[HW Accel Support]: VAAPI Hardware Acceleration Failing on Intel N150

[andrewterra]

Describe the problem you are having

I'm running into an issue trying to get VAAPI hardware acceleration working with Frigate on my Intel N150 platform, using the latest media-driver build and ffmpeg. The Frigate video process crashes consistently with VAAPI errors, and I cannot get hardware decoding working.

I've tried following this comment:, but unfortunately I'm still at step one.

This is the vainfo response

root@argus:/opt# 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 1.23.0
libva info: Trying to open /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/dri/iHD_drv_video.so
libva info: Found init function __vaDriverInit_1_17
libva error: /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/dri/iHD_drv_video.so init failed
libva info: va_openDriver() returns 1
libva info: Trying to open /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/dri/i965_drv_video.so
libva info: Found init function __vaDriverInit_1_8
libva error: /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/dri/i965_drv_video.so init failed
libva info: va_openDriver() returns -1
vaInitialize failed with error code -1 (unknown libva error),exit

Version

0.15.0-cea210d

Frigate config file

mqtt:
  enabled: false

detectors:
  coral:
    type: edgetpu
    device: usb

record:
  enabled: True
  retain:
    days: 7
    mode: motion
  alerts:
    retain:
      days: 7
  detections:
    retain:
      days: 7

snapshots:
  enabled: True
  retain:
    default: 30

cameras:
  backyard:
    enabled: true
    ffmpeg:
      inputs:
        - path: rtsp://homeassistant:[email protected]:554/cam/realmonitor?channel=1&subtype=1
          roles:
            - detect
        - path: rtsp://homeassistant:[email protected]:554/cam/realmonitor?channel=1&subtype=0
          roles:
            - record
    detect:
      enabled: true
version: 0.15-1

docker-compose file or Docker CLI command

version: "3.9"
services:
  frigate:
    container_name: frigate
    privileged: true # this may not be necessary for all setups
    restart: unless-stopped
    stop_grace_period: 30s # allow enough time to shut down the various services
    image: ghcr.io/blakeblackshear/frigate:stable
    shm_size: "512mb" # update for your cameras based on calculation above
    devices:
      - /dev/bus/usb:/dev/bus/usb # Passes the USB Coral, needs to be modified for other versions
      - /dev/apex_0:/dev/apex_0 # Passes a PCIe Coral, follow driver instructions here https://coral.ai/docs/m2/get-started/#2a-on-linux
      - /dev/video11:/dev/video11 # For Raspberry Pi 4B
      - /dev/dri/renderD128:/dev/dri/renderD128 # For intel hwaccel, needs to be updated for your hardware
    volumes:
      - /etc/localtime:/etc/localtime:ro
      - /opt/frigate/config:/config
      - type: tmpfs # Optional: 1GB of memory, reduces SSD/SD Card wear
        target: /tmp/cache
        tmpfs:
          size: 1000000000
    ports:
      - "8971:8971"
      - "5000:5000" # Internal unauthenticated access. Expose carefully.
      - "8554:8554" # RTSP feeds
      - "8555:8555/tcp" # WebRTC over tcp
      - "8555:8555/udp" # WebRTC over udp
    environment:
      FRIGATE_RTSP_PASSWORD: "password"

Relevant Frigate log output

error | 2025-03-28 23:40:15 | frigate.video          | backyard: Unable to read frames from ffmpeg process.
error | 2025-03-28 23:40:15 | frigate.video          | backyard: ffmpeg process is not running. exiting capture thread...
error | 2025-03-28 23:40:21 | watchdog.backyard      | Ffmpeg process crashed unexpectedly for backyard.
error | 2025-03-28 23:40:21 | watchdog.backyard      | The following ffmpeg logs include the last 100 lines prior to exit.
error | 2025-03-28 23:40:21 | ffmpeg.backyard.detect | [AVHWFramesContext @ 0x79ec2404f7c0] Failed to sync surface 0x10: 1 (operation failed).
error | 2025-03-28 23:40:21 | ffmpeg.backyard.detect | [hwdownload @ 0x79ec28003980] Failed to download frame: -5.
error | 2025-03-28 23:40:21 | ffmpeg.backyard.detect | [vf#0:0 @ 0x5bdb46bea4c0] Error while filtering: Input/output error
error | 2025-03-28 23:40:21 | ffmpeg.backyard.detect | [vf#0:0 @ 0x5bdb46bea4c0] Task finished with error code: -5 (Input/output error)
error | 2025-03-28 23:40:21 | ffmpeg.backyard.detect | [vf#0:0 @ 0x5bdb46bea4c0] Terminating thread with return code -5 (Input/output error)

