NUC10 + LE13 + HEVC

adam.h. · June 16, 2024 at 3:02 PM

Maybe this was discussed already here, but I cannot find anything specific. Perhaps my adventures will help someone.

In theory NUC10 should be fine with HEVC (hardware decoding is available in 10th gen.). But not in my case, the HEVC movie was just generating sound and video screen was not refreshing. I could see multiple entries in the log file, like: ffmpeg[0x1c3b8a30]: [hevc] hardware accelerator failed to decode picture.

So it helped to disable hardware acceleration in the Player settings. Apparently hardware driver was not as good as the software driver. Attaching also screenshot for the reference.

**chewitt** · June 16, 2024 at 3:54 PM

No debug log .. so nothing to investigate

adam.h. · June 16, 2024 at 5:03 PM

Hi chewitt, I don't think this is LE issue (perhaps more the problem in the NUC BIOS), but if you want to see the log, here it is.

**chewitt** · June 17, 2024 at 5:51 AM

The error is reported by FFMpeg though since it's in codec code (and switching to software decode works around it) the problem could equally be in the underlying Intel drivers. If you are into self-building images and experimenting there are pull-requests for kernel bumps to Linux 6.9.5 and 6.10-rc3/4 open on our GitHub repo. Bumping FFMpeg to something newer is harder as Kodi has hard API dependencies; v7.x won't be possible but a later 6.x release might work. `At some point we'll move LE13 to Kodi 'P' which will bring a bump to FFMpeg v7.x too, but until then there's not much to do I think. I would be very surprised if it had anything to do with BIOS as that's low-level and codec things are some way above.

NB: The whitelist suggestions here would help your overall config https://wiki.libreelec.tv/configuration/4k-hdr but will make no difference to the reported problem.

adam.h. · June 17, 2024 at 3:56 PM

Thanks for the pointers. I compiled PR for 6.10-rc3 but the latest kernel didn't change anything.

In case you want to look int the log file, first part shows software codec (it works), second part shows hardware support enabled (it breaks).

adam.h. · June 18, 2024 at 11:35 AM

Hi chewitt, I checked that all these HEVC samples work well with and without hardware acceleration, so it seems that there is something specific with my tested HEVC stream.

I could provide like 10 sec sample of that failing HEVC stream for further investigations, but since simple hacks with playercorefactory/ffmpeg are not working with the new Kodi and this is prioprietary Disney contents I suppose I would need some guidance (PM?) how to proceed with this.

**chewitt** · June 18, 2024 at 12:57 PM

smp logged the same issue here: https://github.com/xbmc/xbmc/issues/23699

The log in this thread also shows the same issue (no insights in the threads, only whinging):

Post

RE: Libreelec 11.0.3 on Nuc7i3Bnk - Graphics Problems

(Code, 242 lines)

Boronsbruder

December 22, 2023 at 6:44 AM

Does bumping ffmpeg to 6.1.1 help? .. I'm expecting 'no' but it would be good to eliminate the idea.

Can you also enable ffmpeg component logging in Kodi settings and then regenerate a 'bad' log. I'm wondering if ffmpeg will show more internal info.

adam.h. · June 18, 2024 at 1:50 PM

I'm using that setup: <setting id="debug.setextraloglevel">128,2048,32768,262144</setting> so ffmpeg is covered. I didn't try with ffmpeg 6.1.1 though.

I tried that sample file attached to 23699 and it works fine for both software codec and hardware acceleration, see the log. As expected, with vaapi enabled it plays very smoothly, while it slightly stutters with software codec.

So I suppose it is something else im my stream which causes these issues.

adam.h. · June 18, 2024 at 3:59 PM

Ok, so to complete this journey here is the log with Linux version 6.10.0-rc3 and FFmpeg version 6.1.1, the stream is not playable when hardware acceleration is enabled.

Let me know if you think I can contribute with anything else.

adam.h. · June 22, 2024 at 11:46 AM

Some more forensic analysis

Here are the stream properties:

Code

General
Complete name                            : Machine Gun Kelly’s Life in Pink.mp4
Format                                   : MPEG-4
Format profile                           : Base Media
Codec ID                                 : isom (isom/dby1/iso2/mp41)
File size                                : 2.29 GiB
Duration                                 : 1 h 41 min
Overall bit rate mode                    : Variable
Overall bit rate                         : 3 219 kb/s
Frame rate                               : 23.976 FPS
Movie name                               : Machine Gun Kelly’s Life in Pink
Description                              : 'Machine Gun Kelly’s Life in Pink'
Recorded date                            : 2022
Writing application                      : Lavf60.3.100
Cover                                    : Yes

Video
ID                                       : 1
Format                                   : HEVC
Format/Info                              : High Efficiency Video Coding
Format profile                           : Main 10@L3.1@Main
Codec ID                                 : hvc1
Codec ID/Info                            : High Efficiency Video Coding
Duration                                 : 1 h 41 min
Bit rate                                 : 2 958 kb/s
Width                                    : 1 280 pixels
Height                                   : 720 pixels
Display aspect ratio                     : 16:9
Frame rate mode                          : Constant
Frame rate                               : 23.976 (24000/1001) FPS
Color space                              : YUV
Chroma subsampling                       : 4:2:0
Bit depth                                : 10 bits
Bits/(Pixel*Frame)                       : 0.134
Stream size                              : 2.10 GiB (92%)
Title                                    : BAMTech video
Color range                              : Limited
Color primaries                          : BT.709
Transfer characteristics                 : BT.709
Matrix coefficients                      : BT.709
Codec configuration box                  : hvcC

