No HW transcode on 9900K and Ubuntu 18.04

Plex Media Server Desktops & Laptops
1

Server Version#: Version 1.15.0.659 with PlexPass
Player Version#: Web Player 3.77.4

I’ve tried enabling HW transcode, but it fails and falls back on SW mode instead.

Headless server with Latest Intel 9900K, no graphics card, dummy hdmi plug connected.

OS runs on bare metal, i.e. no virtualization going on.

$ lsb_release -a
No LSB modules are available.
Distributor ID: Ubuntu
Description:    Ubuntu 18.04.2 LTS
Release:        18.04
Codename:       bionic

sudo lshw -c video
  *-display
       description: VGA compatible controller
       product: Intel Corporation
       vendor: Intel Corporation
       physical id: 2
       bus info: pci@0000:00:02.0
       version: 00
       width: 64 bits
       clock: 33MHz
       capabilities: pciexpress msi pm vga_controller bus_master cap_list rom
       configuration: driver=i915 latency=0
       resources: irq:125 memory:a0000000-a0ffffff memory:90000000-9fffffff ioport:4000(size=64) memory:c0000-dffff

Plex Media Server.log (196.5 KB)

Feb 13, 2019 21:34:26.994 [0x7f6246ffd700] DEBUG - TPU: hardware transcoding: enabled, but no hardware decode accelerator found
Feb 13, 2019 21:34:26.996 [0x7f6246ffd700] DEBUG - TPU: hardware transcoding: zero-copy support not present
Feb 13, 2019 21:34:26.996 [0x7f6246ffd700] DEBUG - TPU: hardware transcoding: final decoder: , final encoder:

Any ideas?

Thanks

2

Kernel level?

3

A full log file, inclusive of the header INFO records, would be very helpful.

At this point, I see only your kernel does not yet support the -9900 CPU.

Latency from the time the chip is available until the drivers make it into a kernel distribution is normal.

4

Thanks for your quick replies!

$ uname -a
Linux aa22 4.15.0-39-generic #42-Ubuntu SMP Tue Oct 23 15:48:01 UTC 2018 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

I’ve attached a more complete log.

So, looks like I just have to wait for a new kernel then. No probs!

ThanksPlex Media Server.log (530.6 KB)

5

Unfortunately you do need to wait.

I know that kernel.

I am now using 4.18.19

6

There is risk, but you could update the kernel and video libraries or upgrade your dist to 18.10.

7

I updated to 18.10 and now have:

$ lsb_release -a
No LSB modules are available.
Distributor ID: Ubuntu
Description:    Ubuntu 18.10
Release:        18.10
Codename:       cosmic

$ uname -a
Linux muhost 4.18.0-15-generic #16-Ubuntu SMP Thu Feb 7 10:56:39 UTC 2019 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

But the issue remains. I’ll just sit back and see if any upcoming kernel bumps fixes it. 19.04 is coming up and I guess it will come with a smoking fresh kernel.

8

Not sure how much time you have invested already in you build, you can download the 4.20 kernel and install. I have not personally used these commands so be warned.

wget https://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v4.20/linux-headers-4.20.0-042000_4.20.0-042000.201812232030_all.deb
wget https://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v4.20/linux-headers-4.20.0-042000-generic_4.20.0-042000.201812232030_amd64.deb
wget https://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v4.20/linux-image-unsigned-4.20.0-042000-generic_4.20.0-042000.201812232030_amd64.deb
sudo dpkg -i *.deb

Reboot

9

I just updated to 19.04 with kernel 5.0.0 , but the issue remains.

m@ai:~$ lsb_release -a
No LSB modules are available.
Distributor ID: Ubuntu
Description:    Ubuntu 19.04
Release:        19.04
Codename:       disco
m@ai:~$ uname -a
Linux ai18 5.0.0-13-generic #14-Ubuntu SMP Mon Apr 15 14:59:14 UTC 2019 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

Plex Media Server.log (500.1 KB)

10

Please allow me to be 100% clear.

There is no driver to support the -9xxx family of chips at this time.

  1. The i965 driver was deprecated by Intel in favor of the iHD family of drivers.
  2. The -9xxx is fully supported in that driver family.
  3. The current transcoder does not include the iHD driver
  4. I have an idea what Engineering is working on but have nothing definitive I can say at this time. I might easily be wrong which is why Company Policy prevents me from sharing my thoughts on such things. People assume my speculation to be fact.
1 Like
11

Ah, I see. Thanks for the clarification ChuckPA!

I’ll just sit tight then :slight_smile:

12

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