Why doesn't Adobe Flash Player 11.x have hardware acceleration?

Solution 1:

Oranges10e have tried several Browsers, including the newest Chrome and the newest Firefox, and he says:

" Since there are many threads/topics and questions about this, I will provide the information I have found, during my long, long search for a solution to this problem (see my own Solution below).

SOLUTION (there is none):

In order to prevent endless searching for a solution to this problem (took me a few days to find out), which can be a real pain, please read this:

According to an Adobe Employee, Hardware Acceleration has been disabled in recent Adobe Flash versions for Linux and Linux only. At the time being, there is no "official" way to get it working again - not even by installing the prop. Nvidia drivers, including VDPAU acceleration. This was the solution to older Adobe Flash versions - not anymore.

The main reason for this move was:

1. Security concerns.
2. Unstable Nvidia/AMD/Intel and Open Source drivers - in combination with Adobe Flash Hardware-Acceleration.

Here the Link to the thread, where this has been discussed and confirmed: http://forums.adobe.com/thread/911321

Quote from the Link above:

"Unfortunately given the current landscape of graphics drivers and support for Linux based operating systems, we could not support Linux with Hardware Acceleration. Most drivers, including the ones provided from Intel/NVIDIA/AMD were too unstable to consistently work with the Flash Player. Sorry for the inconvienience." - Charbs09, Adobe Employee

"As of FP 11.0.1.152 there is no way to turn on HW Acceleration for Linux. We disabled it entirely facing security concerns, but we may re-enable an unsupported method in a future release." - Charbs09, Adobe Employee

So, before you go out and buy an ION Netbook, Nettop or any kind of PC, wishing to use it in a combination of Linux/Ubuntu and Adobe Flash 11.x, with the intention to playback HD-Videos (720p, 1080p) with full Hardware Acceleration, please consider the above mentioned info. I did not, and sadly, I realized this too late (because I was trying out several other methodes to get this working again, before I found the Link above). "

Solution 2:

I just posted an interesting find on "Hardware Acceleration for Adobe Flash" right here: Is Adobe Flash 11.2 working with Nvidia hardware again?

It might help you guys out, if you are running Nvidia hardware (with the newest drivers). There is still hope.

Solution 3:

Sup guys,

I just wanted to update my own answer, because I finally found a working, reliable solution to the problem: Google Chrome. This is what you will get by downloading and installing Google's browser:

• Flash accelerated video rendering on Nvidia and AMD GPU's. A hardware accelerated (GPU) browser, if your GPU is supported. The reason I mention this: Firefox performs extremly slow on my system.
• Firefox = Low framerates, slow/laggy scrolling on various websites, utilizes an old Adobe Flash version and offers no hardware acceleration for Flash videos.
• Chrome = higher framerate and smooth scrolling on various websites, ships with an up to date version* of Adobe's Flash that gets updated automatically via automated browser updates. This leads to: A smoother, faster browsing experience and a much smoother Flash video playback - even on notebooks.

My OS of choice and hardware:

• OS: Ubuntu 12.04 LTS 64 bit (LTS = rock solid and very stable)
• Hardware: AMD Phenom II X4, AMD HD 7850 (proprietary drivers installed), 8GB DDR3 Ram, MSI AM3+ Mainboard

Procedure:

• Install the newest proprietary drivers via Ubuntu. I chose to install the most recent/updated drivers Ubuntu offered me. I did not install the experimental/beta drivers.
• Download and install Google Chrome.
• Launch Chrome, go to Youtube and playback a 1080p video. Right click on the video and select "show video information". If everything goes well, it should say "accelerated video rendering".
• Done!

Please note: There is a difference between Chromium and Google Chrome. See here for more information: Chromium vs. Google Chrome

Solution 4:

It's a little bit of manual pain (I much prefer things from the ubuntu repositories), but reverting to the 64-bit flashplayer 10 was the only way I've had any success getting flash working on the ION-based Zotac ZBOX ID41.