Intel N150 Transcoding Not Working

[AlienFarmer 3]

Installed emby server deb package (tried both the 4.8.10 and the 4.9 beta) on Ubuntu 24.10 running on Beelink EQ14 with Intel N150. 

GPU driver properly installed and functioning, command intel_gpu_top shows the GPU usage correctly. 

Transcoding is not showing codecs. 

[Luke 40152]

 

Hi there, let's look at an example. Please attach the information requested in how to report a media playback issue. Thanks!

 

[AlienFarmer 3]

Hi Luke,

Log files attached. Just a note, N150 is brand new. 

 

ffmpeg-transcode-5bbd59ab-1d80-45b7-9c69-09a83072c6e2_1.txt hardware_detection-63870208296.txt embyserver.txt

[Schleudertrauma 10]

Can you specify your problem? The logs are showing several errors from permission errors and system read-only over I/O-errors related to inotify up to credential errors.

 

[AlienFarmer 3]

When I choose advance option under the transcoding menu, no codecs is listed there. The CPU usage is high 99% when transcoding. 

[quibow 1]

Hello,
Running into this same issue - same hardware, same distro release, same emby build.

Any progress with this?
 

embyserver.txt hardware_detection-63870974595.txt

[AlienFarmer 3]

@LukeAny updates on this? I am dying to transcode Emby using this new hardware.

[jeffreyw 0]

@LukeHaving the same issue with N150 running Debian and official emby docker image. Logs show the similar errors. Have updated to the latest kernel, firmware and mesa to ensure the GPU is working in Debian, but it refuses to work in Emby. 

hardware_detection-63876639664.txt embyserver.txt

[TMCsw 180]

So I have a n150 mini and am running it with Proxmox 8.xx . Mostly for nginx/OPNsense but thought I'd check out if it could be a decent emby server..

It wasn't until I updated the kernel to:

apt install proxmox-kernel-6.11

  that  '/dev/dri/renderD128' even existed!

after this upgrade ffmpeg  -en/de-coders show there is VAAPI support but no QSV (even with the latest snapshot)

i read that orange supports this processor, so I (reluctantly) spun up a LXC and indeed they do support HW transcoding although only via. VAAPI  

Spoiler

/usr/lib/plexmediaserver/Plex Transcoder -codec:#0x51 mpeg2video -hwaccel:#0x51 vaapi -hwaccel_fallback_threshold:#0x51 10 -hwaccel_output_format:#0x51 vaapi -hwaccel_device:#0x51 vaapi -extra_hw_frames 32 -codec:#0x54 ac3 -analyzeduration 20000000 -probesize 20000000 -i /data/OTA_shows/60 Minutes (1968)/Season 57/60 Minutes S57E23 Ukraine-US; Death Flights.ts -filter_complex [0:#0x51]hwupload[0];[0]deinterlace_vaapi[1];[1]scale_vaapi=w=720:h=404:format=nv12[2];[2]hwupload[3] -map [3] -codec:0 h264_vaapi -b:0 967k -maxrate:0 1290k -bufsize:0 2580k -r:0 29.969999999999999 -force_key_frames:0 expr:gte(t,n_forced*8) -filter_complex [0:#0x54] aresample=async=1:ochl='stereo':rematrix_maxval=0.000000dB:osr=48000[4] -map [4] -metadata:s:1 language=eng -codec:1 aac -b:1 128k -f dash -seg_duration 8 -dash_segment_type mp4 -init_seg_name init-stream$RepresentationID$.m4s -media_seg_name chunk-stream$RepresentationID$-$Number%05d$.m4s -window_size 5 -delete_removed false -skip_to_segment 1 -time_delta 0.0625 -manifest_name http://127.0.0.1:32400/video/:/transcode/session/ldn4d1a6kqsp62cqfcy1dz2c/95903916-b633-4cb1-95fe-6963cf4351eb/manifest?X-Plex-Http-Pipeline=infinite -avoid_negative_ts disabled -map_metadata -1 -map_chapters -1 dash -start_at_zero -copyts -vsync cfr -init_hw_device vaapi=vaapi:/dev/dri/renderD128,driver=iHD -filter_hw_device vaapi -y -nostats -loglevel quiet -loglevel_plex error -progressurl http://127.0.0.1:32400/video/:/transcode/session/ldn4d1a6kqsp62cqfcy1dz2c/95903916-b633-4cb1-95fe-6963cf4351eb/progress

emby does not find the VAAPI capabilities (stable o beta 41).

[Q-Droid 884]

The n150 still doesn't show up on the Intel page for GPUs with supported drivers, yet. The device ID for the n150 is 0x46D4 with a Q1'25 release date. My guess is that it could be a while before QSV makes it to Emby for Twin Lake CPUs.

https://dgpu-docs.intel.com/devices/hardware-table.html

[erimat 0]

I am waiting for a solution as well. The n150 works successfully with hardware transcoding in the latest Plex version, it shows up as Alder Lake-N.

Edited March 5 by erimat

[AlienFarmer 3]

1 minute ago, erimat said:

I am waiting for a solution as well. The n150 works successfully with hardware transcoding in the latest Plex version, it shows up as Alder Lake-N.

I was told by the emby team that it's a Linux issue and not an Emby issue. Somehow Plex works! 

[TMCsw 180]

5 hours ago, AlienFarmer said:

I was told by the emby team that it's a Linux issue and not an Emby issue. Somehow Plex works! 

They are 1/2 right (perhaps when you were told that it was true?), but with a recent enough Linux kernel this processor can now do HW transcoding via VAAPI but not QSV (yet).

