How to use QSV/VAAPI on Linux Mint?

[catscarlet.com]

Is QSV available on Linux now in obs 26.1.1?

I tried and it showed this:

Starting the output failed. Please check the log for details.
Note: If you are using the NVENC or AMD encoders, make sure your video drivers are up to date.

here is vainfo

Spoiler: vainfo

~$ sudo vainfo
error: XDG_RUNTIME_DIR not set in the environment.
libva info: VA-API version 1.7.0
libva info: Trying to open /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/dri/iHD_drv_video.so
libva info: Found init function __vaDriverInit_1_7
libva info: va_openDriver() returns 0
vainfo: VA-API version: 1.7 (libva 2.6.0)
vainfo: Driver version: Intel iHD driver for Intel(R) Gen Graphics - 20.1.1 ()
vainfo: Supported profile and entrypoints
VAProfileMPEG2Simple : VAEntrypointVLD
VAProfileMPEG2Main : VAEntrypointVLD
VAProfileH264Main : VAEntrypointVLD
VAProfileH264Main : VAEntrypointEncSliceLP
VAProfileH264High : VAEntrypointVLD
VAProfileH264High : VAEntrypointEncSliceLP
VAProfileJPEGBaseline : VAEntrypointVLD
VAProfileJPEGBaseline : VAEntrypointEncPicture
VAProfileH264ConstrainedBaseline: VAEntrypointVLD
VAProfileH264ConstrainedBaseline: VAEntrypointEncSliceLP
VAProfileVP8Version0_3 : VAEntrypointVLD
VAProfileHEVCMain : VAEntrypointVLD
VAProfileHEVCMain10 : VAEntrypointVLD
VAProfileVP9Profile0 : VAEntrypointVLD
VAProfileVP9Profile2 : VAEntrypointVLD

