[BUG] VP8 VAAPI Fails to initialize (Low-Power） on Skylake (HD 530)

[ffs-akl]

Description

I am encountering an issue when attempting to use VP8 VAAPI hardware encoding with wl-screenrec on my system featuring an Intel HD Graphics 530 (Skylake) iGPU.

The program first fails to open the encoder in low-power mode (as the function appears unimplemented for this codec/hardware combination). It then attempts to fall back to the standard encoding mode but ultimately fails, reporting that no usable encoding entrypoint can be found for the VP8 profile.

I have already set the recommended kernel parameter i915.enable_guc=2, and dmesg confirms HuC is successfully loaded and authenticated.

Steps to Reproduce

1. Ensure the kernel parameter i915.enable_guc=2 is set.
2. Run the following command to attempt VP8 encoding:

   wl-screenrec --codec vp8 -f ~/1.mkv 

3. The command ran successfuly with the errors shown below.

Full Error and Warning Output

out @ 0x559c0277d480] Option 'pix_fmts' is not a runtime option and so cannot be set after the object has been initialized
[vp8_vaapi @ 0x559c02811780] No usable encoding entrypoint found for profile VAProfileVP8Version0_3 (14).
failed to open encoder in low_power mode (Function not implemented), trying non low_power mode. if you have an intel iGPU, set enable_guc=2 in the i915 module to use the fixed function encoder. pass --low-power=off to suppress this warning

Expected Behavior

If the hardware lacks VP8 support, the tool should ideally communicate this clearly, or perhaps successfully utilize the non-low-power encoding mode if it is available for this codec on HD 530.

⚙️ Environment Details

• GPU / iGPU: Intel HD Graphics 530 (Skylake)
• VAAPI Driver: intel-media-driver (i.e., intel-media-va-driver)
• Kernel Configuration: i915.enable_guc=2
• wl-screenrec Version: 0.2.0
• Wayland Compositor: labwc lastest git ver
• OS / Distribution: Arch Linux
• Command Used: wl-screenrec --codec vp8 -f ~/1.mkv

dmesg Output (Confirming HuC/GuC Status)

[ 2.742199] Setting dangerous option enable_guc - tainting kernel
[ 2.827634] i915 0000:00:02.0: [drm] GT0: GuC firmware i915/skl_guc_70.1.1.bin version 70.1.1
[ 2.827646] i915 0000:00:02.0: [drm] GT0: HuC firmware i915/skl_huc_2.0.0.bin version 2.0.0
[ 2.853118] i915 0000:00:02.0: [drm] GT0: HuC: authenticated for all workloads
[ 2.853126] i915 0000:00:02.0: [drm] GT0: GUC: submission disabled
[ 2.853131] i915 0000:00:02.0: [drm] GT0: GUC: SLPC disabled

[chadkouse]

I was able to get passed this bug by passing -pix_fmts yuv420p to ffmpeg

[ffs-akl]

Could you share the full command and its output?

[hariganti]

@chadkouse, would you be able to share the full command? I tried wl-screenrec --encode-pixfmt yuv420p but wl-screenrec crashes:

❯ wl-screenrec --encode-pixfmt yuv420p -o DP-3
[out @ 0x559f7164de40] Option 'pix_fmts' is not a runtime option and so cannot be set after the object has been initialized
[h264_vaapi @ 0x559f7165c800] No usable encoding entrypoint found for profile VAProfileH264High (7).
failed to open encoder in low_power mode (Function not implemented), trying non low_power mode. if you have an intel iGPU, set enable_guc=2 in the i915 module to use the fixed function encoder. pass --low-power=off to suppress this warning
[h264_vaapi @ 0x559f7165c800] Failed to end picture encode issue: 6 (invalid VASurfaceID).
[h264_vaapi @ 0x559f7165c800] Encode failed: Input/output error.

thread 'main' panicked at src/main.rs:1990:51:
called `Result::unwrap()` on an `Err` value: ffmpeg::Error(5: Input/output error)
note: run with `RUST_BACKTRACE=1` environment variable to display a backtrace

[chadkouse]

Here's the full command:

wl-screenrec --audio -f "output.mp4" \
  --ffmpeg-encoder-options="-c:v libx264 -crf 23 -pix_fmts yuv420p -preset medium -movflags +faststart" \
  -g "0,0 128x128" &

[ffs-akl]

I was able to get passed this bug by passing -pix_fmts yuv420p to ffmpeg

indeed.

Was there the output message below in your terminal ?

wl-screenrec --audio -f "output.mp4" --ffmpeg-encoder-options="-c:v libx264 -crf 23 -pix_fmts yuv420p -preset medium -movflags +faststart" -g "0,0 128x128"
[out @ 0x556b22382340] Option 'pix_fmts' is not a runtime option and so cannot be set after the object has been initialized

[chadkouse]

I think there was a message like that but it still worked.. I gave up on wayland ( for like the 10th time 😮‍💨 ) -- dumb little issues like this still seem to plague it, so I can't really test it anymore. Back on ffmpeg + x11grab.

[ffs-akl]

It worked for me too with that message. that message should relate to the ffmpeg update.

ammen99/wf-recorder#323