@phyllissmith Yes, I agree. But which software is this? The driver?  ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ One update from my side: I was able to use ffmpeg via cuvid to transcode the yuvj420p files into yuv420p files using 100% the GPU for both decoding and encoding. This tells me indeed that the hardware is able to cope with the yuvj420p pixel format, and yes this also confirms your statement from above. I use the following ffmpeg command to do this: ffmpeg -y -hwaccel cuvid -c:v h264_cuvid -vsync 0 -i h264_test.MP4 -c:v h264_nvenc -b:v 60417 -maxrate:v 61M -bufsize:v 80M -profile:v main -rc:v vbr_hq -rc-lookahead:v 32 -spatial_aq:v 1 -aq-strength:v 15 -coder:v cabac -f mp4 h264_test_dec.MP4 In fact, since this transcode process is super fast, I think this might be a realistic part of the video editing flow, since its processed on the GPU anyway (and that's what I'm after here), can be scripted fairly easy to be applied to several files, AND it will (hopefully) come up with a format which is straight forward to use in cinelerra via VDPAU to unload the CPU once it gets more complex. This is the output of ffprobe of my converted file: ig0r@ig0r-ThinkPad-X230:~/Documents/linux/eGPU/Cinelerra-GG_Notes/testvideos$ ffprobe h264_test_dec.MP4 ffprobe version 3.4.6-0ubuntu0.18.04.1 Copyright (c) 2007-2019 the FFmpeg developers built with gcc 7 (Ubuntu 7.3.0-16ubuntu3) configuration: --prefix=/usr --extra-version=0ubuntu0.18.04.1 --toolchain=hardened --libdir=/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu --incdir=/usr/include/x86_64-linux-gnu --enable-gpl --disable-stripping --enable-avresample --enable-avisynth --enable-gnutls --enable-ladspa --enable-libass --enable-libbluray --enable-libbs2b --enable-libcaca --enable-libcdio --enable-libflite --enable-libfontconfig --enable-libfreetype --enable-libfribidi --enable-libgme --enable-libgsm --enable-libmp3lame --enable-libmysofa --enable-libopenjpeg --enable-libopenmpt --enable-libopus --enable-libpulse --enable-librubberband --enable-librsvg --enable-libshine --enable-libsnappy --enable-libsoxr --enable-libspeex --enable-libssh --enable-libtheora --enable-libtwolame --enable-libvorbis --enable-libvpx --enable-libwavpack --enable-libwebp --enable-libx265 --enable-libxml2 --enable-libxvid --enable-libzmq --enable-libzvbi --enable-omx --enable-openal --enable-opengl --enable-sdl2 --enable-libdc1394 --enable-libdrm --enable-libiec61883 --enable-chromaprint --enable-frei0r --enable-libopencv --enable-libx264 --enable-shared libavutil 55. 78.100 / 55. 78.100 libavcodec 57.107.100 / 57.107.100 libavformat 57. 83.100 / 57. 83.100 libavdevice 57. 10.100 / 57. 10.100 libavfilter 6.107.100 / 6.107.100 libavresample 3. 7. 0 / 3. 7. 0 libswscale 4. 8.100 / 4. 8.100 libswresample 2. 9.100 / 2. 9.100 libpostproc 54. 7.100 / 54. 7.100 Input #0, mov,mp4,m4a,3gp,3g2,mj2, from 'h264_test_dec.MP4': Metadata: major_brand : isom minor_version : 512 compatible_brands: isomiso2avc1mp41 encoder : Lavf57.83.100 Duration: 00:00:11.23, start: 0.000000, bitrate: 62038 kb/s Stream #0:0(eng): Video: h264 (Main) (avc1 / 0x31637661), yuv420p, 2704x1520 [SAR 1:1 DAR 169:95], 61902 kb/s, 58.78 fps, 59.94 tbr, 60k tbn, 119.88 tbc (default) Metadata: handler_name : VideoHandler timecode : 13:41:55:17 Stream #0:1(eng): Audio: aac (LC) (mp4a / 0x6134706D), 48000 Hz, stereo, fltp, 128 kb/s (default) Metadata: handler_name : SoundHandler Stream #0:2(eng): Data: none (tmcd / 0x64636D74), 0 kb/s Metadata: handler_name : TimeCodeHandler timecode : 13:41:55:17 BUT: While the pixel format is now yuv420p, I get a strange error after loading the new file into cinelerra: root@ig0r-ThinkPad-X230:/home/ig0r/cinelerra_singleuser_1/cinelerra5/cinelerra-5.1/bin# ./cin Cinelerra Infinity - built: Apr 13 2020 11:28:12 git://git.cinelerra-gg.org/goodguy/cinelerra.git (c) 2006-2019 Heroine Virtual Ltd. by Adam Williams 2007-2020 mods for Cinelerra-GG by W.P.Morrow aka goodguy Cinelerra is free software, covered by the GNU General Public License, and you