for Lubuntu 24.04

Setup Intel VAAPI on x86 (64 bits) system from scratch using Lubuntu 24.04

Legend:

<command>— this is a command that should be copied to terminal.
ukn@ukn-lenovo:~$ uname -a — this is the output I got; you should get something similar (except username). Is intended for verification purpose.
rest of the text is informational.

Hardware used in the process:

Lenovo ThinkCentre M720q element with i5-9500T

download ISO LUBUNTU 24.04:

https://www.cdimage.ubuntu.com/lubuntu/releases/24.04/release/lubuntu-24.04.1-desktop-amd64.iso

flash ISO to USB 32G using rufus-3.21

Note:

make sure you plug the USB in USB2.0 socket (black).
HDD information will be lost when you install Lubuntu 24.04; make sure you back up any information.

Install Lubuntu to PC with default settings; connect also to internet.

Update some settings: Preference / LXQt setting / Power Management: Idle --> uncheck Enable Idleness Watcher : Close Preference / LXQt setting / Monitor Settings: 1280 x 720 : Save : Yes Preference / LXQt setting / LXQt Configuration Center : Openbox Settings --> Desktops : Number of desktops : 1 Preference / Screen Saver : Mode : Disable screen saver

Install SSH

open: System Tools / QTerminal

sudo apt update sudo apt install ssh

check status

systemctl status ssh

if is not working

sudo systemctl enable ssh

and

sudo systemctl start ssh

connect over SSH using Putty or terminal to continue the setup (from this point you should not need the keyboard, mouse and display for the server):

Update to latest software

sudo apt update

sudo apt upgrade

sudo reboot sudo

apt autoremove --purge

ukn@ukn-lenovo:~$ uname -a Linux ukn-lenovo 6.8.0-52-generic #53-Ubuntu SMP PREEMPT_DYNAMIC Sat Jan 11 00:06:25 UTC 2025 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

install OneVPL

Before you start let's check that GPU is supported in MSDK or OneVPL.

sudo lspci -nn | grep -e VGA

ukn@ukn-lenovo:~$ sudo lspci -nn | grep -e VGA 00:02.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: Intel Corporation CoffeeLake-S GT2 [UHD Graphics 630] [8086:3e92]

you can go on: https://dgpu-docs.intel.com/devices/hardware-table.html and search for: "3e92" (check after [8086:****]). and see is: Intel® UHD Graphics 630 --> Gen 9 --> Coffee Lake

install vainfo to check what profiles are available

sudo apt install vainfo

sudo vainfo

$################### log output ####################

ukn@ukn-lenovo:~$ sudo vainfo error: XDG_RUNTIME_DIR is invalid or not set in the environment. error: can't connect to X server! libva info: VA-API version 1.20.0 libva info: Trying to open /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/dri/iHD_drv_video.so libva info: Found init function __vaDriverInit_1_20 libva info: va_openDriver() returns 0 vainfo: VA-API version: 1.20 (libva 2.12.0) vainfo: Driver version: Intel iHD driver for Intel(R) Gen Graphics - 24.1.0 () vainfo: Supported profile and entrypoints VAProfileMPEG2Simple : VAEntrypointVLD VAProfileMPEG2Main : VAEntrypointVLD VAProfileH264Main : VAEntrypointVLD VAProfileH264Main : VAEntrypointEncSliceLP VAProfileH264High : VAEntrypointVLD VAProfileH264High : VAEntrypointEncSliceLP VAProfileJPEGBaseline : VAEntrypointVLD VAProfileJPEGBaseline : VAEntrypointEncPicture VAProfileH264ConstrainedBaseline: VAEntrypointVLD VAProfileH264ConstrainedBaseline: VAEntrypointEncSliceLP VAProfileVP8Version0_3 : VAEntrypointVLD VAProfileHEVCMain : VAEntrypointVLD VAProfileHEVCMain10 : VAEntrypointVLD VAProfileVP9Profile0 : VAEntrypointVLD VAProfileVP9Profile2 : VAEntrypointVLD $########################################################

