Quicksync works once per boot, then stops working and uses software

[ich777 6]

14 minutes ago, neik said:

Are you using that CPU as a server?

Not me, a user on the Unraid forums reported that it is not working and I've compiled a custom Kernel module for him with a patch applied for testing purposes that will be integrated in the next RC version from Unraid to fix this issue.

 

15 minutes ago, neik said:

I am thinking about it but am wondering about the transcoding capabilities.

Why should it perform worse than other iGPUs? QuickSync and/or VA-API should work on each generation nearly the same, you can always take a look at the QuickSync matrix here: Click
It always depends on the use case and how many simultaneous transocdes do you want to run.

If you have media files that also need transcoding from the audio stream you have to keep in mind that you maybe run into a CPU bottleneck because it can't keep up with audio transcoding but with throttling turned on you can transcode a few 4K streams I think...

Many people on the Unraid forums run such low power chips and have zero issue whatsoever. My Test Server for Unraid is a Asrock J3160-ITX and is also well capable of transcoding a few 4K streams, nothing too fancy but it can do it.

[softworkz 3324]

1 hour ago, ich777 said:

Can you detect if HuC is enabled on the Host, especially when you run Emby in a Docker container like I do?

Let's put aside the containerization aspect. Even without, the current situation is really unfortunate. Even Intel wasn't able to name any rules for firmware versions, kernel versions and GPU gens, which are supposed to work together and which aren't. 

So, to answer your question: there's not much to detect, when you don't know _what_ you want to detect.

For the immediate future, the only concern is Jasper Lake and Elkhart Lake, which can do low-power mode only. It doesn't require a command line change, though - when nothing is specified, a qsv encoder will choose automatically, but GuC needs to be enabled.

[softworkz 3324]

30 minutes ago, neik said:

Tbh. I'm confident it's powerful enough for my simple use case but you newer now with those low-power chips.

Please note my remarks regarding "low-power" CPUs here: 

 

[ich777 6]

12 minutes ago, softworkz said:

Even without, the current situation is really unfortunate. Even Intel wasn't able to name any rules for firmware versions, kernel versions and GPU gens, which are supposed to work together and which aren't. 

Yes I know it's a little convoluted right now and I think they are trying to fix things as good as they can because the current Kernel for the RC version from Unraid is 5.15.35 and basically everything is working as expected but not on Ice Lake as I discovered recently but should be fixed in Kernel 5.16+

I've only found very little information on this but here are some resources that I've found (but I'm sure you already know about them): Click and of course the firmware, only the latest firmware for each generation is needed: Click

 

12 minutes ago, softworkz said:

So, to answer your question: there's not much to detect, when you don't know _what_ you want to detect.

Exactly that's why I thought a switch in the Transcoding settings to only show this option when enabled when playing a file and clicking on the gear icon would be maybe the best option, so it would be up to the user.

Edited May 3, 2022 by ich777

[softworkz 3324]

44 minutes ago, ich777 said:

Yes I know it's a little convoluted right now and I think they are trying to fix things as good as they can because the current Kernel for the RC version from Unraid is 5.15.35 and basically everything is working as expected but not on Ice Lake as I discovered recently but should be fixed in Kernel 5.16+

Yes, but there are Alder Lake issues  (and partially Tiger and maybe other partial Lakes as well), which are only fixed in 5.18_RC2 -  which means: not even released yet.

I'm feeling sick, just when I try to think about how long this will take until it will arrive in all the distros.

Back to your question: yes, we can see whether we can add that, but first of all, we'll need to see how all these things will settle. This will probably cause some amount of support handling, and what I do not want to add to the story lines is "I chose "Low Power Mode" but it doesn't work"

What adds to this is that (almost) all of the parameters you see when clicking the gear mechanic button, are based on detection, e.g. the "Profile Limit" or "Encoding Preset" dropdowns show only those entries that are supported. Being unable to detect the availability of low-power mode in a reasonable way (yet) and display the option unconditionally, would break that logic a bit. Let's see how things develop..

[ggliuyi 0]

me too

[neik 835]

22 minutes ago, softworkz said:

Yes, but there are Alder Lake issues  (and partially Tiger and maybe other partial Lakes as well), which are only fixed in 5.18_RC2 -  which means: not even released yet.

I'm feeling sick, just when I try to think about how long this will take until it will arrive in all the distros.

Just to confirm:
This is a Linux only topic and not affecting those using Windows, right?

