+1, also would like to use my GTX 1070 for plex

+1ing here as well... Looking at the CPUs that support Quick Sync Video, and the features I would like in a CPU for a server, the options aren't that great.

 

Also, I'm curious why everyone is so concerned with NVIDIA based decoding on the server.  Unless I'm misunderstanding something, the server doesn't really decode video, it encodes it to formats that are friendly to the devices doing the playback (typically to x264), no?  

13 hours ago, ogi said:

+1ing here as well... Looking at the CPUs that support Quick Sync Video, and the features I would like in a CPU for a server, the options aren't that great.

 

Also, I'm curious why everyone is so concerned with NVIDIA based decoding on the server.  Unless I'm misunderstanding something, the server doesn't really decode video, it encodes it to formats that are friendly to the devices doing the playback (typically to x264), no?  

To transcode, the server has to decode the original format (which may be heavy 4k) and then optionally rescale to a lower resolution and finally encode again.

 

Decoding 4k video is expensive, so it helps to have hardware-accelerated decoding.

On 8/29/2018 at 3:29 PM, pwm said:

To transcode, the server has to decode the original format (which may be heavy 4k) and then optionally rescale to a lower resolution and finally encode again.

 

Decoding 4k video is expensive, so it helps to have hardware-accelerated decoding.

Exactly, decoding HEVC to encode in H264 is expansive because the Decode part is very heavy in software ...

+1  Here as well!

I wanted this a while back and I had posted about it then. I would love to unload some of the transcoding work off my older CPU. Which would allow the entire server to run better and support more streams. I have an older gpu waiting for this purpose.

Unraid would be really attractive to users who want to be able to use older hardware and still maintain good plex streaming ability. Unraid would be one of few if not the only NAS option to be able to transcode multiple streams effectively on hardware that isn't the latest and greatest.

Being able to do this through docker fits the model of how unraid wants to be easy to use yet be versatile and powerful.

So yea this is a +1 and a hope this will come true.

+1 for Nvidia driver support.

So back when I made this post I didn't know Linux Plex Servers couldn't decode on a Nvidia GPU, only if they were on Windows.
What I ended up doing is making a Windows 8.1 Embedded VM and passing my GPU to it and putting PMS on it. I gave it like 16 GB of RAM and setup a RAM drive for the temp directory for Plex. It works pretty well actually.

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

Yeah when I asked about it, running a VM (not sure if it works on linux) and passing through the GPU was and is the only way to get it working on unraid. But that takes additional resources and makes the whole thing less efficient. I personally don't have any extra CPU cycles to give away to a VM. But it is a good way to see it working on your system. 

Yeah when I asked about it, running a VM (not sure if it works on linux) and passing through the GPU was and is the only way to get it working on unraid. But that takes additional resources and makes the whole thing less efficient. I personally don't have any extra CPU cycles to give away to a VM. But it is a good way to see it working on your system. 

If I ever get a Pascal generation card it won't hit my CPU much if at all, I'm using a GTX 760 right now for that VM, does most things except (most) h.265. Only thing that aggravates me is it won't use hardware encoding for live tv.

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On 4/14/2018 at 8:47 AM, aptalca said:

Nvidia with the proper drivers, works for hardware encode but not decode in plex (silly plex omission in their ffmpeg build)

Plex updated it's transcoder code before ffmpeg v4.0 was released. I am sure the next time it is updated it will get all the stuff in v4.0

49 minutes ago, WingmanNZ said:

Plex updated it's transcoder code before ffmpeg v4.0 was released. I am sure the next time it is updated it will get all the stuff in v4.0

Plex said they would fully support nvidia via vaapi very soon. That was over a year ago. They also refused to add the simple parameter to enable cuvid in their ffmpeg build. I don't know why they would go out of their way to add the parameter for nvenc but not cuvid. You either add both and unofficially support nvidia, or you add neither and you don't support it. 