Instructions:

https://dgpu-docs.intel.com/driver/client/overview.html#installing-client-gpus-on-ubuntu-desktop-24-04-lts

Install gpu driver

Install the Intel graphics GPG public key

wget -qO - https://repositories.intel.com/gpu/intel-graphics.key | sudo gpg --yes --dearmor --output /usr/share/keyrings/intel-graphics.gpg

Configure the repositories.intel.com package repository

echo "deb [arch=amd64,i386 signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/intel-graphics.gpg] https://repositories.intel.com/gpu/ubuntu noble client" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/intel-gpu-noble.list

Update the package repository meta-data

sudo apt update

Install the compute-related packages

sudo apt-get install -y libze-intel-gpu1 libze1 intel-opencl-icd clinfo intel-gsc

Install the media-related packages

sudo apt-get install -y intel-media-va-driver-non-free libmfx1 libmfx-gen1 libvpl2 libvpl-tools libva-glx2 va-driver-all

Update to latest software:

sudo apt update

sudo apt upgrade

sudo reboot

sudo apt autoremove --purge

sudo vainfo

$################### log output ####################

ukn@ukn-lenovo:~$ sudo vainfo Trying display: wayland error: XDG_RUNTIME_DIR is invalid or not set in the environment. Trying display: x11 error: can't connect to X server! Trying display: drm libva info: VA-API version 1.22.0 libva info: Trying to open /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/dri/iHD_drv_video.so libva info: Found init function __vaDriverInit_1_22 libva info: va_openDriver() returns 0 vainfo: VA-API version: 1.22 (libva 2.22.0) vainfo: Driver version: Intel iHD driver for Intel(R) Gen Graphics - 24.3.4 () vainfo: Supported profile and entrypoints VAProfileNone : VAEntrypointVideoProc VAProfileNone : VAEntrypointStats VAProfileMPEG2Simple : VAEntrypointVLD VAProfileMPEG2Simple : VAEntrypointEncSlice VAProfileMPEG2Main : VAEntrypointVLD VAProfileMPEG2Main : VAEntrypointEncSlice VAProfileH264Main : VAEntrypointVLD VAProfileH264Main : VAEntrypointEncSlice VAProfileH264Main : VAEntrypointFEI VAProfileH264Main : VAEntrypointEncSliceLP VAProfileH264High : VAEntrypointVLD VAProfileH264High : VAEntrypointEncSlice VAProfileH264High : VAEntrypointFEI VAProfileH264High : VAEntrypointEncSliceLP VAProfileVC1Simple : VAEntrypointVLD VAProfileVC1Main : VAEntrypointVLD VAProfileVC1Advanced : VAEntrypointVLD VAProfileJPEGBaseline : VAEntrypointVLD VAProfileJPEGBaseline : VAEntrypointEncPicture VAProfileH264ConstrainedBaseline: VAEntrypointVLD VAProfileH264ConstrainedBaseline: VAEntrypointEncSlice VAProfileH264ConstrainedBaseline: VAEntrypointFEI VAProfileH264ConstrainedBaseline: VAEntrypointEncSliceLP VAProfileVP8Version0_3 : VAEntrypointVLD VAProfileVP8Version0_3 : VAEntrypointEncSlice VAProfileHEVCMain : VAEntrypointVLD VAProfileHEVCMain : VAEntrypointEncSlice VAProfileHEVCMain : VAEntrypointFEI VAProfileHEVCMain10 : VAEntrypointVLD VAProfileHEVCMain10 : VAEntrypointEncSlice VAProfileVP9Profile0 : VAEntrypointVLD VAProfileVP9Profile2 : VAEntrypointVLD $########################################################

Install developer packages:

sudo apt-get install -y libigc-dev intel-igc-cm libigdfcl-dev libigfxcmrt-dev level-zero-dev

Configuring permissions for render:

