Hardware-Accelerated Video Playback Issue on Ultra5 125H & Ultra9 285K Processors

[upsand]

Hello,

I’m experiencing an issue with integrated graphics on both my laptop (featuring an Ultra5 125H processor) and my desktop (featuring an Ultra9 285K processor). Even though I’ve installed the latest drivers, I’m unable to play Netflix videos in Microsoft Edge when hardware acceleration is enabled. Additionally, videos on other websites sometimes exhibit graphical glitches. This problem seems to have existed for quite a while and appears to be fairly widespread.

Could you please let me know if there are any plans to address this issue in future driver updates?

Thank you!

[JeanetteC_Intel]

Hello upsand,

Thank you for posting in Intel Communities.

I would like to know more about your system details to fully understand the root cause of this issue. Please help share the following information so I can further investigate this problem:

1) Are both systems new with an out-of-the-box issue?

2) Can you confirm this is the latest driver you have on both systems (32.0.101.6332/32.0.101.101.6253)?

3) Have you tried older versions of the drivers? If yes, please share which versions were tested.

Additionally, I would highly appreciate you sharing both of your system configuration so I can fully check and provide you with an accurate fix. This could be possible by downloading the Intel® System Support Utility for Windows* software. When the download is complete, launch SSU.exe.

• Scan: Check the box Everything.
• Click Scan.
• Review: When finished scanning, click Next.
• Click Save (.txt). *Attach the log file for both laptop and desktop systems as you reply.

I will wait for your reply.

Best regards,

JeanetteC.

Intel® Customer Support Technician

[upsand]

1. Yes, these issues have been there since the very beginning.
2. Yes, I can confirm that both computers are running the latest drivers.
3. I’ve tried quite a few older driver versions, and the reason I updated them multiple times was precisely because those older versions didn’t work. But I’ve forgotten their version numbers, so I can’t provide that information here. The two log files you need are included in the appendix.

Compared to these details, I think it’s more important to note that this is definitely a widespread issue—hence why I’m only reporting it now. With many driver versions, Netflix won’t play when hardware acceleration is enabled, but it plays normally when hardware acceleration is disabled. In fact, someone mentioned this problem two years ago, for example:
https://www.reddit.com/r/edge/comments/v61gex/netflix_playback_is_darken_if_i_enable_hardware/?rdt=52968
If you have a device with integrated graphics at hand, you can give it a try. I’m quite certain the problem will reproduce.

Thank you for your reply.

[JeanetteC_Intel]

Hello upsand,

Thank you for sharing the information I requested. I will further check on this issue internally and will post an update once it's available. 

Best regards,

JeanetteC.

Intel® Customer Support Technician

[JeanetteC_Intel]

Hello upsand,

Thank you for sharing the information I requested. I will further check on this issue internally and will post an update once it's available. 

Best regards,

JeanetteC.

Intel® Customer Support Technician

[JeanetteC_Intel]

Hello upsand,

Good day!

I tried to reproduce the issue that you have encountered but could not replicate it.

Please proceed with the following steps below:

Type this in address field: edge://flags/ then look for options listed below.

Hardware-accelerated video decode set to Enabled

Hardware-accelerated video encode set to Enabled

PlayReady DRM for Windows set to Enabled

Widevine DRM set to Enabled

By default DRM related options are set to 'Default' which I think means that whenever website require it then it will be used. It's worth to try enabling it and check.

I'd also need to ask you to test Netflix in Firefox - since it's a different engine.

If needed to enable: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/enable-drm

I'll look forward to your response.

Best regards,

JeanetteC.

Intel® Customer Support Technician

[upsand]

First, to answer your question: after configuring DRM as per your instructions, there is no difference compared to the original state, and the issue still persists. As for Firefox, it behaves differently. With hardware acceleration enabled in Firefox, the highest quality provided by Netflix remains "HD" instead of 4K, and playback works normally.

Additionally, I checked my two computers, and both support up to 4K (1920p) resolution. When I lower the resolution to 2K (1440p) or below, the issue no longer occurs. The screen tearing issue also almost completely disappears (refer to one of Vargavik's replies below).