here is part of obs log

Spoiler: obs log

12:16:33 AM.519: CPU Name: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-8565U CPU @ 1.80GHz
12:16:33 AM.519: CPU Speed: 3314.755MHz
12:16:33 AM.519: Physical Cores: 4, Logical Cores: 4
12:16:33 AM.519: Physical Memory: 15729MB Total, 13181MB Free
12:16:33 AM.519: Kernel Version: Linux 5.4.0-62-generic
12:16:33 AM.519: Distribution: "Linux Mint" "20"
12:16:33 AM.519: Session Type: x11
12:16:33 AM.520: Window System: X11.0, Vendor: The X.Org Foundation, Version: 1.20.9
12:16:33 AM.520: Portable mode: false
12:16:33 AM.555: OBS 26.1.1 (linux)
12:16:33 AM.555: ---------------------------------
12:16:33 AM.555: ---------------------------------
12:16:33 AM.555: audio settings reset:
12:16:33 AM.555: samples per sec: 48000
12:16:33 AM.555: speakers: 2
12:16:33 AM.564: ---------------------------------
12:16:33 AM.564: Initializing OpenGL...
12:16:33 AM.619: Loading up OpenGL on adapter Intel Mesa Intel(R) UHD Graphics 620 (WHL GT2)
12:16:33 AM.619: OpenGL loaded successfully, version 4.6 (Core Profile) Mesa 20.2.6, shading language 4.60
12:16:33 AM.656: ---------------------------------
12:16:33 AM.656: video settings reset:
12:16:33 AM.656: base resolution: 1920x1080
12:16:33 AM.656: output resolution: 1280x720
12:16:33 AM.656: downscale filter: Area
12:16:33 AM.656: fps: 60/1
12:16:33 AM.656: format: NV12
12:16:33 AM.656: YUV mode: 709/Partial
12:16:33 AM.656: NV12 texture support not available
12:16:33 AM.658: Audio monitoring device:
12:16:33 AM.658: name: Default
12:16:33 AM.658: id: default
12:16:33 AM.658: ---------------------------------
12:16:33 AM.661: Failed to load 'en-US' text for module: 'decklink-captions.so'
12:16:33 AM.663: Failed to load 'en-US' text for module: 'decklink-ouput-ui.so'
12:16:33 AM.784: A DeckLink iterator could not be created. The DeckLink drivers may not be installed
12:16:33 AM.784: No blackmagic support
12:16:33 AM.794: v4l2loopback not installed, virtual camera disabled
12:16:33 AM.804: [obs-browser]: Version 2.9.1
12:16:33 AM.804: [obs-browser]: CEF Version 76.1.13+gf19c584+chromium-76.0.3809.132
12:16:33 AM.948: os_dlopen(libnvidia-encode.so.1->libnvidia-encode.so.1): libnvidia-encode.so.1: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
12:16:33 AM.948:
12:16:33 AM.948: FFMPEG VAAPI supported
12:16:33 AM.975: VLC found, VLC video source enabled
12:16:33 AM.975: ---------------------------------
12:16:33 AM.976: Loaded Modules:
12:16:33 AM.976: vlc-video.so
12:16:33 AM.976: text-freetype2.so
12:16:33 AM.976: rtmp-services.so
12:16:33 AM.976: obs-x264.so
12:16:33 AM.976: obs-vst.so
12:16:33 AM.976: obs-transitions.so
12:16:33 AM.976: obs-outputs.so
12:16:33 AM.976: obs-libfdk.so
12:16:33 AM.976: obs-filters.so
12:16:33 AM.976: obs-ffmpeg.so
12:16:33 AM.976: obs-browser.so
12:16:33 AM.976: linux-v4l2.so
12:16:33 AM.976: linux-pulseaudio.so
12:16:33 AM.976: linux-jack.so
12:16:33 AM.976: linux-decklink.so
12:16:33 AM.976: linux-capture.so
12:16:33 AM.976: linux-alsa.so
12:16:33 AM.976: image-source.so
12:16:33 AM.976: frontend-tools.so
12:16:33 AM.976: decklink-ouput-ui.so
12:16:33 AM.976: decklink-captions.so
12:16:33 AM.976: ---------------------------------
12:16:33 AM.976: os_dlopen(../obs-plugins/obs-browser->../obs-plugins/obs-browser.so): ../obs-plugins/obs-browser.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
12:16:33 AM.976:
12:16:33 AM.976: ==== Startup complete ===============================================
12:16:33 AM.978: All scene data cleared
12:16:33 AM.978: ------------------------------------------------
12:16:33 AM.984: pulse-input: Server name: 'pulseaudio 13.99.1'
12:16:33 AM.985: pulse-input: Audio format: s16le, 44100 Hz, 2 channels
12:16:33 AM.985: pulse-input: Started recording from 'alsa_output.usb-C-Media_Electronics_Inc._USB_Audio_Device-00.analog-stereo.monitor'
12:16:33 AM.985: [Loaded global audio device]: 'Desktop Audio'
12:16:33 AM.987: pulse-input: Server name: 'pulseaudio 13.99.1'
12:16:33 AM.987: pulse-input: Audio format: s16le, 44100 Hz, 2 channels
12:16:33 AM.987: pulse-input: Started recording from 'alsa_input.pci-0000_00_1f.3.analog-stereo'
12:16:33 AM.987: [Loaded global audio device]: 'Mic/Aux'
12:16:33 AM.989: xshm-input: Geometry 1920x1080 @ 0,0
12:16:34 AM.013: Switched to scene 'Scene 16:9'
12:16:34 AM.013: ------------------------------------------------
12:16:34 AM.013: Loaded scenes:
12:16:34 AM.013: - scene 'Scene 4:3':
12:16:34 AM.013: - scene 'Scene 16:9':
12:16:34 AM.013: - source: 'Window Capture (Xcomposite) 16:9' (xcomposite_input)
12:16:34 AM.013: - scene 'Scene RetroArch':
12:16:34 AM.013: - source: 'Window Capture (Xcomposite) retroarch' (xcomposite_input)
12:16:34 AM.013: - source: 'Q' (text_ft2_source_v2)
12:16:34 AM.013: - scene 'Fullscreen':
12:16:34 AM.013: - source: 'Screen Capture (XSHM)' (xshm_input)
12:16:34 AM.013: ------------------------------------------------
12:16:34 AM.845: adding 42 milliseconds of audio buffering, total audio buffering is now 42 milliseconds (source: Mic/Aux)
12:16:34 AM.845:
12:16:59 AM.926: Settings changed (outputs)
12:16:59 AM.926: ------------------------------------------------
12:17:14 AM.865: ---------------------------------
12:17:14 AM.866: [FFMPEG VAAPI encoder: 'streaming_h264'] settings:
12:17:14 AM.866: device: /dev/dri/renderD128
12:17:14 AM.866: rate_control: CBR
12:17:14 AM.866: profile: 100
12:17:14 AM.866: level: -99
12:17:14 AM.866: qp: 0
12:17:14 AM.866: bitrate: 2500
12:17:14 AM.866: maxrate: 2500
12:17:14 AM.866: keyint: 120
12:17:14 AM.866: width: 1280
12:17:14 AM.866: height: 720
12:17:14 AM.866: b-frames: 0
12:17:14 AM.866:
12:17:14 AM.891: [FFMPEG VAAPI encoder: 'streaming_h264'] Failed to open VAAPI codec: Invalid argument

This computer has also win10 installed and on win10, obs supports qsv well.
do i need to install something else or i need to recompiling something to support qsv on linux?