That aside, from someone who has recently tried to install the drivers in Unraid (and as of yet, hasn't succeeded) I can tell you it's an absolute bitch.

Also, the dream setup right now would be a Quatro P200 (400ish$).

 

Around 13 Transcodes from 4K .265 to 1080p .264

Around 23 Transcodes from  1080p .265 to 1080p .265
On decode/encode

 

Right now the Nvidia Linux Drivers only support Encode, but they are saying it's coming ...

 

All that's missing is a way to install and keep up to date these drivers directly in Unraid so it can be given acces to the Plex container ....
 

On 9/14/2018 at 12:23 PM, Altheran said:

Also, the dream setup right now would be a Quatro P200 (400ish$).

 

Around 13 Transcodes from 4K .265 to 1080p .264

Around 23 Transcodes from  1080p .265 to 1080p .265
On decode/encode

 

Right now the Nvidia Linux Drivers only support Encode, but they are saying it's coming ...

 

All that's missing is a way to install and keep up to date these drivers directly in Unraid so it can be given acces to the Plex container ....
 

Yep!  This would really open up a lot of doors for us to have more efficient servers at home.  It would also open the doors to more GPU gaming rigs.  Something that Limetech promotes a lot!  Here's to hoping we can install drivers directly to Unraid!  +10000

https://www.nvidia.com/object/docker-container.html

 

Maybe.... Maybe....

On 8/29/2018 at 12:29 PM, pwm said:

To transcode, the server has to decode the original format (which may be heavy 4k) and then optionally rescale to a lower resolution and finally encode again.

 

Decoding 4k video is expensive, so it helps to have hardware-accelerated decoding.

Figured it was something like that, but you know what they say about assumptions.  Thanks for explaining 👍

+1 .. need nvidea support for using plex with HW accelaration. my cpu don´t habe quick sync and a vm just for plex ? i think thats a very imperformant way....

+1 to add NVIDIA drivers for Plex Docker GPU transcoding. Plex in a Docker container is just so amazing. It's hard to give that up just to use my P2000.

Who are we waiting for here? Nvidia? or is it Lime-Technology? Or Plex?

+1 This would be a dream come true. Having to create a VM just to run Plex, is not a great solution. Like others said, having a plugin to install the appropriate GPU driver would be ideal.

Going to add my +1 to this as well. While an Intel iGPU is definitely servicable, when you need/want to upgrade to something that handles newer/better codecs, it is quite a bit easier to throw a GPU at the problem vs going through the hassle of doing a full system rebuild including a new motherboard and CPU and potentially RAM as well.

7 hours ago, JohanSF said:

Who are we waiting for here?

Plex.

linux + plex doesn't support anything except intel iGPU. Not related to unraid.

 

1 hour ago, jonathanm said:

Plex.

linux + plex doesn't support anything except intel iGPU. Not related to unraid.

 

It supports Nvidia GPU's just fine currently at least on the encode side and the decode side should be supported (hopefully) sometime in the near future as they update their transcoder to use the upstream ffmpeg 4.0 codebase.

 

EDIT: Source: https://support.plex.tv/articles/115002178853-using-hardware-accelerated-streaming/

Quote

If your Linux computer also has a dedicated graphics card, the video encoding acceleration of Intel Quick Sync Video may become unavailable when the GPU is in use. If your computer has an NVIDIA GPU, please install the latest Latest NVIDIA drivers for Linux to make sure that Plex can use your NVIDIA graphics card for video encoding (only) when Intel Quick Sync Video becomes unavailable.

 

Edited October 22, 20187 yr by cr08

31 minutes ago, cr08 said:

It supports Nvidia GPU's just fine currently at least on the encode side and the decode side should be supported (hopefully) sometime in the near future as they update their transcoder to use the upstream ffmpeg 4.0 codebase.

 

EDIT: Source: https://support.plex.tv/articles/115002178853-using-hardware-accelerated-streaming/

 

When plex fully supports nvidia, then we will be waiting on unraid. Currently, we are waiting on plex.