Arch Linux ARM packages for Rock64 board. These packages supports hardware accelerated video playback with mpv player.
I was able to play h264/h265 720p 30fps, and h264 1080p 24fps smoothly on 4k display. 4k playback is not watchable.

Get the built packages:

https://github.com/her01n/linux-rock64/releases/latest

And install:

# pacman -Syu
# pacman -U linux-rock64-4.4.197.1236-1-aarch64.pkg.tar.xz
# pacman -U mpp-20171218-1-aarch64.pkg.tar.xz
# pacman -U ffmpeg-mpp-1:4.2.1-2-aarch.pkg.tar.xz
# pacamn -U libmali-rock64-1.6.3.5-1-aarch64.pkg.tar.xz
# pacman -S mpv
# gpasswd -a username video
# systemctl enable gpu-governor
# reboot
$ mpv --hwdec=rkmpp --vo=gpu --gpu-context=drm test/h264.1080p.24f.mkv

Service "gpu-governor" would enable performance GPU governor. With the default 'simple_ondemand' governor the playback frame rate is very poor.

Using Lima

Mainline kernel since 5.3 includes open source lima driver. Playback is possible with this driver, no additional packages are necessary. However, direct playback seems to not work, and playback through wayland has a poor frame rate.

To test:

# pacman -Syu linux-aarch64 mesa weston mpv
# export XDG_RUNTIME_DIR=/var/run/0/xdg-runtime-dir
# mkdir -p $XDG_RUNTIME_DIR
# chmod go-rwx $XDG_RUNTIME_DIR
# weston </dev/tty1
# mpv --fullscreen test/h264.1080p.30fps.mkv

I suspect gpu frequency governor may be the reason of poor frame rate, but I don't know how to change it with mainline kernel. YMMV.

linux-rock64

Contains kernel, modules and headers for rock64, made by ayufan. This kernel is necessary for hardware video acceleration. It is no longer needed for usb3 and unaccelerated hdmi output, the stock arch linux kernel now support this.

BUILD

$ pushd gcc7
$ makepkg --syncdeps --install
$ popd
$ pushd linux-rock64
$ makepkg --syncdeps --install

gcc7

gcc7 is used to build the kernel, you do not need to install this if you only need to use the kernel.

mpp

Media Processing Platform is a library for Rockchip VPU. This is used by all packages using hardware acceleration on this board. This package would install rules to setup correct permissions on '/dev/rkvdec' on boot. To setup it manually without reboot:

# chgrp video /dev/rkvdec
# chmod g+rw /dev/rkvdec

In case of this error:

mpp_device: mpp_device_init failed to open device /dev/rkvdec, errno 13, error msg: Permission denied

You need to add your user to video group and/or reboot the computer, or change permissions on '/dev/rkvdec' manually.

gstreamer-rockchip

Gstreamer plugins for hardware accelerated video decoding and encoding. This package is considerably lower quality than the ffmpeg-mpp and it is not recommended to use.

Example:

$ gst-launch-1.0 filesrc location=h264.mkv ! matroskademux ! h264parse ! mppvideodec ! kmssink
$ gst-launch-1.0 filesrc location=h265.mkv ! matroskademux ! h265parse ! mppvideodec ! kmssink

With h265 there would be a black screens and black lines displayed. I don't know how to fix that.

In case of this error:

ERROR: from element /GstPipeline:pipeline0/GstKMSSink:kmssink0: Could not open DRM module (NULL)

You do not have set up the permissions properly, add your user to group 'video', and re-login.

libmali-rock64

EGL+GBM drivers for rock64 graphics card. These are necessary for hardware accelerated mpv. This package would install rules to setup correct permissions on '/dev/mali' on boot. If you do not want to reboot, you can do it manually:

# chgrp video /dev/mali
# chmod g+rw /dev/mali

ffmpeg-mpp

FFmpeg with support for mpp hardware video decoding. Only supports decoding for gpu output, so it is not usable on its own, only for ffmpeg based players.

mpv

After ffmpeg-mpg, libmali-rock64, linux-rock64 and mpp are installed, you can use stock mpv to play video with hardware acceleration.

$ mpv --hwdec=rkmpp --vo=gpu --gpu-context=drm h264.mkv

In case of this error:

[vo/gpu/opengl] Failed to get EGL display.

Probably the permissions for '/dev/mali' are not set up properly, add your user to group video and/or reboot.