Server Version#: 1.41.4.9463
Player Version#: N/A
| Component | Type |
|---|---|
| Motherboard | ASUS ROG Strix x470-F |
| CPU | AMD Ryzen 5 3600 |
| GPU | ASRock Intel B570 |
| Manner of Plex Installation | Docker |
| Host Kernel | 6.13.2 and 6.12.13 (tested separately) |
| Host GPU Driver | xe (i915 is not supported for Battlemage) as per Supported Hardware — Intel® software for general purpose GPU capabilities documentation |
The drm device is present in /dev/dri and accessible to all users:
$ ls -l /dev/dri
total 0
drwxrwxrwx 2 root root 80 Feb 18 16:02 by-path
crwxrwxrwx 1 root video 226, 0 Feb 18 21:42 card0
crwxrwxrwx 1 root render 226, 128 Feb 18 16:02 renderD128
The user used for the docker container is dockeruser and is a member of video and render groups:
$ groups dockeruser
video render elephant docker
$ getent group render | cut -d: -f 3
993
$ getent group video | cut -d: -f 3
91
The relevant part of the docker compose file:
$ grep -A 18 'plex:' /opt/docker/docker-compose.yml
plex:
image: plexinc/pms-docker:latest
network_mode: host
container_name: plex
restart: unless-stopped
volumes:
- /mnt/appdata/plex:/config
- /mnt/storage:/data
- /mnt/veryfaststorage/plex-transcode:/transcode
group_add:
- "91"
- "993"
devices:
- /dev/dri:/dev/dri
environment:
- TZ=UTC
- PLEX_CLAIM="${PLEX_CLAIM_TOKEN}"
- PLEX_UID=${PUID}
- PLEX_GID=${PGID}
Running vainfo on the hosts to demonstrate functionality present via the GPU:
$ vainfo 2>/dev/null
Trying display: wayland
Trying display: x11
Trying display: drm
vainfo: VA-API version: 1.22 (libva 2.22.0)
vainfo: Driver version: Intel iHD driver for Intel(R) Gen Graphics - 24.4.4 ()
vainfo: Supported profile and entrypoints
VAProfileNone : VAEntrypointVideoProc
VAProfileMPEG2Simple : VAEntrypointVLD
VAProfileMPEG2Main : VAEntrypointVLD
VAProfileH264Main : VAEntrypointVLD
VAProfileH264Main : VAEntrypointEncSlice
VAProfileH264High : VAEntrypointVLD
VAProfileH264High : VAEntrypointEncSlice
VAProfileJPEGBaseline : VAEntrypointVLD
VAProfileJPEGBaseline : VAEntrypointEncPicture
VAProfileH264ConstrainedBaseline: VAEntrypointVLD
VAProfileH264ConstrainedBaseline: VAEntrypointEncSlice
VAProfileVP8Version0_3 : VAEntrypointVLD
VAProfileHEVCMain : VAEntrypointVLD
VAProfileHEVCMain : VAEntrypointEncSlice
VAProfileHEVCMain10 : VAEntrypointVLD
VAProfileHEVCMain10 : VAEntrypointEncSlice
VAProfileVP9Profile0 : VAEntrypointVLD
VAProfileVP9Profile1 : VAEntrypointVLD
VAProfileVP9Profile2 : VAEntrypointVLD
VAProfileVP9Profile3 : VAEntrypointVLD
VAProfileHEVCMain12 : VAEntrypointVLD
VAProfileHEVCMain422_10 : VAEntrypointVLD
VAProfileHEVCMain422_10 : VAEntrypointEncSlice
VAProfileHEVCMain422_12 : VAEntrypointVLD
VAProfileHEVCMain444 : VAEntrypointVLD
VAProfileHEVCMain444 : VAEntrypointEncSlice
VAProfileHEVCMain444_10 : VAEntrypointVLD
VAProfileHEVCMain444_10 : VAEntrypointEncSlice
VAProfileHEVCMain444_12 : VAEntrypointVLD
VAProfileHEVCSccMain : VAEntrypointVLD
