gstreamer1.0-vaapi prevents thumbnail generation of videos

[Junaid Ahmed]

Distribution: Xubuntu 17.10
Name of the faulty package: gstreamer1.0-vaapi
Tested video format to be affected: h.264

The package(gstreamer1.0-vaapi) is part of the very popular package xubuntu-restricted-extras(ubuntu-restricted-extras). In a unmodified Xubuntu 17.10 system, while installed, it prevents thumbnail generation of videos. Already generated video thumbnails will be shown, while new video thumbnails won't be generated. It seems almost all videos encoded with h.264 format is affected. I have a few videos which are encoded with h.265, VP9 codec which aren't affected(thumbnails are being generated for them while this package is installed).

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 17.10
Package: gstreamer1.0-vaapi 1.12.3-1ubuntu1
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 4.13.0-16.19-generic 4.13.4
Uname: Linux 4.13.0-16-generic i686
ApportVersion: 2.20.7-0ubuntu3.1
Architecture: i386
CurrentDesktop: XFCE
Date: Tue Nov 7 02:18:01 2017
InstallationDate: Installed on 2017-11-02 (4 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Xubuntu 17.10 "Artful Aardvark" - Release i386 (20171017.1)
SourcePackage: gstreamer-vaapi
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

[corrado venturini (corradoventu)]

Same problem on Ubuntu 18.04. This bug seems the same as my bug
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/totem/+bug/1721248

[corrado venturini (corradoventu)]

problem does NOT occur on a different hardware:
corrado@corrado-HP-p7-bb-beta:~$ apt policy gstreamer1.0-vaapi
gstreamer1.0-vaapi:
  Installed: 1.14.0-1
  Candidate: 1.14.0-1
  Version table:
 *** 1.14.0-1 500
        500 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic/universe amd64 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
corrado@corrado-HP-p7-bb-beta:~$ inxi -SCGx
System: Host: corrado-HP-p7-bb-beta Kernel: 4.15.0-20-generic x86_64
           bits: 64 gcc: 7.3.0
           Desktop: Gnome 3.28.1 (Gtk 3.22.30-1ubuntu1)
           Distro: Ubuntu 18.04 LTS
CPU: Dual core Intel Core i5-4210U (-MT-MCP-)
           arch: Haswell rev.1 cache: 3072 KB
           flags: (lm nx sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx) bmips: 9578
           clock speeds: max: 2700 MHz 1: 1049 MHz 2: 1213 MHz 3: 1427 MHz
           4: 1400 MHz
Graphics: Card: Intel Haswell-ULT Integrated Graphics Controller
           bus-ID: 00:02.0
           Display Server: x11 (X.Org 1.19.6 ) driver: i915
           Resolution: 1366x768@60.00hz
           OpenGL: renderer: Mesa DRI Intel Haswell Mobile
           version: 4.5 Mesa 18.0.0-rc5 Direct Render: Yes
corrado@corrado-HP-p7-bb-beta:~$

[Matti Pulkkinen (heap)]

In addition to simply not getting any thumbnails, I saw very high CPU and RAM use by tumblerd after using Thunar to open a directory with lots of videos in it. Checking the journal, I also saw a bunch of messages saying "kernel: i915 0000:00:02.0: Resetting vcs0 after gpu hang". Uninstalling this package enabled thumbnail generation again, and I no longer see either of these other two issues.

Output from inxi -SCGx:
System: Host: mercury Kernel: 4.15.0-38-generic x86_64 bits: 64 gcc: 7.3.0
           Desktop: Xfce 4.12.3 (Gtk 2.24.31) Distro: Ubuntu 18.04.1 LTS
CPU: Dual core Intel Core i7-5600U (-MT-MCP-)
           arch: Broadwell rev.4 cache: 4096 KB
           flags: (lm nx sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx) bmips: 10376
           clock speeds: max: 3200 MHz 1: 1167 MHz 2: 1213 MHz 3: 1591 MHz
           4: 1494 MHz
Graphics: Card: Intel HD Graphics 5500 bus-ID: 00:02.0
           Display Server: x11 (X.Org 1.19.6 )
           drivers: modesetting (unloaded: fbdev,vesa)
           Resolution: 1920x1080@60.05hz
           OpenGL: renderer: Mesa DRI Intel HD Graphics 5500 (Broadwell GT2)
           version: 4.5 Mesa 18.0.5 Direct Render: Yes

[corrado venturini (corradoventu)]

gstreamer1.0-vaapi 1.16.0-1ubuntu1 does not fix the problem

corrado@corrado-p7-ee-0507:~$ inxi -SCGx
System: Host: corrado-p7-ee-0507 Kernel: 5.0.0-13-generic x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc
           v: 8.3.0 Desktop: Gnome 3.32.1 Distro: Ubuntu 19.10 (Eoan Ermine)
CPU: Topology: Dual Core model: Intel Core i3-7100 bits: 64 type: MT MCP
           arch: Kaby Lake rev: 9 L2 cache: 3072 KiB
           flags: avx avx2 lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx bogomips: 31296
           Speed: 800 MHz min/max: 800/3900 MHz Core speeds (MHz): 1: 800 2: 800 3: 800
           4: 800
Graphics: Device-1: Intel HD Graphics 630 vendor: ASRock driver: i915 v: kernel
           bus ID: 00:02.0
           Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.4 driver: i915 resolution: 1920x1080~60Hz
           OpenGL: renderer: Mesa DRI Intel HD Graphics 630 (Kaby Lake GT2)
           v: 4.5 Mesa 19.0.2 direct render: Yes
corrado@corrado-p7-ee-0507:~$