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Hello everyone, im a windows user and i switched to Arch Linux
I'm hoping you can help me with a stubborn issue KDE Plasma installation on my HP laptop. My main problems are stuttering video playback and poor audio quality note that i have also experinced this problem with other Linux distros . Everything else on the system (desktop effects, general usage) works perfectly smoothly. i have tried all these with the help of Gemini And Chat gpt and nothing seems to solve the poor audio quality and the videos lagging i used to play 1080p videos on windows just fine. here is the analasys i got fro gemini, im not sure if this is accurate analasys by the AI but one thing for sure something is wron with the video and audio .
The core of the issue seems to be that applications like VLC cannot detect or use hardware video acceleration, even though the vainfo command shows that the VA-API drivers are loaded and working correctly. This problem persists even after switching from the default Wayland session to X11.
## **System Information**
* **Operating System:** Arch Linux
* **KDE Plasma Version:** 6.4.4
* **KDE Frameworks Version:** 6.17.0
* **Qt Version:** 6.9.1
* **Kernel Version:** 6.15.9-arch1-1 (64-bit)
* **Graphics Platform:** X11
* **Processor:** 2 × Intel® Celeron® CPU N3060 @ 1.60GHz
* **Graphics Processor:** Intel® HD Graphics 400 (Braswell/Gen8)
* **Memory:** 8 GiB of RAM
* **Manufacturer:** HP Laptop 15-ra0xx
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## **Detailed Problem Description**
**1. Video Playback:**
All video playback (in local players like VLC and browser-based players like FreeTube) stutters badly.
* In VLC, the **"Hardware-accelerated decoding"** option is always **grayed out**.
* Running `sudo intel_gpu_top` while a video plays shows **0.00%** usage on the `Video` engine, confirming the CPU is doing all the work.
* This happens despite `vainfo` running successfully (see logs below).
**2. Audio Quality:**
The audio output sounds "not right."
* At default volumes, it's very low.
* Using KDE's over-amplification feature makes it louder, but the sound becomes distorted and fuzzy, indicating it's not a clean signal.
* This persists after adjusting all `alsamixer` channels (`Master`, `PCM`, `Speaker`) to 100%.
-----
## **Summary of Troubleshooting Steps Taken**
I have tried the following solutions without success:
1. **Full System Update:** The system is fully up-to-date via `sudo pacman -Syu`.
2. **Display Server:** The problem was identical on both the default **Wayland** session and a fresh **Plasma (X11)** session.
3. **Driver Installation:** I have installed all relevant packages: `libva-intel-driver`, `libva-utils`, `intel-gpu-tools`, `xf86-video-intel`, `alsa-utils`, `alsa-firmware`, `sof-firmware`, `plasma-x11-session`, and `xorg-server`.
4. **Permissions:** My user has been added to the `video` group (`sudo gpasswd -a $USER video`) and has been fully logged out/rebooted since.
5. **Forced Driver Configuration:**
* Created `/etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/20-intel.conf` to enable the `TearFree` option.
* Created `/etc/profile.d/99-intel-vaapi.sh` to export `LIBVA_DRIVER_NAME=i965`. `echo $LIBVA_DRIVER_NAME` confirms it is set correctly.
* Created `/etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base.conf` with `options snd_hda_intel model=hp` to try and fix the audio quality.
6. **Force Reinstall:** I have performed a full reinstallation of the graphics stack (`sudo pacman -S mesa libva libva-intel-driver vlc`), followed by a reboot. The problem remains.
-----
## **Diagnostic Logs**
**`vainfo` Output:**
(The command runs successfully and shows the correct `i965` driver and a full list of supported profiles.)
