Panorama videos are laggy when using VLC for Linux but good on Windows

[sswv]

I have some 360 degree panorama videos recorded by my Insta360 camera and encoded by ffmpeg. They play smoothly on my Lenovo Thinkpad T480 laptop using VLC 3.0.18 for Windows on Windows 11. I also installed Debian 12 on the same laptop. However, when I use VLC 3.0.18 for Linux to play these panorama videos, the video will be very laggy. If I drag the timeline, or adjust the viewing angle, the video won't play smoothly.

This problem usually occurs with "heavier" panorama videos (e.g. 5760x2880 H.265). For those "lighter" panorama videos (e.g. 3840x1920 H.264), VLC 3.0.18 for Linux plays them smoothly.

My graphics card is Intel UHD Graphics 620. I made sure to use the same Intel graphics card, not the NVidia MX150 graphics card, under both Windows and Linux. I tried both Wayland and X11, but the problem is the same.

I wonder where is the problem? How to make VLC for Linux play panorama video smoothly? Thank you!

This is the ffplobe info of such a panorama video:

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ffprobe version 5.1.3-1 Copyright (c) 2007-2022 the FFmpeg developers built with gcc 12 (Debian 12.2.0-14) configuration: --prefix=/usr --extra-version=1 --toolchain=hardened --libdir=/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu --incdir=/usr/include/x86_64-linux-gnu --arch=amd64 --enable-gpl --disable-stripping --enable-gnutls --enable-ladspa --enable-libaom --enable-libass --enable-libbluray --enable-libbs2b --enable-libcaca --enable-libcdio --enable-libcodec2 --enable-libdav1d --enable-libflite --enable-libfontconfig --enable-libfreetype --enable-libfribidi --enable-libglslang --enable-libgme --enable-libgsm --enable-libjack --enable-libmp3lame --enable-libmysofa --enable-libopenjpeg --enable-libopenmpt --enable-libopus --enable-libpulse --enable-librabbitmq --enable-librist --enable-librubberband --enable-libshine --enable-libsnappy --enable-libsoxr --enable-libspeex --enable-libsrt --enable-libssh --enable-libsvtav1 --enable-libtheora --enable-libtwolame --enable-libvidstab --enable-libvorbis --enable-libvpx --enable-libwebp --enable-libx265 --enable-libxml2 --enable-libxvid --enable-libzimg --enable-libzmq --enable-libzvbi --enable-lv2 --enable-omx --enable-openal --enable-opencl --enable-opengl --enable-sdl2 --disable-sndio --enable-libjxl --enable-pocketsphinx --enable-librsvg --enable-libmfx --enable-libdc1394 --enable-libdrm --enable-libiec61883 --enable-chromaprint --enable-frei0r --enable-libx264 --enable-libplacebo --enable-librav1e --enable-shared libavutil 57. 28.100 / 57. 28.100 libavcodec 59. 37.100 / 59. 37.100 libavformat 59. 27.100 / 59. 27.100 libavdevice 59. 7.100 / 59. 7.100 libavfilter 8. 44.100 / 8. 44.100 libswscale 6. 7.100 / 6. 7.100 libswresample 4. 7.100 / 4. 7.100 libpostproc 56. 6.100 / 56. 6.100 Input #0, mov,mp4,m4a,3gp,3g2,mj2, from 'example.mp4': Metadata: compatible_brands: isomiso2avc1mp41 major_brand : isom minor_version : 512 creation_time : 2022-07-10T08:58:11.000000Z encoder : Lavf59.27.100 Duration: 00:00:31.30, start: 0.000000, bitrate: 82807 kb/s Stream #0:0[0x1](und): Video: hevc (Main) (hvc1 / 0x31637668), yuv420p(tv, smpte170m, progressive), 5760x2880, 82669 kb/s, 29.97 fps, 29.97 tbr, 30k tbn (default) Metadata: creation_time : 2022-07-10T08:58:11.000000Z handler_name : VideoHandler vendor_id : [0][0][0][0] encoder : Lavc59.37.100 libx265 Side data: stereo3d: 2D spherical: equirectangular (0.000000/0.000000/0.000000) Stream #0:1[0x2](und): Audio: aac (LC) (mp4a / 0x6134706D), 48000 Hz, stereo, fltp, 128 kb/s (default) Metadata: creation_time : 2022-07-10T08:58:11.000000Z handler_name : SoundHandler vendor_id : [0][0][0][0]

[Rémi Denis-Courmont]

I think Debian disabled VLC supports for VA hardware acceleration used for AMD and Intel cards, so that's that.

[sswv]

I think Debian disabled VLC supports for VA hardware acceleration used for AMD and Intel cards, so that's that.

Thanks! I think this may be the reason. I checked the hardware-accelerated decoding setting of my VLC, it shows only Automatic and VDPAU, but no VA-API. I found this page: https://wiki.debian.org/HardwareVideoAcceleration , and it says that "VLC 3.0.x in bookworm has limited VA-API support".

The vainfo command shows that VA-API works normally my Debian. I also tested mpv by referring this post: https://code.videolan.org/videolan/vlc/-/issues/27163 . When enabling VA-API, mpv plays the video I mentioned smoothly; when disabing VA-API, mpv is also laggy. However, mpv does not support the panorama feature well, so I still expect VLC to work.

So, how can I get VA-API work with VLC on Debian 12? Or is there any other way for me to play these panorama videos normally? Thanks!

[Rémi Denis-Courmont]

You need to install the Snap version or compile manually

[sswv]

You need to install the Snap version or compile manually

I tried the snap version of VLC 4.0.0 (by "sudo snap install vlc --edge"). It indeed has the "VAAPI" option in the hardware-accelerated decoding setting, but it still reports an error when playing the 5760x2880 H.265 panorama video:

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[hevc @ 0x7f3e4811d340] Hardware does not support image size 5760x2880 (constraints: width 0-4096 height 0-4096).

I tried some smaller H.265 video (e.g. 3840x1920), and it works well.

Considering that mpv+VAAPI works well for this 5760x2880 video on my host, I think it should be some software issue rather than a hardware limitation. Thus, I checked the version of VAAPI. It is 1.17.0 on my host, but 1.7.0 in the snap file system of VLC 4.0.0. I am not sure whether it is related to the version of VAAPI? Or any other solution?

[sswv]

Hey! I believe that I found a workaround way. Use the snap version of VLC 4.0.0, instead of "/snap/bin/vlc", start it with:

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LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/snap/vlc/current/usr/lib/vlc:/snap/vlc/current/usr/lib:/snap/vlc/current/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu /snap/vlc/current/usr/bin/vlc

In this case, VLC will use the VAAPI libraries from my host instead of those in the snap file system. Then the debug info shows that VAAPI works well, and my panorama video can be played smoothly!

I'm wondering if there are side effects to doing this, any better suggestions?

BTW, the snap version of VLC may need to consider updating the version of VAAPI or solving other possible issues to completely solve this problem. Thanks!