HEVC on latest thorium not working.

[thnkman]

System Details

• OS: Slackware Current x86_64
• Thorium Version 122.0.6261.132
• libva-2.22.0
• mesa-24.2.0
• vulkan-sdk-1.3.290.0
• intel-media-driver-24.2.5
• libvdpau-va-gl-0.4.2

env variables:
export LIBVA_DRIVER_NAME=iHD
export VDPAU_DRIVER=va_gl
export VAAPI_MPEG4_ENABLED=true

vainfo:
vainfo: VA-API version: 1.22 (libva 2.22.0)
vainfo: Driver version: Intel iHD driver for Intel(R) Gen Graphics - 24.2.5 ()
vainfo: Supported profile and entrypoints
VAProfileNone : VAEntrypointVideoProc
VAProfileNone : VAEntrypointStats
VAProfileMPEG2Simple : VAEntrypointVLD
VAProfileMPEG2Simple : VAEntrypointEncSlice
VAProfileMPEG2Main : VAEntrypointVLD
VAProfileMPEG2Main : VAEntrypointEncSlice
VAProfileH264Main : VAEntrypointVLD
VAProfileH264Main : VAEntrypointEncSlice
VAProfileH264Main : VAEntrypointFEI
VAProfileH264Main : VAEntrypointEncSliceLP
VAProfileH264High : VAEntrypointVLD
VAProfileH264High : VAEntrypointEncSlice
VAProfileH264High : VAEntrypointFEI
VAProfileH264High : VAEntrypointEncSliceLP
VAProfileVC1Simple : VAEntrypointVLD
VAProfileVC1Main : VAEntrypointVLD
VAProfileVC1Advanced : VAEntrypointVLD
VAProfileJPEGBaseline : VAEntrypointVLD
VAProfileJPEGBaseline : VAEntrypointEncPicture
VAProfileH264ConstrainedBaseline: VAEntrypointVLD
VAProfileH264ConstrainedBaseline: VAEntrypointEncSlice
VAProfileH264ConstrainedBaseline: VAEntrypointFEI
VAProfileH264ConstrainedBaseline: VAEntrypointEncSliceLP
VAProfileVP8Version0_3 : VAEntrypointVLD
VAProfileHEVCMain : VAEntrypointVLD
VAProfileHEVCMain : VAEntrypointEncSlice
VAProfileHEVCMain : VAEntrypointFEI
VAProfileHEVCMain : VAEntrypointEncSliceLP
VAProfileHEVCMain10 : VAEntrypointVLD
VAProfileHEVCMain10 : VAEntrypointEncSlice
VAProfileHEVCMain10 : VAEntrypointEncSliceLP
VAProfileVP9Profile0 : VAEntrypointVLD
VAProfileVP9Profile0 : VAEntrypointEncSliceLP
VAProfileVP9Profile1 : VAEntrypointVLD
VAProfileVP9Profile1 : VAEntrypointEncSliceLP
VAProfileVP9Profile2 : VAEntrypointVLD
VAProfileVP9Profile2 : VAEntrypointEncSliceLP
VAProfileVP9Profile3 : VAEntrypointVLD
VAProfileVP9Profile3 : VAEntrypointEncSliceLP
VAProfileHEVCMain12 : VAEntrypointVLD
VAProfileHEVCMain12 : VAEntrypointEncSlice
VAProfileHEVCMain422_10 : VAEntrypointVLD
VAProfileHEVCMain422_10 : VAEntrypointEncSlice
VAProfileHEVCMain422_12 : VAEntrypointVLD
VAProfileHEVCMain422_12 : VAEntrypointEncSlice
VAProfileHEVCMain444 : VAEntrypointVLD
VAProfileHEVCMain444 : VAEntrypointEncSliceLP
VAProfileHEVCMain444_10 : VAEntrypointVLD
VAProfileHEVCMain444_10 : VAEntrypointEncSliceLP
VAProfileHEVCMain444_12 : VAEntrypointVLD
VAProfileHEVCSccMain : VAEntrypointVLD
VAProfileHEVCSccMain : VAEntrypointEncSliceLP
VAProfileHEVCSccMain10 : VAEntrypointVLD
VAProfileHEVCSccMain10 : VAEntrypointEncSliceLP
VAProfileHEVCSccMain444 : VAEntrypointVLD
VAProfileHEVCSccMain444 : VAEntrypointEncSliceLP
VAProfileAV1Profile0 : VAEntrypointVLD
VAProfileHEVCSccMain444_10 : VAEntrypointVLD
VAProfileHEVCSccMain444_10 : VAEntrypointEncSliceLP

thorium-browser flags:

