We can’t use HW encoding in HEVC with a GeminiLake intel cpu

Gemini Lake cpu can’t encode HEVC with vaapi, so it uses the cpu. QSync can’t be used for encoding HEVC, as it is not supported by the cpu. We know this by using vainfo command and checking the codec supported.

From Chatgpt:

vainfo: Supported profile and entrypoints
      VAProfileMPEG2Simple            : VAEntrypointVLD
      VAProfileMPEG2Main              : VAEntrypointVLD
      VAProfileH264Main               : VAEntrypointVLD
      VAProfileH264Main               : VAEntrypointEncSliceLP
      VAProfileH264High               : VAEntrypointVLD
      VAProfileH264High               : VAEntrypointEncSliceLP
      VAProfileJPEGBaseline           : VAEntrypointVLD
      VAProfileJPEGBaseline           : VAEntrypointEncPicture
      VAProfileH264ConstrainedBaseline: VAEntrypointVLD
      VAProfileH264ConstrainedBaseline: VAEntrypointEncSliceLP
      VAProfileVP8Version0_3          : VAEntrypointVLD
      VAProfileHEVCMain               : VAEntrypointVLD
      VAProfileHEVCMain10             : VAEntrypointVLD
      VAProfileVP9Profile0            : VAEntrypointVLD
      VAProfileVP9Profile2            : VAEntrypointVLD

The output of vainfo indicates that your Intel GPU supports a range of video codecs and profiles, including H.264, HEVC (H.265), VP8, and VP9. This means your hardware acceleration should work for both decoding and encoding, with some limitations.

Here’s what the supported profiles mean for your usage:

VAProfileH264Main and VAProfileH264High: Support for H.264 decoding (VLD) and encoding (EncSliceLP - Low Power mode). VAProfileHEVCMain and VAProfileHEVCMain10: Support for HEVC (H.265) decoding. VAProfileVP8Version0_3 and VAProfileVP9Profile0/2: Support for VP8 and VP9 decoding. JPEG: Support for JPEG hardware acceleration.

However, for encoding H.264 or HEVC, only the EncSliceLP entrypoint is available, which is typically limited to low-power hardware encoding, optimized for energy efficiency rather than high performance.

More about this in this doc from me: homelab setup Or in this Intel wiki page: Intel_Quick_Sync_Video