I set VDPAU_DRIVER=nvidia vlc in terminal, the GUI version of VLC launched and I tried playing an AV1 codec video with “VDPAU output” set in video preferences, but it didn’t work (only sound, no video). The following output appeared in terminal:
VLC media player 3.0.20 Vetinari (revision 3.0.20-0-g6f0d0ab126b)
[000055bf76212b80] main libvlc: Running vlc with the default interface. Use 'cvlc' to use vlc without interface.
[000055bf762c8500] main playlist: playlist is empty
uint DBusMenuExporterDBus::GetLayout(int, int, const QStringList&, DBusMenuLayoutItem&): Condition failed: menu
[00007f9e8cc68bb0] main video output error: video output creation failed
[00007f9e8cc01d70] main decoder error: failed to create video output
[00007f9e8cc01d70] avcodec decoder: Using NVIDIA VDPAU Driver Shared Library 535.129.03 Thu Oct 19 18:39:43 UTC 2023 for hardware decoding
[00007f9e8cc01d70] main decoder error: buffer deadlock prevented
uint DBusMenuExporterDBus::GetLayout(int, int, const QStringList&, DBusMenuLayoutItem&): Condition failed: menu
uint DBusMenuExporterDBus::GetLayout(int, int, const QStringList&, DBusMenuLayoutItem&): Condition failed: menu
The plot thickens! 
For LIBVA_DRIVER_NAME=nvidia vlc there is no VAAPI option in VLC, but I tried it again with “VDPAU output” in video preferences and got the same result as above:
VLC media player 3.0.20 Vetinari (revision 3.0.20-0-g6f0d0ab126b)
[0000559002ae4b80] main libvlc: Running vlc with the default interface. Use 'cvlc' to use vlc without interface.
[0000559002b9a500] main playlist: playlist is empty
uint DBusMenuExporterDBus::GetLayout(int, int, const QStringList&, DBusMenuLayoutItem&): Condition failed: menu
[00007f144ce2e390] main video output error: video output creation failed
[00007f144cc0f840] main decoder error: failed to create video output
[00007f144cc0f840] avcodec decoder: Using NVIDIA VDPAU Driver Shared Library 535.129.03 Thu Oct 19 18:39:43 UTC 2023 for hardware decoding
[00007f144cc0f840] main decoder error: buffer deadlock prevented
[00007f144cc0f840] main decoder error: buffer deadlock prevented
uint DBusMenuExporterDBus::GetLayout(int, int, const QStringList&, DBusMenuLayoutItem&): Condition failed: menu
Output of: grep -i vdpau /var/log/pacman.log
(for reference my initial post -before this one- about the AV1 codec issue was on the 9th of November but that doesn’t seem to correlate with any of the dates below)
[2022-12-23T19:56:51+0400] [ALPM] upgraded lib32-libva-vdpau-driver (0.7.4-6 -> 0.7.4-7)
[2023-04-24T19:08:17+0400] [ALPM] reinstalled libvdpau (1.5-1)
[2023-04-24T19:10:36+0400] [ALPM] reinstalled lib32-libvdpau (1.5-1)
[2023-04-24T19:10:36+0400] [ALPM] reinstalled lib32-libva-vdpau-driver (0.7.4-7)
[2023-04-24T19:11:00+0400] [ALPM] reinstalled libva-vdpau-driver (0.7.4-6)
[2023-09-13T20:23:09+0400] [ALPM] upgraded libvdpau (1.5-1 -> 1.5-2)
[2023-09-13T20:23:17+0400] [ALPM] upgraded lib32-libvdpau (1.5-1 -> 1.5-2)
[2023-11-14T21:57:56+0400] [ALPM] removed libva-vdpau-driver (0.7.4-6)
Output of: vdpauinfo
display: :0 screen: 0
