HW Transcoding not working anymore (Synology Diskstation)

[ChuckPa]

I need to get with both the Chrome team and the Transcoder guys.

This is not making any sense.

1. Hardware is detected.
2. HEVC capability detected.
3. Hardware not used by ChromeOS.

This is a chromecast or ??

[David_W]

this is not chromeos.

The client this is LG TV webos.

The server is a synology ds218+.

[ChuckPa]

Then I’m very curious why it’s reporting ChromeOS

Jan 09, 2020 15:11:50.233 [0x7fa713735700] INFO - [ui-chrome-webos] [Player] Can play AUTOMATIC? true
Jan 09, 2020 15:11:50.233 [0x7fa718435700] DEBUG - Completed: [10.0.0.115:54908] 200 POST /log (9 live) GZIP 0ms 274 bytes (pipelined: 29)
Jan 09, 2020 15:11:50.333 [0x7fa718723700] DEBUG - Auth: authenticated user 1 as dwang5@gmail.com
Jan 09, 2020 15:11:50.333 [0x7fa710af4700] DEBUG - Request: [10.0.0.115:54908 (Subnet)] POST /log (9 live) GZIP Signed-in Token (dwang5@gmail.com)
Jan 09, 2020 15:11:50.333 [0x7fa710af4700] INFO - [ui-chrome-webos]   videoResolution: 2560
Jan 09, 2020 15:11:50.333 [0x7fa710af4700] INFO - [ui-chrome-webos]   bitrate: 25414
Jan 09, 2020 15:11:50.333 [0x7fa710af4700] INFO - [ui-chrome-webos]   useSoftSubtitles: true
Jan 09, 2020 15:11:50.333 [0x7fa710af4700] INFO - [ui-chrome-webos]   canDirectStreamAudio: false
Jan 09, 2020 15:11:50.333 [0x7fa710af4700] INFO - [ui-chrome-webos]   canDirectStreamVideo: false
Jan 09, 2020 15:11:50.333 [0x7fa710af4700] INFO - [ui-chrome-webos]   canDirectPlay: true
Jan 09, 2020 15:11:50.333 [0x7fa710af4700] INFO - [ui-chrome-webos]   canPlay: true
Jan 09, 2020 15:11:50.333 [0x7fa710af4700] INFO - [ui-chrome-webos] [MDE] Finished analysis of 4k (mkv, hevc, eac3, 150, main 10)
Jan 09, 2020 15:11:50.334 [0x7fa710af4700] INFO - [ui-chrome-webos] [Player] Can direct stream? true (isAllowed: true)
Jan 09, 2020 15:11:50.334 [0x7fa710af4700] INFO - [ui-chrome-webos] [MDE] Starting analysis of 4k (mkv, hevc, eac3, 150, main 10)
Jan 09, 2020 15:11:50.335 [0x7fa710af4700] INFO - [ui-chrome-webos] [MDE] Augmented profile: { "directPlay": { "mp4": { "mimeType": "video/mp4", "video": { "codecs": { "h264": { "maxWidth": 3840, "maxHeight": 2160, "maxBitDepth": 8, "maxLevel": 51 }, "hevc": { "maxWidth": 3840, "maxHeight": 2160, "maxBitDepth": 10 } } }, "audio": { "codecs": { "aac": {}, "mp3": {}, "ac3": {}, "eac3": {}, "dca": {} } } }, "mpegts": { "video": { "codecs": { "h264": { "maxWidth": 3840, "maxHeight": 2160, "maxBitDepth": 8, "maxLevel": 51 }, "mpeg2video": { "maxWidth": 1920, "maxHeight": 1080, "maxBitDepth": 8 }, "hevc": { "maxWidth": 3840, "maxHeight": 2160, "maxBitDepth": 10 } } }, "audio": { "codecs": { "aac": {}, "mp2": {}, "mp3": {}, "ac3": {}, "eac3": {}, "dca": {} } } }, "mov": { "video": { "codecs": { "h264": { "maxWidth": 3840, "maxHeight": 2160, "maxBitDepth": 8, "maxLevel": 51 }, "mpeg4": { "maxWidth": 1920, "maxHeight": 1080, "maxBitDepth": 8 } } }, "audio": { "codecs": { "aac": {}, "ac3": {}, "eac3": {}, "dca": {} } } }, "asf": { "video": { "codecs": { "vc1": { "maxWidth": 1920, "maxHeight": 1080, "maxBitDepth": 8 }, "wmv3": { "maxWidth": 1920, "maxHeight": 1080, "maxBitDepth": 8 } } }, "audio": { "codecs": { "wmav2": {}, "wmapro": {}, "ac3": {}, "eac3": {}, "dca": {} } } }, "mkv": { "video": { "codecs": { "h264": { "maxWidth": 3840, "maxHeight": 2160, "maxBitDepth": 8, "maxLevel": 51 }, "vc1": { "maxWidth": 1920, "maxHeight": 1080, "maxBitDepth": 8 }, "vp9": { "maxWidth": 3840, "maxHeight": 2160, "maxBitDepth": 8 }, "mpeg4": { "maxWidth": 1920, "maxHeight": 1080, "maxBitDepth": 8 }, "mpeg2video": { "maxWidth": 1920, "maxHeight": 1080, "maxBitDepth": 8 }, "hevc": { "maxWidth": 3840, "maxHeight": 2160, "maxBitDepth": 10 } } }, "audio": { "codecs": { "aac": {}, "mp3": {}, "vorbis": {}, "ac3": {}, "eac3": {}, "dca": {} } } }, "avi": { "video": { "codecs": { "mpeg4": { "maxWidth": 1920, "maxHeight": 1080, "maxBitDepth": 8 }, "mjpeg": { "maxWidth": 1920, "maxHeight": 1080, "maxBitDepth": 8 } } }, "audio": { "codecs": { "aac": {}, "mp3": {}, "pcm": {}, "ac3": {}, "eac3": {}, "dca": {} } } } }, "directStream": { "video": { "codecs": { "h264": { "maxWidth": 3840, "maxHeight": 2160, "maxBitDepth": 8, "maxLevel": 51 }, "hevc": { "maxWidth": 3840, "maxHeight": 2160, "maxBitDepth": 10 } } }, "audio": { "codecs": { "aac": {} } } } }