VAProfileHEVCSccMain : VAEntrypointEncSlice
VAProfileHEVCSccMain10 : VAEntrypointVLD
VAProfileHEVCSccMain10 : VAEntrypointEncSlice
VAProfileHEVCSccMain444 : VAEntrypointVLD
VAProfileHEVCSccMain444 : VAEntrypointEncSlice
VAProfileAV1Profile0 : VAEntrypointVLD
VAProfileAV1Profile0 : VAEntrypointEncSlice
VAProfileHEVCSccMain444_10 : VAEntrypointVLD
VAProfileHEVCSccMain444_10 : VAEntrypointEncSlice
Hardware acceleration is enabled in Plex:
$ sudo grep -Eo '[a-zA-Z]*(Accelerated|Hardware|Transcode)[a-zA-Z]*="[0-9a-zA-Z]*"' /mnt/appdata/plex/Library/Application\ Support/Plex\ Media\ Server/Preferences.xml
TranscodeCountLimit="0"
TranscoderQuality="0"
HardwareAcceleratedEncoders="1"
HardwareAcceleratedCodecs="1"
TranscoderThrottleBuffer="6000"
TranscoderHEVCEncoding="1"
TranscoderHEVCOptimize="1"
And yet, when I attempt a transcode using Firefox, Chrome, Android, iOS, Shield, Windows client, LG TV client (G3 and C3 models), or PS5 clients (those were all that I tested), I see the following error in the logs:
Feb 20, 2025 22:00:10.297 [140359974996792] Debug — [Req#d12450/Transcode] TranscodeUniversalRequest: using augmented profile Firefox
Feb 20, 2025 22:00:10.297 [140359974996792] Debug — [Req#d12450/Transcode] Downloading document http://127.0.0.1:32400/library/metadata/294701?includeBandwidths=1&offset=-1&X-Plex-Incomplete-Segments=1&X-Plex-Session-Identifier=6oc0cmnqu8hwuoy6zrcthaz9
Feb 20, 2025 22:00:10.300 [140359974996792] Debug — [Req#d12450/Transcode/Req#d12481] It took 0.000000 ms to retrieve 115 items.
Feb 20, 2025 22:00:10.301 [140359974996792] Debug — [Req#d12450/Transcode] We're going to try to auto-select an audio stream for account 1.
Feb 20, 2025 22:00:10.301 [140359974996792] Debug — [Req#d12450/Transcode] Selecting best audio stream for part ID 457754 (language: en)
Feb 20, 2025 22:00:10.301 [140359974996792] Debug — [Req#d12450/Transcode] We're going to try to auto-select a subtitle for account 1.
Feb 20, 2025 22:00:10.301 [140359974996792] Debug — [Req#d12450/Transcode] Subtitles: Found a candidate subtitle language [en] for a foreign film
Feb 20, 2025 22:00:10.301 [140359974996792] Debug — [Req#d12450/Transcode] Audio Stream: 1749177, Subtitle Stream: 1749178
Feb 20, 2025 22:00:10.303 [140359974996792] Debug — [Req#d12450/Transcode] Codecs: testing hevc (decoder) with hwdevice vaapi
Feb 20, 2025 22:00:10.306 [140359974996792] Debug — [Req#d12450/Transcode] Codecs: hardware transcoding: testing API vaapi for device '/dev/dri/renderD128' (Intel Battlemage G21 [Intel Graphics])
Feb 20, 2025 22:00:10.315 [140359974996792] Error — [Req#d12450/Transcode] [FFMPEG] - libva: /config/Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server/Cache/va-dri-linux-x86_64/iHD_drv_video.so init failed
Feb 20, 2025 22:00:10.315 [140359974996792] Error — [Req#d12450/Transcode] [FFMPEG] - Failed to initialise VAAPI connection: 18 (invalid parameter).
