Banana Pi BPI-M5 can't play H.265 videos

Tsxop · August 17, 2025 at 1:11 PM

Describe the bug

Some videos can't be played for example H.265

How to reproduce

Steps to reproduce the behavior:

Copy a video to videos folder
Play the video
tail -f kodi.log
See error

Information

LibreELEC Version: 12.2.0
Hardware Platform: Banana Pi BPI-M5
Forum Thread: [URL]

Log file

Code

2025-08-16 19:20:03.187 T:4875     info <general>: Creating InputStream
2025-08-16 19:20:03.203 T:4875     info <general>: Creating Demuxer
2025-08-16 19:20:03.209 T:4875     info <general>: Opening stream: 0 source: 256
2025-08-16 19:20:03.209 T:4875     info <general>: Creating video codec with codec id: 173
2025-08-16 19:20:03.210 T:4875     info <general>: CDVDVideoCodecDRMPRIME::Open - using decoder V4L2 mem2mem HEVC decoder wrapper
2025-08-16 19:20:03.210 T:4875     info <general>: CDVDVideoCodecDRMPRIME::Open - unable to open codec
2025-08-16 19:20:03.210 T:4875     info <general>: CDVDVideoCodecDRMPRIME::Open - using decoder HEVC (High Efficiency Video Coding)
2025-08-16 19:20:03.214 T:4875     info <general>: Creating video thread
2025-08-16 19:20:03.214 T:4881     info <general>: running thread: video_thread
2025-08-16 19:20:03.214 T:4875     info <general>: Opening stream: 1 source: 256
2025-08-16 19:20:03.214 T:4875     info <general>: Finding audio codec for: 86019
2025-08-16 19:20:03.215 T:4875     info <general>: CDVDAudioCodecFFmpeg::Open() Successful opened audio decoder ac3
2025-08-16 19:20:03.215 T:4875     info <general>: OpenStream: Allowing max Out-Of-Sync Value of 50 ms
2025-08-16 19:20:03.215 T:4875     info <general>: Creating audio thread
2025-08-16 19:20:03.215 T:4882     info <general>: running thread: CVideoPlayerAudio::Process()
2025-08-16 19:20:03.215 T:4875     info <general>: Opening stream: 3 source: 256
2025-08-16 19:20:03.215 T:4875     info <general>: CDVDSubtitlesLibass: Using libass version 1701000
2025-08-16 19:20:03.215 T:4875     info <general>: CDVDSubtitlesLibass: Creating ASS library structure
2025-08-16 19:20:03.215 T:4875     info <general>: CDVDSubtitlesLibass: Initializing ASS Renderer
2025-08-16 19:20:03.216 T:4875     info <general>: CDVDSubtitlesLibass: Initializing ASS library font settings
2025-08-16 19:20:03.243 T:4875     info <general>: CDVDSubtitlesLibass: Creating new ASS track
2025-08-16 19:20:03.246 T:4877    error <general>: CDVDVideoCodecDRMPRIME::GetFormat - no supported pixel formats: yuv420p10le
2025-08-16 19:20:03.246 T:4882     info <general>: Creating audio stream (codec id: 86019, channels: 2, sample rate: 48000, no pass-through)
2025-08-16 19:20:03.247 T:4631     info <general>: CActiveAESink::OpenSink - initialize sink
2025-08-16 19:20:03.247 T:4631     info <general>: CAESinkALSA::Initialize - Attempting to open device "default"
2025-08-16 19:20:03.252 T:4631     info <general>: CAESinkALSA::Initialize - Opened device "default"
2025-08-16 19:20:03.252 T:4631     info <general>: CAESinkALSA::InitializeHW - Your hardware does not support AE_FMT_FLOAT, trying other formats
2025-08-16 19:20:03.252 T:4631     info <general>: CAESinkALSA::InitializeHW - Using data format AE_FMT_S24NE4
2025-08-16 19:20:03.274 T:4881    error <general>: CDVDVideoCodecDRMPRIME::AddData - send packet failed: Operation not permitted (-1)
2025-08-16 19:20:03.366 T:4881    error <general>: CDVDVideoCodecDRMPRIME::GetPicture - videoBuffer:nullptr format:yuv420p10le
2025-08-16 19:20:03.366 T:4881    error <general>: CDVDVideoCodecDRMPRIME::AddData - send packet failed: Invalid data found when processing input (-1094995529)
2025-08-16 19:20:03.380 T:4881    error <general>: CDVDVideoCodecDRMPRIME::GetPicture - videoBuffer:nullptr format:yuv420p10le
2025-08-16 19:20:13.416 T:4881     info <general>: Skipped 217 duplicate messages..
2025-08-16 19:20:13.416 T:4881    error <general>: CDVDVideoCodecDRMPRIME::GetPicture - videoBuffer:nullptr format:yuv420p10le
2025-08-16 19:20:23.429 T:4881     info <general>: Skipped 213 duplicate messages..
2025-08-16 19:20:23.429 T:4881    error <general>: CDVDVideoCodecDRMPRIME::GetPicture - videoBuffer:nullptr format:yuv420p10le

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Context

Thanks for your help

**chewitt** · August 18, 2025 at 8:50 AM

You'll need to share a full debug log for anyone to comment, log snippets are pointless.

