libvdpau-va-gl or libva-vdpau-driver? [SOLVED]

ThePacman · 2014-05-10 22:18:43

I've got a Radeon HD 4350 graphics card powered by xf86-video-ati/ati-dri.
I was reading the Wiki articles on VDPAU and VA-API and the differences between the two. What package (libvdpau-va-gl or libva-vdpau-driver) should I install to maximize performance/compatibility? Should I get both?
It seems that one uses VA-API as a backend to provide fake VDPAU, and the other one does the reverse. Will installing them both create a loop that breaks hardware acceleration? Or am I misunderstanding the situation?

Last edited by ThePacman (2014-05-11 19:15:34)

ThePacman · 2014-05-10 22:22:21

I found this thread and read it.
My question concerning the two packages still stands - of these wrappers/hacks, which (if any) should I install to maximize performance/compatibility?

Gusar · 2014-05-10 23:53:00

You don't need either of them. xf86-video-ati/ati-dri implements VDPAU, so you don't need anything, every application supports VDPAU directly (VLC, mplayer/mplayer2, mpv, gstreamer based players, adobe-flash)

libva-vdpau-driver is never needed, there's no application out there that's VAAPI-only (VLC used to be, but nowadays it supports both VAAPI and VDPAU). libvdpau-va-gl is needed in only one particular case - to get hardware accelerated flash with the intel driver.

Last edited by Gusar (2014-05-11 00:27:12)

ThePacman · 2014-05-11 19:13:13

Gusar wrote:

You don't need either of them. xf86-video-ati/ati-dri implements VDPAU, so you don't need anything, every application supports VDPAU directly (VLC, mplayer/mplayer2, mpv, gstreamer based players, adobe-flash)
libva-vdpau-driver is never needed, there's no application out there that's VAAPI-only (VLC used to be, but nowadays it supports both VAAPI and VDPAU). libvdpau-va-gl is needed in only one particular case - to get hardware accelerated flash with the intel driver.

Thanks!

VLC lets me choose VDPAU or VA-API. I should choose VDPAU, correct? Basically, my system at the moment has no need of VA-API in any form?

beroal · 2015-05-09 14:14:55

Gusar wrote:

every application supports VDPAU directly (VLC, mplayer/mplayer2, mpv, gstreamer based players, adobe-flash)

GStreamer 1.0 does not play H.264 via VDPAU.

Gusar · 2015-05-09 16:21:02

beroal wrote:

GStreamer 1.0 does not play H.264 via VDPAU.

There is a vdpau plugin in gst-plugins-bad. Whether is actually works is a different matter, I don't have any personal experience with it.

Edit: This commit says "h264 ported but deactivated", and there aren't any further commits that activate it. So you're right, there's no h264 on gstreamer 1.0 by default.

This means one has to go through gstreamer-vaapi and libva-vdpau-driver. And to that, I can only say "ugh!". Going via wrappers, you often end up with more resource usage than not using hardware decoding at all.

Last edited by Gusar (2015-05-09 16:48:19)

beroal · 2015-05-30 11:16:50

Gusar wrote:

beroal wrote:
GStreamer 1.0 does not play H.264 via VDPAU.
This means one has to go through gstreamer-vaapi and libva-vdpau-driver. And to that, I can only say "ugh!". Going via wrappers, you often end up with more resource usage than not using hardware decoding at all.

BTW, read this answer and "Hardware-accelerated decoding and encoding" on the Pitivi fundraising web page. I guess that using "libva-vdpau-driver" will be the official way for the next decade.

Gusar · 2015-05-30 11:26:49

It's nice then, that I've always avoided gstreamer . mpv is pretty much all I need, it has great support for both VAAPI and VDPAU.

Though the first link you gave talks about radeon. That one has native VAAPI now, so this wrapper stuff isn't needed with it. In theory at least, in practice I've seen reports where it works on the commanline using gst-launch, but not with Totem.

Though I wonder why there isn't more interest in VDPAU form the gstreamer devs. It's supported by the nvidia blob, by nouveau and radeon. That's enough to warrant attention, IMO.

beroal · 2015-05-30 12:05:47

Gusar wrote:

radeon. That one has native VAAPI now

Can you give a link?

Gusar · 2015-05-30 19:56:08

It's there since mesa-10.4 or maybe 10.5, I'm not entirely sure. I don't know if there's a single link that lays it all out, there were several commits to mesa that added a state tracker and then support for r600 and radeonsi. A quick google search finds this article at phoronix, it contains a link to the commit that added the VAAPI state tracker, radeon support followed soon after.

Nouveau support can happen when someone implements what's described in this comment.

Arch Linux

#1 2014-05-10 22:18:43

libvdpau-va-gl or libva-vdpau-driver? [SOLVED]

#2 2014-05-10 22:22:21

Re: libvdpau-va-gl or libva-vdpau-driver? [SOLVED]

#3 2014-05-10 23:53:00

Re: libvdpau-va-gl or libva-vdpau-driver? [SOLVED]

#4 2014-05-11 19:13:13

Re: libvdpau-va-gl or libva-vdpau-driver? [SOLVED]

#5 2015-05-09 14:14:55

Re: libvdpau-va-gl or libva-vdpau-driver? [SOLVED]

#6 2015-05-09 16:21:02

Re: libvdpau-va-gl or libva-vdpau-driver? [SOLVED]

#7 2015-05-30 11:16:50

Re: libvdpau-va-gl or libva-vdpau-driver? [SOLVED]

#8 2015-05-30 11:26:49

Re: libvdpau-va-gl or libva-vdpau-driver? [SOLVED]

#9 2015-05-30 12:05:47

Re: libvdpau-va-gl or libva-vdpau-driver? [SOLVED]

#10 2015-05-30 19:56:08

Re: libvdpau-va-gl or libva-vdpau-driver? [SOLVED]

Board footer