rendering list", enable it and restart Chrome / Chromium

I can watch videos on youtube/twitch.tv better. How can I do this trick on Firefox?

Comment 10

[Jean-Yves Avenard [:jya]]

(In reply to ch.mercesmoreira from comment #9)
> Chrome/Chromium if I follow these steps:
> > To force Chrome / Chromium to use hardware acceleration, open a new tab, type "chrome://flags" (without quotes), search for "Override software rendering list", enable it and restart Chrome / Chromium
> 
> I can watch videos on youtube/twitch.tv better. How can I do this trick on
> Firefox?

AFAIK, Google has removed the underlying code for enabling VAAPI decoding...

You have to manually re-add the patch from there: https://github.com/RussianFedora/chromium/commit/9d4bd7d001f8e0e6f497abbfee71375420dc55aa

did you do that?

Comment 11

[ch.mercesmoreira]

(In reply to Jean-Yves Avenard [:jya] from comment #10)
> (In reply to ch.mercesmoreira from comment #9)
> > Chrome/Chromium if I follow these steps:
> > > To force Chrome / Chromium to use hardware acceleration, open a new tab, type "chrome://flags" (without quotes), search for "Override software rendering list", enable it and restart Chrome / Chromium
> > 
> > I can watch videos on youtube/twitch.tv better. How can I do this trick on
> > Firefox?
> 
> AFAIK, Google has removed the underlying code for enabling VAAPI decoding...
> 
> You have to manually re-add the patch from there:
> https://github.com/RussianFedora/chromium/commit/
> 9d4bd7d001f8e0e6f497abbfee71375420dc55aa
> 
> did you do that?

I didn't know about that, thank you.

Comment 12

[ch.mercesmoreira]

(In reply to Jean-Yves Avenard [:jya] from comment #10)
> (In reply to ch.mercesmoreira from comment #9)
> > Chrome/Chromium if I follow these steps:
> > > To force Chrome / Chromium to use hardware acceleration, open a new tab, type "chrome://flags" (without quotes), search for "Override software rendering list", enable it and restart Chrome / Chromium
> > 
> > I can watch videos on youtube/twitch.tv better. How can I do this trick on
> > Firefox?
> 
> AFAIK, Google has removed the underlying code for enabling VAAPI decoding...
> 
> You have to manually re-add the patch from there:
> https://github.com/RussianFedora/chromium/commit/
> 9d4bd7d001f8e0e6f497abbfee71375420dc55aa
> 
> did you do that?

I just found out that there is already a Chromium package available at AUR: https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/chromium-vaapi/

Comment 13

[albertogomezmarin]

(In reply to ch.mercesmoreira from comment #12)
> (In reply to Jean-Yves Avenard [:jya] from comment #10)
> > (In reply to ch.mercesmoreira from comment #9)
> > > Chrome/Chromium if I follow these steps:
> > > > To force Chrome / Chromium to use hardware acceleration, open a new tab, type "chrome://flags" (without quotes), search for "Override software rendering list", enable it and restart Chrome / Chromium
> > > 
> > > I can watch videos on youtube/twitch.tv better. How can I do this trick on
> > > Firefox?
> > 
> > AFAIK, Google has removed the underlying code for enabling VAAPI decoding...
> > 
> > You have to manually re-add the patch from there:
> > https://github.com/RussianFedora/chromium/commit/
> > 9d4bd7d001f8e0e6f497abbfee71375420dc55aa
> > 
> > did you do that?
> 
> I just found out that there is already a Chromium package available at AUR:
> https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/chromium-vaapi/

what graphic card are you using? I ffounf problems with ati and reader with nvidia too... the only pc functions for me is a haswekk desktop with igpu hd 4600

Comment 14

[Jean-Yves Avenard [:jya]]

Seeing that in comment 9; we have someone who sees great improvement turning on a feature that doesn't exist
. Does it really matter which graphic card you're using ? :)

Comment 15

[ch.mercesmoreira]

(In reply to Jean-Yves Avenard [:jya] from comment #14)
> Seeing that in comment 9; we have someone who sees great improvement turning
> on a feature that doesn't exist
> . Does it really matter which graphic card you're using ? :)

When I did this procedure I really notice an improvement, I was using Google Chrome on Linux and It was made about three months ago.

Comment 16

[ch.mercesmoreira]

(In reply to albertogomezmarin from comment #13)
> (In reply to ch.mercesmoreira from comment #12)
> > (In reply to Jean-Yves Avenard [:jya] from comment #10)
> > > (In reply to ch.mercesmoreira from comment #9)
> > > > Chrome/Chromium if I follow these steps:
> > > > > To force Chrome / Chromium to use hardware acceleration, open a new tab, type "chrome://flags" (without quotes), search for "Override software rendering list", enable it and restart Chrome / Chromium
> > > > 
> > > > I can watch videos on youtube/twitch.tv better. How can I do this trick on
> > > > Firefox?
> > > 
> > > AFAIK, Google has removed the underlying code for enabling VAAPI decoding...
> > > 
> > > You have to manually re-add the patch from there:
> > > https://github.com/RussianFedora/chromium/commit/
> > > 9d4bd7d001f8e0e6f497abbfee71375420dc55aa
> > > 
> > > did you do that?
> > 
> > I just found out that there is already a Chromium package available at AUR:
> > https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/chromium-vaapi/
> 
> what graphic card are you using? I ffounf problems with ati and reader with
> nvidia too... the only pc functions for me is a haswekk desktop with igpu hd
> 4600

Intel HD Graphics on chip gpu.

