Why is VA-API missing in Smplayer under FreeBSD ?

john_rambo · Oct 29, 2021

When I was using Linux I was able to select va-api & va-api copy from that list but these two options are missing under FreeBSD.
What's the reason ?

zirias@ · Oct 29, 2021

With that amount of info, I can only guess: no driver installed? (graphics/mesa-gallium-va)

john_rambo · Oct 29, 2021

Zirias said:
With that amount of info, I can only guess: no driver installed? (graphics/mesa-gallium-va)

I have found that package that you mentioned but I don't want to install it without confirmation. Under Linux I was using a system restore tool called Timeshift. I haven't yet figured out how to do that under FreeBSD. So I am worried if installing that package causes breakage which needs a reinstall of FreeBSD it will be a disaster. I have invested a lot of time configuring my install.

Is this info enough to be really sure ? If not please tell which command is required to get the needed info.
~

Code:

> pciconf -lv
hostb0@pci0:0:0:0:    class=0x060000 rev=0x07 hdr=0x00 vendor=0x8086 device=0x190f subvendor=0x1043 subdevice=0x8694
    vendor     = 'Intel Corporation'
    device     = 'Xeon E3-1200 v5/E3-1500 v5/6th Gen Core Processor Host Bridge/DRAM Registers'
    class      = bridge
    subclass   = HOST-PCI
vgapci0@pci0:0:2:0:    class=0x030000 rev=0x06 hdr=0x00 vendor=0x8086 device=0x1912 subvendor=0x1043 subdevice=0x8694
    vendor     = 'Intel Corporation'
    device     = 'HD Graphics 530'
    class      = display
    subclass   = VGA
xhci0@pci0:0:20:0:    class=0x0c0330 rev=0x31 hdr=0x00 vendor=0x8086 device=0xa12f subvendor=0x1043 subdevice=0x8694
    vendor     = 'Intel Corporation'
    device     = '100 Series/C230 Series Chipset Family USB 3.0 xHCI Controller'
    class      = serial bus
    subclass   = USB
none0@pci0:0:22:0:    class=0x078000 rev=0x31 hdr=0x00 vendor=0x8086 device=0xa13a subvendor=0x1043 subdevice=0x8694
    vendor     = 'Intel Corporation'
    device     = '100 Series/C230 Series Chipset Family MEI Controller'
    class      = simple comms
ahci0@pci0:0:23:0:    class=0x010601 rev=0x31 hdr=0x00 vendor=0x8086 device=0xa102 subvendor=0x1043 subdevice=0x8694
    vendor     = 'Intel Corporation'
    device     = 'Q170/Q150/B150/H170/H110/Z170/CM236 Chipset SATA Controller [AHCI Mode]'
    class      = mass storage
    subclass   = SATA
pcib1@pci0:0:28:0:    class=0x060400 rev=0xf1 hdr=0x01 vendor=0x8086 device=0xa114 subvendor=0x1043 subdevice=0x8694
    vendor     = 'Intel Corporation'
    device     = '100 Series/C230 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port'
    class      = bridge
    subclass   = PCI-PCI
pcib2@pci0:0:28:7:    class=0x060400 rev=0xf1 hdr=0x01 vendor=0x8086 device=0xa117 subvendor=0x1043 subdevice=0x8694
    vendor     = 'Intel Corporation'
    device     = '100 Series/C230 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port'
    class      = bridge
    subclass   = PCI-PCI
pcib3@pci0:0:29:0:    class=0x060400 rev=0xf1 hdr=0x01 vendor=0x8086 device=0xa118 subvendor=0x1043 subdevice=0x8694
    vendor     = 'Intel Corporation'
    device     = '100 Series/C230 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port'
    class      = bridge
    subclass   = PCI-PCI
isab0@pci0:0:31:0:    class=0x060100 rev=0x31 hdr=0x00 vendor=0x8086 device=0xa143 subvendor=0x1043 subdevice=0x8694
    vendor     = 'Intel Corporation'
    device     = 'H110 Chipset LPC/eSPI Controller'
    class      = bridge
    subclass   = PCI-ISA
none1@pci0:0:31:2:    class=0x058000 rev=0x31 hdr=0x00 vendor=0x8086 device=0xa121 subvendor=0x1043 subdevice=0x8694
    vendor     = 'Intel Corporation'
    device     = '100 Series/C230 Series Chipset Family Power Management Controller'
    class      = memory
hdac0@pci0:0:31:3:    class=0x040300 rev=0x31 hdr=0x00 vendor=0x8086 device=0xa170 subvendor=0x1043 subdevice=0x86c7
    vendor     = 'Intel Corporation'
    device     = '100 Series/C230 Series Chipset Family HD Audio Controller'
    class      = multimedia
    subclass   = HDA
ichsmb0@pci0:0:31:4:    class=0x0c0500 rev=0x31 hdr=0x00 vendor=0x8086 device=0xa123 subvendor=0x1043 subdevice=0x8694
    vendor     = 'Intel Corporation'
    device     = '100 Series/C230 Series Chipset Family SMBus'
    class      = serial bus
    subclass   = SMBus
re0@pci0:2:0:0:    class=0x020000 rev=0x15 hdr=0x00 vendor=0x10ec device=0x8168 subvendor=0x1043 subdevice=0x8677
    vendor     = 'Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd.'
    device     = 'RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller'
    class      = network
    subclass   = ethernet