Relevant go2rtc log output

info | 2025-03-28 23:39:27 | startup | Preparing new go2rtc config...
info | 2025-03-28 23:39:27 | startup | Starting go2rtc...
info | 2025-03-28 23:39:28 | startup | go2rtc platform=linux/amd64 revision=b2399f3 version=1.9.2
info | 2025-03-28 23:39:28 | startup | config path=/dev/shm/go2rtc.yaml
info | 2025-03-28 23:39:28 | rtsp    | listen addr=:8554
info | 2025-03-28 23:39:28 | webrtc  | listen addr=:8555/tcp
info | 2025-03-28 23:39:28 | api     | listen addr=:1984
info | 2025-03-28 23:39:37 | startup | Starting go2rtc healthcheck service...

FFprobe output from your camera

`ffmpeg -hwaccel vaapi -hwaccel_device /dev/dri/renderD128 -hwaccel_output_format yuv420p -i "rtsp://homeassistant:[email protected]:554/cam/realmonitor?channel=1&subtype=0" -t 10 -f null -`

[AVHWDeviceContext @ 0x61b08aa48d00] libva: /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/dri/iHD_drv_video.so init failed
[AVHWDeviceContext @ 0x61b08aa48d00] libva: /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/dri/i965_drv_video.so init failed
[AVHWDeviceContext @ 0x61b08aa48d00] Failed to initialise VAAPI connection: -1 (unknown libva error).
Device creation failed: -5.
[h264 @ 0x61b08aa44b80] No device available for decoder: device type vaapi needed for codec h264.
Device setup failed for decoder on input stream #0:0 : Input/output error

### Install method

Docker Compose

### Object Detector

Coral

### Network connection

Wired

### Camera make and model

Amcrest IP5M-T1179EW-AI-V3

### Screenshots of the Frigate UI's System metrics pages

![chrome_5TtIeFxlIB](https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/3aac8469-f1e8-4d37-9a2f-7ae86d24240f)
![chrome_ZyRpsY6ZtY](https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/b3774b93-3ae1-49c0-915e-1e013de6a458)


### Any other information that may be helpful

_No response_

[NickM-27]

What os are you running?

[andrewterra]

root@argus:/opt# uname -r
6.11.11-2-pve
root@argus:/opt# cat /etc/os-release
PRETTY_NAME="Debian GNU/Linux 12 (bookworm)"
NAME="Debian GNU/Linux"
VERSION_ID="12"
VERSION="12 (bookworm)"
VERSION_CODENAME=bookworm
ID=debian
HOME_URL="https://www.debian.org/"
SUPPORT_URL="https://www.debian.org/support"
BUG_REPORT_URL="https://bugs.debian.org/"

[NickM-27]

I believe kernel 6.12 is needed for the N150

[andrewterra]

Hmm, I just updated to 6.14 and still getting the same ffmpeg errors

error | 2025-04-06 09:28:40 | frigate.video          | backyard: Unable to read frames from ffmpeg process.
error | 2025-04-06 09:28:40 | frigate.video          | backyard: ffmpeg process is not running. exiting capture thread...
error | 2025-04-06 09:28:40 | watchdog.backyard      | Ffmpeg process crashed unexpectedly for backyard.
error | 2025-04-06 09:28:40 | watchdog.backyard      | The following ffmpeg logs include the last 100 lines prior to exit.
error | 2025-04-06 09:28:40 | ffmpeg.backyard.detect | [AVHWFramesContext @ 0x746f4c04f6c0] Failed to sync surface 0x13: 1 (operation failed).
error | 2025-04-06 09:28:40 | ffmpeg.backyard.detect | [hwdownload @ 0x746f58003980] Failed to download frame: -5.
error | 2025-04-06 09:28:40 | ffmpeg.backyard.detect | [vf#0:0 @ 0x6491cb24f600] Error while filtering: Input/output error
error | 2025-04-06 09:28:40 | ffmpeg.backyard.detect | [vf#0:0 @ 0x6491cb24f600] Task finished with error code: -5 (Input/output error)
error | 2025-04-06 09:28:40 | ffmpeg.backyard.detect | [vf#0:0 @ 0x6491cb24f600] Terminating thread with return code -5 (Input/output error)

[NickM-27]

You need to use the qsv preset

[andrewterra]

Looks like qsv preset worked. Thank you!