Plex detects my iGPU but doesn't use it for transcoding

[saqeeb]

Hi everyone,

I've looked around at various forum posts about plex hardware transcoding issues, but they generally seem to be for people who can't get their gpus detected by trueNAS or by plex. My problem is different because I can select my iGPU in plex, both when allocating GPU resources in the trueNAS app setting for plex, and in the transcoding menu within plex itself. I think I have everything enabled correctly, but when trying to transcode it sticks to software transcoding and my cpu usage maxes out. I'd like to be able to stream things outside my local network, and hardware transcoding is a must-have for me.

System details:
CPU: Intel i3-12100 (Intel UHD Graphics 730)
Motherboard: Gigabyte B760I AORUS PRO DDR4
Memory: 32GB DDR4 3200MHz CL16
OS: TrueNAS-SCALE-23.10.1

Here are the GPU settings for Plex in the TrueNas app config:

Here are the plex transcoding settings:

Results of dmesg with grep for i915 (I believe that is my iGPU)

And finally, proof that plex is not hardware transcoding:

If anybody can advise on what I'm doing wrong, I'd really appreciate it!
-Saqeeb

 

[AngrySailorWithBeer]

@saqeeb - I'm 100% running into the exact same thing! https://www.truenas.com/community/t...g-functional-via-intel-igpu-quicksync.115575/

I'm still trying to resolve, but I did find something interesting and am curious if you see the same:

When you review the Plex log, do you see this error, even though Plex is configured to use the HW Transcoder?

Jan 13, 2024 23:44:15.960 [140263441951544] DEBUG - [Req#6b18/Transcode/27d417be-b908-4dd5-8263-65a3bdca3b28-65] TPU: hardware transcoding: enabled, but no hardware decode accelerator found

I assume you have PlexPass. Are you running TrueNAS in a VM?

Everything says my system should be working. Everything is showing that I'm loading. And yet, it's CPU for me only.

 

[saqeeb]

@AngrySailorWithBeer I did read through your post, and it helped me check on a bunch of things!

I'm not running TrueNAS in a VM, that's the big difference between us, but otherwise we are in the same boat. I do have plexpass, and the claim token is set up.

I looked through the log files and did indeed find that debug message over and over! Not sure why though!

 

[AngrySailorWithBeer]

@AngrySailorWithBeer I did read through your post, and it helped me check on a bunch of things!

I'm not running TrueNAS in a VM, that's the big difference between us, but otherwise we are in the same boat. I do have plexpass, and the claim token is set up.

I looked through the log files and did indeed find that debug message over and over! Not sure why though!

@saqeeb Okay - I've made progress! I'm now getting Plex to see the card not only in the config menu, but now I've been able to get the is throwing some kind of weird permissions error directly in the Plex log.

In the actual console of your TrueNAS instance, what do you get when you run:

dmesg | grep i915 ?

 

[JonOakden]

Same issue here for me too. i915 GPU that is selectable in Plex but it never uses it.

 

[JonOakden]

Has anyone found a solution to this yet?

 

[TechZen]

@saqeeb Okay - I've made progress! I'm now getting Plex to see the card not only in the config menu, but now I've been able to get the is throwing some kind of weird permissions error directly in the Plex log.

In the actual console of your TrueNAS instance, what do you get when you run:

dmesg | grep i915 ?

Here's my output for the dmesg | grep i915:

Also, I read your post (fantastic help btw), and wanted to provide output for my setup as I am not using Proxmox, rather than Docker App on TrueNAS Baremetal, as HoneyBadger pointed out.

Render device is shown as renderD128, in /dev/dri

 

[TechZen]

Okay, so I've been doing more research into the issue, and came across two other threads here on the TrueNAS forums, that may help.

JoeFromDenver, pointed out that he was able to resolve this issue, by "I was missing firmware files in the /lib/firmware/i915 folder, and after downloading them this command loaded them at boot. After that transcoding was back to using hardware again for my Intel JasperLake [UHD Graphics".

sudo midclt call system.advanced.update '{"kernel_extra_options": "i915.enable_guc=3"}'

Joe, followed the guidance of a different thread, "Jasper Lake N5105 lack of acceleration", in which a few users dived deeper into this particular issue.

 

[TechZen]

Has anyone found a solution to this yet?