Once we see the full log it'll probably reveal that you're trying to play a 4K 10-bit HEVC file and that will fail because there is no HEVC hardware decoding support on S905X3 (SM1) devices and the CPU is too weak for software decoding.

MatteN · August 18, 2025 at 10:33 AM

Banana M5 plays 4k just fine with CE.

**chewitt** · August 18, 2025 at 10:36 AM

MatteN · August 18, 2025 at 11:30 AM

I have one running CE21, it plays hevc 4k HDR with no problems at all, and it can do HDR to SDR conversion.

Tsxop · August 18, 2025 at 12:42 PM

Another information I've forgotten, I've restored a backup from RPI3 to BananaPI M5.

You can find in attachment full log

MatteN · August 18, 2025 at 1:54 PM

As chewitt stated above, 4k hevc is not working with LE, but it works just fine with CoreELEC, even with bitrates at 100Mb/s and sizes up to 100GB.

Played this a moment ago:

Fullständigt namn : E:\4k Film\All of Us Strangers (2023)(UHDBD)(x265 10bit HDR DV) 2160p\All of Us Strangers (2023).mkv
Format : Matroska
Formatversion : Version 4 / Version 2
Filstorlek : 71,5 GiB
Varaktighet : 1 h 45 min
Sammanlagt dataflöde : 96,9 Mb/s
Bildfrekvens : 23,976 FPS
Ttitel : All of Us Strangers (2023)
Kodningsdatum : 2024-08-29 14:12:43 UTC
Skrivande program : mkvmerge 85.0 ('Shame For You') 64-bit
Skrivande bibliotek : libebml v1.4.5 + libmatroska v1.7.1

Video
ID : 1
Format : HEVC
Format/Info : High Efficiency Video Coding
Formatprofil : Main [email protected]@High
HDR format : Dolby Vision, Version 1.0, Profile 7.6, dvhe.07.06, BL+EL+RPU, no metadata compression, Blu-ray compatible / SMPTE ST 2086, Version HDR10, HDR10 compatible
Kodek-ID : V_MPEGH/ISO/HEVC
Varaktighet : 1 h 45 min
Dataflöde : 93,1 Mb/s
Bredd : 3 840 pixlar
Höjd : 2 160 pixlar
Skärmbildförhållande : 16:9
Bildfrekvensläge : Konstant
Bildfrekvens : 23,976 (24000/1001) FPS
Färgrymd : YUV
Kroma-delsampling : 4:2:0 (Type 2)
Bitdjup : 10 bit
Bitar/(Pixlar*bildruta) : 0.468
Strömstorlek : 68,7 GiB (96%)
Default : Ja
Forced : Nej
Färgskala : Limited
Primärfärger : BT.2020
Överföringsegenskaper : PQ
Matriskoefficienter : BT.2020 non-constant
Mastering display color primaries : Display P3
Mastering display luminance : min: 0.0001 cd/m2, max: 1000 cd/m2

No problems what so ever.

Tsxop · August 18, 2025 at 8:04 PM

Thanks for answer.

I've seen that H.264 cannot be played.

Do you have any solution to play them ?

**chewitt** · August 18, 2025 at 9:32 PM

The log isn't a debug log and the catchup plugin you are using hides all the useful ffmpeg information on the media. Then I noticed banned add-ons installed, and found something else to do.

MatteN · August 18, 2025 at 9:32 PM

I dont think i have any 4k h264 to try.

Edit: Found a file with

H264
51,2 Mb/s
29,970 FPS
3840 x 2160
YUV 4:2:0 8bit

Played without any problems.

Tsxop · August 19, 2025 at 8:16 AM

Here's mediainfo about the video cannot be played :

General
Unique ID : 240382367755553984638217641083869598113 (0xB4D7F5C3A10A503686EF676347CC11A1)
Complete name : video.mkv
Format : Matroska
Format version : Version 2
File size : 599 MiB
Duration : 49 min 51 s
Overall bit rate : 1 679 kb/s
Frame rate : 25.000 FPS
Title : video
Encoded date : 2017-12-26 18:00:38 UTC
Writing application : DVDFab 10.0.7.4
Writing library : libebml v1.3.4 + libmatroska v1.4.5

Video
ID : 1
Format : AVC
Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile : High@L3
Format settings : CABAC / 1 Ref Frames
Format settings, CABAC : Yes
Format settings, Reference frames : 1 frame
Format settings, GOP : M=1, N=25
Codec ID : V_MPEG4/ISO/AVC
Duration : 49 min 51 s
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 1 297 kb/s
Width : 720 pixels
Height : 540 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 4:3
Frame rate mode : Constant
Frame rate : 25.000 FPS
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0
Bit depth : 8 bits
Scan type : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.133
Stream size : 461 MiB (77%)
Default : Yes
Forced : No
Color range : Limited
Color primaries : BT.709
Transfer characteristics : BT.709
Matrix coefficients : BT.709

Tsxop · August 19, 2025 at 12:09 PM

I've enabled Debug and played a video with black screen only sound.

MatteN · August 19, 2025 at 12:15 PM

Try CoreELEC 21 instead.

Or if you want to run LibreELEC get a Raspberry Pi 5, it will play almost everything but DV.

**chewitt** · August 19, 2025 at 12:29 PM

MatteN the existence of other distros is well known so no need to respond to every post with a plug, thanks.

Tsxop banned add-ons still present, so no further support.