API version: 1
Information string: NVIDIA VDPAU Driver Shared Library 535.129.03 Thu Oct 19 18:39:43 UTC 2023
Video surface:
name width height types
-------------------------------------------
420 4096 4096 NV12 YV12
422 4096 4096 UYVY YUYV
444 4096 4096 NV24 YV24
420_16 4096 4096 P010 P016
422_16 4096 4096 UYVY YUYV
444_16 4096 4096 Y_U_V_444_16
Decoder capabilities:
name level macbs width height
----------------------------------------------------
MPEG1 0 65536 4080 4080
MPEG2_SIMPLE 3 65536 4080 4080
MPEG2_MAIN 3 65536 4080 4080
H264_BASELINE 51 65536 4096 4096
H264_MAIN 51 65536 4096 4096
H264_HIGH 51 65536 4096 4096
VC1_SIMPLE 1 8190 2048 2048
VC1_MAIN 2 8190 2048 2048
VC1_ADVANCED 4 8190 2048 2048
MPEG4_PART2_SP 3 8192 2048 2048
MPEG4_PART2_ASP 5 8192 2048 2048
DIVX4_QMOBILE 0 8192 2048 2048
DIVX4_MOBILE 0 8192 2048 2048
DIVX4_HOME_THEATER 0 8192 2048 2048
DIVX4_HD_1080P 0 8192 2048 2048
DIVX5_QMOBILE 0 8192 2048 2048
DIVX5_MOBILE 0 8192 2048 2048
DIVX5_HOME_THEATER 0 8192 2048 2048
DIVX5_HD_1080P 0 8192 2048 2048
H264_CONSTRAINED_BASELINE 51 65536 4096 4096
H264_EXTENDED 51 65536 4096 4096
H264_PROGRESSIVE_HIGH 51 65536 4096 4096
H264_CONSTRAINED_HIGH 51 65536 4096 4096
H264_HIGH_444_PREDICTIVE 51 65536 4096 4096
VP9_PROFILE_0 --- not supported ---
VP9_PROFILE_1 --- not supported ---
VP9_PROFILE_2 --- not supported ---
VP9_PROFILE_3 --- not supported ---
HEVC_MAIN --- not supported ---
HEVC_MAIN_10 --- not supported ---
HEVC_MAIN_STILL --- not supported ---
HEVC_MAIN_12 --- not supported ---
HEVC_MAIN_444 --- not supported ---
HEVC_MAIN_444_10 --- not supported ---
HEVC_MAIN_444_12 --- not supported ---
AV1_MAIN --- not supported ---
AV1_HIGH --- not supported ---
AV1_PROFESSIONAL --- not supported ---
Output surface:
name width height nat types
----------------------------------------------------
B8G8R8A8 16384 16384 y Y8U8V8A8 V8U8Y8A8 A4I4 I4A4 A8I8 I8A8
R10G10B10A2 16384 16384 y Y8U8V8A8 V8U8Y8A8 A4I4 I4A4 A8I8 I8A8
Bitmap surface:
name width height
------------------------------
B8G8R8A8 16384 16384
R8G8B8A8 16384 16384
R10G10B10A2 16384 16384
B10G10R10A2 16384 16384
A8 16384 16384
Video mixer:
feature name sup
------------------------------------
DEINTERLACE_TEMPORAL y
DEINTERLACE_TEMPORAL_SPATIAL y
INVERSE_TELECINE y
NOISE_REDUCTION y
SHARPNESS y
LUMA_KEY y
HIGH QUALITY SCALING - L1 y
HIGH QUALITY SCALING - L2 -
HIGH QUALITY SCALING - L3 -
HIGH QUALITY SCALING - L4 -
HIGH QUALITY SCALING - L5 -
HIGH QUALITY SCALING - L6 -
HIGH QUALITY SCALING - L7 -
HIGH QUALITY SCALING - L8 -
HIGH QUALITY SCALING - L9 -
parameter name sup min max
-----------------------------------------------------
VIDEO_SURFACE_WIDTH y 1 4096
VIDEO_SURFACE_HEIGHT y 1 4096
CHROMA_TYPE y
LAYERS y 0 4
attribute name sup min max
-----------------------------------------------------
BACKGROUND_COLOR y
CSC_MATRIX y
NOISE_REDUCTION_LEVEL y 0.00 1.00
SHARPNESS_LEVEL y -1.00 1.00
LUMA_KEY_MIN_LUMA y
LUMA_KEY_MAX_LUMA y
:
Hmm…The problem is precisely with AV1 codec videos. I wonder if this is a regression then?
