Need Quick Sync for transcoding 2-3 streams?


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I'm considering my next unRAID server. On my current unRAID I have a Xeon D-1541 (doesn't have Quick Sync), no GPU and run Plex. I don't think I have more than 2-3 Plex streams that need transcoding simultaneously and there don't seem to have been any problems.

 

I'm wondering whether I need to get an Intel CPU with Quick Sync for the next server for future-proofing (I'm very unlikely to be increasing the number of Plex streams). I think the other option for transcoding is to get a graphics card, but I don't think the expense is warranted. The reason I don't just go with Intel is that I have a slightly sentimental and illogical desire to try AMD for the next server.

 

I'm looking only at "normal" PC parts, no server-level CPUs - no Xeon, no Threadripper. For the AMD CPU I'd be looking at something in the current generation with lots of cores.

 

So is Quick Sync necessary for transcoding just a few streams?

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if you have room for a gpu go for a P400 or P2000. I also think that compatibility for transcoding for an amd igpu is not good. So if you go for an amd cpu you would probably need an external gpu.

The logical way would be to add a quadro (P400 or P2000) ans if it's not enough change mobo and cpu.

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2 hours ago, caplam said:

The logical way would be to add a quadro (P400 or P2000) ans if it's not enough change mobo and cpu.

I wouldn't recommend a P400 nor a P2000 for 2-3 streams since you can get a T400 (Turing based) for cheap nowadays and it is more power efficient than a P400 and even more then a P2000...

 

On 1/29/2023 at 4:08 AM, sonofdbn said:

Intel CPU with Quick Sync

If you only want to transcode 2-3 4K streams a Intel CPU (Skylake+ <- of course depending on what the source material is) with integrate iGPU, you can get a full list which codecs are supported over here.

 

Also keep in mind that at idle the iGPU only consumes a few microwatts where a Nvidia GPU at least draws about 4-6 Watts and at full blast it only consumes about 10-12 Watts depending on the iGPU, therefore it's really power efficient.

 

Even my J4105 is capable of 2 simultaneous 4K transcodes and this is a really low power chip and not clocked as high as a Desktop Intel CPU.

 

On 1/29/2023 at 4:08 AM, sonofdbn said:

Xeon D-1541

In your case your CPU is Broadwell based which is a little bit unfortunate because this is the last generation where the iGPUs don't support h265 (HEVC).

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5 hours ago, ich777 said:

I wouldn't recommend a P400 nor a P2000 for 2-3 streams since you can get a T400 (Turing based) for cheap nowadays and it is more power efficient than a P400 and even more then a P2000...

 

If you only want to transcode 2-3 4K streams a Intel CPU (Skylake+ <- of course depending on what the source material is) with integrate iGPU, you can get a full list which codecs are supported over here.

 

Also keep in mind that at idle the iGPU only consumes a few microwatts where a Nvidia GPU at least draws about 4-6 Watts and at full blast it only consumes about 10-12 Watts depending on the iGPU, therefore it's really power efficient.

 

Even my J4105 is capable of 2 simultaneous 4K transcodes and this is a really low power chip and not clocked as high as a Desktop Intel CPU.

 

In your case your CPU is Broadwell based which is a little bit unfortunate because this is the last generation where the iGPUs don't support h265 (HEVC).

 

You are right, a T400 is just fine. Is it limited to 2 streams like the P400 without hack?

I would buy the 4Gb version rather the 2Gb.

An intel GPU ARC could also be an option. It's not yet supported but if i remember driver should be available when unraid integrate linux 6 core; and intel arc take care of AV1 encoding.

 

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49 minutes ago, caplam said:

You are right, a T400 is just fine. Is it limited to 2 streams like the P400 without hack?

By default Nvidia consumer cards are limited to 3 simultaneous transcodes and not 2.

 

50 minutes ago, caplam said:

I would buy the 4Gb version rather the 2Gb.

For 3 transcodes a 2GB version should be plenty...

 

50 minutes ago, caplam said:

An intel GPU ARC could also be an option. It's not yet supported but if i remember driver should be available when unraid integrate linux 6 core; and intel arc take care of AV1 encoding.