To access GPU capabilities, a user needs to have the correct permissions. The following will list the group assigned ownership of the render nodes, and list the groups the active user is a member of:

stat -c "%G" /dev/dri/render*

--> render

ukn@ukn-lenovo:~$ stat -c "%G" /dev/dri/render*

render

groups ${USER}

ukn@ukn-lenovo:~$ groups ${USER} ukn : ukn adm cdrom sudo dip plugdev lpadmin sambashare

My user doesn't have access because is not art of 'render' Now we add my user (ukn) to group (render)

sudo gpasswd -a ${USER} render

ukn@ukn-lenovo:~$ sudo gpasswd -a ${USER} render Adding user ukn to group render

newgrp render

verify:

groups ${USER}

ukn@ukn-lenovo:~$ groups ${USER} ukn : ukn adm cdrom sudo dip plugdev render lpadmin sambashare

Now we see user is part of render.

sudo vainfo

$################### log output ####################

the data format is: CODEC/profile : Encoder/Decoder

  VAProfileH264High               : VAEntrypointVLD
  VAProfileH264High               : VAEntrypointEncSlice
  VAProfileH264High               : VAEntrypointFEI
  VAProfileH264High               : VAEntrypointEncSliceLP

This is: H264, Profile high with decoder (VAEntrypointVLD) , Encoder (VAEntrypointEncSlice) and LowPower encoder (VAEntrypointEncSliceLP) Is important to identify if your GPU has this low power (LP) codecs available. In my case I have low power for: H264 profiles Main, High and Constrained

sudo apt update

sudo apt upgrade

Install gpu tools (required to check the work load on GPU):

sudo apt install intel-gpu-tools

Intel GPU:

sudo apt install i965-va-driver-shaders

Enable GUC/HuC firmware (this is a must for encoding with low power codec):

we need to generate a file: /etc/modprobe.d/i915.conf

with the text (only one line) "options i915 enable_guc=1"

echo -e "options i915 enable_guc=1" | sudo tee -a /etc/modprobe.d/i915.conf

sudo update-initramfs -k all -u

sudo update-grub

sudo reboot

Verify GuC was enabled:

sudo dmesg | grep guc

ukn@ukn-lenovo:~$ sudo dmesg | grep guc [ 4.331207] Setting dangerous option enable_guc - tainting kernel [ 4.343052] i915 0000:00:02.0: [drm] GT0: Incompatible option enable_guc=1 - GuC submission is N/A [ 4.726395] i915 0000:00:02.0: [drm] GT0: GuC firmware i915/kbl_guc_70.1.1.bin version 70.1.1

In this case we see that GuC is not available (so bit 1 is not useful).

delete the old file:

sudo rm /etc/modprobe.d/i915.conf

echo -e "options i915 enable_guc=2" | sudo tee -a /etc/modprobe.d/i915.conf

sudo update-initramfs -k all -u

sudo update-grub

sudo reboot

Verify GuC was enabled:

sudo dmesg | grep guc

ukn@ukn-lenovo:~$ sudo dmesg | grep guc [ 2.142048] Setting dangerous option enable_guc - tainting kernel [ 2.502650] i915 0000:00:02.0: [drm] GT0: GuC firmware i915/kbl_guc_70.1.1.bin version 70.1.1

This setting was accepted; bit 2 was able to enable GuC

Note:

For system with Intel gen 11+ most likely you might want to check enable_guc=3

-> it sounds scary 'dangerous option' ... but is fine.

this is required to scan channels later on:

sudo apt update

sudo apt install w-scan

sudo apt upgrade

clean up:

sudo apt autoremove --purge

Compile tvheadend

cd ~

git clone https://github.com/tvheadend/tvheadend.git

sudo apt update

sudo apt install cmake gettext libssl-dev liburiparser-dev libavahi-client-dev libdvbcsa-dev libva-dev debhelper

