Hardware decode YouTube vaapi

This is kind of a call for help.

So, I hate how YouTube forces software decode on chrome. I choose hardware decode coz screw both YouTube & Chrome. The option for video GPU decode should be a simple switch!

The alternative is to use a chromium built browser with gpu video decode shipped. There is a ppa for it and it works wonderfully. Shame Google chrome doesn't support gpu video.

So my cry is a simple shout. For users of chromium vaapi, have you been able to enable APIs to the point of using the browser to normal standard Chrome use. So many clicks I tried! For starters, I haven't been able to add my Google profile to the browser so no sync. My Google account however logs in for gmail, YouTube et al no issues. But I cannot get full browser advantage. Can/have you?

That said I am dependent on google services for sync; any other alternatives will not be suitable for me. I am a slightly advanced Linux newbie. Forgive my ignorance in advance.