FAQ Hardware and Platform

FAQ — Hardware & Platform Limits

These are silicon constraints, not software bugs. No patch to this project can change them; the answer is to design around them.

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Encoder maximum resolution is 4K

Symptom. Encoding above 3840×2160 fails, produces garbage, or the encoder refuses to initialize.

Cause. The Jetson NVENC engine has a hardware maximum resolution. This is a property of the silicon, exposed through the V4L2 encoder — it cannot be lifted in software.

Resolution. Keep encode resolution within the module's NVENC limit. For larger frames, downscale first (the decoder's hardware -resize via VIC can help — see Scripts and Commands) or use a software encoder for the oversized leg.

References. Keylost#3, Keylost#44, NVIDIA forum t/298688.

Orin Nano has no NVENC

Symptom. h264_nvmpi / hevc_nvmpi encoders are missing or fail on an Orin Nano, while decoding works.

Cause. The Orin Nano module ships without an NVENC encode engine — it is decode-only. NVDEC (decode) and VIC (scaling) are present; NVENC is not.

Resolution. Use an Orin NX or AGX Orin for hardware encode, or fall back to a software encoder (libx264/libx265) on the Nano. Decode + transcode-to-file of pre-encoded streams still benefits from NVDEC.

References. Keylost#43. See the per-module matrix in Compatibility.

Width/height alignment (mod-16)

Symptom. Output has the wrong size, a green stripe along an edge, or padding artifacts when the dimensions are not multiples of 16.

Cause. The hardware codec works on macroblock/CTU-aligned surfaces. Widths and heights that are not aligned (commonly to 16) get padded by the hardware, which surfaces as the green line or an off-by-a-few output size.

Resolution. Use dimensions that are multiples of 16, or explicitly pad/ crop in the filter graph so the encoded surface is aligned and the displayed area is exact.

References. jocover#8, jocover#101, jocover#51.

VP8 availability

Symptom. Older reports of a "missing definition" for VP8; VP8 decode not available on some modules.

Cause. VP8 hardware decode support varies by silicon generation and has been removed on newer Jetson modules. The jocover-era reports predate the current codec-type mapping.

Resolution. Check your module's decode capabilities. Where VP8 hardware is absent, decode VP8 in software. The hardware decode suite skips VP8/VP9 when the codec is unavailable rather than failing.

References. jocover#71, jocover#72. Codec matrix: Compatibility.