8K videos not HW accelerated

[Honk]

Hey, I would like to use 8K video, but it always decodes on CPU rather than GPU. The LAV filters option did not help.

Are 8K videos not supported or they need to be encoded in a specific way ?

The video in question IS accelerated when playing through normal video player, for example VLC

Mediainfo:
General
Complete name : C:\Users\Administrator\Desktop\8k-hevc.mp4
Format : MPEG-4
Format profile : Base Media
Codec ID : isom (isom/iso2/mp41)
File size : 20.8 MiB
Duration : 12 s 0 ms
Overall bit rate : 14.6 Mb/s
Writing application : Lavf59.34.101

Video
ID : 1
Format : HEVC
Format/Info : High Efficiency Video Coding
Format profile : Main@L6.1@Main
Codec ID : hvc1
Codec ID/Info : High Efficiency Video Coding
Duration : 12 s 0 ms
Bit rate : 14.5 Mb/s
Maximum bit rate : 15.0 Mb/s
Width : 7 680 pixels
Height : 4 320 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 16:9
Frame rate mode : Constant
Frame rate : 60.000 FPS
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0 (Type 0)
Bit depth : 8 bits
Scan type : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.007
Stream size : 20.8 MiB (100%)
Writing library : x265 3.5+43-2858a1d19:[Windows][GCC 12.2.0][64 bit] 8bit+10bit+12bit
Encoding settings : cpuid=1111039 / frame-threads=4 / numa-pools=16 / wpp / no-pmode / no-pme / no-psnr / no-ssim / log-level=2 / input-csp=1 / input-res=7680x4320 / interlace=0 / total-frames=0 / level-idc=0 / high-tier=1 / uhd-bd=0 / ref=3 / no-allow-non-conformance / no-repeat-headers / annexb / no-aud / no-eob / no-eos / no-hrd / info / hash=0 / no-temporal-layers / open-gop / min-keyint=25 / keyint=250 / gop-lookahead=0 / bframes=4 / b-adapt=2 / b-pyramid / bframe-bias=0 / rc-lookahead=20 / lookahead-slices=8 / scenecut=40 / no-hist-scenecut / radl=0 / no-splice / no-intra-refresh / ctu=64 / min-cu-size=8 / no-rect / no-amp / max-tu-size=32 / tu-inter-depth=1 / tu-intra-depth=1 / limit-tu=0 / rdoq-level=0 / dynamic-rd=0.00 / no-ssim-rd / signhide / no-tskip / nr-intra=0 / nr-inter=0 / no-constrained-intra / strong-intra-smoothing / max-merge=3 / limit-refs=1 / no-limit-modes / me=1 / subme=2 / merange=57 / temporal-mvp / no-frame-dup / no-hme / weightp / no-weightb / no-analyze-src-pics / deblock=0:0 / sao / no-sao-non-deblock / rd=3 / selective-sao=4 / early-skip / rskip / no-fast-intra / no-tskip-fast / no-cu-lossless / b-intra / no-splitrd-skip / rdpenalty=0 / psy-rd=2.00 / psy-rdoq=0.00 / no-rd-refine / no-lossless / cbqpoffs=0 / crqpoffs=0 / rc=abr / bitrate=15000 / qcomp=0.60 / qpstep=4 / stats-write=0 / stats-read=0 / ipratio=1.40 / pbratio=1.30 / aq-mode=2 / aq-strength=1.00 / cutree / zone-count=0 / no-strict-cbr / qg-size=32 / no-rc-grain / qpmax=69 / qpmin=0 / no-const-vbv / sar=0 / overscan=0 / videoformat=5 / range=0 / colorprim=2 / transfer=2 / colormatrix=2 / chromaloc=1 / chromaloc-top=0 / chromaloc-bottom=0 / display-window=0 / cll=0,0 / min-luma=0 / max-luma=255 / log2-max-poc-lsb=8 / vui-timing-info / vui-hrd-info / slices=1 / no-opt-qp-pps / no-opt-ref-list-length-pps / no-multi-pass-opt-rps / scenecut-bias=0.05 / hist-threshold=0.03 / no-opt-cu-delta-qp / no-aq-motion / no-sbrc / no-hdr10 / no-hdr10-opt / no-dhdr10-opt / no-idr-recovery-sei / analysis-reuse-level=0 / analysis-save-reuse-level=0 / analysis-load-reuse-level=0 / scale-factor=0 / refine-intra=0 / refine-inter=0 / refine-mv=1 / refine-ctu-distortion=0 / no-limit-sao / ctu-info=0 / no-lowpass-dct / refine-analysis-type=0 / copy-pic=1 / max-ausize-factor=1.0 / no-dynamic-refine / no-single-sei / no-hevc-aq / no-svt / no-field / qp-adaptation-range=1.00 / scenecut-aware-qp=0conformance-window-offsets / right=0 / bottom=0 / decoder-max-rate=0 / no-vbv-live-multi-pass / no-mctf
Color range : Limited
Codec configuration box : hvcC

[Tim]

Wallpaper Engine fully relies on Windows and your graphics card drivers for this. If hardware acceleration does not work, it simply means that Windows refuses to use it for some reason on your video file.

It sounds like you read the following page already, did you also try to reset all codec packs on your system using the Codec Tweak Tool?

https://help.wallpaperengine.io/en/debug/reset.html

[Honk]

The Codec Tweak Tool's Media Foundation tab has everything unchecked. My GPU is RTX 3080 if that helps any.

I find it weird that any video player does HW accelerate the video file, but Wallpaper Engine does not for some reason.

PotPlayer with LAV filters for example reports the following, fully GPU accelerated, almost no CPU us being used:

[Used Filter List]
(1) Built-in Async Reader
(2) LAV Splitter
(3) LAV Video Decoder
(4) Built-in Video Codec/Transform
(5) Enhanced Video Renderer(Custom Present)

[Video Information]
Codec: HVC1
Input type: NV12(12 bits)
Input size: 7680 × 4320(1.78:1)
Output type: NV12(12 bits)
Output size: 7680 × 4320(1.78:1)
Frame rate: 60
BitRate: 14548.2 kbps


Can I try anything else or generate a report of some sort for you to check it if possible ? or send the video file in question

[Tim]

I am afraid there is not much we can do here because video-based wallpapers are fully delegated to Windows, from a code point of view we are basically just telling Windows to play the video. If hardware acceleration is not used by Windows, it means that something down the line does not support it. It could be as simple as Windows itself not supporting 8K hardware acceleration, I am actually not too sure about it because 8K is a really niche topic and due to the enormous hardware strain, we always advice against using 8K files as wallpapers. Have you tried playing the video file with Windows Media Player, does it have hardware acceleration there or is it also rendered via the CPU?

[Honk]

Windows Media Player hangs forever - can't play it at all.

[Tim]

It is likely a limitation in Windows or your GPU drivers itself then, it probably fails to fall back on CPU rendering and just freezes entirely. I am afraid there is nothing we can do on our end in this case, you would need to adjust the video file itself to a format that is supported by your Windows installation.