Hey everyone, I figured I'd throw my hat into the ring, as I also am experiencing the same issues. Like others, I've been spending days trying to resolve this HWA issue on Plex, currently to no avail. As a Linux/TrueNAS novice this whole experience has been quite the perilous journey.

Anyway, here's the core configuration of my setup, see "See my TrueNAS system" for complete specs.

OS: TrueNAS v24.04 "Dragonfish" BETA on Baremetal
CPU: AMD 3700x (no iGPU)
GPU: Intel ARC 380 (Sparkle)

My first hurdle, was getting the TrueNAS/Plex app config to detect my GPU for passthrough to the Plex docker container. For that, I needed to install the 24.04 "Dragonfish" TRUENAS Beta. This is due to the current Cobia Release not supporting Linux Kernal version 6.3, a prereq for Intel ARC GPUs, as I discovered, after spending lots of time researching here on TrueNAS forums, and online.

Plex App Config:
Name: plex
App Version: 1.40.1.8227
Chart Version 2.0.3

Just like @saqeeb, I have also configured my Plex transcoder settings for HWA as follows:

Now, when I attempt to transcode in Plex, I get the following:

Fig. Plex dashboard of playback

Fig. Plex logs

As you can see from the screenshots, I am attempting to transcode my HEVC 4k rip of John Wick to 1080p, however, the Transcode fails to use the Arc GPU, and reverts to using my CPU. This causes horrible buffering/stutters, and makes anything but direct-play unbearable (go-figure, transcoding 4k, is hard on a CPU, let alone on an AMD CPU, without Intel QSV).

Plex logs, show the following error(s):

• "Failed to initialize VAAPI connection: -1 (unknown libva error)"
• "hardware transcoding: opening hw device failed"

Appreciate everyone's time, attention, and help in resolving this matter!

 

[JonOakden]

I've previously tried the fixes shown above and still have the same problem unfortunately.
I also have the error

• "Failed to initialize VAAPI connection: -1 (unknown libva error)"

in my Plex logs when asking it to transcode.

 

[TechZen]

I am moving my conversation to r/PLEX as I had more engagement/help from users there.

Also this issue (Intel A380 ARC Support) seems to be planned for ElectricEel BETA release. my interim strategy is to just buy an RTX 3050 for Transcoding, and revisit Intel Arc once there's official support from TrueNAS team.

 

[mikaelgra]

Hi everyone,

I've looked around at various forum posts about plex hardware transcoding issues, but they generally seem to be for people who can't get their gpus detected by trueNAS or by plex. My problem is different because I can select my iGPU in plex, both when allocating GPU resources in the trueNAS app setting for plex, and in the transcoding menu within plex itself. I think I have everything enabled correctly, but when trying to transcode it sticks to software transcoding and my cpu usage maxes out. I'd like to be able to stream things outside my local network, and hardware transcoding is a must-have for me.

System details:
CPU: Intel i3-12100 (Intel UHD Graphics 730)
Motherboard: Gigabyte B760I AORUS PRO DDR4
Memory: 32GB DDR4 3200MHz CL16
OS: TrueNAS-SCALE-23.10.1
[...]

If anybody can advise on what I'm doing wrong, I'd really appreciate it!
-Saqeeb

Did you ever figure this out?

I am in exactly the same boat as you here and I have no idea what to do. I am basically at a point where I am pulling my hair out here.

In fact I have two different systems suffering exactly this problem, both running Cobia, getting this exact error whenever a transcode session is requested: Failed to initialize VAAPI connection: -1 (unknown libva error)

Like you, I can allocate the GPU from TrueNAS when creating the container and I can see it in Plex. It just wont use it.

System 1: i7 6700K on TrueNAS-SCALE-23.10.1 (upgraded from bluefin)
System 2: i5 14600K on TrueNAS-SCALE-23.10.2 (fresh install)

On System 2, I am basically trying this from complete scratch (entirely new install).

It's interesting that this happens to me on two entirely different system.

 

[mikaelgra]

Just a small update from here. I finally got it working.

Using the Truecharts version of plex app and not the 'official' Truenas version fixed the problem for me.

Since it looks like the other people having trouble with this seems to also be using the official version, I recommend trying the plex app from the truecharts catalog.