Video Corruption When Hardware Decoding L4.1 H.264 Video

[Anonymous]

Category	Questions	Answers (N/A if not applicable)
Description	Provide a detailed description of the issue	When hardware decoding moderately high bitrate L4.1 H.264 files (25Mbps+), a graphical glitch occurs (during bitrate peaks such as fast motion or bright flashes of light), and corrupted frames are displayed intermittently. The files are L4.1 compliant, and no error is displayed by the player indicating incompatibility.
Hardware (HW)	Brand and Model of the system.	Microsoft Surface Laptop 3
	Make and model of any Displays that are used to see the issue (see note2 below). LFP = Local Flat Panel (Laptop panel)EFP = External Flat Panel (Monitor you plug in)	LFP= Sharp LQ135P1JX51
	Provide any other hardware needed to replicate the issue. ie: Cables&brand, cable type [vga, hdmi, DP, etc], dock, dongles/adapters, etc	n/a
	Hardware Stepping (see note1 below).	Intel64 Family 6 Model 126 Stepping 5
Software (SW)	SW or Apps version used to replicate the issue.	Microsoft Movies & TV 10.21111.10511.0
Configurations	Single display, clone, or extended (see note2 below).	Single display
	Display resolution & refresh rate setting of each display (see note2 below).	2256 x 1504 (60p Hz)  display is adaptive sync compatible and Movies & TV matches display to video framerate using this feature (20p Hz - 60p Hz)
	AC or DC mode, i.e. is power cable plugged in or not?	both
How to repro	Please provide steps to replicate the issue. These steps are very crucial to finding the root cause and fix. A screenshot to illustrate the issue is a huge plus. A video of the failure is even better! Attach to the post or provide the YouTube link.	1. obtain high bitrate L4.1 H.264 video (25Mbps+) 2. play in app supporting hardware decode (Movies & TV) 3. observe corrupted frames being displayed intermittently (during bitrate spikes) 4. see attached screenshot for example of corrupted frame n.

[Alberto_R_Intel]

perrinpages, Thank you for posting in the Intel® Communities Support.

In order for us to provide the most accurate assistance on this scenario, we just wanted to confirm a few details about your system:

Is this a new computer?

When did you purchase it?

Was it working fine before?

When did the issue start?

Did you make any recent hardware/software changes that might cause this issue?

Does the problem happen at home or in the work environment?

Any questions, please let me know.

Regards,

Albert R.

Intel Customer Support Technician

[Anonymous]

Is this a new computer?

no

When did you purchase it?

august 2020

Was it working fine before?

no

When did the issue start?

when i tried to play the video files that cause this issue. i tested with my other devices and they do not have this issue. it is not a problem with the video files. it is a problem with the hardware decoder pipeline.

Did you make any recent hardware/software changes that might cause this issue?

no, this is an ongoing problem

Does the problem happen at home or in the work environment?

why is this relevant? both. it is an easily reproducible bug.

[Alberto_R_Intel]

perrinpages, Thank you very much for providing that information.

Based on the SSU report the graphics driver version currently installed on your computer is 27.20.100.9621.

Keep in mind that on mobile devices everything is customized by the computer's manufacturer. They can enable/disable features and functions in the device as well as BIOS options to comply with the functionality they advertised.

We advise to install the graphics driver provided by the manufacturer of the computer, since that driver was tested, customized, and validated by them to work with your specific platform. 

Microsoft has a package of drivers that are the proper ones for your system that might fix this problem about Video corruption when hardware decoding L4.1 H.264 Video, please install those drivers:

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=100429

If the problem persists, then, even though the Intel® drivers are generic and they might not work on the Microsoft Surface Laptop 3 since they don't contain the customizations done by Microsoft, for testing purposes we can try a clean installation of Intel® generic graphics driver version 30.0.101.1191, that was released two days ago, following the instructions in the links below. Once you get the chance, please let us know the results:

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/download/19344/intel-graphics-windows-dch-drivers.html?

