OBS Studio Flatpak Gstreamer encoder plugin fails to record/stream

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1

Hello.

I’m trying to record/stream using the flatpak version of OBS Studio using the Gstreamer plugins
com.obsproject.Studio.Plugin.Gstreamer and com.obsproject.Studio.Plugin.GStreamerVaapi from the /r/openSUSE reddit post, but fails to record/stream. It shows the following error:

obs

Upon checking the logs, the says:

21:28:31.977: no element "x264enc"

This is for the H.264 encoder. For the H.265 encoder it outputs the following:

21:30:46.715: no element "vaapih265enc"

I ran gst-inspect-1.0 | grep vaapih264, to see if Gstreamer is detecting it. And the output confirms it:

roguefort8@localhost:~> gst-inspect-1.0 | grep vaapih264
vaapi:  vaapih264dec: VA-API H264 decoder
vaapi:  vaapih264enc: VA-API H264 encoder

I ran opi codecs and everything seems to be installed. So why does it fail? Am I missing a flatpak plugin?

I also noticed that whenever I select those encoders the Encoder Type box on the Encoder Settings page is blank and I can’t select my GPU (A 6700 XT).

I’m trying to use this encoder as a substitute to AMF since I can’t find a way to use it on OBS. I did try to install the AMDGPU-PRO drivers according to the wiki entry, but it didn’t work. Maybe Tumbleweed just can’t use those driver? Or is it lacking crucial information?

1 Like
2

Well, I’m glad someone else has the same problem. Did you find a solution?

3

Flatpak (flathub) is not able to provide any x264/x256 codec due to patent/license restriction.

gst-inspect-1.0 | grep vaapih264 is inspecting the codecs of your host. Flatpaks don’t use codecs of the host but uses bundled libraries from the flatpak app itself. That is the concept of flatpak…

4

Hey, you can just switch to using a software encoder and it will work.

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I also ran the following to see what packages should be recommened, but Im using H.264 on an Intel:

txtechnician@txtechnician-hp-laptop:~> sudo zypper search --recommends --uninstalled-only | grep 264
  | ffx264                                                                  | A small shell script for encoding to H.264/AVC with FFmpeg                                                                      | package
  | ffx264                                                                  | A small shell script for encoding to H.264/AVC with FFmpeg                                                                      | srcpackage
  | get_iplayer                                                             | Downloads H.264 BBC IPlayer TV, Radio, and Podcast Programs                                                                     | package
  | get_iplayer                                                             | Downloads H.264 BBC IPlayer TV, Radio, and Podcast Programs                                                                     | srcpackage
  | gstreamer-1.20-plugin-openh264                                          | Gstreamer openh264 plugin                                                                                                       | package
  | gstreamer-1.20-plugin-openh264                                          | Gstreamer openh264 plugin                                                                                                       | srcpackage
  | gstreamer-1.22-plugin-openh264                                          | Gstreamer openh264 plugin                                                                                                       | srcpackage
  | h264enc                                                                 | An advanced CLI shell script for MEncoder                                                                                       | package
  | h264enc                                                                 | An advanced CLI shell script for MEncoder                                                                                       | srcpackage
  | libopenh264-devel                                                       | Development files for openh264                                                                                                  | package
  | libx264                                                                 | A free h264/avc encoder                                                                                                         | srcpackage
  | libx264-164-32bit                                                       | A free h264/avc encoder - encoder binary                                                                                        | package
  | libx264-164-32bit-debuginfo                                             | Debug information for package libx264-164                                                                                       | package
  | libx264-164-debuginfo                                                   | Debug information for package libx264-164                                                                                       | package
  | libx264-debugsource                                                     | Debug sources for package libx264                                                                                               | package
  | libx264-devel                                                           | Libraries and include file for the libx264 encoder                                                                              | package
  | libx264-x264                                                            | Command line tool for libx264                                                                                                   | srcpackage
  | libx264-x264-debugsource                                                | Debug sources for package libx264-x264                                                                                          | package
  | openh264                                                                | H.264 codec library                                                                                                             | srcpackage
  | x264                                                                    | Binaries for x264 streams conversions                                                                                           | package
  | x264-debuginfo                                                          | Debug information for package x264                                                                                              | package
txtechnician@txtechnician-hp-laptop:~>

Not sure what to install or what I really need. Gonna ask reddit.

5

Please don’t confuse flatpak codecs and codecs on the “host”…

6

Hey. I’m very sorry for the delayed response.

As @hui pointed out, the Flatpak version doesn’t use the codecs of the host, due to it’s sandboxing nature. Therefore, you have to install a native package version of OBS Studio in order to access them.

However, OBS Studio doesn’t offer a .rpm package, only a Ubuntu PPA.

The alternatives are the following:

For me, I’m using ahmedmoselhi2’s community package of the program, as it appears to be the most up to date. Tough I might switch to Packman’s version soon.

I hope you can forgive my procrastination and that this helps you.

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