Linux PMS fails to transcode HEVC 10 bit content if HW encoding is enabled (PMS 1.15.1.710 )

[nibbles]

I understand your reticence to upload the XML information for your media.
The player log is devoid of evidence you tried to play it.
The server log shows

Sep 09, 2019 13:45:47.598 [0x7f9d917fa700] ERROR - [Transcoder] [hevc @ 0x1886e40] No support for codec hevc profile 2.
Sep 09, 2019 13:45:47.598 [0x7f9d2f7fe700] ERROR - [Transcoder] [hevc @ 0x1886e40] Failed setup for format vaapi_vld: hwaccel initialisation returned error.

[ChuckPa]

Logs are showing:

Sep 09, 2019 13:45:47.562 [0x7f9d757fa700] DEBUG - Starting a transcode session veu2fz189yvu4nb2m3i311ft at offset -1.0 (state=3)
Sep 09, 2019 13:45:47.562 [0x7f9d757fa700] DEBUG - TPU: hardware transcoding: using hardware decode accelerator vaapi
Sep 09, 2019 13:45:47.562 [0x7f9d757fa700] DEBUG - TPU: hardware transcoding: zero-copy support present
Sep 09, 2019 13:45:47.562 [0x7f9d757fa700] DEBUG - TPU: hardware transcoding: using zero-copy transcoding
Sep 09, 2019 13:45:47.562 [0x7f9d757fa700] DEBUG - TPU: hardware transcoding: final decoder: vaapi, final encoder: vaapi
Sep 09, 2019 13:45:47.562 [0x7f9d757fa700] DEBUG - Job running: EAE_ROOT='/tmp/pms-61cbf722-a1bf-41c7-8116-0a216522d461/EasyAudioEncoder' FFMPEG_EXTERNAL_LIBS='/var/lib/plexmediaserver/Library/Application\ Support/Plex\ Media\ Server/Codecs/dd95667-2450-linux-x86_64/' XDG_CACHE_HOME='/var/lib/plexmediaserver/Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server/Cache' XDG_DATA_HOME='/usr/lib/plexmediaserver/Resources' X_PLEX_TOKEN='xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx' '/usr/lib/plexmediaserver/Plex Transcoder' '-codec:0' 'hevc' '-hwaccel:0' 'vaapi' '-hwaccel_fallback_threshold:0' '10' '-hwaccel_output_format:0' 'vaapi' '-codec:1' 'eac3_eae' '-eae_prefix:1' 'veu2fz189yvu4nb2m3i311ft_' '-analyzeduration' '20000000' '-probesize' '20000000' '-i' 'http://127.0.0.1:32400/library/parts/1862157/1567652813/file.mkv?X-Plex-Token=xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx' '-filter_complex' '[0:0]hwupload[0];[0]scale_vaapi=w=1920:h=800:format=nv12[1];[1]hwupload[2]' '-filter_complex' '[0:1] aresample=async=1:ocl='\''stereo'\'':osr=48000[3]' '-map' '[2]' '-codec:0' 'h264_vaapi' '-b:0' '5574k' '-maxrate:0' '7432k' '-bufsize:0' '14864k' '-r:0' '23.975999999999999' '-force_key_frames:0' 'expr:gte(t,0+n_forced*3)' '-map' '[3]' '-metadata:s:1' 'language=eng' '-codec:1' 'aac' '-b:1' '138k' '-f' 'dash' '-min_seg_duration' '3000000' '-skip_to_segment' '1' '-time_delta' '0.0625' '-manifest_name' 'http://127.0.0.1:32400/video/:/transcode/session/veu2fz189yvu4nb2m3i311ft/d76c3b40-b533-40be-a1c7-5412abcc4427/manifest' '-avoid_negative_ts' 'disabled' '-map_metadata' '-1' '-map_chapters' '-1' 'dash' '-start_at_zero' '-copyts' '-vsync' 'cfr' '-y' '-vaapi_device' '/dev/dri/renderD128' '-nostats' '-loglevel' 'quiet' '-loglevel_plex' 'error' '-progressurl' 'http://127.0.0.1:32400/video/:/transcode/session/veu2fz189yvu4nb2m3i311ft/d76c3b40-b533-40be-a1c7-5412abcc4427/progress'
Sep 09, 2019 13:45:47.562 [0x7f9d757fa700] DEBUG - Jobs: Starting child process with pid 7056
Sep 09, 2019 13:45:47.568 [0x7f9d36ffd700] DEBUG - Request: [127.0.0.1:34820 (Loopback)] PUT /video

The player cannot accept the audio so it must be converted.

