My Kubuntu 20.04 faces choppy videos in browsers (firefox, chromium) as well as in VLC. The video freezes very frequently (once in every 5/6 seconds). But I do not have any problem with the audio of that same video file. I've added graphics driver from ppa:oibaf/graphics-drivers, but with no luck. Below is computer configuration:
OS: Ubuntu 20.04 LTS x86_64
Host: HP Spectre Pro x360 G1
Kernel: 5.4.0-40-generic
Shell: bash 5.0.17
Resolution: 2560x1440
DE: Plasma
WM: KWin
WM Theme: Layan
Theme: ChromeOSDark [Plasma], Mojave-dark-alt [GTK2/3]
Icons: McMuse-dark [Plasma], McMuse-dark [GTK2/3]
Terminal: konsole
Terminal Font: Ubuntu Mono 11
CPU: Intel i5-5200U (4) @ 2.700GHz
GPU: Intel HD Graphics 5500
Memory: 3112MiB / 7869MiB
Also following is the vainfo of my computer:
vainfo
libva info: VA-API version 1.7.0
libva info: Trying to open /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/dri/iHD_drv_video.so
libva info: Found init function __vaDriverInit_1_7
libva info: va_openDriver() returns 0
vainfo: VA-API version: 1.7 (libva 2.6.0)
vainfo: Driver version: Intel iHD driver for Intel(R) Gen Graphics - 20.1.1 ()
vainfo: Supported profile and entrypoints
VAProfileMPEG2Simple : VAEntrypointVLD
VAProfileMPEG2Main : VAEntrypointVLD
VAProfileH264Main : VAEntrypointVLD
VAProfileH264High : VAEntrypointVLD
VAProfileJPEGBaseline : VAEntrypointVLD
VAProfileH264ConstrainedBaseline: VAEntrypointVLD
VAProfileVP8Version0_3 : VAEntrypointVLD
Additional info.
Output of lspci -v | less :
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation HD Graphics 5500 (rev 09) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
DeviceName: Onboard IGD
Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company HD Graphics 5500
Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 47
Memory at b1000000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16M]
Memory at c0000000 (64-bit, prefetchable) [size=256M]
I/O ports at 3000 [size=64]
Expansion ROM at 000c0000 [virtual] [disabled] [size=128K]
Capabilities: [90] MSI: Enable+ Count=1/1 Maskable- 64bit-
Capabilities: [d0] Power Management version 2
Capabilities: [a4] PCI Advanced Features
Kernel driver in use: i915
Kernel modules: i915
Output of lshw -numeric -C display :
*-display
description: VGA compatible controller
product: HD Graphics 5500 [8086:1616]
vendor: Intel Corporation [8086]
physical id: 2
bus info: pci@0000:00:02.0
version: 09
width: 64 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: msi pm vga_controller bus_master cap_list rom
configuration: driver=i915 latency=0
resources: irq:47 memory:b1000000-b1ffffff memory:c0000000-cfffffff ioport:3000(size=64) memory:c0000-dffff
Output of glxinfo -B | less :
name of display: :0
display: :0 screen: 0
direct rendering: Yes
Extended renderer info (GLX_MESA_query_renderer):
Vendor: Intel (0x8086)
Device: Mesa Intel(R) HD Graphics 5500 (BDW GT2) (0x1616)
Version: 20.2.0
Accelerated: yes
Video memory: 3072MB
Unified memory: yes
Preferred profile: core (0x1)
Max core profile version: 4.6
Max compat profile version: 4.6
Max GLES1 profile version: 1.1
Max GLES[23] profile version: 3.2
OpenGL vendor string: Intel
OpenGL renderer string: Mesa Intel(R) HD Graphics 5500 (BDW GT2)
OpenGL core profile version string: 4.6 (Core Profile) Mesa 20.2.0-devel (git-8b8ffb1 2020-07-02 focal-oibaf-ppa)
OpenGL core profile shading language version string: 4.60
OpenGL core profile context flags: (none)
OpenGL core profile profile mask: core profile
OpenGL version string: 4.6 (Compatibility Profile) Mesa 20.2.0-devel (git-8b8ffb1 2020-07-02 focal-oibaf-ppa)
OpenGL shading language version string: 4.60
OpenGL context flags: (none)
OpenGL profile mask: compatibility profile
OpenGL ES profile version string: OpenGL ES 3.2 Mesa 20.2.0-devel (git-8b8ffb1 2020-07-02 focal-oibaf-ppa)
OpenGL ES profile shading language version string: OpenGL ES GLSL ES 3.20
The Intel HD Graphics 5500 is a mid-range graphics chip from 2015. Most graphics issues are driver-related, however, issues from 2015 were likely resolved long ago.
topwhen playing a problematic video. You may find that although you have plenty of RAM, etc, you may be CPU bound.