That driver is available as a binary package

Code:

~> pkg search mesa-gallium-va
mesa-gallium-va-21.1.8         Mesa Gallium VAAPI drivers

eternal_noob · Oct 29, 2021

john_rambo said:
I don't want to install it without confirmation.

Just install it. If it doesn't work, remove it. As easy as that.

john_rambo · Oct 29, 2021

eternal_noob said:
Just install it. If it doesn't work, remove it. As easy as that.

Installed mesa-gallium-va & did a full reboot but va-api did not appear in the list so uninstalled it.

zirias@ · Oct 29, 2021

Maybe you're also missing multimedia/libva-glx (more or less the frontend to the driver). There's no need to reboot when installing/uninstalling packages.

john_rambo · Oct 29, 2021

Zirias said:
Maybe you're also missing multimedia/libva-glx (more or less the frontend to the driver). There's no need to reboot when installing/uninstalling packages.

Installed both by using the command pkg install mesa-gallium-va libva-glx but still no sign of va-api in Smplayer.

zirias@ · Oct 29, 2021

From your pciconf output, I see you have an intel GPU. There are several va-api drivers for those in ports, I assume the correct one would be multimedia/libva-intel-media-driver

john_rambo · Oct 29, 2021

Zirias said:
From your pciconf output, I see you have an intel GPU. There are several va-api drivers for those in ports, I assume the correct one would be multimedia/libva-intel-media-driver

Many years ago I had used PC-BSD which as you no was based on FreeBSD. I remember I had this same issue so I had written in their forum. A dev replied saying that Smplayer was not compiled with vdpau support. I was using a Nvidia GPU back then. He asked me to wait for a few days while he compiles Smplayer with vdpau support & he asked me to update my system after a week which will include the Smplayer package which was compiled with vdpau support. After 5-6 days I received an update for Smplayer & I was able to enable vdpau.

So my point is are you sure we have taken the right approach in solving this issue ? I mean maybe the Smplayer package that is in the FreeBSD repos is not compiled with va-api support ?

eternal_noob · Oct 29, 2021

john_rambo said:
I mean maybe the Smplayer package that is in the FreeBSD repos is not compiled with va-api support ?

You can see the compile options on the Freshports page for SMPlayer.

Code:

===> The following configuration options are available for smplayer-21.1.0_1:
     DEBUG=off: Build with debugging support
     DOCS=on: Build and/or install documentation
     SKINS=on: Install additional skins
     THEMES=on: Install additional themes
====> Multimedia engine: you have to choose at least one of them
     MPLAYER=off: Allow to use MPlayer as multimedia engine
     MPV=on: Allow to use mpv as multimedia engine
===> Use 'make config' to modify these settings

Tieks · Oct 29, 2021

eternal_noob said:
MPV=on: Allow to use mpv as multimedia engine

... where multimedia/mpv has optional support for VAAPI.

zirias@ · Oct 29, 2021

Tieks said:
... where multimedia/mpv has optional support for VAAPI.

... which is enabled by default.

So john_rambo if you didn't fiddle with port options yourself, then yes, identifying which driver you are missing is the correct way to solve this.

In a nutshell, make sure you have libva and libva-glx installed and then install the correct driver for your card. There are several options for intel GPUs, I think the one I mentioned above is the correct one for you, but if it doesn't work, try the others as well.

john_rambo · Oct 29, 2021

Zirias said:
... which is enabled by default.