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000005629/graphics.html

In the following links, you will also find further details about video coding/decoding when using an Intel® graphics controller:
https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000055741/graphics.html
https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/developer/articles/technical/encode-and-decode-capabilities-for-7th-generation-intel-core-processors-and-newer.html

It is very important to keep the BIOS up to date, so we recommend to get in contact directly with Microsoft support to confirm those details, or if necessary, to gather the instructions on how to update the BIOS to the latest version:

https://support.microsoft.com/

Regards,

Albert R.

Intel Customer Support Technician

[Anonymous]

All my drivers and firmware are up to date.

Microsoft lists firmware update history for ALL OF THEIR DEVICES ON THEIR OWN WEBSITE. A simple google search would have given you the link...

Surface Laptop 3 update history (microsoft.com)

There were no fixes listed to the video decoder pipeline in the newer drivers released. I tried the latest drivers before posting the bug report..the surface laptop 3 display uses very custom timings and the generic intel drivers do not behave well with them anyway. 

And lastly, remember when I said the files were L4.1 H.264 compliant? Yeah, gen11 graphics supports decoding of L4.1 H.264. 

[Alberto_R_Intel]

perrinpages, Thank you very much for sharing those updates.

"the surface laptop 3 display uses very custom timings and the generic intel drivers do not behave well with them anyway", we are sorry to hear the problem remains after updating the drivers and the BIOS in your machine.

We will do further research on this matter, as soon as I get any updates I will post all the details on this thread.

Regards,

Albert R.

Intel Customer Support Technician

[Alberto_R_Intel]

Hello perrinpages, I just received an update on this matter.

After reviewing the case, even though you mentioned that you already tried different driver versions and that everything is up to date, we just wanted to confirm if you can test the Intel® BETA driver version 30.0.101.1121, to try to fix this problem:

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/download/19387/intel-graphics-beta-windows-dch-drivers.html

Just to let you know, if the issue remains after trying the Intel® BETA driver, then we will try to replicate the issue in our Intel® lab, in the case, there is something else you need to add, additional steps that you followed beside the ones that you already provided to reproduce the issue, if you have links to share for us to test specific videos or any updates on this matter.

Regards,

Albert R.

Intel Customer Support Technician

[Anonymous]

The beta driver didn't fix the issue. I can easily reproduce the bug with the 1080p Blu-ray discs of Mad Max: Fury Road (2015) and Tenet (2020). It is not an issue with the actual video files on the discs (I cannot explain how I know this, but I do). Does Intel lab have access to physical media for testing purposes? 

[Alberto_R_Intel]

Hello perrinpages, Thank you very much for letting us know those results.

We are sorry to hear that the issue persists after testing the BETA graphics driver. So, I will report the results. Addtionally, in reference to your question, "Does Intel lab have access to physical media for testing purposes?" I will confirm those details and as soon as I get more updates I will post all of them on this thread.

Regards,

Albert R.

Intel Customer Support Technician

[Alberto_R_Intel]

Hello perrinpages, I just received an update on this matter.

While we are still working on this scenario, we just wanted to verify if you have the option to please try a video from the Jellyfish website? And if the issue persists with one of those videos to share with us the video sample tested and we will try to replicate it:

https://jell.yfish.us/

Additionally, we also wanted to confirm if the issue persists in an external monitor?

Regards,

Albert R.

Intel Customer Support Technician

[Alberto_R_Intel]

Hello perrinpages, I just wanted to check if you saw the information posted previously and if you need further assistance on this matter?

Regards,

Albert R.

Intel Customer Support Technician

[Alberto_R_Intel]

Hello perrinpages, Since we have not heard back from you, we are closing the case, but if you have any additional questions, please post them on a new thread so we can further assist you with this matter. Still, we recommend to install the drivers from the driver package provided by Microsoft containing all the customizations advertised by them for the Surface Laptop 3.

Any other inquiries, do not hesitate to contact us again.

Regards,

Albert R.

Intel Customer Support Technician