Sep 09, 2019 13:45:47.313 [0x7f9d37fff700] DEBUG - Codecs: hardware transcoding: testing API vaapi
Sep 09, 2019 13:45:47.313 [0x7f9d37fff700] DEBUG - Scaled up video bitrate to 11326Kbps based on 4.500000x fudge factor.
Sep 09, 2019 13:45:47.313 [0x7f9d37fff700] DEBUG - John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum - audio.channels limitation applies: 6 > 2
Sep 09, 2019 13:45:47.313 [0x7f9d37fff700] DEBUG - MDE: Cannot direct stream audio stream due to profile or setting limitations
Sep 09, 2019 13:45:47.314 [0x7f9d37fff700] DEBUG - MDE: John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum (2019): selected media 0 / 1861929

1. vaapi present
2. eac3 not supported - converting to aac
3. HEVC input but transcoding the audio forces to H.264 (Dash protocol used by player)
4. Bitrate limited to approx 8 Mbps (7.3)

I see no failure here.

[ChuckPa]

Supplemental:

Language=en (16 live) TLS GZIP 167ms 1028 bytes (pipelined: 5)
Sep 09, 2019 13:45:47.598 [0x7f9d917fa700] ERROR - [Transcoder] [hevc @ 0x1886e40] No support for codec hevc profile 2.
Sep 09, 2019 13:45:47.598 [0x7f9d2f7fe700] ERROR - [Transcoder] [hevc @ 0x1886e40] Failed setup for format vaapi_vld: hwaccel initialisation returned error.

Your CPU does not support HEVC.

Yes PMS does not fallback gracefully with the CPU can’t handle it. This is a well known issue.
The new update has addressed this.

I stand corrected.

Sep 07, 2019 11:34:02.809 [0x7f9dc53ec700] INFO - Plex Media Server v1.16.6.1592-b9d49bdb7 - Ubuntu PC x86_64 - build: linux-x86_64 debian - GMT -05:00
Sep 07, 2019 11:34:02.809 [0x7f9dc53ec700] INFO - Linux version: 18.04.3 LTS (Bionic Beaver), language: en-US
Sep 07, 2019 11:34:02.809 [0x7f9dc53ec700] INFO - Processor Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-5557U CPU @ 3.10GHz

[seligkcim]

This is consistent with all HEVC 10 bit media I have tested. There is a new update available that addresses this?

[ChuckPa]

Yes, Engineering is conducting a forum preview.

Plex Media Server 1.16.7.1597 (Updated) - New Transcoder Preview

Hello, forum users! It’s time again for an update to Plex’s transcoding and analysis backend. This is a special forums-only preview release; the changes in this build will be included in an upcoming regular release once any new issues are handled. Please test this version with a variety of different media file formats and clients. If you notice any new issues (specifically ones that don’t also happen on the current beta release), please respond to this discussion instead of starting a new one, …

Any issues with the preview are requested to keep contained there so Engineering can address them quickly and efficiently.

[seligkcim]

Ah yes, I’ve tried the preview and it does not resolve this issue. The same behavior exists in the preview.

[ChuckPa]

I would urge you to work with them. The Engineer handling that thread is the transcoder engineer. He is the only person who can handle the fallback problem.

There is nothing I can effect here in Customer Support.

[nibbles]

Are you having the problem that you can’t even get the transcoded video to play? I realize it’s falling back, but I get the idea that you output nothing at all.

[seligkcim]

Correct, if I have HW Transcoding enabled the video will not play at all. I have to disable HW Transcoding in order for SW Transcoding to work.

[nibbles]

Ok good luck. I’ve been downloading jellyfish the last few days to start my own tests with lowbitrate SDR HEVC. I’m not sure it hw transcodes ever on my QNAP like it should.

[seligkcim]

This issue still exists with today’s beta release including the transcoder refactor

[nibbles]

Ok so let’s get on this again. Your patience is appreciated. When I looked how you posted in the new transcoder preview thread, I saw that wingman didn’t reply. I’m guessing that was just accidental overlook.

So you’re on the new beta! Nice. Me too.

As you know beta builds have their own forum where beta testers are asked to post about the current beta. Head over there and make a new topic, something specific, like

Linux PMS-1.17.0.1709 HEVC 10bit hw transcode fails to fallback to software

The difference in my title vs yours is that I start from general, and each part is more specific.
Also the version can’t be squished or … away by screen size. Easy to scan when scrolling.

@ChuckPa sir, new topic in the beta forum or move this one?