Canvas: Hardware accelerated
Canvas out-of-process rasterization: Disabled
Direct Rendering Display Compositor: Disabled
Compositing: Hardware accelerated
Multiple Raster Threads: Enabled
OpenGL: Enabled
Rasterization: Hardware accelerated
Raw Draw: Disabled
Skia Graphite: Disabled
Video Decode: Hardware accelerated
Video Encode: Hardware accelerated
Vulkan: Enabled
WebGL: Hardware accelerated
WebGL2: Hardware accelerated
WebGPU: Disabled

Problem
thorium-browser will no longer playback HEVC videos. Tested using https://thorium.rocks/misc/h265-tester.html
Tested latest google chrome, and it works, although without sound.

[midzer]

https://thorium.rocks/misc/h265-tester.html works for me using latest Thorium (M126).

You use

Thorium Version 122.0.6261.132

Please update and try again.

[genesis224]

Same here it doesnt work on Windows with latest thorium build

[thnkman]

https://thorium.rocks/misc/h265-tester.html works for me using latest Thorium (M126).

You use

Thorium Version 122.0.6261.132

Please update and try again.

Odd, i was sure i was running the latest version. In any regard, i removed 122, deleted all cache files and directories (.cache/thorium & .config/thorium) installed 126, but the problem persists.

Flags tried:
thorium-browser --enable-features=VaapiVideoDecodeLinuxGL --ozone-platform=x11
thorium-browser --enable-features=Vulkan,VulkanFromANGLE,DefaultANGLEVulkan,VaapiIgnoreDriverChecks,VaapiVideoDecoder,VaapiVideoEncoder
Error:
ERROR:vaapi_video_decoder.cc(1212)] failed Initialize()ing the frame pool

chrome://gpu:

Video Acceleration Information

Decoding :
Decode h264 baseline : 16x16 to 4096x4096 pixels
Decode h264 main : 16x16 to 4096x4096 pixels
Decode h264 high : 16x16 to 4096x4096 pixels
Decode vp8 : 16x16 to 4096x4096 pixels
Decode vp9 profile0 : 16x16 to 16384x16384 pixels
Decode vp9 profile2 : 16x16 to 16384x16384 pixels
Decode hevc main : 16x16 to 16384x16384 pixels
Decode hevc main 10 : 16x16 to 16384x16384 pixels
Decode hevc main still-picture: 16x16 to 16384x16384 pixels
Decode av1 profile main : 16x16 to 16384x16384 pixels

[Alex313031]

@midzer @genesis224 @thnkman I am not able to recreate this on any of my machines. I have one with a core 2 duo and integrated graphics, a 4th gen laptop with AMD graphics, and my main system with nvidia graphics. Two of those have no hardware HEVC decoding support, which is what Thorium's patches are for, to allow HEVC and AC3 no matter what, falling back to software FFMPEG decoding if needed.

I can play HEVC videos on test sites, as well as the AC3 test files on my site.

[thnkman]

@midzer @genesis224 @thnkman I am not able to recreate this on any of my machines. I have one with a core 2 duo and integrated graphics, a 4th gen laptop with AMD graphics, and my main system with nvidia graphics. Two of those have no hardware HEVC decoding support, which is what Thorium's patches are for, to allow HEVC and AC3 no matter what, falling back to software FFMPEG decoding if needed.

I can play HEVC videos on test sites, as well as the AC3 test files on my site.

Then i am at a loss. Thanks for checking.