```
[khamzat@khamzat ~]$ vainfo
Trying display: wayland
libva error: /usr/lib/dri/iHD_drv_video.so init failed
error: failed to resolve wl_drm_interface(): /usr/lib/libEGL_mesa.so.0: undefined symbol: wl_drm_interface
vainfo: VA-API version: 1.22 (libva 2.22.0)
vainfo: Driver version: Intel i965 driver for Intel(R) CherryView - 2.4.1
vainfo: Supported profile and entrypoints
VAProfileMPEG2Simple : VAEntrypointVLD
VAProfileMPEG2Simple : VAEntrypointEncSlice
VAProfileMPEG2Main : VAEntrypointVLD
VAProfileMPEG2Main : VAEntrypointEncSlice
VAProfileH264ConstrainedBaseline: VAEntrypointVLD
VAProfileH264ConstrainedBaseline: VAEntrypointEncSlice
VAProfileH264Main : VAEntrypointVLD
VAProfileH264Main : VAEntrypointEncSlice
VAProfileH264High : VAEntrypointVLD
VAProfileH264High : VAEntrypointEncSlice
VAProfileH264MultiviewHigh : VAEntrypointVLD
VAProfileH264MultiviewHigh : VAEntrypointEncSlice
VAProfileH264StereoHigh : VAEntrypointVLD
VAProfileH264StereoHigh : VAEntrypointEncSlice
VAProfileVC1Simple : VAEntrypointVLD
VAProfileVC1Main : VAEntrypointVLD
VAProfileVC1Advanced : VAEntrypointVLD
VAProfileNone : VAEntrypointVideoProc
VAProfileJPEGBaseline : VAEntrypointVLD
VAProfileJPEGBaseline : VAEntrypointEncPicture
VAProfileVP8Version0_3 : VAEntrypointVLD
VAProfileVP8Version0_3 : VAEntrypointEncSlice
VAProfileHEVCMain : VAEntrypointVLD
```
**`dmesg` Kernel Log:**
(The log shows no errors and indicates the `i915` driver initializes successfully.)
```
[khamzat@khamzat ~]$ sudo dmesg | grep -i "i915\|drm\|va"
[ 0.845949] ACPI: bus type drm_connector registered
[ 0.900239] simple-framebuffer simple-framebuffer.0: [drm] Registered 1 planes with drm panic
[ 0.900251] [drm] Initialized simpledrm 1.0.0 for simple-framebuffer.0 on minor 0
[ 0.914242] simple-framebuffer simple-framebuffer.0: [drm] fb0: simpledrmdrmfb frame buffer device
[ 3.574754] i915 0000:00:02.0: [drm] Found cherryview (device ID 22b1) integrated display version 8.00 stepping N/A
[ 3.596172] i915 0000:00:02.0: vgaarb: deactivate vga console
[ 3.662404] [drm] Initialized i915 1.6.0 for 0000:00:02.0 on minor 1
[ 3.764278] fbcon: i915drmfb (fb0) is primary device
[ 5.017644] i915 0000:00:02.0: [drm] fb0: i915drmfb frame buffer device
[ 6.848923] systemd[1]: Starting Load Kernel Module drm...
[ 7.067034] systemd[1]: modprobe@drm.service: Deactivated successfully.
[ 7.069357] systemd[1]: Finished Load Kernel Module drm.
[ 12.311021] snd_hda_intel 0000:00:1b.0: bound 0000:00:02.0 (ops intel_audio_component_bind_ops [i915])
```
**`vlc -vvv` Debug Log:**
(The log is very strange because it contains no mention of `vaapi` or any attempt to load a hardware decoder, even when viewing the preferences screen.)
```
[khamzat@khamzat ~]$ vlc -vvv
VLC media player 3.0.21 Vetinari (revision 3.0.21-0-gdd8bfdbabe8)
[000055e4aabba590] main libvlc debug: VLC media player - 3.0.21 Vetinari
[000055e4aabba590] main libvlc debug: Copyright © 1996-2024 the VideoLAN team
... (and so on) ...
[000055e4aabbddf0] main keystore debug: removing module "memory"
[khamzat@khamzat ~]$
```
*(Please note I have truncated the long VLC log here for brevity in this template, but I can provide the full log if needed).*
-----
The central mystery is: **Why can applications like VLC not detect or use the VA-API capabilities that `vainfo` clearly shows are available on the system?**
Thank you in advance for any insight or help you can provide.
Last edited by fogman (2025-08-11 03:14:12)
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dont use vlc so cant comment on that but if you install and play a video with mpv and press ctrl+h to toggle hardware on and off, you can also press 'i' for info and confirm vaapi working by "HW: vaapi" appearing last on the "Video:" line.
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thank you for the help. ctrl+h does toggle hardware decoding and i confirmed it with "sudo intel_gpu_top" however it does not seem to work on browser or apps , also when pressing "i" there is no "HW: vaapi" on the list
Last edited by fogman (2025-08-11 08:30:39)
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have you've read this page and associated pages ? should get you on the right track
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