[hevc] Unknown HEVC profile: 0

[Randombit]

I was given this file and I can't play it without disabling hardware decoding. What is H.265 profile 0? Is this file produced by broken software? Does HEVC profile 0 even exist?

[poisondeathray]

what does mediainfo (view=>text say about the file) ?

Does it play in software decoding mode ?

[Randombit]

Yes, it plays in SW mode.

Video
ID                                       : 1
Format                                   : HEVC
Format/Info                              : High Efficiency Video Coding
Codec ID                                 : V_MPEGH/ISO/HEVC
Duration                                 : 1 h 40 min
Bit rate                                 : 901 kb/s
Width                                    : 1 280 pixels
Height                                   : 720 pixels
Display aspect ratio                     : 16:9
Frame rate mode                          : Constant
Frame rate                               : 23.976 (24000/1001) FPS
Color space                              : YUV
Chroma subsampling                       : 4:2:0
Bit depth                                : 8 bits
Bits/(Pixel*Frame)                       : 0.041
Stream size                              : 646 MiB (93%)
Writing library                          : x265 1.5:[Windows][GCC 4.9.0][64 bit]
Encoding settings                        : wpp / ctu=32 / tu-intra-depth=1 / tu-inter-depth=1 / me=1 / subme=1 / merange=57 / no-rect / no-amp / max-merge=2 / temporal-mvp / early-skip / no-fast-cbf / rdpenalty=0 / no-tskip / no-tskip-fast / strong-intra-smoothing / no-lossless / no-cu-lossless / no-constrained-intra / fast-intra / open-gop / interlace=0 / keyint=240 / min-keyint=24 / scenecut=40 / rc-lookahead=15 / bframes=4 / bframe-bias=0 / b-adapt=0 / ref=8 / weightp / no-weightb / aq-mode=1 / aq-strength=1.00 / cbqpoffs=0 / crqpoffs=0 / rd=2 / psy-rd=0.30 / psy-rdoq=0.00 / signhide / lft / sao / no-sao-non-deblock / b-pyramid / no-cutree / rc=2 / pass / bitrate=900 / qcomp=0.60 / qpmin=0 / qpmax=51 / qpstep=4 / cplxblur=20.0 / qblur=0.5 / ipratio=1.40 / pbratio=1.30
Default                                  : Yes
Forced                                   : No
Color range                              : Limited
Color primaries                          : BT.709
Transfer characteristics                 : BT.709
Matrix coefficients                      : BT.709

[sneaker]

Encoder must have set --ref 8 --allow-non-conformance (with b-pyramid) creating a stream exceeding HEVC specifications.

[Randombit]

OK, is there anything that can be done to "fix" such a file? Below is VA-API info of my box.

~ $ vainfo
libva info: VA-API version 0.40.0
libva info: va_getDriverName() returns 0
libva info: Trying to open /usr/lib64/va/drivers/i965_drv_video.so
libva info: Found init function __vaDriverInit_0_40
libva info: va_openDriver() returns 0
vainfo: VA-API version: 0.40 (libva )
vainfo: Driver version: Intel i965 driver for Intel(R) Skylake - 1.8.3
vainfo: Supported profile and entrypoints
      VAProfileMPEG2Simple            : VAEntrypointVLD
      VAProfileMPEG2Simple            : VAEntrypointEncSlice
      VAProfileMPEG2Main              : VAEntrypointVLD
      VAProfileMPEG2Main              : VAEntrypointEncSlice
      VAProfileH264ConstrainedBaseline: VAEntrypointVLD
      VAProfileH264ConstrainedBaseline: VAEntrypointEncSlice
      VAProfileH264ConstrainedBaseline: VAEntrypointEncSliceLP
      VAProfileH264Main               : VAEntrypointVLD
      VAProfileH264Main               : VAEntrypointEncSlice
      VAProfileH264Main               : VAEntrypointEncSliceLP
      VAProfileH264High               : VAEntrypointVLD
      VAProfileH264High               : VAEntrypointEncSlice
      VAProfileH264High               : VAEntrypointEncSliceLP
      VAProfileH264MultiviewHigh      : VAEntrypointVLD
      VAProfileH264MultiviewHigh      : VAEntrypointEncSlice
      VAProfileH264StereoHigh         : VAEntrypointVLD
      VAProfileH264StereoHigh         : VAEntrypointEncSlice
      VAProfileVC1Simple              : VAEntrypointVLD
      VAProfileVC1Main                : VAEntrypointVLD
      VAProfileVC1Advanced            : VAEntrypointVLD
      VAProfileNone                   : VAEntrypointVideoProc
      VAProfileJPEGBaseline           : VAEntrypointVLD
      VAProfileJPEGBaseline           : VAEntrypointEncPicture
      VAProfileVP8Version0_3          : VAEntrypointVLD
      VAProfileVP8Version0_3          : VAEntrypointEncSlice
      VAProfileHEVCMain               : VAEntrypointVLD
      VAProfileHEVCMain               : VAEntrypointEncSlice

[sneaker]

Ask the developer of your playback software if there is a way to force hardware decoding of such streams. Or try to manipulate the stream's flags to signal specified level (and DPB?). Either way there is a chance decoding will be erroneous.

[Randombit]

Manipulate flags, sounds interesting, how? Sure it could be done with a hex editor if the address is known, but is there an easier way?

[sneaker]

I haven't seen any software to manipulate those level and profile flags in HEVC.

Maybe there is trick: encode a very short spec compliant stream with same parameters (except lower ref count) and append your problem stream to it. If your player starts in hardware decoding mode maybe it stays in hardware decoding mode?

But is it worth it? Is HEVC 720p too much work for your CPU? And again: we don't know if it will work. Just don't encode such bad streams...

[Randombit]

It is worth because the players I'm using are set to use HW decoding, Kodi and MPV. Loading such a file means I have to re-configure the player. Thanks for workaround idea!