Flatpak kodi can't use hardware acceleration (...from Debian can)

Long time Libreelec user now running Linux Mint xfce 22.3, and old Intel NUC 5cyph (system specs at bottom of post). Please let me know if this is the wrong place to seek support, and I will move.

Kodi installs and works fine (via software manager), everything working OK except no hardware acceleration. The options do not even appear in settings (expert), and it’s not used during playback; viewing “o” playback info confirms this.

Installing the “from debian” Kodi version (again from software manager) HW accel works as normal, but as the PPA is no longer maintained, I am stuck on Nexus, where I would like to be current for various reasons, the main one being stability. HW accel also works everywhere else on the machine.

I am not confident to build from source myself.

I have tried various methods to make kodi see GPU- it has been hit and miss, occasionally working, but mostly not working.

  • Forcing kodi start with i965 driver
  • Using Flatseal to open GPU access (seemed to work initially but then failed)

Any ideas? I was always happy with LibreELEC, but I need a web browser hence the move to a desktop.

Thankyou

System:
Kernel: 6.17.0-20-generic arch: x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 13.3.0 clocksource: tsc
Desktop: Xfce v: 4.18.1 tk: Gtk v: 3.24.41 wm: xfwm4 v: 4.18.0 with: xfce4-panel
tools: light-locker vt: 7 dm: LightDM v: 1.30.0 Distro: Linux Mint 22.3 Zena
base: Ubuntu 24.04 noble
Machine:
Type: Desktop Mobo: Intel model: NUC5CPYB v: H61145-404 serial:
uuid: UEFI: Intel v: PYBSWCEL.86A.0043.2015.0904.1904 date: 09/04/2015
CPU:
Info: dual core model: Intel Celeron N3050 bits: 64 type: MCP smt: arch: Airmont
rev: 3 cache: L1: 112 KiB L2: 2 MiB
Speed (MHz): avg: 2160 min/max: 480/2160 cores: 1: 2160 2: 2160 bogomips: 6400
Flags: ht lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx
Graphics:
Device-1: Intel Atom/Celeron/Pentium Processor x5-E8000/J3xxx/N3xxx Integrated Graphics
driver: i915 v: kernel arch: Gen-8 ports: active: HDMI-A-2 empty: DP-1,DP-2,HDMI-A-1
bus-ID: 00:02.0 chip-ID: 8086:22b1 class-ID: 0300
Display: x11 server: X.Org v: 21.1.11 with: Xwayland v: 23.2.6 compositor: xfwm4 v: 4.18.0
driver: X: loaded: modesetting unloaded: fbdev,vesa dri: crocus gpu: i915 display-ID: :0.0
screens: 1
Screen-1: 0 s-res: 1920x1080 s-dpi: 96 s-size: 508x285mm (20.00x11.22") s-diag: 582mm (22.93")
Monitor-1: HDMI-A-2 mapped: HDMI-2 model: Samsung res: 1920x1080 hz: 60 dpi: 305
size: 160x90mm (6.3x3.54") diag: 184mm (7.2") modes: max: 1920x1080 min: 640x480
API: EGL v: 1.5 hw: drv: intel crocus platforms: device: 0 drv: crocus device: 1 drv: swrast
gbm: drv: crocus surfaceless: drv: crocus x11: drv: crocus inactive: wayland
API: OpenGL v: 4.6 compat-v: 4.5 vendor: intel mesa v: 25.2.8-0ubuntu0.24.04.1 glx-v: 1.4
direct-render: yes renderer: Mesa Intel HD Graphics 400 (BSW) device-ID: 8086:22b1
API: Vulkan v: 1.3.275 layers: 3 surfaces: xcb,xlib device: 0 type: integrated-gpu driver: N/A
device-ID: 8086:22b1 device: 1 type: cpu driver: N/A device-ID: 10005:0000
Audio:
Device-1: Intel Atom/Celeron/Pentium Processor x5-E8000/J3xxx/N3xxx Series High Definition Audio
driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus-ID: 00:1b.0 chip-ID: 8086:2284 class-ID: 0403
Device-2: NAD USB Audio 2.0 driver: snd-usb-audio type: USB rev: 2.0 speed: 480 Mb/s lanes: 1
bus-ID: 1-4:3 chip-ID: 17ae:0005 class-ID: fe01 serial:
API: ALSA v: k6.17.0-20-generic status: kernel-api
Server-1: PipeWire v: 1.0.5 status: active with: 1: pipewire-pulse status: active
2: wireplumber status: active 3: pipewire-alsa type: plugin
Network:
Device-1: Intel Wireless 3165 driver: iwlwifi v: kernel pcie: speed: 2.5 GT/s lanes: 1
bus-ID: 02:00.0 chip-ID: 8086:3165 class-ID: 0280
IF: wlp2s0 state: down mac:
Device-2: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8211/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet
vendor: Intel RTL8111/8168/8411 driver: r8169 v: kernel pcie: speed: 2.5 GT/s lanes: 1 port: e000
bus-ID: 03:00.0 chip-ID: 10ec:8168 class-ID: 0200
IF: enp3s0 state: up speed: 1000 Mbps duplex: full mac:
Bluetooth:
Device-1: Intel Bluetooth wireless interface driver: btusb v: 0.8 type: USB rev: 2.0
speed: 12 Mb/s lanes: 1 bus-ID: 1-5.1:8 chip-ID: 8087:0a2a class-ID: e001
Report: hciconfig ID: hci0 rfk-id: 0 state: up address: bt-v: 4.2 lmp-v: 8 sub-v: 1000
hci-v: 8 rev: 1000 class-ID: 7c0104
Drives:
Local Storage: total: 111.79 GiB used: 68.86 GiB (61.6%)
ID-1: /dev/sda vendor: Samsung model: SSD 850 EVO 120GB size: 111.79 GiB speed: 6.0 Gb/s
tech: SSD serial: fw-rev: 1B6Q scheme: GPT
Partition:
ID-1: / size: 108.98 GiB used: 68.86 GiB (63.2%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda2
ID-2: /boot/efi size: 511 MiB used: 6.1 MiB (1.2%) fs: vfat dev: /dev/sda1
Swap:
ID-1: swap-1 type: file size: 4.41 GiB used: 16 KiB (0.0%) priority: -2 file: /swapfile
USB:
Hub-1: 1-0:1 info: hi-speed hub with single TT ports: 7 rev: 2.0 speed: 480 Mb/s lanes: 1
chip-ID: 1d6b:0002 class-ID: 0900
Hub-2: 1-3:2 info: Genesys Logic USB 2.0 Hub / D-Link DUB-H4 ports: 4 rev: 2.0 speed: 12 Mb/s
lanes: 1 power: 100mA chip-ID: 05e3:0606 class-ID: 0900
Device-1: 1-3.1:4 info: Logitech Unifying Receiver type: mouse,HID
driver: logitech-djreceiver,usbhid interfaces: 2 rev: 2.0 speed: 12 Mb/s lanes: 1 power: 98mA
chip-ID: 046d:c52f class-ID: 0300
Device-2: 1-3.2:5 info: Clay Logic flirc type: keyboard driver: hid-generic,usbhid
interfaces: 2 rev: 1.1 speed: 1.5 Mb/s lanes: 1 power: 100mA chip-ID: 20a0:0001 class-ID: 0300
Device-3: 1-3.3:7 info: Shenzhen Rapoo 2.4G Receiver type: mouse,keyboard,HID
driver: hid-generic,usbhid interfaces: 4 rev: 1.1 speed: 12 Mb/s lanes: 1 power: 70mA
chip-ID: 24ae:9db6 class-ID: 0300 serial:
Device-4: 1-4:3 info: NAD USB Audio 2.0 type: audio driver: snd-usb-audio interfaces: 6
rev: 2.0 speed: 480 Mb/s lanes: 1 power: 10mA chip-ID: 17ae:0005 class-ID: fe01 serial:
Hub-3: 1-5:6 info: Genesys Logic Hub ports: 4 rev: 2.0 speed: 480 Mb/s lanes: 1 power: 100mA
chip-ID: 05e3:0610 class-ID: 0900
Device-1: 1-5.1:8 info: Intel Bluetooth wireless interface type: bluetooth driver: btusb
interfaces: 2 rev: 2.0 speed: 12 Mb/s lanes: 1 power: 100mA chip-ID: 8087:0a2a class-ID: e001
Hub-4: 2-0:1 info: super-speed hub ports: 6 rev: 3.0 speed: 5 Gb/s lanes: 1 chip-ID: 1d6b:0003
class-ID: 0900
Sensors:
System Temperatures: cpu: 51.0 C mobo: N/A
Fan Speeds (rpm): N/A
Repos:
Packages: 2229 pm: dpkg pkgs: 2218 pm: flatpak pkgs: 11
No active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list
Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/google-chrome.list

