Nvidia / GPU Video Acceleration

[monkeybrain20122]

I don't think vdpau works on webm (youtube's default format). There is a frefox addon which plays Youtube videos in .mp4, you can probably achieve the same by messing with about:config (I haven't tried it) and years ago there was a Firefox mpv addon for which vdpau did work (video streamed through mpv in .mp4 format) but it no longer worked after Firefox retired all nacl plugins.

if you test with downloaded (local) videos, it is the same. vdpau doesn't work for webm, but works for .mp4 and .mkv.

If you use vdpau, mpv is a better option than vlc, it is more efficient and works when vlc fails (aside: with mpv you can directly stream without downloading, vlc can do that too but only on Youtube and apparently the resolution is limited to 720p. there is no limit for mpv, but vlc plays 360 deg streams while mpv can't)

So in conclusion, vdpau doesn't work if you watch youtube from browser, it works if you stream through mpv and use .mp4 as your format. It works with streaming through vlc but it is probably not as efficient as mpv and the resolution is limit to 720p. Local videos work if in .mp4 or mkv, but mpv is more efficient and some 4k videos don't work with vlc but work with mpv.

[Shibblet]

I don't think vdpau works on webm (youtube's default format). There is a frefox addon which plays Youtube videos in .mp4, you can probably achieve the same by messing with about:config (I haven't tried it) and years ago there was a Firefox mpv addon for which vdpau did work (video streams through mpv in .mp4 format) but it no longer works after Firefox retired all nacl plugins.

Again if you test with downloaded (local) videos, vdpau doesn't work for webm, but works for .mp4 and .mkv. Also, if you use vdpau, mpv is a better option than vlc.

Yeah. I like MPV quite a bit more, but VLC has the whole kitchen sink baked in... no additional drivers required. My current work-around for YouTube is to copy the link directly into VLC, and just watch it that way. This way the video runs through VDPAU and uses the HW Video Decoder. Barely any CPU time is used. However, this limits my YouTube viewing to 720p, even if the Video is in 1080p (or higher.) YouTube separates their video and audio when it's over 1080p. There used to be a way to grab both streams, but it's no longer available... Oh well, I guess. Here today, gone tomorrow.

What I am directly attempting to do, is get Stadia working with HW Acceleration. With Software, the decode time isn't as fast as it could be with H.264 video. I can run VP9 as well, but it uses more of the CPU, and the decode time is the same. IMHO, this is one of the best ways to game (for me), due to it being fairly hardware independent, and available on Linux. But, is slightly disappointing at this point, because of the lack of HW Video Decoding.



With (True) HW Acceleration, the decode time drops sufficiently, and allows for consistent 1080p streaming. Without it, or even with "HW Assisted Acceleration" the resolution stays at the 720p area for the proper decode time (speed.)

This was tested in Windows 10 on a friends computer, and it works great. H.264 is Hardware Accelerated, and it streams at full 1080p (4K if you have it). The decode time is significantly lower, and it never (seems to) drop from 1080p down to 720p.

So, I am a little bit bummed out that we now have services like Stadia (Luna / GeForce Now / and soon XBox Game Pass) which would eliminate the need for specific hardware and operating systems... but then only quasi-support.

[monkeybrain20122]

Like I said if you want to stream Youtube with full 1080 or above using vdpau then use mpv. vlc is limited to 720p. You can do it by cutting and pasting url like you do with vlc if you use smplayer as a front end for mpv.

I don't see any problem with having more than one player for different needs, it is not like you have to pay for them anyway and both are light. The default totem player which is pretty useless probably takes up more disk space than either.

If you want all in one type of software that uses hw decoding kodi is another option but it is not light and has too many options for my need.

[Shibblet]

Like I said if you want to stream Youtube with full 1080 or above using vdpau then use mpv. vlc is limited to 720p. You can do it by cutting and pasting url like you do with vlc if you use smplayer as a front end for mpv.

I don't see any problem with having more than one player for different needs, it is not like you have to pay for them anyway and both are light. The default totem player which is pretty useless probably takes up more disk space than either.

If you want all in one type of software that uses hw decoding kodi is another option but it is not light and has too many options for my need.

As much as I appreciate this new option... it unfortunately doesn't work. SMPlayer doesn't stream the H.264 version, it streams the VP9 version, which is not supported by my video card. I'm not quite sure how to get it to "force" the H.264 version like you can with the Chrome Extension "h264ify."

Regardless... Thank you for the idea.

[monkeybrain20122]

As much as I appreciate this new option... it unfortunately doesn't work. SMPlayer doesn't stream the H.264 version, it streams the VP9 version, which is not supported by my video card. I'm not quite sure how to get it to "force" the H.264 version like you can with the Chrome Extension "h264ify."

Regardless... Thank you for the idea.

Actually it does but you have to configure it

Open Smplayer go to Preference > Advanced > Mplayer/mpv, put in something like this (modify for your need accordingly) then it streams the mp4 version if available

Options

--ytdl-format=bestvideo[ext=mp4][width<=1920][height<=1080]+bestaudio[ext=m4a]/best[ext=mp4]/best

[Shibblet]

Actually it does but you have to configure it

Open Smplayer go to Preference > Advanced > Mplayer/mpv, put in something like this (modify for your need accordingly) then it streams the mp4 version if available

Options

--ytdl-format=bestvideo[ext=mp4][width<=1920][height<=1080]+bestaudio[ext=m4a]/best[ext=mp4]/best

Hey Thanks! That works great!

Now... how do we make VDPAU work in the Browser for Stadia?

[mastablasta]

what if you used Chrome browser? i mean Google supposedly should support this feature. it porbably does support it on ChromeOS and Android.

have you seen this one: https://gist.github.com/SalomonBrys/...1e6ef14be14002

[Yellow Pasque]

how do we make VDPAU work in the Browser for Stadia?

Again, chromium (and firefox) don't use VDPAU directly. If you want that, you'll have to write it yourself. So,

1. Make sure 'vainfo' output is correct.
2. Look at chrome://gpu and make sure it says "Video Decode: Hardware Accelerated". If it doesn't, try forcing it on in chrome://flags
3. Make Stadia use H.264 if possible (I don't know anything Stadia, so don't ask me how.)

[Shibblet]

what if you used Chrome browser? i mean Google supposedly should support this feature. it porbably does support it on ChromeOS and Android.

have you seen this one: https://gist.github.com/SalomonBrys/...1e6ef14be14002

I should show you this...
https://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2464112

Again, chromium (and firefox) don't use VDPAU directly. If you want that, you'll have to write it yourself. So,

1. Make sure 'vainfo' output is correct.
2. Look at chrome://gpu and make sure it says "Video Decode: Hardware Accelerated". If it doesn't, try forcing it on in chrome://flags
3. Make Stadia use H.264 if possible (I don't know anything Stadia, so don't ask me how.)

1. Got it. Done.
2. Also done.
3. There is an extension called "Stadia Enhanced" that will allow you to force H.264. It unfortunately uses H.264, but doesn't seem as if it uses Hardware Acceleration at all.

I'll harken back to this post in this thread...

Here is what it looks like with Video Acceleration on:

Attachment 288707

And here is what it looks like without Video Acceleration:

Attachment 288708

Not much of a difference on the CPU. So, I guess what I am getting at is... Does this actually work, or is it just smoke and mirrors?

[Yellow Pasque]

*Shrug* Don't know what else to tell you. Maybe the VA-API -> VDPAU wrapper is inefficient and not worth it (or even counterproductive) for H.264 with a modern CPU. It hasn't been touched in almost a decade: https://github.com/freedesktop/vdpau-driver