are welcome to change it and/or distribute copies of it under certain conditions. There is absolutely no warranty for Cinelerra. [h264 @ 0x7f9ed01a1380] Reinit context to 2704x1520, pix_fmt: yuv420p [AVIOContext @ 0x7f9ed01a8600] Statistics: 981923 bytes read, 4 seeks [h264 @ 0x7f9ed01b1440] Reinit context to 2704x1520, pix_fmt: yuv420p [h264 @ 0x7f9ed03652c0] Reinit context to 2704x1520, pix_fmt: yuv420p [AVIOContext @ 0x7f9ed0523a80] Statistics: 981923 bytes read, 4 seeks [h264 @ 0x7f9ecc010e00] Reinit context to 2704x1520, pix_fmt: yuv420p [h264 @ 0x7f9ecc0201c0] Reinit context to 2704x1520, pix_fmt: yuv420p [AVHWDeviceContext @ 0x7f9ecc0fa7c0] Successfully created a VDPAU device (NVIDIA VDPAU Driver Shared Library 435.21 Sun Aug 25 08:06:02 CDT 2019) on X11 display :0.0 [h264 @ 0x7f9ecc0479c0] Reinit context to 2704x1520, pix_fmt: vdpau [h264 @ 0x7f9ec400f940] Reinit context to 2704x1520, pix_fmt: yuv420p [h264 @ 0x7f9ec4015dc0] Reinit context to 2704x1520, pix_fmt: yuv420p [AVHWDeviceContext @ 0x7f9ec4013c00] Successfully created a VDPAU device (NVIDIA VDPAU Driver Shared Library 435.21 Sun Aug 25 08:06:02 CDT 2019) on X11 display :0.0 [h264 @ 0x7f9ec4113a40] Reinit context to 2704x1520, pix_fmt: vdpau [AVIOContext @ 0x7f9ed01a79c0] Statistics: 981923 bytes read, 4 seeks [h264 @ 0x7f9ec8006b00] Reinit context to 2704x1520, pix_fmt: yuv420p [h264 @ 0x7f9ec4113a40] Reinit context to 2704x1520, pix_fmt: vdpau [h264 @ 0x7f9ecc0479c0] Reinit context to 2704x1520, pix_fmt: vdpau [NULL @ 0x7f9ec80fcbc0] No codec provided to avcodec_open2() FFMPEG::scan: codec open failed FFMPEG::scan:file=/home/ig0r/Documents/linux/eGPU/Cinelerra-GG_Notes/testvideos/h264_test_dec.MP4 audio0 pad 4 0 (4) [AVIOContext @ 0x7f9ec800dcc0] Statistics: 87136396 bytes read, 4 seeks [h264 @ 0x7f9ecc0479c0] Reinit context to 2704x1520, pix_fmt: vdpau [h264 @ 0x7f9ecc0479c0] Reinit context to 2704x1520, pix_fmt: vdpau [h264 @ 0x7f9ec4113a40] Reinit context to 2704x1520, pix_fmt: vdpau [AVIOContext @ 0x7f9ec4022580] Statistics: 39251601 bytes read, 7 seeks [AVIOContext @ 0x7f9ec4016a80] Statistics: 981923 bytes read, 4 seeks [h264 @ 0x7f9ea000acc0] Reinit context to 2704x1520, pix_fmt: yuv420p [h264 @ 0x7f9ea001d4c0] Reinit context to 2704x1520, pix_fmt: yuv420p [AVHWDeviceContext @ 0x7f9ea000e9c0] Successfully created a VDPAU device (NVIDIA VDPAU Driver Shared Library 435.21 Sun Aug 25 08:06:02 CDT 2019) on X11 display :0.0 [h264 @ 0x7f9ea005a400] Reinit context to 2704x1520, pix_fmt: vdpau [h264 @ 0x7f9ecc0479c0] Reinit context to 2704x1520, pix_fmt: vdpau [h264 @ 0x7f9ecc0479c0] Reinit context to 2704x1520, pix_fmt: vdpau [h264 @ 0x7f9ecc0479c0] Reinit context to 2704x1520, pix_fmt: vdpau [h264 @ 0x7f9ecc0479c0] Reinit context to 2704x1520, pix_fmt: vdpau [h264 @ 0x7f9ecc0479c0] Reinit context to 2704x1520, pix_fmt: vdpau [h264 @ 0x7f9ecc0479c0] Reinit context to 2704x1520, pix_fmt: vdpau [h264 @ 0x7f9ecc0479c0] Reinit context to 2704x1520, pix_fmt: vdpau [h264 @ 0x7f9f1866d040] Reinit context to 2704x1520, pix_fmt: yuv420p [h264 @ 0x7f9f1867c900] Reinit context to 2704x1520, pix_fmt: yuv420p On top of that, the playback in both the viewer and compositor stutters a lot. Using mpv gives again perfectly smooth results: ig0r@ig0r-ThinkPad-X230:~/Documents/linux/eGPU/Cinelerra-GG_Notes/testvideos$ mpv --hwdec=vdpau h264_test_dec.MP4 Playing: h264_test_dec.MP4 (+) Video --vid=1 (*) (h264 2704x1520 58.782fps) (+) Audio --aid=1 --alang=eng (*) (aac 2ch 48000Hz) AO: [pulse] 48000Hz stereo 2ch float Using hardware decoding (vdpau). VO: [opengl] 2704x1520 vdpau[yuv420p] ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ I have the feeling we're almost at the finish line for a useful flow here, but for sure I'm missing something obvious in the ffmpeg transcode command stated above, since there are a lot of different options possible. Could you please help to debug this message? The converted testvideo is on the drive (h264_test_dec.MP4), maybe it is useful for further debugging.  Thanks! Take care!