 

[Tuna]

I think VAEntrypointEncSliceLP is not supported (LP I think stands for low power). Not sure about the exact reason.

 

[catscarlet.com]

I think VAEntrypointEncSliceLP is not supported (LP I think stands for low power). Not sure about the exact reason.

Thanks for the info. It helps a lot.

After knowing it, I searched and found something more about it. Someone who has similar cpu as mine also having trouble with vaapi and post it on reddit https://www.reddit.com/r/jellyfin/comments/hfy3ot/stumped_with_hw_transcoding/fw133gg/ , which also refered "VAEntrypointEncSliceLP". The continuous discussion says:

Intel does not intend to continue to support processors after Coffee Lake in the free intel-vaapi-driver.

and lead me to an intel-vaapi-driver issue.
The soluation is to use Intel(R) Media Driver for VAAPI (https://github.com/intel/media-driver), and must be the Full Feature Build one, aka intel-media-va-driver-non-free.

On default, Linux always installs free/opensourse version of everything. I checked and my computer said intel-media-va-driver is installed.
So I tried

sudo apt install intel-media-va-driver-non-free

It automatically removed intel-media-va-driver and installed intel-media-va-driver-non-free. I rebooted computer(not should if it's necessary but I did). Reopen OBS, tried recording with vaapi.

it works now!

Here is some more info about vainfo after install non-free version of iHD, with a comparison with the free version output(sorry about the indentation)

Spoiler: vainfo

~$ sudo vainfo
error: XDG_RUNTIME_DIR not set in the environment.
libva info: VA-API version 1.7.0
libva info: Trying to open /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/dri/iHD_drv_video.so
libva info: Found init function __vaDriverInit_1_7
libva info: va_openDriver() returns 0
vainfo: VA-API version: 1.7 (libva 2.6.0)
vainfo: Driver version: Intel iHD driver for Intel(R) Gen Graphics - 20.1.1 ()
vainfo: Supported profile and entrypoints
VAProfileNone : VAEntrypointVideoProc
VAProfileNone : VAEntrypointStats
VAProfileMPEG2Simple : VAEntrypointVLD
VAProfileMPEG2Simple : VAEntrypointEncSlice
VAProfileMPEG2Main : VAEntrypointVLD
VAProfileMPEG2Main : VAEntrypointEncSlice
VAProfileH264Main : VAEntrypointVLD
VAProfileH264Main : VAEntrypointEncSlice
VAProfileH264Main : VAEntrypointFEI
VAProfileH264Main : VAEntrypointEncSliceLP
VAProfileH264High : VAEntrypointVLD
VAProfileH264High : VAEntrypointEncSlice
VAProfileH264High : VAEntrypointFEI
VAProfileH264High : VAEntrypointEncSliceLP
VAProfileVC1Simple : VAEntrypointVLD
VAProfileVC1Main : VAEntrypointVLD
VAProfileVC1Advanced : VAEntrypointVLD
VAProfileJPEGBaseline : VAEntrypointVLD
VAProfileJPEGBaseline : VAEntrypointEncPicture
VAProfileH264ConstrainedBaseline: VAEntrypointVLD
VAProfileH264ConstrainedBaseline: VAEntrypointEncSlice
VAProfileH264ConstrainedBaseline: VAEntrypointFEI
VAProfileH264ConstrainedBaseline: VAEntrypointEncSliceLP
VAProfileVP8Version0_3 : VAEntrypointVLD
VAProfileVP8Version0_3 : VAEntrypointEncSlice
VAProfileHEVCMain : VAEntrypointVLD
VAProfileHEVCMain : VAEntrypointEncSlice
VAProfileHEVCMain : VAEntrypointFEI
VAProfileHEVCMain10 : VAEntrypointVLD
VAProfileHEVCMain10 : VAEntrypointEncSlice
VAProfileVP9Profile0 : VAEntrypointVLD
VAProfileVP9Profile2 : VAEntrypointVLD
cat@cat-Inspiron-7380-linux:~$