Hardware transcoding not working on Intel N150

[b3n__ 1]

Hi,

I'm having issues getting hardware transcoding to work on my Beelink EQ14 running Debian 12. It has a Intel N150 CPU and I have installed the required graphics drivers:

Graphics:
  Device-1: Intel Alder Lake-N [Intel Graphics] driver: i915 v: kernel ports:
    active: none empty: HDMI-A-1,HDMI-A-2 bus-ID: 00:02.0 chip-ID: 8086:46d4
  Display: x11 server: X.org v: 1.21.1.7 with: Xwayland v: 22.1.9
    compositors: 1: gnome-shell v: 43.9 2: xfwm driver: X: loaded: modesetting
    unloaded: fbdev,vesa dri: iris gpu: i915 tty: 80x49
  API: OpenGL Message: GL data unavailable in console. Try -G --display

I have used the following docker file to install Emby:

services:
  emby:
    image: lscr.io/linuxserver/emby:latest
    container_name: emby
    environment:
      - PUID=1000
      - PGID=1000
      - GIDLIST=1000,44,105
      - TZ=Australia/Brisbane
    volumes:
      - /home/<user>/docker/emby/config:/config
      - /media/media-library/tvseries:/data/tvshows
      - /media/media-library/movies:/data/movies
    ports:
      - 192.168.1.101:8096:8096
    healthcheck:
          test: curl -f http://192.168.1.101:8096 || exit 1
          interval: 60s
          timeout: 10s
          retries: 3
          start_period: 60s
    devices:
      - /dev/dri:/dev/dri #optional
    restart: unless-stopped

The additional groups in GIDLIST are for the render and video groups. This is the contents of /dev/dri

drwxr-xr-x  2 root root         80 Jun 25 08:42 by-path
crw-rw----+ 1 root video  226,   0 Jun 25 08:42 card0
crw-rw----+ 1 root render 226, 128 Jun 25 08:42 renderD128

When I start a transcode job I can see the ffmpeg process spiking the CPU but at the same time I can't see any activity on the GPU.

 PID USER          PR  NI    VIRT    RES    SHR S  %CPU  %MEM     TIME+ COMMAND
  31162 xxxx       20   0  989228 312712  17784 S 352.0   1.9   9:22.89 ffmpeg

intel-gpu-top: 8086:46d4 @ /dev/dri/card0 -    0/   0 MHz; 100% RC6;  0.00/13.69 W;        0 irqs/s

         ENGINES     BUSY                                                                  MI_SEMA MI_WAIT
       Render/3D    0.00% |                                                              |      0%      0%
         Blitter    0.00% |                                                              |      0%      0%
           Video    0.00% |                                                              |      0%      0%
    VideoEnhance    0.00% |                                                              |      0%      0%

   PID              NAME      Render/3D            Blitter              Video            VideoEnhance
     1           systemd |                  ||                  ||                  ||                  |
  1835       gnome-shell |                  ||                  ||                  ||                  |

I also don't have any hardware options available in the transcoding section of Emby server:

When I check the logs I can see this error:

"Message": "Failed to initialize VA /dev/dri/renderD128. Error -1"

I can't seem to get this working, could someone let me know what I'm missing?

Thanks!

embyserver.txt hardware_detection-63886438497.txt

[Luke 42077]

Hi, are you able to try installing our native debian package to see how that compares to Docker?

[b3n__ 1]

Hi Luke,

I have installed the native package but the issue is the same. I don't have any hardware options under transcoding and the initialization error in the log remains. 

(PS are you able to fix the typo in the title?)

[Luke 42077]

39 minutes ago, b3n__ said:

Hi Luke,

I have installed the native package but the issue is the same. I don't have any hardware options under transcoding and the initialization error in the log remains. 

(PS are you able to fix the typo in the title?)

Can you please attach the log files from that test? Thanks !

[b3n__ 1]

Here are the logs from the native app.

hardware_detection-63886449676.txt embyserver (1).txt

[tollgate 8]

I suggest you read this topic:

 

[b3n__ 1]

Thanks for pointing me to that thread @tollgate. Doesn't look like there will be an official fix for the issue any time soon given its over 6 months since the initial post...

[Luke 42077]

Hi, we'll have a new ffmpeg build in the server beta channel in the near future, so stay tuned for that. Thanks.

[b3n__ 1]

Hi Luke,

I see you replied with the same message months ago in the other thread linked above by tollgate. When is this near future? This is a feature I'm paying for and the issue has been known for 7+ months. I find it strange that other forum members have worked out a solution (and posted the details, see other thread) but there is still no official fix available. 

Cheers.

[Luke 42077]

On 7/12/2025 at 2:39 AM, b3n__ said:

Hi Luke,

I see you replied with the same message months ago in the other thread linked above by tollgate. When is this near future? This is a feature I'm paying for and the issue has been known for 7+ months. I find it strange that other forum members have worked out a solution (and posted the details, see other thread) but there is still no official fix available. 

Cheers.

Hi, we are actively working on it and hope to have something soon. Thanks.

[b3n__ 1]

Hey Luke, 

Are there any updates on this? It's been another month and nothing. I'm building my own docker image as described in the other thread to get it working but that can't be it. After all this is a paid feature and it shouldn't be up to the user to compile their own images.

Could you explain why this is taking so long and why you can't provide an image with updated drivers? 

Thanks.

[Luke 42077]

9 hours ago, b3n__ said:

Hey Luke, 

Are there any updates on this? It's been another month and nothing. I'm building my own docker image as described in the other thread to get it working but that can't be it. After all this is a paid feature and it shouldn't be up to the user to compile their own images.

Could you explain why this is taking so long and why you can't provide an image with updated drivers? 

Thanks.

We have to look at it across all platforms. I apologize for the delay. We are working on it. Thanks.