Some linux distros (e.g. fedora) don't include hw decoding for licensing reasons. I decided I wanted all the latest goodies at some point and ended up duct taping together a copr repo with mesa/ffmpeg/mpv (latest from git) with all the hw stuff enabled (though I'm probably breaking some of their rules by doing so...I've labeled it in such a way that I hope nobody comes across it and decides to use it). Anyways, my main goal with it all was to extend battery life on my laptop while watching things, it makes a pretty big difference to use proper codecs.