Audio
ID                                       : 3
Format                                   : E-AC-3
Format/Info                              : Enhanced AC-3
Commercial name                          : Dolby Digital Plus
Codec ID                                 : ec-3
Duration                                 : 1 h 41 min
Bit rate mode                            : Constant
Bit rate                                 : 256 kb/s
Channel(s)                               : 6 channels
Channel layout                           : L R C LFE Ls Rs
Sampling rate                            : 48.0 kHz
Frame rate                               : 31.250 FPS (1536 SPF)
Compression mode                         : Lossy
Stream size                              : 186 MiB (8%)
Title                                    : BAMTech audio / English
Language                                 : English
Service kind                             : Complete Main
Default                                  : Yes
Alternate group                          : 1
Dialog Normalization                     : -29 dB
compr                                    : -0.28 dB
mixlevel                                 : 105 dB
roomtyp                                  : Small
dialnorm_Average                         : -29 dB
dialnorm_Minimum                         : -29 dB
dialnorm_Maximum                         : -29 dB

Display More

Suprisingly it plays well from the file, even with enabled vaapi, and the same content fails with vaapi when it is streamed. See attached 2 screenshots from playing file and playing the stream.

So perhaps the problem is not really in ffmpeg or drivers/kernel, but somewhere between InputStream Adaptive / Disney+ Addon / FFMpeg?

EDIT: I forgot to add log file.

adam.h. · June 27, 2024 at 1:19 PM

After quick discussion with addon creator and ISA maintainers finally I opened Kodi ticket for this...

random_human_being_ · September 10, 2024 at 8:41 AM

I might be having a similar issue trying to play a 4k SDR HEVC video on a Celeron J5005 with video acceleration enabled.

The audio plays, but the video does not appear, and instead the menu interface starts flickering.

Video info

Video
Title: 4K HEVC SDR
Codec: HEVC
AVC: No
Profile: Main 10
Level: 153
Resolution: 3840x2160
Aspect ratio: 16:9
Anamorphic: No
Interlaced: No
Framerate: 23.976025
Bitrate: 15150 kbps
Bit depth: 10 bit
Video range: SDR
Video range type: SDR
Pixel format: yuv420p10le
Ref frames: 1

The video is being played through Jellyfin's Jellycon, so technically streamed, though the Jellyfin server itself is hosted inside a docker container on the same machine and accessed via a localhost ip.

I will post a LE log as soon as I am back home.

yamcenutzer · September 11, 2024 at 8:15 PM

IIRc this bug was introduced way back in with graphics switch from le9 to le 10 (or was it 10 to 11), I forgot. That was also the switch that broke hd audio passthru on intel systems (used work ok before that).

If you go look for it, you might find the "we give up on Intel.." mail in the KODI forum around that time...

Which is why I don't believe LE will ever come out of it's "raspi is the only system we really work for " niche. might as well go for it.

adam.h. · October 3, 2024 at 12:09 PM

Oh sure, just be patient enough and all the problems will magically solve themselves! 😀

With the following nightly LE release I can play above stream without problems:

Code

 Starting Kodi (22.0-ALPHA1 (21.90.700) Git:db813bfaec3b3bd510e084158fec3ad7be7557a2). Platform: Linux x86 64-bit
 Using Release Kodi x64
 Kodi compiled 2024-10-02 by GCC 14.2.0 for Linux x86 64-bit version 6.11.0 (396032)
 Running on LibreELEC (community): nightly-20241002-a95d055 13.0, kernel: Linux x86 64-bit version 6.11.0
 FFmpeg version/source: 6.0.1
 Host CPU: Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-10210U CPU @ 1.60GHz, 8 cores available

 CAddonMgr::FindAddons: inputstream.adaptive v22.1.4.1 installed
 CAddonMgr::FindAddons: inputstream.ffmpegdirect v22.0.1.1 installed
 CAddonMgr::FindAddons: inputstream.rtmp v22.0.0.1 installed
 CAddonMgr::FindAddons: kodi.binary.instance.inputstream v3.3.0 installed
 SECTION:LoadDLL(/storage/.kodi/addons/inputstream.adaptive/inputstream.adaptive.so.22.1.5)

 CAddonMgr::FindAddons: repository.slyguy v0.0.9 installed
 CAddonMgr::FindAddons: script.module.slyguy v0.85.23 installed
 CAddonMgr::FindAddons: slyguy.dependencies v0.0.22 installed
 CAddonMgr::FindAddons: slyguy.disney.plus v0.17.3 installed

Display More

However someone with fresh eye catched up that it originally failed on HEVC stream and now it is openning H264 stream, so perhaps Kodi in this version has different preferences - not sure if H264 stream was available originally or was added later by Disney...

**chewitt** · October 3, 2024 at 1:00 PM

Quote from yamcenutzer

I don't believe LE will ever come out of it's "raspi is the only system we really work for " niche

These days LE runs on a wider range of hardware than ever before, but the level of support we receive from upstream maintainers on Intel hardware and most ARM SoC platforms isn't equal to the support that we see from the RPi developers. Project staff are frequently asked for recommendations. Do we suggest something we know has a few glitches and glacial support (Intel) or relies completely on community development (Allwinner, Amlogic, Rockchip). Or do we suggest an RPi board with few issues to report in the first place, and anything we do flag is normally fixed under 24 hours by Engineers super-keen to help and get it resolved. Our influence on the userbase is minor though. Recent modern NUC devices and derivatives are good, but not as-good as the devices that NUC reputations were built upon in the past, and users talk to their friends and relatives and the easiest-to-use and reliable devices are the ones that are purchased most.