So john_rambo if you didn't fiddle with port options yourself, then yes, identifying which driver you are missing is the correct way to solve this.

In a nutshell, make sure you have libva and libva-glx installed and then install the correct driver for your card. There are several options for intel GPUs, I think the one I mentioned above is the correct one for you, but if it doesn't work, try the others as well.

Installed libva-intel-media-driver & rebooted but didn't work. Before I install other drivers I want to know something. Since these are all drivers am I not suppose to reboot after each driver install ? Or at least log out & log back in ?

zirias@ · Oct 29, 2021

These are not kernel drivers, just libraries dynamically loaded, so no. But you should restart your video player of course. I also can't guarantee you there's nothing else wrong with either mpv or smplayer right now, so maybe the driver isn't found. ~~If no driver seems to work, I'd first try to use mpv directly from the commandline enabling vaapi to see whether this works.~~

edit: the best way to test is to install multimedia/libva-utils and first check with vainfo. Here, it looks like this:

Code:

$ vainfo
libva info: VA-API version 1.13.0
libva info: Trying to open /usr/local/lib/dri/r600_drv_video.so
libva info: Found init function __vaDriverInit_1_13
libva info: va_openDriver() returns 0
vainfo: VA-API version: 1.13 (libva 2.13.0)
vainfo: Driver version: Mesa Gallium driver 21.1.8 for AMD SUMO (DRM 2.50.0 / 13.0-RELEASE-p4, LLVM 12.0.1)
vainfo: Supported profile and entrypoints
      VAProfileMPEG2Simple            :    VAEntrypointVLD
      VAProfileMPEG2Main              :    VAEntrypointVLD
      VAProfileVC1Simple              :    VAEntrypointVLD
      VAProfileVC1Main                :    VAEntrypointVLD
      VAProfileVC1Advanced            :    VAEntrypointVLD
      VAProfileH264ConstrainedBaseline:    VAEntrypointVLD
      VAProfileH264Main               :    VAEntrypointVLD
      VAProfileH264High               :    VAEntrypointVLD
      VAProfileNone                   :    VAEntrypointVideoProc

Only once this finds a working driver, start experimenting with your video player again.

john_rambo · Oct 29, 2021

Zirias said:
the best way to test is to install multimedia/libva-utils and first check with vainfo. Here, it looks like this:

Only once this finds a working driver, start experimenting with your video player again.

This is my output

Code:

~> vainfo
libva info: VA-API version 1.13.0
libva info: Trying to open /usr/local/lib/dri/iHD_drv_video.so
libva info: Found init function __vaDriverInit_1_13
libva info: va_openDriver() returns 0
vainfo: VA-API version: 1.13 (libva 2.13.0)
vainfo: Driver version: Intel iHD driver for Intel(R) Gen Graphics - 21.3.5 (intel-media-21.3.5)
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

zirias@ · Oct 29, 2021

That's great, so it is the correct driver after all. Then, the next step would be: try to play a video using va-api with mpv (without using the GUI frontend).

john_rambo · Oct 29, 2021

Zirias said:
That's great, so it is the correct driver after all. Then, the next step would be: try to play a video using va-api with mpv (without using the GUI frontend).

Code:

~> mpv --vo=vaapi video.mkv
 (+) Video --vid=1 (*) (h264 640x480 25.000fps)
 (+) Audio --aid=1 --alang=eng (*) (opus 2ch 48000Hz)
[vo/vaapi] OSD format not supported. Disabling OSD.
[vo/vaapi] Warning: this compatibility VO is low quality and may have issues with OSD, scaling, screenshots and more.
[vo/vaapi] vo=gpu is the preferred choice in any case and includes VA-API support via hwdec=vaapi or vaapi-copy.
AO: [oss] 48000Hz stereo 2ch s32
VO: [vaapi] 640x480 yuv420p
AV: 00:00:46 / 00:04:17 (18%) A-V:  0.000

Exiting... (Quit)

zirias@ · Oct 29, 2021

john_rambo said:
[vo/vaapi] vo=gpu is the preferred choice in any case and includes VA-API support via hwdec=vaapi or vaapi-copy.

So, use this?

But, did your video play correctly with vaapi?

john_rambo · Oct 29, 2021

Zirias said:
So, use this?