Given it’s LG helps knowing. I’m forwarding this to the app team for their help

[ChuckPa]

Ok, That didn’t take long.

1. The audio can’t be DirectPlayed by the TV.
2. DirectPlay is canceled at that point, resulting in DirectStream
3. So far, no big deal.
4. Adding the subtitles, and needing to use the HLS protocol (which the LG uses) is where it falls down.
5. It can’t send the subtitles over HLS with DirectStream audio. – Known Limitation being worked on (most recent update was Dec 19,2019)
6. This is where the HW acceleration gets turned off / skipped. – double wham.

Not the news you wanted but this is where it stands.

[David_W]

Ok the limitation is with Plex or LG?

Who is working on that?

[David_W]

I also see the same issue with the android client running on my phone. Does the android client also have the same limitation?

here are the logs when using the android client if it helps.

[ChuckPa]

Phones? Yes, they do. They are all Android - based

[ChuckPa]

The Windows version of the server does the streaming differently because of how it can render the subtitles. Even hardware transcoding is handled differently. Windows has its own “layer” to do everything.

[UnhappyCustomer]

I’ve got the same problems - scrambled picture when trying to use PGS subtitles, and constant buffering even when NOT using subtitles. I’m using the latest version of Plex Server on my DS218+ - “PlexMediaServer-1.18.4.2171-ac2afe5f8-x86_64” playing to Nvidia Shield TV.
What’s going on? Is there a server version available that ISN’T broken?, How do I get it and how do I downgrade versions?

[chaosxian]

@UnhappyCustomer

Is there a server version available that ISN’T broken?