Not currently and I think it will take a long time, but I could be very wrong about that.

Even on Windows the cards are not working properly while transcoding (driver crashes and even system crashes) and for Linux and AV1 the Linux Media Drivers need to be updated too and then the container maintainers have to also include the Linux Media drivers to fully support AV1 transcoding and nobody knows how much power they consume while transcoding properly or even in idle it's not entirely certain how much power that they need if power consumption is a concern.

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OK, after a bit of reading and thinking, which I should probably have done first, things are more complicated than I thought.

 

I thought that transcoding was just transcoding, but it seems that transcoding 4K is much more demanding. Having seen all the dire warnings about NOT transcoding 4K, I'd still like to be able to do it. I had thought there was no problem, as family members watched various things with no complaints, but it turns out that they were watching mainly DVD rips and maybe occasionally 1080p files on devices like Amazon tablets, and possibly rarely (never?) watching 4K media. I had previously tried watching 4K media on a lower-res device and there was terrible stuttering, which I had attributed to a) the device and b) bad wi-fi.

 

Anyway, while there are recommendations to avoid the problems of 4K transcoding by keeping lower-res versions, I don't particularly want to spend time re-encoding files and managing different versions. So hardware-wise, what's needed to transcode 4K movies? There's a lot of different and conflicting information out there, and some of it is not very recent, so I don't know if the technology is more capable now. Even pointers to reliable sources would be very helpful.

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7 hours ago, sonofdbn said:

So hardware-wise, what's needed to transcode 4K movies?

 

Transcode to what?

The iGPU of my i7-9700 can transcode 4 Streams with 4k to 1080p/8MBit without a problem - the iGPU laughs at the four streams.

So the question is: What is the target resolution and bitrate...

 

Edited by Zonediver
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On 2/9/2023 at 6:23 AM, Zonediver said:

 

Transcode to what?

The iGPU of my i7-9700 can transcode 4 Streams with 4k to 1080p/8MBit without a problem - the iGPU laughs at the four streams.

So the question is: What is the target resolution and bitrate...

 

 

That's an excellent question, and proved to be much harder to answer than I expected. Turns out I didn't know as much about Plex as I should. So after setting up a second Plex server (didn't know I could do that) on a Windows 10 PC with an i7-9700T CPU, and some experimenting, it looks like going for 1080p at 8 Mbps is a reasonable target for 4K HEVC files. Had a bit of a problem with HDR tone mapping - according to Plex it doesn't work with Intel under Windows (but is fine for Linux and dockers) - so couldn't get H/W transcoding going for a while.

 

So next question is, if I want ECC RAM, which Intel CPU and motherboard combos would work?

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an intel core 13th gen on a mobo with w680 chipset. Expensive and hard to find mobo and ddr5. You need a serious budget.

But you can also go for an older gen with xeon (for ecc support). I wouldn't take older than coffe lake xeon which integrate the uhd P630 igpu which is fine for transcoding hevc files.

I'm also considering a new server and like you i want ecc ram (and also ipmi). I think i could go for a micro atx mobo (X12STH-LN4F) and a E-2356G. I need to complete with ram and a case.

CPU+mobo is around 1k€.

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On 2/11/2023 at 10:49 AM, sonofdbn said:

So next question is, if I want ECC RAM, which Intel CPU and motherboard combos would work?

As @caplam has previously mentioned, 13 gen on 680 chipset.

 

But if you really, really want it and are willing to spend...

Because you're concerned about your data integrity.

...Just don't go that route before you got budgeted and set for proper backups of your critical data, correctly configured and segregated networking, quality UPS, high-tier, community tested PSU model and HDDs of the NAS/Enterprise varieties, purchased brand new (not used, refurbished, renewed etc unless you're willing to take chances but then you might take chances with everything else and save a real bundle).

Shucked drives are fine when you know which external models contain the above-mentioned HDDs (no a difficult task to figure it out).

Only after all that is done you should go ahead and spend on ECC if the desire is still there.

Edited by Lolight
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