(Removed packages here as I could not post more than 4 links as a new user)

Memory: total: 8 GiB note: est. available: 7.18 GiB used: 2.22 GiB (30.8%)
Processes: 238 Power: uptime: 19h 33m states: freeze,mem,disk suspend: deep wakeups: 2
hibernate: platform Init: systemd v: 255 target: graphical (5) default: graphical
Compilers: gcc: 13.3.0 Client: Unknown python3.12 client inxi: 3.3.34

Best to open an issue at Issues · xbmc/xbmc · GitHub. We don’t provide support for individual packages on Flathub Discourse.

Are other flatpak apps able to use HW accel on your system?

Actually no I don’t think so. Kodi was my only flatpak video player, but just downloaded Cine and tested- checked HW accel in prefs but playback choppy and high CPU.

It’s an older machine but I do seem to get a clear drop in CPU use when HW accell is on

vainfo did not show errors during playback though (should it? Or does vainfo just display the system)

did https://flathub.org/en/apps/org.freedesktop.Platform.VAAPI.Intel install for you?

yes i915 driver is installed. Should I install a dfferent driver (which one? the install command gives man options)

yes I also see it’s installed when searching software manager

I suspect the issue here is that kodi flatpak recently updated its platform runtime from 24.08 to 25.08, and in doing so the legacy intel-vaapi-driver was dropped, leaving only intel-media-driver support: Remove intel-vaapi-driver (8b3b68e3) · Commits · freedesktop-sdk / freedesktop-sdk · GitLab

This might mean that Braswell and other older/niche cpus no longer benefit from intel’s driver support.

Thankyou - yes I think you’re correct. I just posted a report to XBMC github asking this question. Looks like I might have to upgrade.

Linking here to help anyone else in my position:

For anyone with kodi driver issues from flatpak, the Devs have very kindly rolled back the runtime version temporarily to allow those in my position some more time. (A few months will change back)

See thread Kodi Community Forum

that link seems broken

Thread was moved.