VLC 3.0.1 - Can't play 4K HEVC 10 bit HDR because of high CPU

[vash1]

Hello,

I can't play 4K HEVC 10 bit HDR content with latest and greatest VLC 3.0.1. The CPU usage is so hight that playback interrupts. VLC using 600%+ out of 800%

See screenshot:



System info:

OS - macOS High Sierra 10.13.3
MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Late 2013)
CPU - 2 GHz Intel Core i7
Memory - 8 GB 1600 MHz DDR3
Graphics - Intel Iris Pro 1536 MB

Mediainfo:

General
Unique ID : 228381880326591758098067796924441700209 (0xABD0C00D9BB26E3BA31DB91CEF3E2771)
Complete name : Groundhog.Day.1993.2160p.UHD.Rip.mkv
Format : Matroska
Format version : Version 4 / Version 2
File size : 29.4 GiB
Duration : 1 h 41 min
Overall bit rate mode : Variable
Overall bit rate : 41.7 Mb/s
Encoded date : UTC 2018-03-11 16:33:45
Writing application : mkvmerge v16.0.0 ('Protest') 64-bit
Writing library : libebml v1.3.5 + libmatroska v1.4.8

Video
ID : 1
Format : HEVC
Format/Info : High Efficiency Video Coding
Format profile : Main 10@L5.1@High
Codec ID : V_MPEGH/ISO/HEVC
Duration : 1 h 41 min
Bit rate : 35.6 Mb/s
Width : 3 840 pixels
Height : 2 076 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 1.85:1
Frame rate mode : Constant
Frame rate : 23.976 (24000/1001) FPS
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0 (Type 2)
Bit depth : 10 bits
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.186
Stream size : 25.1 GiB (85%)
Writing library : x265 2.6+4-f7498acb3874:[Windows][GCC 7.2.0][64 bit] 10bit
Encoding settings : cpuid=1173503 / frame-threads=4 / numa-pools=16 / wpp / no-pmode / no-pme / no-psnr / no-ssim / log-level=2 / input-csp=1 / input-res=3840x2076 / interlace=0 / total-frames=145392 / level-idc=51 / high-tier=1 / uhd-bd=0 / ref=4 / no-allow-non-conformance / repeat-headers / annexb / aud / hrd / info / hash=0 / no-temporal-layers / no-open-gop / min-keyint=24 / keyint=240 / bframes=4 / b-adapt=2 / b-pyramid / bframe-bias=0 / rc-lookahead=25 / lookahead-slices=4 / scenecut=40 / no-intra-refresh / ctu=64 / min-cu-size=8 / rect / no-amp / max-tu-size=32 / tu-inter-depth=1 / tu-intra-depth=1 / limit-tu=0 / rdoq-level=2 / dynamic-rd=0.00 / no-ssim-rd / signhide / no-tskip / nr-intra=0 / nr-inter=0 / no-constrained-intra / no-strong-intra-smoothing / max-merge=3 / limit-refs=3 / limit-modes / me=3 / subme=3 / merange=57 / temporal-mvp / weightp / no-weightb / no-analyze-src-pics / deblock=-3:-3 / no-sao / no-sao-non-deblock / rd=4 / no-early-skip / rskip / no-fast-intra / no-tskip-fast / no-cu-lossless / no-b-intra / no-splitrd-skip / rdpenalty=0 / psy-rd=2.00 / psy-rdoq=1.00 / no-rd-refine / analysis-reuse-mode=0 / no-lossless / cbqpoffs=0 / crqpoffs=0 / rc=crf / crf=19.0 / qcomp=0.60 / qpstep=4 / stats-write=0 / stats-read=0 / vbv-maxrate=160000 / vbv-bufsize=160000 / vbv-init=0.9 / crf-max=0.0 / crf-min=0.0 / ipratio=1.40 / pbratio=1.30 / aq-mode=1 / aq-strength=1.00 / cutree / zone-count=0 / no-strict-cbr / qg-size=32 / no-rc-grain / qpmax=69 / qpmin=0 / no-const-vbv / sar=1 / overscan=0 / videoformat=5 / range=0 / colorprim=9 / transfer=16 / colormatrix=9 / chromaloc=1 / chromaloc-top=2 / chromaloc-bottom=2 / display-window=0 / master-display=G(13250,34500)B(7500,3000)R(34000,16000)WP(15635,16450)L(40000000,50) / max-cll=10000,258 / min-luma=0 / max-luma=1023 / log2-max-poc-lsb=8 / vui-timing-info / vui-hrd-info / slices=1 / opt-qp-pps / opt-ref-list-length-pps / no-multi-pass-opt-rps / scenecut-bias=0.05 / no-opt-cu-delta-qp / no-aq-motion / hdr / hdr-opt / no-dhdr10-opt / analysis-reuse-level=5 / scale-factor=0 / refine-intra=0 / refine-inter=0 / refine-mv=0 / no-limit-sao / ctu-info=0 / no-lowpass-dct / refine-mv-type=0 / copy-pic=1
Default : Yes
Forced : No
Color range : Limited
Color primaries : BT.2020
Transfer characteristics : SMPTE ST 2084
Matrix coefficients : BT.2020 non-constant
Mastering display color primaries : R: x=0.680000 y=0.320000, G: x=0.265000 y=0.690000, B: x=0.150000 y=0.060000, White point: x=0.312700 y=0.329000
Mastering display luminance : min: 0.0050 cd/m2, max: 4000.0000 cd/m2
Maximum Content Light Level : 10000 cd/m2
Maximum Frame-Average Light Level : 258 cd/m2