It’s described just upstream in this thread.

[UnhappyCustomer]

Where? Described by who?

[FordGuy61]

HW Transcoding not working anymore (Synology Diskstation)

There is a known problem with the Intel iHD_drv_video.so file on Intel ApolloLake CPUs. The temporary work around (while we fix it ourselves) is to delete it. Anyone wishing to delete from the Synology command line can: Sign in sudo sh rm "/var/packages/Plex Media Server/target/lib/dri/iHD_drv_video.so" Restart Plex A one-time “task scheduler” job can also be setup to do the same. Adapt the procedure below & substitute the rm command above for the shown script contents. The alternativ…

Green screen with audio on some mkv files

Intel video driver problem. Three options: Turn off hardware accelerated transcoding Fall back to version in Package Center Delete offending driver.

[ciss1]

@ChuckPa I am not on synology, but I have a similar problem.

I thought it was the new player version to be blamed, but then I stumbled on this thread.
I am on a custom nas running openmediavault (linux 4.19 kernel) with an Intel Silver j5005 Gemini lake processor which was fantastic until some days/weeks ago.

Plex is ran in docker container (linuxserver, with “latest” plexpass tag).

This issue appeared recently, it also occurs on the plex dvr TV channels which requires transcoding. Unwatchable. Green block, stutter with almost no image.

As soon as I disable hw transcoding, the picture is flawless, but my cpu stays in 99%. Is there any other way to avoid this?

LE: failed to find the iHD_drv_video.so on my docker container, so I rolled back to an earlier version (docker linuxserver 1.18.0.1944-f2cae8d6b-ls60). All good now.

I attach my log in case someone can take a look.
Thanks.
Plex Media Server Logs_2020-01-14_21-16-21.zip (1.3 MB)

[ChuckPa]

@ciss1

the file should be in (container relative) /usr/lib/plexmediaserver/lib/dri/iHD_drv_video.so

[ciss1]

Thanks, indeed the path for linuxserver’s dockered plex:

/usr/lib/plexmediaserver/lib/dri

Since I run a cron job to delete and update all my docker containers every 3 days (thus the driver will be reenabled on the next update), I will stick with an older version until a proper fix upstream.

Better yet, if someone could make a script to run after a docker update to check if the driver exists and if it does, to delete it, please do share. That’s be amazing.
Thank you!

LE: Worked on adapting a script to my needs

#!/bin/sh
cd $(dirname $0)
COMPOSE_HTTP_TIMEOUT=120

# build/pull updated containers
docker pull linuxserver/.... #your images go here
docker pull linuxserver/....

# restart all the things
docker-compose -f docker-compose.yml down  --remove-orphans
docker-compose -f docker-compose.yml up -d
sleep 5s
echo "Restarting docker containers..."
docker exec -it plex /bin/bash -c "cd /usr/lib/plexmediaserver/lib/dri && rm -f iHD_drv_video.so"
docker restart plex

[pwvandeursen]

hi all, any updates on the issue?

[dominik.b]

this issue is known since the end of october. even beta users reported it, still it got released ?
like why ? and this has to be the workaround for 3 months ? what a joke

[FordGuy61]

Download available with fix. Deleting driver, etc not required:

Hardware Transcoding broken when burning subtitles ApolloLake-based Synology NASes

Hey guys! Thank you all for your testing and confirmation of the fix. This will be included in the upcoming PMS 1.18.7 release which should land in Plex Pass beta in a week or so. In the meantime here are updated builds that are based on the imminent 1.18.6 beta release, and include the Intel HW transcoding improvements and fixes. EDIT: Updated build to 1.18.6.2349-f0bf4dd50 which resolves the issue with images not retaining their transparency information. Debian/Ubuntu 64-bit Synology 64-b…

[chrisallen]

The fixes will be included in 1.18.7 which will be available in Plex Pass beta in the next few weeks. In the mean time, please use the build linked in the thread above.