has the H263 decoder been removed from the RPi 4 SOC?

[gkreidl]

All former SOCs had a H263 HW decoder. On the RPi 4 I get:

Code: Select all

vcgencmd codec_enabled H263
H263=disabled

Has the codec really been removed from the SOC? Or is this just a bug, a matter of current firmware or whatever?

[6by9]

Yes, the MPEG4, H263, MPEG2 and VC1 hardware decode options have all been dropped.
The ARM cores on the Pi4 are more than capable of decoding those formats at better than real-time. (There is no real material >1080P using those codecs).

[andrum99]

As I understand it, the decoders are still present in the SoC, but are no longer being licensed by Raspberry Pi.

[gkreidl]

As I understand it, the decoders are still present in the SoC, but are no longer being licensed by Raspberry Pi.

If that is true, they should give us the opportunity to buy the licences as it was in the past.