[softworkz 3324]

1 minute ago, neik said:

Just to confirm:
This is a Linux only topic and not affecting those using Windows, right?

Correct. On Windows, all CPU gens are working fine. No need to set kernel parameters or activate GuC/HuC, no need to care about firmware, kernel versions or whatever.

Just install the latest graphics drivers from the Intel website and you're fine.

[Luke 36991]

Are you still having an issue with this?

[softworkz 3324]

46 minutes ago, Luke said:

Are you still having an issue with this?

The OP had given up on this and returned the device to the store.

So, the answer is "No" - he doesn't have an issue with this anymore  

[ich777 6]

On 5/3/2022 at 11:00 AM, softworkz said:

I'm feeling sick, just when I try to think about how long this will take until it will arrive in all the distros.

Sorry completely forgot about this...

You are completely right about that.

I'm currently in contact with another user with Alder Lake on the Unraid forums but it seems that 5.18-RC2 doesn't fix the transcoding issues (crashing/not working).
Intel messed really up this time, IIRC wasn't this the case with Rocket Lake too where the drivers got released too late or something like that?

On 5/3/2022 at 11:00 AM, softworkz said:

This will probably cause some amount of support handling, and what I do not want to add to the story lines is "I chose "Low Power Mode" but it doesn't work"

BTW I did a lot more testing on my i5-10600 and low_power is working great I have to say, if you are watching content on the go on a Tablet or Phone it is more than enough and you even barely even notice the quality loss...

[softworkz 3324]

38 minutes ago, ich777 said:

I'm currently in contact with another user with Alder Lake on the Unraid forums but it seems that 5.18-RC2 doesn't fix the transcoding issues (crashing/not working).

It's getting even messier: ADL != ADL

The 5.18-RC2 kernel is confirmed to fix the situation with ADL-S. But there are others, e.g. ADL-P which is different again. Which is yours? (your case)

38 minutes ago, ich777 said:

IIRC wasn't this the case with Rocket Lake too where the drivers got released too late or something like that?

I don't know. If yes, then we hadn't seen any user impact at least. But at the Linux side, users are rarely having the very latest hardware. (I mean Emby users)
Those kind of things don't happen on Windows..

Edited May 16, 2022 by softworkz

[ich777 6]

3 hours ago, softworkz said:

The 5.18-RC2 kernel is confirmed to fix the situation with ADL-S. But there are others, e.g. ADL-P which is different again. Which is yours? (your case)

The one user that is currently troubleshooting has a i5-12600K

 

3 hours ago, softworkz said:

But at the Linux side, users are rarely having the very latest hardware. (I mean Emby users)

This is also the case on Unraid, not many users have currently a Alder Lake chip because it is well known on the forums to not use bleeding edge hardware because of obvious things...

3 hours ago, softworkz said:

Those kind of things don't happen on Windows..

Exactly, but as a Unraid user coming from Windows HomeServer -> Windows Server 2008R2 -> Windows Server Essentials 2013 I wouldn't want to go back, first from a power usage perspective and also those Updates Strategy that Windows has build in, how often things broke for me with a update and at last the telemetry data was always something that bugged me a lot...

[softworkz 3324]

11 hours ago, ich777 said:

how often things broke for me with a update

Hm, I never experiences such issues. I think that's not a fair comparison.

Windows is the only OS in the world where you are able to run binaries (or access libraries/DLLs) that have been compiled 20 years ago.

11 hours ago, ich777 said:

the telemetry data was always something that bugged me a lot

It's a lot of work to cut down all that stuff, that's really annoying. What I find really upsetting is that they want to start requiring you to have an MS account to install the OS (not only on Home but also Pro).

[embylad892746 15]

On 5/16/2022 at 6:59 AM, softworkz said:

The OP had given up on this and returned the device to the store.

So, the answer is "No" - he doesn't have an issue with this anymore  

Too soon @softworkz lol.

[Ratatouille 11]

Got something similar with Version 4.7.5.0 between reboot I am loosing vaapi /quicksync

sometime is on and sometime is off.

 

ffmpeg-transcode-8351d05e-d6c8-47f5-94a1-4fda0bdca87e_1(1).txt hardware_detection-63793294981.txt hardware_detection-63793298083.txt

Edited July 13, 2022 by Ratatouille

[softworkz 3324]

The next beta will include the Intel updates. Sorry for the long waiting time.