sudo apt install python-is-python3

cd tvheadend

./configure

$################### log output ####################

ukn@ukn-lenovo:~/tvheadend$ ./configure Checking support/features checking for cc execinfo.h ... ok checking for cc -mmmx ... ok checking for cc -msse2 ... ok checking for cc -Wunused-result ... ok checking for cc -fstack-protector ... ok checking for cc -fstack-protector-strong ... ok checking for cc -fstack-check ... ok checking for cc -fPIE ... ok checking for cc strlcat ... ok checking for cc strlcpy ... ok checking for cc fdatasync ... ok checking for cc getloadavg ... ok checking for cc atomic32 ... ok checking for cc atomic64 ... ok checking for cc atomic_time_t ... ok checking for cc atomic_ptr ... ok checking for cc bitops64 ... ok checking for cc lockowner ... ok checking for cc qsort_r ... ok checking for cc time_ld ... ok checking for cc time_lld ... fail ^ using time_t format 'ld' checking for cc stime ... fail checking for cc gmtoff ... ok checking for cc recvmmsg ... ok checking for cc sendmmsg ... ok checking for cc gnu_libiconv ... fail checking for cc libiconv ... fail ^ using build-in glibc iconv routines checking for cc ifnames ... ok checking for cc cclang_threadsan ... fail checking for py module gzip ... ok checking for pkg-config ... ok checking for xgettext ... ok checking for msgmerge ... ok checking for gzip ... ok checking for bzip2 ... ok checking for pkg openssl ... ok (detected 3.0.13) checking for cc linux/dvb/version.h ... ok checking for pkg zlib ... ok (detected 1.3) checking for pkg libpcre2-8 ... ok (detected 10.42) checking for pkg liburiparser ... ok (detected 0.9.7) checking for pkg avahi-client ... ok (detected 0.8) checking for cmake ... ok checking for cc -lstdc++ ... ok checking for pkg libva >=0.38.0 ... ok (detected 1.22.0) checking for pkg libva-drm >=0.38.0 ... ok (detected 1.22.0) checking for cc sys/inotify.h ... ok checking for cc inotify_init1 ... ok checking for cc dvbcsa/dvbcsa.h ... ok checking for cc -ldvbcsa ... ok fetching dvb-scan files ... ok checking for cc epoll_create1 ... ok checking for pkg dbus-1 ... ok (detected 1.14.10)

Compiler: Using C compiler: cc Using LD flags: -ldvbcsa Build for arch: x86_64

Binaries: Using PYTHON: python Using GZIP: gzip Using BZIP2: bzip2

Options: pie yes ccdebug no cardclient yes cwc yes cccam yes capmt yes constcw yes linuxdvb yes satip_server yes satip_client yes hdhomerun_client yes hdhomerun_server yes hdhomerun_static yes iptv yes tsfile yes dvbscan yes timeshift yes trace yes avahi yes zlib yes libav yes ffmpeg_static yes libx264 yes libx264_static yes libx265 yes libx265_static yes libvpx yes libvpx_static yes libtheora yes libtheora_static yes libvorbis yes libvorbis_static yes libfdkaac no libfdkaac_static no libopus yes libopus_static yes nvenc no vaapi yes mmal no omx no inotify yes epoll yes pcre no pcre2 yes uriparser yes ccache no tvhcsa yes bundle no pngquant no kqueue no dbus_1 yes android no gtimer_check no slow_memoryinfo no libsystemd_daemon no pcloud_cache yes ddci yes cclang_threadsan no gperftools no execinfo yes mmx yes sse2 yes W_unused_result yes f_stack_protector yes f_stack_protector_strong yes f_stack_check yes f_PIE yes strlcat yes strlcpy yes fdatasync yes getloadavg yes atomic32 yes atomic64 yes atomic_time_t yes atomic_ptr yes bitops64 yes lockowner yes qsort_r yes time_ld yes gmtoff yes recvmmsg yes sendmmsg yes ifnames yes py_gzip yes bin_pkg_config yes bin_xgettext yes bin_msgmerge yes bin_gzip yes bin_bzip2 yes ssl yes linuxdvbapi yes linuxdvb_ca yes upnp yes bin_cmake yes stdcpp yes libogg_static yes hwaccels yes inotify_h yes inotify_init1 yes dvbcsa yes epoll_create1 yes mpegts yes mpegts_dvb yes

