**SOLVED** Installing Nvidia GPU & drivers seems to independently break QuickSync Transoding in Plex

[nametaken_thisonetoo]

Hi all,

Have recently added a GTX 1050Ti to my server for use with Tdarr for converting my X264 library to X265. This is working well which is great. For some reason though the addition of the GPU seems to be disabling QuickSync Hardware transcoding in my binhex-plex container. I haven't made any changes to the Plex container config in terms of adding an Nvidia GPU - this has only been done in Tdarr.

Is anyone aware of a why this might be happening, and if so how to get both working at the same time in different containers? Many thanks.

 

 

Edited November 15, 2021 by nametaken_thisonetoo

[ich777]

16 minutes ago, nametaken_thisonetoo said:

Have recently added a GTX 1050Ti to my server

Are you sure that you iGPU is still active?

 

In my case I have to attach a dummy HDMI plug to activate the iGPU if a dGPU is installed, no matter what I set in the BIOS.

 

Can you please post your Diagnostics?

[nametaken_thisonetoo]

5 hours ago, ich777 said:

Are you sure that you iGPU is still active?

In my case I have to attach a dummy HDMI plug to activate the iGPU if a dGPU is installed, no matter what I set in the BIOS.

 

Yep I've had a dummy HDMI plug installed in the iGPU both before and after adding the 1050ti.

When I do a cd /dev/dri ls in the terminal I also get Card 0 and renderD128 which are for Quicksync. Also now present is Card 1 and renderD129 which I assume is the dGPU. Perhaps also worth noting that when initially setting up Quicksync months ago I did add the required lines to the GO file so that the setup would persist on reboots.

 

Diagnostics are attached - I really appreciate your help.

 

 

 

 

Edited November 15, 2021 by nametaken_thisonetoo
Clarity

[ich777]

34 minutes ago, nametaken_thisonetoo said:

Yep I've had a dummy HDMI plug installed in the iGPU both before and after adding the 1050ti.

What is exactly happening in Plex?

How have you set everything up in Plex and in the template (screensgot from the template would be nice).

 

35 minutes ago, nametaken_thisonetoo said:

I did add the required lines to the GO file so that the setup would persist on reboots.

You can also install Intel GPU TOP from the CA App, it will handle the activation on boot and you can install the GPU Statistics plugin as well to see the utilisation from your iGPU.

[nametaken_thisonetoo]

18 minutes ago, ich777 said:

What is exactly happening in Plex?

How have you set everything up in Plex and in the template (screensgot from the template would be nice).

 

You can also install Intel GPU TOP from the CA App, it will handle the activation on boot and you can install the GPU Statistics plugin as well to see the utilisation from your iGPU.

 

I have attached pics of the container settings and Plex Dashboard. The change in Plex is that transcoding is now being done in software, as the "hw" is no longer present on a stream. Prior to the install of the dGPU I have had binhex-plex running with QuickSync for months without any issues (so with the "hw" indicator present). This morning as a sanity check I unistalled the Nvidia driver and physically removed the dGPU, then did the Quicksync setup again as per the guide and it was all working pefectly in Plex once more. Then once the dGPU went back in and had the driver installed, Plex lost its "hw" transcoding again. The only other thing I can think to add is that I did run the unlock Nvidia GPU script once the drivers were installed - but not idea if that would contribute to the issue. Thanks again!

 

Edit: Didn't know about Intel GPU TOP - thanks will do that now.

 

 

Edited November 15, 2021 by nametaken_thisonetoo

[ich777]

 
I have attached pics of the container settings and Plex Dashboard. The change in Plex is that transcoding is now being done in software, as the "hw" is no longer present on a stream. Prior to the install of the dGPU I have had binhex-plex running with QuickSync for months without any issues (so with the "hw" indicator present). This morning as a sanity check I unistalled the Nvidia driver and physically removed the dGPU, then did the Quicksync setup again as per the guide and it was all working pefectly in Plex once more. Then once the dGPU went back in and had the driver installed, Plex lost its "hw" transcoding again. The only other thing I can think to add is that I did run the unlock Nvidia GPU script once the drivers were installed - but not idea if that would contribute to the issue. Thanks again!
 
Edit: Didn't know about Intel GPU TOP - thanks will do that now.
 
 

Can you take also a look at the Plex logs what the log says when you start playing a file and force a transcode?

Sent from my C64

[nametaken_thisonetoo]

@ich777 I think this is a decent chunk of logs for a 1080p file I started up and then immediately transoded down to 720p 4Mbps. Admitedly I don't have a lot of experience analysing logs so let me know if you need something else/more.

 

Edited November 15, 2021 by nametaken_thisonetoo
Clarity

[ich777]

1 hour ago, nametaken_thisonetoo said:

@ich777 I think this is a decent chunk of logs for a 1080p file I started up and then immediately transoded down to 720p 4Mbps. Admitedly I don't have a lot of experience analysing logs so let me know if you need something else/more.

Plex log.txt 32.36 kB · 1 download

Have you installed the Intel GPU TOP plugin yet?

If you installed it now, please also make sure to reboot the server once and then try it again, I have a really wild guess and it should work if you reboot with the Intel GPU TOP plugin installed.

[nametaken_thisonetoo]

1 minute ago, ich777 said:

Have you installed the Intel GPU TOP plugin yet?

If you installed it now, please also make sure to reboot the server once and then try it again, I have a really wild guess and it should work if you reboot with the Intel GPU TOP plugin installed.

Can do it right now - should I edit the GO file to remove the lines added previously?

[ich777]

3 minutes ago, nametaken_thisonetoo said:

Can do it right now - should I edit the GO file to remove the lines added previously?

You can leave it for now, but I would recommend to remove it.

[nametaken_thisonetoo]

12 minutes ago, ich777 said:

You can leave it for now, but I would recommend to remove it.

And we're back up and running....with QuickSync transcoding!!!! Tdarr also running and making use of NVENC at the same time. My friend you truly are a scholar and a gentleperson. I cannot thank you enough for you time.

Is there anything else I should do or monitor or should I be good to go from here?

 

[ich777]

And we're back up and running....with QuickSync transcoding!!!! Tdarr also running and making use of NVENC at the same time. My friend you truly are a scholar and a gentleperson. I cannot thank you enough for you time.
Is there anything else I should do or monitor or should I be good to go from here?
 

Glad to hear that everything is working again.

The main issue was that the Nvidia Driver was installed first and after that the iGPU was activated so to speak the first device in your /dev/dri directory with D128 was your Nvidia GPU and the second one the iGPU with D129.

It's a little odd that Plex only probes the first device or that you can't change the render device in Plex.

At least that is what I think caused the error.

Hope that makes sense to you.

Sent from my C64

[nametaken_thisonetoo]

4 minutes ago, ich777 said:

Glad to hear that everything is working again.

The main issue was that the Nvidia Driver was installed first and after that the iGPU was activated so to speak the first device in your /dev/dri directory with D128 was your Nvidia GPU and the second one the iGPU with D129.

It's a little odd that Plex only probes the first device or that you can't change the render device in Plex.

At least that is what I think caused the error.

Hope that makes sense to you.

Sent from my C64

 

It makes sense at a high level. Thanks again - hopefully in the future this will help some other poor soul who's as perplexed as I was.