Jetson Video Pipeline

Official sample and validation contract

The lists below define route selection. Before each operation, bind every selected native file to the installed nvidia-video-codec-sdk package and every selected Python file to the exact interpreter and PyNvVideoCodec distribution reported by the fresh setup readiness check. Reject a changed or unowned file, a stub/missing library, or a different loaded extension.

Exact pipeline allowlist

Native paths are relative to the authenticated SDK build/source roots.

PyNvVideoCodec wheel members:

The allowlist in this reference owns route selection. The fresh probe supplies the SDK root, package, tools, interpreter, extension, and dependency evidence; the agent authenticates the selected source or wheel members immediately before use. Do not run another sample merely because it exists in a source tree or wheel.

Build package-owned native samples

Build the selected target directly. First require /usr/bin/dpkg-query -W and -L to identify one installed public nvidia-video-codec-sdk 13.0.x package and its single owned SDK/Samples tree. Require /usr/bin/dpkg --verify nvidia-video-codec-sdk to exit zero with no output. Reject a symlinked/unowned source, multiple candidate roots, or any package/source identity change.

The package name and single-root rule are exact. If the package is absent, renamed, or resolves to zero or multiple complete 13.0.x roots, return dependency_required and route repair to setup; never guess a package or choose one candidate by path order.

Resolve CMAKE, CXX, NVCC, PKG_CONFIG, GENERATOR, and GENERATOR_NAME with standard system commands. Take SDK_ROOT from the package-owned Samples path and CUDA_ROOT from the resolved nvcc; record canonical paths and versions. Select only AppEncCuda, AppDec, or AppTrans from the table above as TARGET, create a fresh mode-0700 BUILD_ROOT outside SDK_ROOT, and invoke these exact argument arrays:

"$CMAKE" -S "$SDK_ROOT/Samples" -B "$BUILD_ROOT" \
  -G "$GENERATOR_NAME" \
  "-DCMAKE_MAKE_PROGRAM=$GENERATOR" \
  -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release \
  "-DCMAKE_CXX_COMPILER=$CXX" \
  "-DCUDAToolkit_ROOT=$CUDA_ROOT" \
  "-DCUDAToolkit_NVCC_EXECUTABLE=$NVCC" \
  "-DCMAKE_CUDA_COMPILER=$NVCC" \
  "-DPKG_CONFIG_EXECUTABLE=$PKG_CONFIG"
"$CMAKE" --build "$BUILD_ROOT" --target "$TARGET" --parallel 2

The resulting launchers under BUILD_ROOT are exactly AppEncode/AppEncCuda/AppEncCuda, AppDecode/AppDec/AppDec, and AppTranscode/AppTrans/AppTrans. Require the selected binary to remain inside BUILD_ROOT, hash it, and use ldd to prove every library in its table row resolves to a real non-stub file. Recheck package, sources, tools, binary, and libraries after execution. A failed target does not erase a separately successful target; a nonzero configure or build exit fails that target, returns failed with the exact command and captured output, and never launches or substitutes another binary.

Direct argument templates

Treat each placeholder as one argument. NATIVE_RECIPE_ARGS is the validated recipe's exact native projection; CONFIG is the wheel/config artifact bound to the same recipe.

"$APPENC" -i "$RAW" -o "$BITSTREAM" "${NATIVE_RECIPE_ARGS[@]}"
"$APPDEC" -i "$BITSTREAM" -o "$DECODED" -gpu "$GPU"

"$PYTHON" -I "$BASIC_ENCODE" \
  -i "$RAW" -o "$BITSTREAM" -s "${WIDTH}x${HEIGHT}" \
  -m "$BUFFER_MODE" -if "$FORMAT" -f "$FRAMES" -g "$GPU" \
  -c "$CODEC" -json "$CONFIG"
"$PYTHON" -I "$ADVANCED_DECODE" \
  -i "$BITSTREAM" -o "$DECODED" -g "$GPU" -d 0 -f "$FRAMES"

"$APPTRANS" -i "$INPUT" -o "$OUTPUT" -gpu "$GPU" \
  "${TRANSCODE_RECIPE_ARGS[@]}"
"$PYTHON" -I "$CREATE_SEGMENTS" \
  -i "$INPUT" -s "$SEGMENTS" -c "$TRANSCODE_CONFIG" \
  -o "$OUTPUT_TEMPLATE" -g "$GPU"

For AppTrans, copy the exact native recipe projection except raw-only -s, -if, and -gpu; add the selected -gpu once. Never use string evaluation or silent option aliases.