Comment 17

[Jean-Yves Avenard [:jya]]

(In reply to ch.mercesmoreira from comment #15)
> (In reply to Jean-Yves Avenard [:jya] from comment #14)
> > Seeing that in comment 9; we have someone who sees great improvement turning
> > on a feature that doesn't exist
> > . Does it really matter which graphic card you're using ? :)
> 
> When I did this procedure I really notice an improvement, I was using Google
> Chrome on Linux and It was made about three months ago.

I'm sure you did. But the fact remains that there's no VAAPI code in chrome anymore. So it's blue pill vs red pill type.

Comment 18

[albertogomezmarin]

(In reply to Jean-Yves Avenard [:jya] from comment #17)
> (In reply to ch.mercesmoreira from comment #15)
> > (In reply to Jean-Yves Avenard [:jya] from comment #14)
> > > Seeing that in comment 9; we have someone who sees great improvement turning
> > > on a feature that doesn't exist
> > > . Does it really matter which graphic card you're using ? :)
> > 
> > When I did this procedure I really notice an improvement, I was using Google
> > Chrome on Linux and It was made about three months ago.
> 
> I'm sure you did. But the fact remains that there's no VAAPI code in chrome
> anymore. So it's blue pill vs red pill type.

(In reply to ch.mercesmoreira from comment #16)
> (In reply to albertogomezmarin from comment #13)
> > (In reply to ch.mercesmoreira from comment #12)
> > > (In reply to Jean-Yves Avenard [:jya] from comment #10)
> > > > (In reply to ch.mercesmoreira from comment #9)
> > > > > Chrome/Chromium if I follow these steps:
> > > > > > To force Chrome / Chromium to use hardware acceleration, open a new tab, type "chrome://flags" (without quotes), search for "Override software rendering list", enable it and restart Chrome / Chromium
> > > > > 
> > > > > I can watch videos on youtube/twitch.tv better. How can I do this trick on
> > > > > Firefox?
> > > > 
> > > > AFAIK, Google has removed the underlying code for enabling VAAPI decoding...
> > > > 
> > > > You have to manually re-add the patch from there:
> > > > https://github.com/RussianFedora/chromium/commit/
> > > > 9d4bd7d001f8e0e6f497abbfee71375420dc55aa
> > > > 
> > > > did you do that?
> > > 
> > > I just found out that there is already a Chromium package available at AUR:
> > > https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/chromium-vaapi/
> > 
> > what graphic card are you using? I ffounf problems with ati and reader with
> > nvidia too... the only pc functions for me is a haswekk desktop with igpu hd
> > 4600
> 
> Intel HD Graphics on chip gpu.

(In reply to ch.mercesmoreira from comment #15)
> (In reply to Jean-Yves Avenard [:jya] from comment #14)
> > Seeing that in comment 9; we have someone who sees great improvement turning
> > on a feature that doesn't exist
> > . Does it really matter which graphic card you're using ? :)
> 
> When I did this procedure I really notice an improvement, I was using Google
> Chrome on Linux and It was made about three months ago.

(In reply to Jean-Yves Avenard [:jya] from comment #14)
> Seeing that in comment 9; we have someone who sees great improvement turning
> on a feature that doesn't exist
> . Does it really matter which graphic card you're using ? :)

well, after the many tests I did in the past he was able to play videos better because the browser renderized them by hardware, I know is a little different but it is, the other thing, if he is using chromium vaapi from aur or samcv repo in arch he can use vaapi, I use it because I can with my intel hd graphics and I feel the cpu much better, not pill not placebo, tests with htop, here you can see the output ofmy terminal with chromium-vaapi ;
[agm28011997@agm28011997 ~]$ chromium 
[10012:10029:0908/022757:ERROR:object_proxy.cc(583)] Failed to call method: org.kde.KWallet.isEnabled: object_path= /modules/kwalletd5: org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.NoReply: Message recipient disconnected from message bus without replying
[10012:10029:0908/022757:ERROR:kwallet_dbus.cc(100)] Error contacting kwalletd5 (isEnabled)
[10012:10029:0908/022757:ERROR:kwallet_dbus.cc(87)] Error launching kwalletd5: error 'Could not find service 'kwalletd5'.' (code 2)
[10012:10059:0908/022757:ERROR:gcm_store_impl.cc(306)] Failed to open database /home/agm28011997/.config/chromium/Default/GCM Store: Invalid argument: /home/agm28011997/.config/chromium/Default/GCM Store: does not exist (create_if_missing is false)
[10012:10059:0908/022757:ERROR:gcm_store_impl.cc(306)] Failed to open database /home/agm28011997/.config/chromium/Default/GCM Store: Invalid argument: /home/agm28011997/.config/chromium/Default/GCM Store: does not exist (create_if_missing is false)
ATTENTION: option value of option force_s3tc_enable ignored.
libva info: VA-API version 0.39.2
libva info: va_getDriverName() returns 0
libva info: Trying to open /usr/lib/dri/i965_drv_video.so
libva info: Found init function __vaDriverInit_0_39
libva info: va_openDriver() returns 0
libva info: VA-API version 0.39.2
libva info: va_getDriverName() returns 0
libva info: Trying to open /usr/lib/dri/i965_drv_video.so
libva info: Found init function __vaDriverInit_0_39
libva info: va_openDriver() returns 0
[agm28011997@agm28011997 ~]$ 
and it is much better, the bad thing is that appear to be imposible to use in nvidia and for me in my amd igpu of the laptop is imposible too.. the gpu is not sandboxed and crash the gpu procces, definitely I can tell the hardware accel is a needed feature for laptops, very needed for battery life and overheating, and any of both chromium or firefox support it default, firefox don't have anything yet and for chromium you have to add patches.. it is not a solution.. please

