Finally, Intel G45 VA-API Support Is Available

[phoronix]

Phoronix: Finally, Intel G45 VA-API Support Is Available

The Intel G45 chipset was released in the summer of 2008, but only this week is it now possible to take advantage of VA-API video playback acceleration for this Intel integrated graphics processor...

http://www.phoronix.com/vr.php?view=OTQ1NA

[darkbasic]

A-W-E-S-O-M-E

[FreeBSD]

Wow

I didn't beleive it will EVER happen. Finally!
What will I have to update, to make this work? I don't quite understand it from the article

[crispy]

Testestestestest!!

Unfortunately I only have the 965GM chipset doesn't support H264 decoding as I understand it though ;/

[Aleve Sicofante]

Is this the same as Quick Sync for Linux? (Probably not, since QS is a Sandy Bridge feature) I'm confused I can't find any info on the subject of Quick Sync for Linux.

[TheCycoONE]

Is this the same as Quick Sync for Linux? (Probably not, since QS is a Sandy Bridge feature) I'm confused I can't find any info on the subject of Quick Sync for Linux.

Quick Sync is hardware accelerated transcoding which would involve not only decoding (which this is about) but also encoding (only available on Sandybridge) so this is not equivalent to Quick Sync. It's more for video playback so in a va_api supporting player you could watch high definition movies with less cpu usage, and possibly jitter free if you couldn't before.

[popper]

Sandybridge libva prototype working example AVC encoder

http://cgit.freedesktop.org/libva/commit/?id=0b8b97649ced7336309864135ff402d1ee85a8c1

2011-04-28 07:50:14 (GMT)
test/encode/avcenc: a simple encoder based on VA API for H.264
Usage:
avcenc <width> <height> <input file> <output file> [qp]

Singed-off-by: Zhou Chang <[email protected]>
Singed-off-by: Lan Hai <[email protected]>
Signed-off-by: Xiang, Haihao <[email protected]>

did anyone try this on a I3/5/and 7 Sandybridge yet ? or port and write the imitiallibAV/ffmpeg patch !

[dargllun]

MythTV

[QUOTE=phoronix;208467]Phoronix: Finally, Intel G45 VA-API Support Is Available

Sadly, the Mythbuntu folks recently disabled packaging VA-API support, AFAICT you now need to build MythTV from source on your own to use it. I'm curious if this is going to change, but I fear that the nvidia-ization has already gone too far in the media playback scene...

[Rizzly]

I've compiled the G45 branch for my GM45 chipset, I've tried running VLC with accelaration enabled but get this output:

libva: libva version 0.32.0
libva: va_getDriverName() returns 0
libva: Trying to open /usr/lib/dri/i965_drv_video.so
libva: va_openDriver() returns 0
vlc: i965_media.c:348: g4x_dec_hw_context_init: Insurance "0" false.
Avbruten (SIGABRT)

I have tried vainfo, and get this output:

libva: libva version 0.32.0
libva: va_getDriverName() returns 0
libva: Trying to open /usr/lib/dri/i965_drv_video.so
libva: va_openDriver() returns 0
vainfo: VA API version: 0.32
vainfo: Driver version: i965 Driver 0.1
vainfo: Supported profile and entrypoints
      VAProfileMPEG2Simple            :	VAEntrypointVLD
      VAProfileMPEG2Main              :	VAEntrypointVLD
      VAProfileH264Baseline           :	VAEntrypointVLD
      VAProfileH264Main               :	VAEntrypointVLD
      VAProfileH264High               :	VAEntrypointVLD

What might I have done wrong?

[Sadako]

I've compiled the G45 branch for my GM45 chipset, I've tried running VLC with accelaration enabled but get this output:

libva: libva version 0.32.0
libva: va_getDriverName() returns 0
libva: Trying to open /usr/lib/dri/i965_drv_video.so
libva: va_openDriver() returns 0
vlc: i965_media.c:348: g4x_dec_hw_context_init: Insurance "0" false.
Avbruten (SIGABRT)

I have tried vainfo, and get this output:

libva: libva version 0.32.0
libva: va_getDriverName() returns 0
libva: Trying to open /usr/lib/dri/i965_drv_video.so
libva: va_openDriver() returns 0
vainfo: VA API version: 0.32
vainfo: Driver version: i965 Driver 0.1
vainfo: Supported profile and entrypoints
      VAProfileMPEG2Simple            :	VAEntrypointVLD
      VAProfileMPEG2Main              :	VAEntrypointVLD
      VAProfileH264Baseline           :	VAEntrypointVLD
      VAProfileH264Main               :	VAEntrypointVLD
      VAProfileH264High               :	VAEntrypointVLD

What might I have done wrong?

I had the exact same problem, and though I'm not a programmer I took a quick look at i965_media.c line 348, and it looks like they forgot the one function call to actually have the new code used...

This little patch got the vaapi_h264 test working for me;

--- i965_drv_video/i965_media.c.orig	2011-05-17 19:59:00.126115745 +0100
+++ i965_drv_video/i965_media.c	2011-05-17 20:00:51.048731380 +0100
@@ -341,6 +341,9 @@
     case VAProfileH264Baseline:
     case VAProfileH264Main:
     case VAProfileH264High:
+        i965_media_h264_dec_context_init(ctx, media_context);
+        break;
+
     case VAProfileVC1Simple:
     case VAProfileVC1Main:
     case VAProfileVC1Advanced:

Now to find an mplayer ebuild with vaapi support...