Hardware transcoding

Kinora only transcodes when it has to. At startup it detects each GPU backend and runs a real test encode, so it only uses ones that actually work.

GPU	Backend	What to pass to Docker
Intel	Quick Sync / VAAPI	--device /dev/dri:/dev/dri
AMD	VAAPI	--device /dev/dri:/dev/dri
NVIDIA	NVENC	--runtime=nvidia -e NVIDIA_DRIVER_CAPABILITIES=all
Apple	VideoToolbox	Native install (Docker on macOS has no GPU access)

If nothing works, Kinora falls back to the CPU.

HDR and Dolby Vision

• HDR10, HLG and Dolby Vision are detected per file.
• Dolby Vision profile 8.1 plays as HDR10 on HDR screens without transcoding.
• For SDR screens, Kinora tone maps with libplacebo on the GPU (Vulkan, Dolby Vision aware), or zscale on the CPU.

NVIDIA tone mapping

GPU tone mapping needs Vulkan inside the container. NVIDIA_DRIVER_CAPABILITIES=all includes the graphics capability that provides it. Without it, Kinora falls back to CPU tone mapping.

Check what’s happening

Admin → Dashboard shows active streams and whether each one is direct play, remux or transcode, and why.