Comment 19

[jeremy9856]

I still have hope too to see full VDPAU/VAAVI support in order to have hardware video acceleration.

Comment 20

[JOHAN OLIVER]

You don't seem to get it. Not everyone has a fast modern CPU. Many are using older stuff as HTPCs. My Athlon 3800+ dual core pegs to 60/80/100% cpu when decoding video in the browser. My old Core duo stuff does the same. I bought a better GPU to try to solve this problem and come to find that it doesn't do much. Compiz, vlc and everything else can use it but neither chromium or firefox accelerates video. 


The patched version of chromium did try decoding x264 with the card and usage falls to 30% which is a BIG difference. In fact its the difference between out of sync audio and dropped frames vs smooth video. I might be ok if I can get flash HW decoding working, With FGLRX, hw decoded flash video in FF was black. With radeon it won't even try. Canvas, layers and rendering are accelerating in both browsers.

So now I'm at an impasse. Either I ditch linux and install windows 7 or I gamble on which video will play and which will stutter, or maybe get flash working and be locked in to that again (many places force HTML5). The smug comments aren't really helping, this bug is out for over a year and its a deal breaker.

Comment 21

[Erdem U. Altinyurt]

After a year there are NO improvement and just arguing about placebo effect, etc. It's sad to see that.
Does it really, really hard thing to implement this feature? I do not think so.

Comment 22

[jeremy9856]

If Jean-Yves Avenard deliver what he said on this comment, it will happen soon !

https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=563206#c51

Comment 23

[JOHAN OLIVER]

eh, I don't think it will, at all, ever. FF is changing to a chrome-ey engine and all of the great privacy plugins will be on pale moon and other forks only. Maybe they can help implement HW video too.

His comment from august, I almost fell out of my chair laughing.

"Can any of your standalone players manage decoding multiple videos at once on a canvas; allow you to apply CSS transformation and transparency layers on the fly. "

Firefox already does this in windows. But in linux it can't. Sure its not trivial but instead of gutting the engine we could have this working instead. 


"Currently hardware accelerated layers aren't yet enabled on Linux."

But they work in chrome and firefox and pale moon. With the radeon driver no less. FGLRX gave me issues when I force enabled everything but xorg-edgers radeon does not, today not some time in the future. They even worked on my onboard R300. 

In all this time at least full screen video could have been accelerated. They are just stalling for time until the engine is changed. Telling us HW video is a placebo? ooo there are so many different APIs (ie 3)... come on!

Comment 24

[Emma Humphries ☕️🎸🧞‍♀️✨ (she/they) [:emceeaich] (Pacific Time) use needinfo]

Gentle reminders:

* Our guidelines ask you don't argue about priority setting on bugs. Triage leads and Mozillians working on the bug set the priority. See: https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/page.cgi?id=etiquette.html
* This is not the place to discuss general Linux workarounds not specific to this bug. 

Extended, off-topic comments on a bug add noise to the signal. Per, https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/page.cgi?id=restrict_comments_guidelines.html, we've restricted comments on this bug to Mozillians with EDITBUGS permissions. 

If you can contribute to the resolution of this, or other bugs, please request EDITBUGS permissions. See https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/page.cgi?id=get_permissions.html for more information.

Comment 33

[Asif Youssuff]

Is there code that can be pulled from Servo? https://github.com/servo/servo/pull/23483

Comment 34

[Josh Matthews [:jdm]]

Servo's media stack is very different, and all of the actual hardware decoding comes from gstreamer internals. That pull request is just the plumbing required to provide the data the gstreamer requires to work in Servo.

Comment 36

[Martin Stránský [:stransky] (ni? me)]

It's landed for Wayland as Bug 1610199, there's a howto at https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1610199#c31

Comment 37

[Martin Stránský [:stransky] (ni? me)]

This is generally a dupe of Bug 1580166 where dmabuf for X11 is implemented.