Packages: openssl 3.0.13 zlib 1.3 libpcre2-8 10.42 liburiparser 0.9.7 avahi-client 0.8 libva 1.22.0 libva-drm 1.22.0 dbus-1 1.14.10

Installation paths: Prefix: /usr/local Binaries: ${prefix}/bin Libraries: ${prefix}/lib Data files: ${prefix}/share Man pages: ${datadir}/man

Final Binary: /home/ukn/tvheadend/build.linux/tvheadend

Tvheadend Data Directory: /usr/local/share/tvheadend

$################### log output end ####################

Build tvheadend:

./Autobuild.sh

$################### log output ####################

....................................................................................

dpkg-deb: building package 'tvheadend-dbg' in '../tvheadend-dbg_4.3-2375~~g653bd0400~~noble_amd64.deb'. dpkg-deb: building package 'tvheadend' in '../tvheadend_4.3-2375~~g653bd0400~~noble_amd64.deb'. make[1]: Leaving directory '/home/ukn/tvheadend' dpkg-genbuildinfo --build=binary -O../tvheadend_4.3-2375~~g653bd0400~~noble_amd64.buildinfo dpkg-genchanges --build=binary -O../tvheadend_4.3-2375~~g653bd0400~~noble_amd64.changes dpkg-genchanges: info: binary-only upload (no source code included) dpkg-source --after-build . dpkg-buildpackage: info: binary-only upload (no source included)

$################### log output end ####################

From this last log you need to copy the file name starting "'tvheadend' in '../tvheadend_4.3..." (in your case will have a different number after '4.3-') In my case is: tvheadend-dbg_4.3-2375~~g653bd0400~~noble_amd64.deb

cd ..

Install tvheadend:

sudo dpkg -i tvheadend_4.3-2375g653bd0400noble_amd64.deb

We have to add also user hts to render (or your group that has access to GPU):

sudo gpasswd -a hts render

newgrp render

verify:

groups hts

ukn@ukn-lenovo:~$ groups hts hts : hts render

Now we see user is part of render.

restart:

sudo reboot

Setup VAAPI profile:

in browser

http://[IP_NUMBER]:9981

Setup GPU transcoding:

--> make sure you have Expert settings selected Configure / General / Base / Web Interface Settings / Default View Level

Add codec profile:

Configuration / Stream / Codec Profiles --> Add

Codec: h264_vaapi

Name: h264_vaapi

Description: ....

Deinterlace: checked (very important)

Height: 0

Hardware acceleration: checked (very important)

Device name: i915 v.1.6.0 (/dev/dri/renderD128) (very important)

Bitrate: 0

Buffer factor: 3 Rate

control: 1 (CQP)

Constant QP: 27

Ignore B-Frames: 0

Quality: 1

Press Create button.

Add stream profile:

Configuration / Stream / Stream Profiles --> Add

Type: Transcode/av-lib

Profile name: h264

Enabled: checked

Default: checked

Comment: ...

Data timeout: 5

Default priority: Normal

Force priority: 0

Restart on error: checked

Continue if descrambling fails: checked

Descrembling timeout: 2000

Switch to another service: checked

Preferred services vide type: None

Container: Matroska

Video codec profile: h264_vaapi (very important)

Source video codec: EMPTY

Audio codec profile: web-aac

Source audio codec: EMPTY

Subtitle codec profile: Copy

Source subtitle codec: EMPTY

Press Create button.

Note: all 'very important' are required.

Now you are ready to test: open one stream with tvh server and check the Tvheadend log:

2022-12-09 10:53:37.821 transcode: 0001: 01:MPEG2VIDEO: ==> Using profile h264_vaapi 2022-12-09 10:53:37.822 transcode: 0001: 02:AC3: ==> Using profile webtv-aac

To confirm you are using GPU for trancoding you need to send:

sudo intel_gpu_top

When you don't have any streams open you will see all numbers: 0; after you open streams you should see values non-zero in: Render/3D , Video and VideoEnhance.

PreviousCompiling TVH with VAAPI Support Nextfor Lubuntu 22.04

Last updated 3 days ago

Was this helpful?