Do I need to enable hardware acceleration for x265 in VLC? I had hard times to find in options where to enable it.

Any help will be appreciated.

Thanks!

[tguillem]

I'm sorry but the "Intel Iris Pro 1536 MB" can not do hardware acceleration for h265.

[vash1]

Thanks tguillem. Got it.

Can it be fixed in the future by Mac developers with OS update or by VLC? Or is it dead end?

h264 playing so smoothly...

[tguillem]

It's a dead end. You won't be able to play such high resolutions.

VLC on macOS can only improve the way it render software decoderd pictures to gain maybe between 5 and 20% of CPU time.

[billgates]

I'm sorry but the "Intel Iris Pro 1536 MB" can not do hardware acceleration for h265.

Are you planning on adding software decoding like older vlc versions that played fine on bad hardware? I have to use vlc2.8 because in 3.0, no hevc + surround sound files can play on my old MacMini. I have osx 10.12.6

[MikeRichardson]

I wonder if "Skip the loop filter" could also be applied to H.265. Then, maybe some more videos could play on some older systems.

Several years ago I had a very old PowerPC Mac laptop and I would want to play H.264 files. The only way to play some of them smoothly was to set "Skip the loop filter" to "All". The picture quality was worse, but that was preferable to having it stutter or drop frames. Because of this option, VLC could actually play more files without stuttering, than QuickTime.

You also need to quit other programs. Some Chrome tabs were using CPU in that screenshot. Lots of other little background programs using 1% each, they can add up.

[mike18xx]

> It's a dead end. You won't be able to play such high resolutions.

If BBP can play them, so should any other software of the same platform: https://forum.videolan.org/viewtopic.ph ... 73#p470173

[dfuhrmann]

What do you want to tell us, exactly? Your help is very welcome to improve the situation.

[billgates]

What do you want to tell us, exactly? Your help is very welcome to improve the situation.

VLC 2.2.8 played it fine, I hope it can be found to make VLC 3+ play the same files.

[mike18xx]

I can confirm the high CPU usage with 3.0.1, while playing the same file on the same system used in my comparison thread here: https://forum.videolan.org/viewtopic.ph ... 8&p=470763

It also returned a "close unexpectedly" error when closing after a ⌘-Q keyboard command.