[Alex313031]

@thnkman Are you using the regular AVX build? Because I think I may have found why

[thnkman]

@thnkman Are you using the regular AVX build? Because I think I may have found why

Yes, i am using the AVX2 build

[gz83]

@thnkman Are you using the regular AVX build? Because I think I may have found why

Yes, i am using the AVX2 build

Please try these flags

https://git.launchpad.net/~chromium-team/chromium-browser/+git/snap-from-source/diff/launcher/chromium.launcher?id=146a69e604ba05ff2b59ccdc3b0e647cd4d61139

[thnkman]

@thnkman Are you using the regular AVX build? Because I think I may have found why

Yes, i am using the AVX2 build

Please try these flags

https://git.launchpad.net/~chromium-team/chromium-browser/+git/snap-from-source/diff/launcher/chromium.launcher?id=146a69e604ba05ff2b59ccdc3b0e647cd4d61139

Still getting ERROR:vaapi_video_decoder.cc(1212)] failed Initialize()ing the frame pool

[zd59]

Today, 20th October 2024 I upgraded from thorium-browser_126.0.6478.231_AVX to thorium-browser_128.0.6613.189_AVX

Now I can NOT play HEVC video clips stored from my cameras with Zoneminder surveillance.
Previous 126 version worked fine - actually was the only web browser with HEVC play support on my Slackware64 machine.
So I was forced to downgrade to version 126 that was the last playing HEVC clips.

Please patch/reenable version 128 to support HEVC.

Thank you in advance.

[gz83]

HEVC hardware acceleration support on Linux is not available out of the box for Chrome/Chromium

[zd59]

Thank you gz83.

I am very well aware of that.
I searched a lot to finally found a Linux browser that supports HEVC play.
I use Slackware over 20 years and when I switched from AVC to HEVC in my video surveillance (speed of store and disk space savings), I searched all over the place, as Chrome/Chromium/Firefox/Thorium/Konqueror and others do not support HEVC. Pure luck was discovery of Alex313031 compilation of Thorium with added HEVC support.
My wish is HEVC support in That Thorium from 126 above, else I'm left without it in Linux, forced to use Window$ only to watch my video surveillance clips. And I think, I'm not alone, as Zoneminder is pure and only Linux supported.

[gz83]

You may need to make sure you have an Intel or AMD graphics card + a newer operating system + X11 + VAAPI + the right graphics driver + some appropriate chromium command line parameters, only by doing this can you increase your chances of getting HEVC hardware acceleration.

At the same time, Linux DE is fragmented, different DEs may have different performance, and under Wayland, Chromium may become even worse.

In summary, enabling hardware acceleration on Linux is a complex matter, with the exception of ChromeOS/ChromiumOS/Android, which have slightly better support for hardware acceleration. This is also true for devices that use V4L2 (which have slightly better support for hardware acceleration).

@zd59

[Alex313031]

@zd59 @gz83 @genesis224 @thnkman I am at a loss. Software decoding of HEVC and AC3 should work. It is working fine for me here on Linux, and I am on NVidia, so there is for SURE no hardware acceleration going on, no matter what codec the video uses.

IDK why it seems that every release, I have a new random subgroup of users that HEVC seems to break on. Then the next release it will be fixed for some people, and broken for others.

Just to rule out that there is some conflict with it trying to use hardware acceleration when it shouldn't, can you try launching thorium with --no-gpu --disable-gpu --disable-features=VaapiVideoDecodeLinuxGL then see if it plays.

[thnkman]

--no-gpu --disable-gpu --disable-features=VaapiVideoDecodeLinuxGL

Created TensorFlow Lite XNNPACK delegate for CPU.
[6452:8206:1104/152520.108367:ERROR:vaapi_video_decoder.cc(1212)] failed Initialize()ing the frame pool

[zd59]

Finally I managed to set proper feature on your latest Thorium to play HEVC.
It is not enough, to disable graphic acceleration in settings.
Hidden config should be changed as above last --disable-features=VaapiVideoDecodeLinuxGL.
chrome://flags/ --> GL Vaapi Video Decode should be set to "disasbled" instead of "default"
After Thorium restart, it can play HEVC.

Thanks to @Alex313031 @thnkman.

[thnkman]

Finally I managed to set proper feature on your latest Thorium to play HEVC. It is not enough, to disable graphic acceleration in settings. Hidden config should be changed as above last --disable-features=VaapiVideoDecodeLinuxGL. chrome://flags/ --> GL Vaapi Video Decode should be set to "disasbled" instead of "default" After Thorium restart, it can play HEVC.

Thanks to @Alex313031 @thnkman.

Can confirm, HEVC playback works by setting GL VAAPI flag to disabled. Nice one!