RPi 3&4: No HW acceleration for kodi (h264 & h265)

[loki1985]

Hi there,

longtime happy user of Recalbox here.
I use the included Kodi media player quite a bit and noticed that apparently since 8.x.x versions there is no more HW acceleration for videos enabled.

I just updated my RPi 4b+ to 8.1, at least h265 is unwatchable and completely sluggish. h264 seems to work but i fear this is decoded purely in software.

My RPi 3b+ is still on 8.0.2 and has the same issue. Of course no h265 HW support on the 3b+, but h264 is sluggish and unwatchable.

Hope this isssue can be fixed, especially since it used to work on older versions of Recalbox (pre-8.x.x that is)

[ion]

I have the same issue.

[praefectum]

Same problem for me as well...
h265 HW acceleration disabled

[loki1985]

Maybe related to https://github.com/raspberrypi/linux/issues/4112

There it seems Kernel 5.10 is the problem, downgrading to 5.4 seems to solve the issue.

No idea what Kernel is actually used for the current 8.1 images tho.

[praefectum]

@loki1985 Kernel is now 5.15, I also tried the solution you proposed but to no avail...

[danielr]

Same for me, the cpu does all the work on kodi since v8 of recalbox. I've reported this a few times on this forum, discord and well as created an issue on gitlab https://gitlab.com/recalbox/recalbox/-/issues/2162 but unfortulately every new release still has the same problem so far.

Looking forward to this being resolved so I can finally dust out my RPi4 recalbox and enjoy x265 hardware decoding. For now, sticking with my Rpi3B+ on recalbox 7.1.1 as my daily setup.

[Alvin]

Looking forward to this being resolved so I can finally dust out my RPi4 recalbox and enjoy x265 hardware decoding. For now, sticking with my Rpi3B+ on recalbox 7.1.1 as my daily setup.

So why not use LibreElec
https://libreelec.tv/downloads/raspberry/
with your Pi 4 to watch Movies and the (already working) Recalbox 7.1.1 on your Pi 3B+ to play Games ?

1. LibreElec uses the last Version of Kodi (19), RecalBox don't !
2. Don't update to RecalBox 8 !
   Look around on this Board, it seems that this Version give People a lot of Trouble.
   For this Reason I'm still using RecalBox 6 on m,y Pi 3B+ and it works great without any Problems.

[danielr]

@Alvin Sorry I actually meant version 7.2.2 which is the one that works best for me (and could probably still be downloaded on archive.org).

I thought about installing LibreElec standalone but my raspberry is inside a retroflag case and recalbox added some very convenient ways to manage safe shutdown. Also I'm using kodi 95% of the time but it's still nice to be able to play the odd game on the recalbox side when I feel like it.

Thanks for the suggestion though, I might give it a try just to see if the official LibreElec has the same troubles with RPi4, might help narrowing down the issue.

[Alvin]

Ok, so if RecalBox 7.2.2 works for you, stay with it

@danielr said in [RPi 3&4: No HW acceleration for

Looking forward to this being resolved so I can finally dust out my RPi4 recalbox and enjoy x265 hardware decoding. For now, sticking with my Rpi3B+ on recalbox 7.1.1 as my daily setup.

So I assume that you own a Pi 3b+ in a Retroflag Case with working Recalbox 7.2.2 on in and a Pi 4 to.

If that's so, "dust out" the Pi 4, get a SD-Card and install LibreElec on in, and use the Pi3b+ in the Retroflag Case for gaming.

Or did I get it wrong ?

If the Pi 4 is in the Retroflag Case, than where is the Pi 3B+ you mentioned ?

If the Pi 4 is in the Retroflag Case, take it out,
buy a simple Case
https://www.raspberrypi.com/products/raspberry-pi-4-case/
a Powersupply
https://www.raspberrypi.com/products/type-c-power-supply/
and maybe a HDMI-Cable
https://www.raspberrypi.com/products/micro-hdmi-to-standard-hdmi-a-cable/
and installe LibreElec.

That's way better than waiting for other Things that (maybe) will never happen.