Emby should be detecting the VAAPI capabilities and enabling them (as it did in the past for my UHD 770, before intel made the QSV drivers available). 

[jeffreyw 0]

9 hours ago, AlienFarmer said:

I was told by the emby team that it's a Linux issue and not an Emby issue. Somehow Plex works! 

Very unlikely that it is a Linux issue. I setup a Jellyfin docker server to test on my setup and it works fine utilizing the iGPU. In the logs the encoder even shows hvec_qsv. 
 

The other poster saying it works with plex as well further proves that it is most likely an Emby issue. 

[AlienFarmer 3]

30 minutes ago, jeffreyw said:

Very unlikely that it is a Linux issue. I setup a Jellyfin docker server to test on my setup and it works fine utilizing the iGPU. In the logs the encoder even shows hvec_qsv. 
 

The other poster saying it works with plex as well further proves that it is most likely an Emby issue. 

I am guessing the Emby Dev Team does not have a N150 to run the testing...

[jeffreyw 0]

5 minutes ago, AlienFarmer said:

I am guessing the Emby Dev Team does not have a N150 to run the testing...

Yes that’s probably the case. Hopefully they can get the issues sorted quickly with information we can provide. 

[AlienFarmer 3]

28 minutes ago, jeffreyw said:

Yes that’s probably the case. Hopefully they can get the issues sorted quickly with information we can provide. 

Fingers crossed, it's been over 3 months since I submitted the request.

[erimat 0]

Hi @Lukedo you need anything else from us to troubleshoot? Happy to provide whatever.

[Phalcon 0]

services:
  emby:
    image: emby/embyserver
    container_name: embyserver
    networks:
      - shared_network
    environment:
      - UID=1000
      - GID=1000
      - GIDLIST=992,44,1000
    devices:
      - /dev/dri:/dev/dri
    volumes:
      - /opt/docker/emby/programdata:/config
      - movies:/mnt/nfs/films
      - series:/mnt/nfs/series
      - musics:/mnt/nfs/musiques
      - emby_backup:/mnt/nfs/emby_backup
    ports:
      - 8096:8096 # HTTP port
      - 8920:8920 # HTTPS port
    restart: on-failure

networks:
  shared_network:
    external: true

volumes:
  movies:
    external: true
  series:
    external: true
  musics:
    external: true
  emby_backup:
    external: true

Hello, just another testimony with an Intel N150. I tested Jellyfin and it works.

embyserver.txt hardware_detection-63878346234.txt

[AlienFarmer 3]

On 23/03/2025 at 13:09, Phalcon said:

services:
  emby:
    image: emby/embyserver
    container_name: embyserver
    networks:
      - shared_network
    environment:
      - UID=1000
      - GID=1000
      - GIDLIST=992,44,1000
    devices:
      - /dev/dri:/dev/dri
    volumes:
      - /opt/docker/emby/programdata:/config
      - movies:/mnt/nfs/films
      - series:/mnt/nfs/series
      - musics:/mnt/nfs/musiques
      - emby_backup:/mnt/nfs/emby_backup
    ports:
      - 8096:8096 # HTTP port
      - 8920:8920 # HTTPS port
    restart: on-failure

networks:
  shared_network:
    external: true

volumes:
  movies:
    external: true
  series:
    external: true
  musics:
    external: true
  emby_backup:
    external: true

Hello, just another testimony with an Intel N150. I tested Jellyfin and it works.

embyserver.txt 40.39 kB · 0 downloads hardware_detection-63878346234.txt 138.15 kB · 0 downloads

I recently tried the latest version of fnOS, which includes native support for N150 chip. I installed Jellyfin and Frigate, both are able to utilize the GPU effectively. This has further confirmed that this is an Emby problem. I am shocked that this is taking almost half a year to action on. For the first time in the past 3 years, the Emby premiere has been shadowed. 

[Luke 40152]

Hi, we should have an updated ffmpeg build on the server beta channel in the very near future. Thanks guys.

[joli 1]

Any news on this topic or a timeline when it's going to be released?

[TMCsw 180]

UPDATE:

Appears this low powered CPU/iGPU may have more ‘Guts’ than I expected… …After:

Downloading MediaStack.tar.gz from VPL GPU Runtime 2025Q1 Release - 25.1.4 (Latest) extracting  and installing... (edit: forgot rebooting)

...Then recompiling ffmpeg from the latest ffmpeg-snapshot with the newer VPL stuff I now see the following:

It would seem that it has HW support for both decoding/encoding of av1 and decoding of vvc via QSV. Although I have not found the correct command line to make av1 work (or from the error output it may be still a work in progress) most others I’ve tried seem fine and the CPU sits nearly idle…

But of course, it still does not help emby, even in the beta  

Edited April 17 by TMCsw

[AlienFarmer 3]

Emby really drops the ball on this one

[PIkeoftheLake 9]

Man, I just bought this and put the brand new TrueNAS Fangtooth on it: Topton 2-Bay NAS R1 PRO AMD Ryzen 7 5825U Intel N100 Mini PC 2x i226-V 2.5G Firewall Router Network Storage Server Private Cloud - Office_Mini-PC Industrial_Mini-PC Gaming_Mini_PC Laptops Stick_PC_Pocket_PC Industrial_Tablet/Panel

But instead of the N100 chip I got the N150.  Great!

Install Emby as a docker container....

But now I read this and my hardware transcoding is borked.

Anxiously awaiting a fix.