Feb 20, 2025 22:00:10.315 [140359974996792] Debug — [Req#d12450/Transcode] Codecs: hardware transcoding: opening hw device failed - probably not supported by this system, error: I/O error
Feb 20, 2025 22:00:10.315 [140359974996792] Debug — [Req#d12450/Transcode] Could not create hardware context for hevc
Feb 20, 2025 22:00:10.315 [140359974996792] Debug — [Req#d12450/Transcode] MDE: Selected protocol dash; container: mp4
Feb 20, 2025 22:00:10.315 [140359974996792] Debug — [Req#d12450/Transcode] MDE: analyzing media item 425762
Feb 20, 2025 22:00:10.315 [140359974996792] Debug — [Req#d12450/Transcode] MDE: Companion (2025): Direct Play is disabled
Feb 20, 2025 22:00:10.315 [140359974996792] Debug — [Req#d12450/Transcode] MDE: Companion (2025): media must be transcoded in order to use the dash protocol
Feb 20, 2025 22:00:10.315 [140359974996792] Debug — [Req#d12450/Transcode] MDE: Companion (2025): no direct play video profile exists for http/mkv/hevc
Feb 20, 2025 22:00:10.315 [140359974996792] Debug — [Req#d12450/Transcode] MDE: Companion (2025): no direct play video profile exists for http/mkv/hevc/eac3
Feb 20, 2025 22:00:10.315 [140359974996792] Debug — [Req#d12450/Transcode] Companion - video.bitDepth limitation applies: 10 > 8
Feb 20, 2025 22:00:10.315 [140359974996792] Debug — [Req#d12450/Transcode] Companion - audio.channels limitation applies: 6 > 2
Feb 20, 2025 22:00:10.315 [140359974996792] Debug — [Req#d12450/Transcode] MDE: Companion (2025): Direct Streaming is disabled, so video stream will be transcoded
Feb 20, 2025 22:00:10.315 [140359974996792] Debug — [Req#d12450/Transcode] MDE: Companion (2025): no remuxable profile found, so video stream will be transcoded
Feb 20, 2025 22:00:10.315 [140359974996792] Debug — [Req#d12450/Transcode] MDE: Cannot direct stream video stream due to profile or setting limitations
Feb 20, 2025 22:00:10.316 [140359974996792] Debug — [Req#d12450/Transcode] Codecs: testing hevc (decoder) with hwdevice vaapi
Feb 20, 2025 22:00:10.316 [140359974996792] Debug — [Req#d12450/Transcode] Codecs: hardware transcoding: testing API vaapi for device '/dev/dri/renderD128' (Intel Battlemage G21 [Intel Graphics])
Feb 20, 2025 22:00:10.316 [140359974996792] Error — [Req#d12450/Transcode] [FFMPEG] - libva: /config/Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server/Cache/va-dri-linux-x86_64/iHD_drv_video.so init failed
Feb 20, 2025 22:00:10.316 [140359974996792] Error — [Req#d12450/Transcode] [FFMPEG] - Failed to initialise VAAPI connection: 18 (invalid parameter).
Feb 20, 2025 22:00:10.316 [140359974996792] Debug — [Req#d12450/Transcode] Codecs: hardware transcoding: opening hw device failed - probably not supported by this system, error: I/O error
Feb 20, 2025 22:00:10.316 [140359974996792] Debug — [Req#d12450/Transcode] Could not create hardware context for hevc
Some further investigation; I installed strings within the plex container to do this:
$ docker exec -t plex strings /usr/lib/plexmediaserver/Plex\ Transcoder | grep -Eo 'intel-media-driver/[-\.0-9]+/'
intel-media-driver/24.1.5-3/
intel-media-driver/24.1.5-3/
intel-media-driver/24.1.5-3/
intel-media-driver/24.1.5-3/
It appears that Plex is being built against 24.1.5-3, i.e. Release Intel Media Driver 2024Q1 Release - 24.1.5 · intel/media-driver · GitHub, but Battlemage support was not added until 24.3.4: Release Intel Media Driver 2024Q3 Release - 24.3.4 · intel/media-driver · GitHub.
I suspect that this is the crux (or maybe the beginning) of the issue I am experiencing, and somewhat confirmed by checking against Jellyfin, which is configured similarly in docker and has hardware transcoding working fine. Please upgrade the intel-media-driver version used when building Plex Transcoder in order to add this support (and, perhaps, intel-compute-runtime, if any OpenCL functions are used for e.g. tonemapping, though this should be available tonemapping should be available for Intel via the VPP features in the driver).
Thanks
