Hardware transcoding cannot be activated. (only emby)

[Dark6846 2]

Unfortunately, after a few days of trying, I am still unable to activate hardware transcoding. No hardware is displayed in the settings under 'preferred hardware decoders'.

My system:
- Emby runs with docker in a VM in Truenas.
- Truenas Scale Version: Dragonfish-24.04.2.5
- Emby version: 4.8.10.0
- Portainer version: 2.21.5
- VM OS: Ubuntu 24.04 LTS
- Graphics card: NVIDIA GTX 1060

There are some errors in the hardware_detection log file:
- hardware_detection.txt: “Message”: “Failed to initialize VA /dev/dri/renderD128. Error -1”

- What have I tried?
- Tried tons of instructions in forums
- Considered the Emby documentation.
- switch off immich and then test emby
- server restart

Further information:
- I use immich in the same VM. The hardware acceleration also works there via docker without any problems. So it must be a problem with emby.

I hope that someone can help me. Unfortunately, emby is for me quite useless without the feature, as the CPU load is far too high.

Thanks for reading

docker-compose.yml hardware_detection-63876722340.txt embyserver.txt

[Dark6846 2]

does no one have any ideas?

[yocker 156]

/dev/dri/renderD128 is for Intel.
You need --runtime=nvidia for nvidia cards.

I'm no Linux guru so i don't know if you also need the Nvidia drivers.

Edited March 5 by yocker

[Dark6846 2]

4 minutes ago, yocker said:

/dev/dri/renderD128 is for Intel.
You need --runtime=nvidia for nvidia cards.

I'm no Linux guru so i don't know if you also need the Nvidia drivers.

i'm currently trying to solve it, but i don't understand the error. i have defined the runtime in the docker-compose and the nvidia drivers are installed. it works with other applications too, just not emby.

[visproduction 250]

Of interest: GTX 1060 supports:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nvidia_NVDEC

 

Edited March 6 by visproduction

[Carlo 4546]

Check carefully you have done these steps:

https://www.truenas.com/docs/truenasapps/stableapps/emby/

Check it again.

If still not working have a look below. May not apply to a specific version of TrueNAS.

Emby User settings

• make the emby user a member of video and render groups

Enable GPU Passthrough on TrueNAS Scale:

• Go to System Settings > Advanced in the TrueNAS Scale interface.
• In the Isolated GPU Devices section, select the GPU you want to dedicate to applications.
• Save the settings and reboot the system to isolate the GPU.

Add GPU to the Emby App:

• In the TrueNAS Scale Apps menu, locate the Emby app and click Edit.
• Look for a section like GPU or Resources (depending on the app interface).
• Assign the isolated GPU to the Emby app. This step ensures Emby has access to the GPU for hardware transcoding.

Verify GPU Access in Emby:

• Once the app is updated, log in to the Emby server dashboard.
• Navigate to Settings > Transcoding and ensure hardware transcoding is enabled.
• Check for available hardware decoders (e.g., Intel Quick Sync or NVIDIA NVENC). If no decoders are listed, there may be a permissions or configuration issue.

 

 

Edited March 10 by Carlo

[Dark6846 2]

On 3/10/2025 at 12:50 AM, Carlo said:

Check carefully you have done these steps:

https://www.truenas.com/docs/truenasapps/stableapps/emby/

Check it again.

If still not working have a look below. May not apply to a specific version of TrueNAS.

Emby User settings

• make the emby user a member of video and render groups

Enable GPU Passthrough on TrueNAS Scale:

• Go to System Settings > Advanced in the TrueNAS Scale interface.
• In the Isolated GPU Devices section, select the GPU you want to dedicate to applications.
• Save the settings and reboot the system to isolate the GPU.

Add GPU to the Emby App:

• In the TrueNAS Scale Apps menu, locate the Emby app and click Edit.
• Look for a section like GPU or Resources (depending on the app interface).
• Assign the isolated GPU to the Emby app. This step ensures Emby has access to the GPU for hardware transcoding.

Verify GPU Access in Emby:

• Once the app is updated, log in to the Emby server dashboard.
• Navigate to Settings > Transcoding and ensure hardware transcoding is enabled.
• Check for available hardware decoders (e.g., Intel Quick Sync or NVIDIA NVENC). If no decoders are listed, there may be a permissions or configuration issue.

 

 

Thank you for your response.

Sadly it does not work. First of all, I have a problem. My CPU does not have a GPU unit. I have an external graphics card because of this but i can only isolate the graphics card if I have an integrated GPU. There is a workarount for this by removing the python check. I have done this and it works with immich in a vm.
However, I cannot add this card to the truenas container. The graphics card is otherwise not used.
It is displayed in the settings, but it is not saved when saving. it also says non-nvidia?! what a load of crap the whole thing is. if there was at least a debug from emby for this crap. i have paid a lifetime license for this.

thanks for the help anyway:)

[Neminem 792]

Most of the time gpu can only be used by either VM or Docker.

Since you have is in use in VM, you can't use it in Docker too.

Try shutting down the VM and try using it with Docker.

Sometimes you would need to reboot / restart the server to release the gpu.

[Dark6846 2]

I have now:
- reinstalled
- restarted
- only via app in truenas
- only via VM
- only the one container in the VM

I'm giving up this garbage now.

stupid question. i only have a CPU without an integrated GPU. if i now buy a CPU with an integrated GPU, does the CPU itself check that the calculation has to be done via the GPU part, or do i still have to define this separately in hardwaretranscoding?

If so, is the GPU in an AMD Ryzen 5 4600G sufficient for such tasks? For the calculation of H265.

[Dark6846 2]

i have now tested it with jellyfin. it works there without any problems. so i do not assume that my hardware/setup outside the docker container and its config is the problem.

 

[Dark6846 2]

I have now solved it by using the container of linuxserver/emby. worked right away.

[Luke 39645]

Hi, we are looking into this. Thanks.

[Dark6846 2]

6 hours ago, Luke said:

Hi, we are looking into this. Thanks.

Tested it longer. But it still seems to be a little unstable. Initially, all movies were processed with hardware acceleration when i started it. With the same settings now (all checkboxes for hardware acceleration), the hardware acceleration is usually only started if I set the resolution in the movie to 1080p with 10 mbps or lower, for example. from 15 mbps and higher, it will not start. I found a movie that is 1080p at 60 mpbs and directly activates acceleration without changing anything.

Both were transcoded with the same software and both have the same: MPEG-H Part2/HEVC (H.265) (hevc)

 

embyserver(3).txt ffmpeg-transcode-0c893401-2b3b-4947-aea4-9ad25fcb2f73_1(1).txt