But, did your video play correctly with vaapi?

Yes, it played properly with the --vo=vaapi option. All videos including Full HD & even 4K videos are playing properly even without vaapi but I am worried that this may put excess load on the CPU which may shorten its lifespan.

Code:

~> mpv --vo=gpu video.mkv
 (+) Video --vid=1 (*) (h264 640x480 25.000fps)
 (+) Audio --aid=1 --alang=eng (*) (opus 2ch 48000Hz)
AO: [oss] 48000Hz stereo 2ch s32
VO: [gpu] 640x480 yuv420p
AV: 00:00:10 / 00:04:17 (4%) A-V: -0.000

Exiting... (Quit)

This is the output using --vo=gpu. As usual the video playback was flawless.
Now the question is how do I configure the Smplayer frontend to use VA-API ? Using mpv directly without Smplayer is quite troublesome.

zirias@ · Oct 29, 2021

I assume mpv offers a config file? Then maybe just configure vo=gpu and hwdec=vaapi there and use the "Auto" option in the frontend?

john_rambo · Oct 29, 2021

Zirias said:
I assume mpv offers a config file? Then maybe just configure vo=gpu and hwdec=vaapi there and use the "Auto" option in the frontend?

There is a folder named mpv inside the hidden .config which is in the home folder but that mpv folder is empty.
I just selected the auto option in the Smplayer's settings & played that video. Then I checked the mpv logs by going to View>>mpv logs. The log is a bit long. This is the important part

Code:

(+) Video --vid=1 (*) (h264 640x480 25.000fps)
 (+) Audio --aid=1 --alang=eng (*) (opus 2ch 48000Hz)
[ffmpeg] AVHWDeviceContext: Failed to query surface attributes: 20 (the requested function is not implemented).
[vo/gpu/vaapi-egl] failed to retrieve libavutil frame constraints
Using hardware decoding (vaapi).
AO: [oss] 48000Hz stereo 2ch s32
VO: [gpu] 640x480 vaapi[nv12]

So I guess the auto option actually works as it selected va-api. I really don't understand what's point in removing the
va-api & vdpau options which are self explanatory & easy to spot. People who know that VA-API is for Intel & VDPAU is for Nvidia will select them as per hardware & non tech users will choose AUTO. We did all this for a problem which doesn't exist.

zirias@ · Oct 29, 2021

I think this problem might have existed, as without the correct vaapi driver installed, it wouldn't have worked. But then, I guess using it when it is there isn't the worst default for something labeled "Auto"

astyle · Oct 29, 2021

If you run pkg info multimedia/smplayer, it will tell you whether your installation has VA-API support compiled into SMPlayer. Just installing the VA-API from packages is not going to help if SMPlayer is compiled without support for it.

This is why I go for ports, rather than packages - I can make sure that VA-API support is actually available and compiled for SMPlayer.

zirias@ · Oct 29, 2021

astyle said:
If you run pkg info multimedia/smplayer, it will tell you whether your installation has VA-API support compiled into SMPlayer.

smplayer is just a GUI frontend for either mpv or mplayer, so it doesn't have any VA-API support itself. It defaults to mpv, and mpv has VA-API support enabled by default.

john_rambo · Oct 29, 2021

astyle said:
If you run pkg info multimedia/smplayer, it will tell you whether your installation has VA-API support compiled into SMPlayer. Just installing the VA-API from packages is not going to help if SMPlayer is compiled without support for it.

This is why I go for ports, rather than packages - I can make sure that VA-API support is actually available and compiled for SMPlayer.

Many years ago I tried using PC-BSD which honestly I didn't like so I went back to Linux. Under PC-BSD I tried to install mplayer from ports. Back then I was using my old desktop which went bad some years later. The experience of compiling was just terrible for me. It took hours to compile mplayer. Since then I never tried to compile anything which is why I never even bothered to install Gentoo despite being a distrohopper. One more thing which I am not sure about the ports system. I check for updates everyday & install them as soon as they are offered. If I install an app from the ports how do I update it ? Also is the update process means another waiting for hours ?

Zirias said:
smplayer is just a GUI frontend for either mpv or mplayer, so it doesn't have any VA-API support itself. It defaults to mpv, and mpv has VA-API support enabled by default.

Yes, I used the pkg info command but couldn't find the mention of the for VA-API anywhere but since I already know that its working it wasn't a cause for worry.