June 22, 20215 yr Hey all, So I'm due to build a new server, and it will primarily have the following uses: - Plex server, which regularly transcodes up to 4x 4K HDR streams simultaneously. - CCTV NVR, which will run Blue Iris on a Windows VM, connected to 8x 4K IP cameras. - Home Assistant VM, which has almost negligible resource use. I currently have a GTX 1050Ti in my current Unraid Intel build (i5 7400), and that seems to handle simultaneous 4K transcoding streams on Plex just fine through hardware. However, since it's only a 4-core, 4-thread CPU, it absolutely struggles while trying to run a VM on 3 cores AND monitoring a single 4K camera. I'd pass through the GPU, however I need it for Plex, and I fear it wouldn't be powerful enough to transcode streams + stream CCTV footage from multiple 4K cameras. So I guess my choice is: - Get a new 10-core Intel CPU/mobo combo, and use quicksync to handle the CCTV cameras, while the existing GPU can handle Plex, or: - Get a 12-core AMD CPU/mobo without built-in iGPU and pass through my existing GPU to run the CCTV cameras, and hope that the remaining cores are enough to do simultaneous 4K transcoding streams on Plex. According to cpubenchmark.net, the AMD Ryzen 9 5900X's passmark is 39,517 - while the Intel Core i9-10900K is only 23,958. The difference between them seems staggering, since they're similarly priced! Although I can't help but think that quicksync might make up the difference. Which way do I go?
June 22, 20215 yr 20 minutes ago, Corvus said: ...and hope that the remaining cores are enough to do simultaneous 4K transcoding streams on Plex. For this Point: Def. "NO" Edited June 22, 20215 yr by Zonediver
June 22, 20215 yr Author 3 minutes ago, Zonediver said: For this Point: Def. "NO" Ok, so I should go the Intel route then? Would quicksync be enough for my Plex needs?
June 22, 20215 yr Depends on the Stream-Count and the Bitrate - also on the Transcoding (4K-to-4K or 4K-to-1080p) and the resulting Bitrate ot the trancoded Stream... My UHD 630 (iGPU) can transcode 6x 4k/30Mbit to 1080p/8Mbit without problems. Edited June 22, 20215 yr by Zonediver
June 22, 20215 yr Author Ok well I've got over 500 videos, so I can't give a straight answer on that - however most if not all transcodes are 4K to 1080p with a resulting bitrate of about 12mbps.
June 26, 20215 yr On 6/22/2021 at 9:41 PM, Corvus said: Ok well I've got over 500 videos, so I can't give a straight answer on that - however most if not all transcodes are 4K to 1080p with a resulting bitrate of about 12mbps. If your clients are all on the same network, you might want to consider relieving the processor of the movie decoding tasks and moving that workload to the client's side.
June 26, 20215 yr Author 13 minutes ago, Lolight said: If your clients are all on the same network, you might want to consider relieving the processor of the movie decoding tasks and moving that workload to the client's side. Um what? That literally defeats the purpose of Plex. You expect my phone/Chromecast/TV app to be able to decode 4K HDR files? And they're not on the same network. I have friends who stream my content too. No, this is not an option, even if it weren't theoretically and practically impossible. Edited June 26, 20215 yr by Corvus
June 26, 20215 yr 2 minutes ago, Corvus said: Um what? That literally defeats the purpose of Plex. You expect my phone/Chromecast/TV app to be able to decode 4K HDR files? And they're not on the same network. I have friends who stream my content too. No, this is not an option, even if it weren't theoretically and practically impossible. My comment was on the assumption that the clients are your TVs attached to the same network. Only in that case it would make a perfect sense to offload your processor and let the TVs (or if not capable of decoding, then attached TV media boxes) to do all of decoding.
June 26, 20215 yr Author 5 minutes ago, Lolight said: My comment was on the assumption that the clients are your TVs attached to the same network. Only in that case it would make a perfect sense to offload your processor and let the TVs (or if not capable of decoding, then attached TV media boxes) to do all of decoding. Again, this is a ludicrous suggestion that defeats the purpose of a centralized media server like Plex, even if all my devices are on the same network. If this were even possible, and if my chromecasts and TVs and media boxes were somehow even capable of decoding 4K h265 HDR content, it would completely invalidate the point of Plex, and I may as well just have all my clients pointing to a network share. Sorry, but that suggestion is laughable. The processing power required to transcode a single 4K h265 HDR file is enormous. Currently the only client device that can do it is the Nvidia Shield pro, or literally another computer. To accomplish what you just suggested, all my clients would have to either be computers, or Nvidia Shield Pros. No. Just no. Edited June 26, 20215 yr by Corvus
June 26, 20215 yr 3 minutes ago, Lolight said: My comment was on the assumption that the clients are your TVs attached to the same network. Only in that case it would make a perfect sense to offload your processor and let the TVs (or if not capable of decoding, then attached TV media boxes) to do all of decoding. Just now, Corvus said: Again, this is a ludicrous suggestion that defeats the purpose of a centralized media server like Plex, even if all my devices are on the same network. If this were even possible, and if my chromecasts and TVs and media boxes were somehow even capable of decoding 4K h265 HDR content, it would completely invalidate the point of Plex, and I may as well just have all my clients pointing to a network share. Sorry, but that suggestion is laughable. If you wanna learn about media boxes then you can start here: https://forum.kodi.tv/showthread.php?tid=252916 You can use Plex and all of its functions without transcoding.
June 26, 20215 yr Author Just now, Lolight said: If you wanna learn about media boxes then you can start here: https://forum.kodi.tv/showthread.php?tid=252916 You can use Plex and all of its functions without transcoding. I'm not replacing all my clients with Nvidia Shield Pros, and asking all my friends to do the same. No.
June 26, 20215 yr 1 minute ago, Corvus said: I'm not replacing all my clients with Nvidia Shield Pros, and asking all my friends to do the same. No. Nvidia Shield is not necessary, a $50 box would suffice. Again, if only on the same network.
June 26, 20215 yr Author 1 minute ago, Lolight said: Nvidia Shield is not necessary, a $50 box would suffice. Again, if only on the same network. For the last time, NO. Does anyone have any actual, helpful advice that applies to my actual use case scenario?
June 26, 20215 yr 10 hours ago, Corvus said: Does anyone have any actual, helpful advice that applies to my actual use case scenario 1) I use HardwareTranscoding on the iGPU (i7-9700) 2) I use Rasperry Pi4's with Kodi and Plex-Pugin - Reason: Cheaper then this NV-Shield and can handle 4K + H265 But be carefull: If you stream a H265 directly to the Pi4, you will get this strange HDR-Problem where all videos are "brown". So i Transcode all 4K-Content to 1080p/20Mbit (LAN) - external Pi's are geting 1080p/8Mbit max. because of upstream-bandwith. Edited June 26, 20215 yr by Zonediver
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