I recently switched to an AMD GPU and VA-API is the only option for hardware acceleration on linux that is viable. But Handbrake does not support it and it doesn’t seem like it will in the foreseeable future, so I am looking for an alternative. Ideally it is just an ffmpeg GUI, but I did not find any that are:

  • actually compatible with linux
  • updated in the last 5 years
  • have an option vor h264_vaapi or hevc_vaapi video codecs

Another workflow I thought about that is not working is transcoding the video, but copy all audio and subtitles and let handbrake handle that, however Handbrake has no option to just copy the video stream…

So far I have tried:

  • ffmpeg_batch: wouldn’t use my local version of ffmpeg, because of some path error, only works through wine
  • qwinff: got it building, but no VA-API codec, and no mkv output support (over 10 years old)
  • Shutter Encoder: only works through wine, font problems, no va-api support
  • Avidemux: takes forever to open a video clip, more of a video editor, no va-api support
  • Hybrid: know it from my windows days, clunky UI, no va-api support, but best candidate for me right now as I could use it to just copy video and handle audio and subtitles in here
  • StaxRip: the .7z file could not be extracted, I just got an error

Any ideas or suggestions?

  • BentiGorlichOP
    1•16 days ago

    HandBrake supports AMD VCN hardware video encoding

    yes, but that is not viable as the amdgpu-pro drivers are only available on LTS releases and on a few selected distros

    You haven’t said what source material you’re encoding

    Mostly BluRay rips, so movies and TV-Shows

    Are you aware of Vulkan Video?

    I actually was not. Is it any good? But Handbrake does not support that either, does it?

    you might consider investing some time in learning ffmpeg commands.

    I am, but for anything involving multiple audio and subtitle streams and stream selection in general it is not an option for me…

    • whoEnglish
      1•15 days ago

      the amdgpu-pro drivers are only available on LTS releases and on a few selected distros

      Are you sure? I would expect AMD to have their own download & install instructions that could be used on any distro. That would be more work for you than just installing a package directly from your distro, of course.

      Curiously, I just found a comment from last year claiming that amf-amdgpu-pro now works with Mesa’s RADV. So maybe this approach could work without AMD’s proprietary driver?

      Mostly BluRay rips, so movies and TV-Shows

      By rips, do you mean your source media is already in a container, like a .mkv or .mp4 file? Or are you encoding directly from optical discs? If it’s the latter, then using a tool other than HandBrake for the encode might also require finding a disc ripping tool. (Not all encoding tools can decrypt and demux discs.)

      I actually was not. Is it any good? But Handbrake does not support that either, does it?

      I haven’t used Vulkan Video. It’s just an API, so I would expect the video quality to depend on your hardware’s encoder, just as it would with VAAPI or any other API.

      I don’t think Handbrake supports it yet, so until they do, I think you would have to use some other encoding tool.

      for anything involving multiple audio and subtitle streams and stream selection in general it is not an option for me…

      You haven’t said why, but if it’s just that managing lots of streams using command line tools is more hassle than you want to deal with, you might take a look at MKVToolNix. It’s pretty good at muxing, even if the source media is not a .mkv file.

      • BentiGorlichOP
        1•16 days ago

        Are you sure? I would expect AMD to have their own download & install instructions that could be used on any distro

        Oh you don’t have to do anything like that for everything else, because it is just in the kernel and in mesa… This “pro” driver comes with some custom stuff like apparently their proprietary encoders, but I read multiple times that it has just terrible performance for everything else so don’t bother…

        By rips, do you mean your source media is already in a container, like a .mkv or .mp4 file?

        yes mkv files

        you might take a look at MVKToolNix

        I will :)

        • whoEnglish
          1•15 days ago

          Oops… MVKToolNix was a typo. It’s actually MKVToolNix.