The most reasonable explanation seems to be that the integrated graphics cannot support the performance needed for 4K video. However, when decoding 4K videos from other platforms or local sources, the performance appears quite good. Even with occasional artifacts, there is no stuttering or tearing, and the playback is smooth most of the time.

[vargavik]

Hi,

Isn't it the same problem which is discussed here?

https://github.com/IGCIT/Intel-GPU-Community-Issue-Tracker-IGCIT/issues/869

[upsand]

Sometimes there are indeed similar situations, but they are far less severe than this case.

[JohnM_Intel]

Thank you for providing the details. To further investigate this concern, I will coordinate this issue internally and will provide the verbatim from us to understand more about this issue. Once I receive an update from the team, I'll post an update immediately.

John Sergio M.

Intel Customer Support Technician

[JohnM_Intel]

Hi upsand,

Upon further investigation, I found out that Ultra9 285K Intel® Graphics and Ultra5 125H Intel® Arc™ graphics do support 4K resolution, so for us to proceed, I have some questions for me to understand this issue very well. and based on the max resolution (HDMI) it supports from 4096 x 2304 @ 60Hz (HDMI 2.1 TMDS) to 7680 x 4320 @ 60Hz (HDMI 2.1 FRL).

1.  Is your concern in performance about Ultra5 125H Intel® Arc™ graphics or Ultra9 285K Intel® Graphics, or both?
2. What is the key issue you encounter?

Best regards,

John Sergio M.

Intel Customer Support Technician

[upsand]

Both the 125h and 285k models consistently fail to play Netflix content in 4K resolution, and this issue occurs with remarkable stability.

The screen tearing or noise artifacts, however, are unique to the 285k model. Although this problem cannot be reliably reproduced, it is frequently encountered.

Both issues manifest exclusively in 4K resolution when the graphics acceleration feature is enabled, and these are the primary concerns I wish to report.

[JohnM_Intel]

Hi upsand,

Thank you for answering my questions. To further investigate this concern, I will conduct a simulation for this concern to better understand why you experience this kind of issue using 4K resolution.

Best regards,

John Sergio M.

Intel Customer Support Technician

[JohnM_Intel]

Hi, Upsand,

Thank you for patiently waiting. I did an investigation with this concern and did not see any issue with the 285k. For me to go deeper, can you provide a picture of the streaming stats in Netflix? To provide that, you need to take a picture of it using a phone since Netflix does not allow screenshots, so kindly press Ctrl+Alt+Shift+D while streaming and open the task manager and go to performance.

Best regards,

John Sergio M.

Intel Customer Support Technician

[upsand]

The error messages can still be captured via screenshots. Below are the results after enabling GPU acceleration, presented in chronological order from Image 1 to Image 2 to Image 3. The Chinese error message reads: "Sorry, service interrupted—sorry, unable to process your request."

When GPU acceleration is disabled, everything works fine, though the image quality drops to standard HD. This is all the information I can provide. I'm reporting this issue because I encountered it on both of my integrated GPUs.

That said, it doesn’t affect me much since I've already installed a dedicated GPU. If your investigation confirms that there's no issue, feel free to put this on hold. I'm not particularly concerned about it anymore.

[JohnM_Intel]

Hi Upsand,

Thank you for providing the details I needed to further investigate this issue; give me enough time to properly check the streaming stats.

I'll be back at you once I'm done with the troubleshooting steps I will do in our laboratory.

Best regards,

John Sergio M.

Intel Customer Support Technician

[JohnM_Intel · Accepted solution]

Hello kkrm,

Thank you for patiently waiting. I tested this video and did not get issues. Kindly follow the troubleshooting below and check the issue further.

Software-wise:

• Disable browser extensions
• Clear browser cache

Hardware-wise:

• Disable XMP
• Update BIOS

Regards,

John Sergio M.

Intel Customer Support Technician

[JohnM_Intel]

Hi Upsand,

I hope you had the opportunity to review the information I posted. At your earliest convenience, please let me know so we can determine the best course of action to resolve this matter efficiently.

Best regards,

John Sergio M.

Intel Customer Support Technician

[JohnM_Intel]

Hi Upsand,

I have not heard back from you so I will close this inquiry now. If you need further assistance, please submit a new question as this thread will no longer be monitored.

Best regards,

John Sergio M.

Intel Customer Support Technician