That's… not true. Fact, they don't support VA-API, but there is support for some other methods like NVDEC.
Programs like mpv can use it directly while for something like Firefox you can use a wrapper like nvidia-vaapi-driver[1].
It's not ideal, but that's what you get from buying their stuff.
It's 2023. For me that means my OS cannot hardware decode video. It's just not a real option for maybe 99% of PC users.
> I should be working out the dependency story and compiling some driver from Github myself.
no, nvidia _should_ make it easier for people using the 3rd most popular desktop OS to use their hardware. It would make them more competitive against AMD and Intel, which both support hardware video decoding.
That's probably not going to happen, so the next best option is to install a package from the package manager [0]. There might be some kind of compilation needed, but in my experience that's rarely an issue (aside from time), especially if it's coming out of the package manager for a popular distribution.
> It's just not a real option for maybe 99% of PC users.
well, 99% of PC users with Nvidia hardware. It's an important distinction since this problem is specific to Nvidia. If the solution is to installing a package from the package manager, it's only as difficult as installing the browser in the first place.
I do agree there's some extra questions that may make things difficult, or unfamiliar for the vast majority of people, though. Like how is someone supposed to know they need the nvidia-vaapi-driver package anyway?
[0] - https://github.com/elFarto/nvidia-vaapi-driver#package-manag...