[cl0ud]

HI I am running the latest unstable build of XBMC Eden under Ubuntu 11.10. Using Radeon 5670HD with 11.11 drivers.

VAAPI is enabled in xbmc however it will not engage when I play files, I.e. CPU is at 100%. VAAPI has worked in the past but now it doesn't.

From the XBMC debug log I found these two lines.

16:26:58 T:2862152560 DEBUG: VAAPI - attempting to open codec 28 with profile 100 at level 41 with 4 reference frames
16:26:58 T:2862152560 ERROR: VAAPI - unable to initialize display -1 - unknown libva error

Can anyone suggest why it isnt working?

Thank you

[cl0ud]

Solved

I found that vainfo was returning an error code -1 when trying to initialize fglrx

so in etc/environment I change the following line from:

export LIBVA_DRIVER_NAME=fglrx
to:
export LIBVA_DRIVER_NAME=xvba

and add the following line:
export LIBVA_DRIVERS_PATH=/usr/lib/va/drivers

and now it works

Also make sure that xvba is installed

[Arcko]

Thansk for share

[belrik]

Solved

I found that vainfo was returning an error code -1 when trying to initialize fglrx

so in etc/environment I change the following line from:

export LIBVA_DRIVER_NAME=fglrx
to:
export LIBVA_DRIVER_NAME=xvba

and add the following line:
export LIBVA_DRIVERS_PATH=/usr/lib/va/drivers

and now it works

Also make sure that xvba is installed

Interesting, I am seeing that VAAPI is sort-of running:
libva: libva version 0.32.0
libva: User requested driver 'xvba'
libva: Trying to open /usr/lib/va/drivers/xvba_drv_video.so
libva: va_openDriver() returns 0

However all HD video streams have GIANT blocks all over them, as though the fine detail is not being resolved at all. Previously this was working fine, the last build (9th December) appears to have broken something.

EDIT VAAPI is not engaging at all *and* the software decoder is producing awful quality output where previously it was great.

*~git20111206.aae5a8e-0ubuntu1~ppa1~oneiric_all.deb - WORKS
*~git20111210.f1ae0b6-0ubuntu1~ppa1~oneiric_all.deb - BROKEN

[cl0ud]

HI,

Thanks for your reply.

Yeah now that I have got VAAPI working, I too am seeing large blocky artifacts, pretty much in every frame of every movie. I have tried every Catalyst driver from 11.7 upto 11.12 but still not solution. 11.12 is the worst off all by the way, the scene is completly garbled and unwatchable.

VAAPI in XBMC did work perfectly for me in the past with the exception of Advent children which displayed the same blocky artifacts from time to time.

I'm beginning to regret buying an ATI card instead of a NVidia but then again NVidia cards might show the same issues.

I'm running Ubuntu 11.10 with the latest Xvba and Libva libreries.

Note:

A correction to my previous post.

In the environment you just need these lines:

Either:
LIBVA_DRIVER_NAME=fglrx
Or:
LIBVA_DRIVER_NAME=xvba

And:
LIBVA_DRIVERS_PATH=/usr/lib/va/drivers

[belrik]

HI,

Thanks for your reply.

Yeah now that I have got VAAPI working, I too am seeing large blocky artifacts, pretty much in every frame of every movie. I have tried every Catalyst driver from 11.7 upto 11.12 but still not solution. 11.12 is the worst off all by the way, the scene is completly garbled and unwatchable.

VAAPI in XBMC did work perfectly for me in the past with the exception of Advent children which displayed the same blocky artifacts from time to time.

I'm beginning to regret buying an ATI card instead of a NVidia but then again NVidia cards might show the same issues.

I'm running Ubuntu 11.10 with the latest Xvba and Libva libreries.

Note:

A correction to my previous post.

In the environment you just need these lines:

Either:
LIBVA_DRIVER_NAME=fglrx
Or:
LIBVA_DRIVER_NAME=xvba

And:
LIBVA_DRIVERS_PATH=/usr/lib/va/drivers

If your are running a debian derivative such as ubuntu/mint then I suggest you look in /var/cache/apt/archives for packages called xbmc<name>.deb and xbmc-bin<name>.deb the name will include a date, pick 20111206, remove the old packages and install the older packages using "sudo dpkg -i <package names>" It will now work.

ATI cards work fine, it's just the XBMC maintainers slip up every now and then and break support.

[cl0ud]

Thanks for that.

It working now. I didnt have the 20111206 packages but i found and installed 20111213 using the ppa at "https://launchpad.net/~alexandr-surkov/+archive/xbmc" which seems to work well, again with the excepton of advent children english, japanese one works fine.

However still does not work with Catalyst 11.12 drivers, movies are completely unwatchable, could someone please confirm this. current;y using 11.11 drivers.

[Ruxton]

Thanks for that.

It working now. I didnt have the 20111206 packages but i found and installed 20111213 using the ppa at "https://launchpad.net/~alexandr-surkov/+archive/xbmc" which seems to work well, again with the excepton of advent children english, japanese one works fine.

However still does not work with Catalyst 11.12 drivers, movies are completely unwatchable, could someone please confirm this. current;y using 11.11 drivers.

I can confirm this a thousand times over, my plays have been screwy for a while now (wish i bought an nvidia!) and no VAAPI for me since updating today, about to try the above.

[opdenkamp]

it's just the XBMC maintainers slip up every now and then and break support.

damn those maintainers. I'd ask for a refund!

on a more serious note:
I just use the defaults that are set in xbmc-packaging to build the pvr packages, and I enabled a couple of things, like this vaapi support, that are/were not enabled by default. sometimes, these things break when merging in a newer xbmc-packaging, and if it can be fixed easily, I usually do that within a day.

however, I am a developer and not a packaging monkey, who has provided these binaries as a service for the non-developers around here who can't or won't build their own binaries. I can not maintain packages for each and every configuration, so if something is not provided by xbmc-packaging by default (and cannot be enabled in an easy and safe way), I'm not going to provide it either.

if you do find something (like broken vaapi support), tell me what is wrong and what should be fixed, and I'll be happy to include the fix if possible.