Playing 720p 10 BIT h264 Videos on the Raspberry PI 3B+

  • Sorry for my English, I'm not a native English Speaker.

    I've got a Raspberry PI 3B+ with LibreElec 9.2.6

    Videofiles with 720p 10 BIT h265 play fine, but

    Videofiles with 720p 10 BIT h264 didn't work, they play, but I got artefacts all over the screen.

    So my question is:

    Is it possible to play Videofiles with 720p 10 BIT h264 on my Raspberry PI 3B+ with LibreElec 9.2.6 ?

    I assume that there is no Hardwaredecoding for such Files on the Raspberry and that Softwaredecoding is too much for this Machine.

    If there is no solution for this Problem on the Raspberry PI 3B+ will it help if I buy a Raspberry PI 4 ?

    By the way:

    The 720p 10 BIT h264 Files play fine on my PC with LibreElec 9.2.6.

  • 10-bit H264 is not an industry standard so no hardware supports 10-bit H264 hardware decode. So you must software decode, and that requires a device with enough CPU to handle the media (the PC has enough, RPi3 does not). If you share a sample someone can test it on an RPi4.

  • @chewitt

    Thanks for your reply.

    I didn't know the facts about 10 Bit h264 videos, but I thought to myself that the Raspberry must have some problems to decode them.

    So it seems there is no way to watch these videos on the Raspberry Pi 3B+ and I must use my PC.

    I've got some videos encoded in 720p 10 BIT h264, but I didn't know if they are protected by any copyright so that I got a problem if I post them here.

    I looked around on the Internet, but I didn't find any 720p 10 BIT h264 samples that I can post here.

    Maybe in the near future I will buy a Raspberry Pi 4 and test it by myself, but if someone else knows if 720p 10 BIT h264 videos play on the Pi 4 please post your experience here.

  • I can create 720p 10-bit H264 samples that will play, and then I can tweak the encode settings so they will not play. How your 720p files play on an RPi4 is something only you can answer, unless you share samples that others can test. NB: Animé fans normally use high-spec Intel x86_64 devices to handle 1080p 10-bit H264 media.

  • @chewitt

    I'm an "Anime-Fan" myself, and normally I use a PC with a 3.800 MHz AMD Quadcore CPU and LibreElec 9.2.6 to play my videos.

    720p

    1080p

    8 Bit

    10 Bit

    h264

    h265

    everything works fine in every combination.

    The PC stands in my Living Room and is hooked up to my TV, but because the PC is build into a Midi-Tower Case it stands out and I find it a little too big and was looking for a smaller solution.

    So I got a Raspberry PI 3B+ which is also working with LibreElec 9.2.6.

    Everything else here worked the same as on the PC except for the 720p 10 BIT h264 videos.

    I didn't find any solution for this problem on the internet, so I asked here on the Board if there is one.

    You told me, that at last there a problems with 720p 10 BIT h264 videos on the Raspberry and that there is no warranty that it will work at all.

    I understand and accept your answer so I will use my PC a little bit longer to play my anime,

    Maybe I will buy a PI 4 in the near future and will test by myself if the videos will be played without any artifacts. (If not, I can use the Pi 4 for something else, Recalbox maybe :) )

    So for me the problem is solved, thanks again for your help.