kodi-rpi black screen for h265

[Rapty]

Hello

Since a few days, kodi displays a black screen for video encoded with h265.
I cannot find any log, any clue to point to the actual problem.

I am wondering if it is linked with this update:
ffmpeg (2:8.0.1-2 -> 2:8.0.1-4)

Is it possible kodi-rpi need to be rebuilt against the new version ?
I don't have ffmpeg 2:8.0.1-2 in my cache anymore thus I cannot rollback.

I would be happy to test if someone has it or a link to a working ARM rollback machine

[darksky]

Looks like it is not using the system ffmpeg8 but is being built internally to use ffmpeg 6.1.3.
make_clickable_callback(MAGIC_URL_FULL, '
', 'https://github.com/archlinuxarm/PKGBUILDs/blob/master/alarm/kodi-rpi/PKGBUILD#L161', '', ' class="postlink"')

FYI @graysky:
make_clickable_callback(MAGIC_URL_FULL, ' ', 'https://github.com/raspberrypi/linux/issues/7228', '', ' class="postlink"')

[Rapty]

Thanks @darksky !
I don't have the [code]error <general>[/code] in log file however the result seems similar.
I don't have linux-rpi 6.18.6-1 in cache anymore neither !

[darksky]

I have not used kodi-rpi in a long time so I can not be much help. I use my own ffmpeg8 built from jc-kynesim repo on my pi4 running xfce desktop and mpv. I am also able to use it in firefox with youtube and have HW decoding with the enhanced-h264ify plugin installed.

[ray@rpi ~]$ uname -a (latest arch-arm kernel in repo)
Linux rpi 6.18.8-1-rpi #1 SMP PREEMPT Sat Feb 7 08:18:28 UTC 2026 aarch64 GNU/Linux

[ray@rpi ~]$ pacman -Qi rpi-ffmpeg
Name : rpi-ffmpeg
Version : 8.0.1-2
...

[ray@rpi Predator Badlands 2025]$ mpv --profile=fast --hwdec=auto-safe --gpu-api=opengl --vo=gpu ./Predator\ Badlands\ 2025.mkv
● Video --vid=1 (hevc 1280x536 24 fps) [default]
● Audio --aid=1 --alang=en (aac 6ch 48000 Hz) [default]
○ Subs --sid=1 --slang=en 'English (United States)' [default]
● Subs --sid=2 --slang=en 'English Forced' [forced]
File tags:
Title: Predator.Badlands.2025.720p.10bit.
Using hardware decoding (drm).
AO: [pipewire] 48000Hz 5.1 6ch floatp
VO: [gpu] 1280x536 drm_prime[rpi4_10]
AV: 00:41:03 / 01:48:00 (38%) A-V: 0.000

h264:

[ray@rpi The.Rip.2026]$ mpv --hwdec=v4l2m2m-copy --vo=gpu ./ The.Rip.2026.mp4
Playing: ./
Playing: ./The.Rip.2026.mp4
● Video --vid=1 (h264 1280x536 24 fps) [default]
● Audio --aid=1 (aac 2ch 48000 Hz 130 kbps) [default]
● Subs --sid=1 'srt' (subrip) [external]
Using hardware decoding (v4l2m2m-copy).
AO: [pipewire] 48000Hz stereo 2ch floatp
VO: [gpu] 1280x536 yuv420p
AV: 00:00:04 / 01:52:46 (0%) A-V: 0.000

firefox:

MOZ_LOG="FFmpegVideo:5" firefox
...
[RDD 33303: MediaSupervisor #1]: D/FFmpegVideo FFMPEG: Format h264 is accelerated
[RDD 33303: MediaSupervisor #1]: D/FFmpegVideo FFMPEG: Using preferred hardware codec h264
[RDD 33303: MediaSupervisor #1]: D/FFmpegVideo FFMPEG: codec h264 : H.264 / AVC / MPEG-4 AVC / MPEG-4 part 10
[RDD 33303: MediaSupervisor #1]: D/FFmpegVideo FFMPEG: Initialising V4L2-DRM FFmpeg decoder
[RDD 33303: MediaSupervisor #1]: D/FFmpegVideo FFMPEG: Format h264 is accelerated
[RDD 33303: MediaSupervisor #1]: D/FFmpegVideo FFMPEG: V4L2 codec h264_v4l2m2m : V4L2 mem2mem H.264 decoder wrapper
[RDD 33303: MediaSupervisor #1]: D/FFmpegVideo FFMPEG: Choosing FFmpeg pixel format for V4L2 video decoding.
[RDD 33303: MediaSupervisor #1]: D/FFmpegVideo FFMPEG: Requesting pixel format DRM PRIME
[RDD 33303: MediaSupervisor #1]: D/FFmpegVideo FFMPEG: V4L2 FFmpeg init successful
[RDD 33303: MediaPDecoder #2]: D/FFmpegVideo FFMPEG: FFmpegVideoDecoder, init, IsHardwareAccelerated=1
...

[Rapty]

Thanks darksy.

If I understand correctly the rpi branch made a minor API change in the rpi kernel and consequently they also report this change in their ffmpeg package.
In our case, we are using the rpi kernel also but our ffmpeg package is probably following the API of the main Arch x86 kernel branch.
I don't think a simple solution will come out from this.

I tried to replace ffmpeg by ffmpeg-rpi and it didn't change anything.

What is your rpi-ffmpeg package ? where does it come from and what is it purpose compare to the main one ?

[darksky]

If I understand the developer post in the the kernel rpi git the ffmpeg version needs to be bumped up that kodi-rpi is using internally when it is being built. Right now kodi-rpi is being built with 6.1.3. kodi-rpi will not see or use any external built ffmpeg installed in your system. Firefox will use the highest installed ffmpeg installed version on your system so ffmpeg8 in the repo will not provide HW decoding as it is.

I am using my own built ffmpeg8 which I have been supplying when I was maintaining manjaro-arm repo before I had to step down with health issues about 6 months ago. But it still will not be used by kodi-rpi.

[Rapty]

Ok I see : the only ffmpeg that need the API trick is the nested one.
This I can try...
Thanks for your explanation !

[Rapty]

I cannot build kodi-rpi right from the beginning:

[code]
-- Check if compiler accepts -pthread
-- Check if compiler accepts -pthread - no
CMake Error at /usr/share/cmake/Modules/FindPackageHandleStandardArgs.cmake:290 (message):
Could NOT find Threads (missing: Threads_FOUND)
[/code]

Probably I don't have the requested build env for this.
I have to wait for graysky...

[darksky]

Probably I don't have the requested build env for this.
I have to wait for graysky...

Probably a good choice. Your error you posted is because -z is not recognized being used in the LDFLAGS in /etc/makepkg.conf. It calls for modification in PKGBUILD with unset and redefining the LDFLAGS. I got past that here trying to build against my version of ffmpeg8 but then ran into libpostproc being dropped in ffmpeg8 which xbmc looks for to use and it seems that ffmpeg past version 7 will not have it.

[graysky]

Our kodi package does not depend on external ffmpeg it has its own internal one. I do not see a black screen on play back with an updated system. Are you sure your source video is good? Logs?