Observable completion

Match anchored lines and require the expected count/path exactly:

• Native encode: ^Total frames encoded: ([0-9]+)$.

• Native decode count: ^Total frame decoded: ([0-9]+)$.

• Encode/decode saved output: ^Saved in file (.+) in (NV12|P016|YUV444|YUV444P16|NV16|P216) format$.

• Transcode saved output: ^Saved in file (.+) of (8|10) bit depth$.

• Py encode: ^Completed encoding ([0-9]+) frames using (CPU|GPU) buffers$, one ^ENCODING COMPLETE$, and the requested output path exactly twice as ^Output file: (.+)$.

• Py full decoder: exactly one of ^Successfully decoded all ([0-9]+) frames to (.+)$ or ^Successfully decoded requested ([0-9]+) frames to (.+)$.

• Py smoke decoder: exactly one log line ending in Successfully decoded requested ([0-9]+) frames and exactly one ^Total frames decoded: ([0-9]+)$. Its threaded log may prefix the first marker and does not report a decoded output path.

• Native transcode: exactly one total across legacy \(#totFrames=([0-9]+)\) and current ^Total frame transcoded: ([0-9]+)$; reject duplicates or mixed forms.

• Segments: ordered ^✓ Created: (.+)$ lines exactly matching the validated schedule outputs, plus ^Summary: ([0-9]+) segments created successfully$.

In all cases reject an explicit error/fatal/failed/failure/CUDA/NVENC/FFmpeg failure line, even when the process exits zero. Require fresh nonempty output, then independent consumption of the same path/size/SHA-256.

Frame and layout check

Apply this check to the actual raw source and to every decoded output, and retain the result. It is a mandatory acceptance step, not optional guidance. Width, height, and frame count must be positive integers. Formats with subsampling enforce their geometry parity before byte arithmetic.

Frame-layout rule.

A raw source file must satisfy the byte-size rule below. A decoded output must also satisfy the independent decoder checks:

1. size_bytes == width * height * frames * numerator / denominator for the declared pixel format, using the table below. The product must divide exactly -- a non-integral result is a failure, never a rounding case.

2. The package-owned decoder's reported frame count equals frames, and its reported layout equals the table's decoded layout name.

Fact 1 authenticates raw frame boundaries. For decoded output, both facts are required; raw encoder input has no decoder marker of its own.

Reject any pixel format not in this table rather than guessing a size. Enforce the width/height parity column; an odd dimension for a subsampled format is a failure. When reporting a decoded artifact, use the decoded layout name from the last column -- ARGB/ABGR are input/packed formats only and must not be reported as a decoder output layout.

Report the resolved path, pixel format, width, height, frames, expected bytes, and observed bytes. For a decoded artifact also report the decoder's frame count and layout. Never infer the frame count from a filename.

Worked example: 302 frames at 1920x1080 NV12 -> 1920 * 1080 * 302 * 3 / 2 = 939,340,800 bytes, and AppDec must report 302 decoded frames.

AppEncCuda AV1 output

Do not create or run a separate IVF parser. Prove the artifact the same way as every other output: independently decode the exact produced path with the package-owned decoder and require a positive frame count equal to the requested frame count. Report the output path, size, SHA-256, and decoder frame count.

Evidence classifications

• api_query_helper: an API returned fields; never operation proof.

• official_sample_report: an authenticated sample's report mode.

• official_sample_operation: an authenticated sample was launched and passed the observable checks above.

• documentation_reference: product-support authority for the exact tuple; never live readiness by itself.

• absent_release_sample: absent from the authenticated release payload.

• source_tree_candidate: present in source but not an authenticated runnable route.

Changing an allowlist requires matching direct-command instructions and focused identity, option, marker, stale-output, and handoff tests.