Playback often fails on Wayland with libva error

[Pedro Côrte-Real]

When viewing a list of videos and skipping quickly to the next one it's common for vlc to skip one or several videos with libva errors. I've only seen this happen on Wayland. Here's an example of a set of videos:

VLC media player 3.0.4 Vetinari (revision 3.0.4-0-gf615db6332)
[000055fe5368b570] main libvlc: Running vlc with the default interface. Use 'cvlc' to use vlc without interface.
libva info: VA-API version 1.1.0
libva info: va_getDriverName() returns -1
libva error: va_getDriverName() failed with unknown libva error,driver_name=(null)
[00007f4ebc002030] glconv_vaapi_x11 gl error: vaInitialize: unknown libva error
libva info: VA-API version 1.1.0
libva info: va_getDriverName() returns 0
libva info: Trying to open /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/dri/i965_drv_video.so
libva info: Found init function __vaDriverInit_1_1
libva info: va_openDriver() returns 0
[00007f4f05b8b1f0] avcodec decoder: Using Intel i965 driver for Intel(R) Skylake - 2.1.0 for hardware decoding
[00007f4f04ee4350] avcodec decoder: Using Intel i965 driver for Intel(R) Skylake - 2.1.0 for hardware decoding
[00007f4f0551fc00] avcodec decoder: Using Intel i965 driver for Intel(R) Skylake - 2.1.0 for hardware decoding
[00007f4f04f33d80] avcodec decoder: Using Intel i965 driver for Intel(R) Skylake - 2.1.0 for hardware decoding
[00007f4f04f80530] avcodec decoder: Using Intel i965 driver for Intel(R) Skylake - 2.1.0 for hardware decoding
[00007f4eb55cc8d0] avcodec decoder: Using Intel i965 driver for Intel(R) Skylake - 2.1.0 for hardware decoding
[00007f4eb4f79e10] avcodec decoder: Using Intel i965 driver for Intel(R) Skylake - 2.1.0 for hardware decoding
[00007f4f2d524bb0] avcodec decoder: Using Intel i965 driver for Intel(R) Skylake - 2.1.0 for hardware decoding
[00007f4f2e7002c0] avcodec decoder: Using Intel i965 driver for Intel(R) Skylake - 2.1.0 for hardware decoding
[00007f4e99230400] avcodec decoder: Using Intel i965 driver for Intel(R) Skylake - 2.1.0 for hardware decoding
[00007f4e98d2dcf0] avcodec decoder: Using Intel i965 driver for Intel(R) Skylake - 2.1.0 for hardware decoding
[00007f4e98db22a0] avcodec decoder: Using Intel i965 driver for Intel(R) Skylake - 2.1.0 for hardware decoding
[00007f4e9927f700] avcodec decoder: Using Intel i965 driver for Intel(R) Skylake - 2.1.0 for hardware decoding
[h264 @ 0x7f4e992076a0] get_buffer() failed
[h264 @ 0x7f4e992076a0] thread_get_buffer() failed
[h264 @ 0x7f4e992076a0] decode_slice_header error
[h264 @ 0x7f4e992076a0] no frame!
[h264 @ 0x7f4e99268720] get_buffer() failed
[h264 @ 0x7f4e99268720] thread_get_buffer() failed
[h264 @ 0x7f4e99268720] decode_slice_header error
[h264 @ 0x7f4e99268720] no frame!
[00007f4e98ca6ab0] avcodec decoder: Using Intel i965 driver for Intel(R) Skylake - 2.1.0 for hardware decoding
libva info: VA-API version 1.1.0
libva info: va_getDriverName() returns -1
libva error: va_getDriverName() failed with unknown libva error,driver_name=(null)
[00007f4ebccdc630] glconv_vaapi_x11 gl error: vaInitialize: unknown libva error
libva info: VA-API version 1.1.0
libva info: va_getDriverName() returns 0
libva info: Trying to open /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/dri/i965_drv_video.so
libva info: Found init function __vaDriverInit_1_1
libva info: va_openDriver() returns 0
[00007f4e991d9f50] avcodec decoder: Using Intel i965 driver for Intel(R) Skylake - 2.1.0 for hardware decoding
libva info: VA-API version 1.1.0
libva info: va_getDriverName() returns -1
libva error: va_getDriverName() failed with unknown libva error,driver_name=(null)
[00007f4ebce2f4f0] glconv_vaapi_x11 gl error: vaInitialize: unknown libva error
libva info: VA-API version 1.1.0
libva info: va_getDriverName() returns 0
libva info: Trying to open /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/dri/i965_drv_video.so
libva info: Found init function __vaDriverInit_1_1
libva info: va_openDriver() returns 0
[00007f4e992f8e30] avcodec decoder: Using Intel i965 driver for Intel(R) Skylake - 2.1.0 for hardware decoding

The failed sections are these:

libva info: VA-API version 1.1.0
libva info: va_getDriverName() returns -1
libva error: va_getDriverName() failed with unknown libva error,driver_name=(null)
[00007f4ebccdc630] glconv_vaapi_x11 gl error: vaInitialize: unknown libva error

When this happens the video is just skipped and the next one plays (or fails as well until one doesn't). Maybe there's a locking issue because from the error message vlc is failing to find the driver at all.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 18.04
Package: vlc 3.0.4-1ubuntu0.2
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 4.15.0-45.48-generic 4.15.18
Uname: Linux 4.15.0-45-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.20.9-0ubuntu7.5
Architecture: amd64
CurrentDesktop: GNOME
Date: Tue Feb 12 09:07:35 2019
InstallationDate: Installed on 2018-05-31 (256 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 18.04 LTS "Bionic Beaver" - Release amd64 (20180426)
SourcePackage: vlc
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)

[Rémi Denis-Courmont (rdenis)]

This looks like an error in the VA driver. But regardless, please note that Wayland support is incomplete and experimental in VLC 3.0.x.

[Pedro Côrte-Real (pedrocr)]

The error seems to be that sometimes the driver isn't found at all. That's why I was suspecting some kind of locking issue. But I should probably move back to Xorg, there are other Wayland specific bugs as well in gnome-shell/mutter.

[Pedro Côrte-Real (pedrocr)]

Note that vlc is also broken on gnome-shell with Xorg:

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/mutter/+bug/1809880

The unity session in the previous LTS was a bit clunky in places but it wasn't nearly as buggy as the current LTS.

[Pedro Côrte-Real (pedrocr)]

This is another important bug that makes the current Xorg gnome-shell session noticeably broken when viewing fullscreen video in VLC:

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/mutter/+bug/1810126

The tearing is extremely noticeable when watching videos. I submitted these two bugs to mutter but I'm not sure if they're actually vlc bugs somehow.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

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