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calev · 2023-12-08, 00:42

I would like some help compiling kodi to be used on the desktop for raspbian.

Over here it is suggested that to build kodi with hardware acceleration you need to first build ffmpeg version 6.0.1 with the this patch from librelec then build kodi with that version of ffmpeg.

I'm getting some missing lib after running ./configure and make on ffmpeg.

So has anyone gotten a hardware accelerated version of kodi to run in the desktop on raspberry pi 5? I tried the one in the debian repo and it chokes on 4k h.265. Seems to handle 1080p content fine in software decode though.

MatteN · 2023-12-08, 09:54

If you are going to play 4k hevc, just install LibreELEC, that works well on even Pi4.

**popcornmix** · 2023-12-08, 13:20

If you are on RPiOS bullseye or bookworm, then the version of kodi installed from apt will have hardware acceleration and play 4k hevc videos.
You may need to enable acceleration in video settings.

calev · 2023-12-08, 15:26

(2023-12-08, 13:20)popcornmix Wrote: If you are on RPiOS bullseye or bookworm, then the version of kodi installed from apt will have hardware acceleration and play 4k hevc videos.
You may need to enable acceleration in video settings.

Ok, I see I needed to enable "Allow using DRM PRIME decoder". Which is kinda confusing because i'm playing drm free videos. That sounds like something netflix would need in firefox.

4k movies play fine now. Some hdr content looks like it has a green line at the bottom but i'm playing this on a non hdr display. I can test it later on a actual hdr enabled tv and see if it improves.

If I an get 1080p streams to work in the web browser while the display is 4k this will be a nice upgrade over the pi4. I tried using a web browser in ubuntu last night at 4k 60 it couldn't play anything and I had to drop it to 1440p but I'll try it in rasbian.

emveepee · 2023-12-08, 16:44

I was confused with "Digital Rendering Manager" and "Digital Rights Management" too. To avoid this I always write "DRM PRIME" for the technology. I never found out why PRIME is all caps and if it is even an abbreviation.

Martin

ovecka · 2023-12-23, 20:20

Does the HW acceleration actually work on Pi 5?
I did all the things the same on my new Pi 5 as OP - installed latest Raspberry OS, installed Kodi from apt, enabled DRM PRIME.
But h264 videos still shows (SW) in when I press "o". I tried also one HEVC video and it says (HW) there, but I still get 100% utilization of one CPU core. If I play same videos in VLC, all CPU cores use just few %.

What's wrong?

izprtxqkft · 2023-12-23, 20:24

(2023-12-23, 20:20)ovecka Wrote: Does the HW acceleration actually work on Pi 5?
I did all the things the same on my new Pi 5 as OP - installed latest Raspberry OS, installed Kodi from apt, enabled DRM PRIME.
But h264 videos still shows (SW) in when I press "o". I tried also one HEVC video and it says (HW) there, but I still get 100% utilization of one CPU core. If I play same videos in VLC, all CPU cores use just few %.

What's wrong?

pi5 dropped support for h264 hardware acceleration so it's not available, somehow they think the CPU is powerful enough or nobody is using h264 anymore

**popcornmix** · 2023-12-25, 15:37

(2023-12-23, 20:24)izprtxqkft Wrote: pi5 dropped support for h264 hardware acceleration so it's not available, somehow they think the CPU is powerful enough or nobody is using h264 anymore

The former. I've not seen CPU above about 20% when playing 1080p h.264.
A fan or hatsink is not needed at that sort of cpu, so there's little point in hw decode
(note: a licence fee is is needed on older Pi models specifically to allow for the h.264 hardware).

calev · 2023-12-25, 19:05

I still don't understand their reasoning behind removing h.264. If you are game streaming or just have a browser open playing a video or video chatting that 20% would come in handy . Lots of dirt cheap devices have hardware decoders for many formats.

Streaming services still mostly use h.264 and many will likely go to AV1 and not h.265.

**popcornmix** · 2023-12-29, 18:52

(2023-12-25, 19:05)calev Wrote: I still don't understand their reasoning behind removing h.264. If you are game streaming or just have a browser open playing a video or video chatting that 20% would come in handy . Lots of dirt cheap devices have hardware decoders for many formats.

The reason is simple. It pushes up the cost of the pi (both in increased silicon area, and the licence fee that has to paid for including the hardware).
And for most users there is no visible difference.

MatteN · 2023-12-29, 20:35

And the main purpose is not to be a cheap mediaplayer that plays everything...

izprtxqkft · 2023-12-29, 20:43

(2023-12-29, 20:35)MatteN Wrote: And the main purpose is not to be a cheap mediaplayer that plays everything...

care to elaborate?

i can't see using it as a full desktop
using it as a dev machine is out because it would take decades to compile
is there a windows version that runs on it?
other than a cheap mediaplayer they seem to run fine as a retro gaming platform (but that's not really a big ask)

and if you wanted a cheap media player that plays "everything" this is out anyway without Widevine L1 (i guess you could lessen your quality and use L3)

calev

Quote:.

both in increased silicon area

I highly doubt it's not currently on the silicon now. Just not enabled for licensing cost. Just like with the old PIs where you had to purchase the license.

I'm having a hard time believing it would increase cost to a significant degree when other devices like the orange pi ship with it for a similar price. Even accounting for the software.

Remember they didn't even include a m2 slot to save cost. The pcie connection was cheaper than the m2 connection.

So for a similar price as a orange pi they removed h.264, AV1, m2 slot.

And all for less power albeit with better software support.

MatteN · 2023-12-30, 17:58

(2023-12-29, 20:43)izprtxqkft Wrote:
(2023-12-29, 20:35)MatteN Wrote: And the main purpose is not to be a cheap mediaplayer that plays everything...

care to elaborate?

https://www.cam.ac.uk/stories/raspberrypi

izprtxqkft

TLDR; supports a bunch of jobs, gives teachers something, 1 billion market cap, 40 million sold, etc etc no actual use cases listed, no argument that it's intended as more than a cheap single board computer

never mind

edit:

on further reading the link does indeed describe it as cheap but does not use that wording

Quote:The third requirement was affordability: the team settled on a price point of $25, partly because that was roughly the cost of a textbook, and it was low enough that most families could afford it, and schools would be able to subsidise the small number of families who couldn’t.