This information can be viewed by going to and by searching your plex media server cpu. Our live streaming app will give your media the hollywood treatment. How to optimize your movies and tv shows for smooth plex. Optimised media files need very little cpu power for plex to serve but, of course, they occupy space on your array. Best specs for a plex server with heavy transcoding. How to build a quiet 117tb plex media server part 2 duration.
Plex hardware transcoding on amd help please general. Quadro p2000 hardware transcoding in plex duration. First you need to install and setup tautulli with plex. Help with plex hardware transcoding page 2 general. The central plex media server software manages nearly every aspect of the plex experiencethe clients merely act as a frontend for what the server is serving up.
A guide to understanding nas as a plex media server with plex being one of the biggest platforms out there for users who want to enjoy the media they own, but in the slickest possible way, it is easy to assume that everyone knows about plex media server. What i do is use handbrake to transcode all my stuff ahead of time queue it up and let it run then you dont need anything special server wise. In order to understand what the hardware requirements are for plex, we need to discuss transcoding. So im going to be building a new pc here soon or upgrading my current setup. Stream everything at home how to pick the right nas for a plex media server plex allows you to store pictures, movies, music, and more on a single server, which can then be. Xeon cpu is so powerful, that it can transcode almost any video file. Without further ado, lets look at a few top diy, nas, and prebuilt media server with plex support. Jan 08, 2016 the transcoding process happens on the server by the servers processor, and the largest cpu usage happens when transcoding highdefinition movies. But if the player lacks the power, plex server has to transcode the video, which can be a cpu intensive tasks.
Best specs for a plex server with heavy transcoding ars. I wish i went c2100 though for the added drive bays. Aug 11, 2017 the cpu does get warm streaming two 4k streams after a while and two hours in i get about 68c on a stock intel cooler more in the summer. Designing a plex media server for streaming over transcoding. What are the hardware requirements for running a plex media. For 4k content, this can make a big difference in quality and server load.
Perhaps you want to know if its transcoding a 20tb 4k rip of a movie down to a resolution more compatible for your device. Note that, a hardware transcoding capable gpu cpu can reduce passmark requirements and having media files in one of the plex supported formats and a capable client can minimize transcoding by directplaying content. Best bet is still direct play, the hw transcoding can sometimes have. All the heavy lifting happens on the server sidethe streaming, the transcoding of the streaming when necessary, etc. But, when i play a file on plex, the now playing screen shows that hardware transcoding is not taking place. How to pick the right nas for a plex media server windows. In basic terms plex suggest 2k of cpu mark per 1080p av transcode, in practice less will do, but remember your cpu may be doing other things, especially if you are using for example news and doing parrar work, this may impact on transcoding performance. My plex server is dual x5660s in an r710 with a lot of ram. Im really gunning for having all my media available wherever i am, so to that end im looking for a server with enough cpu grunt to handle transcoding 35 streams of 720p video simultaneously. Plex can enable the best streaming devices available to serve your content anywhere. Here are the minimum specs that youll need to run the server. After that, depending on the output format, it may be more or less cpu intensive. Qnap nas for plex transcoding qnap nas community forum.
Windows 7 or later im running windows 10 pro a recent intel cpu meeting these requirements im running a core i52500k, which should meet these requirements. Ideally, your files would mostly remux, thus youd get low cpu usage and high transcoding remuxing speed. You can go to the plex server ui and look at activity under settings to see what plex is actually doing, or check the logs. If it doesnt say direct play, look for it to say transcoding.
So while the main draw of the app will still be the ability to stream a personal media library, it may eventually become a centralized app for ondemand. Aug 14, 2017 you could add a video card to the x77 family, but since they havent shipped yet, it is unknown if that would be picked up by plex hw transcoding betas currently in testing. The video played just fine, but i needed to avoid this saturation if possible. Jul 25, 2017 in this article, well outline the hardware requirements to set up a plex media server. Apr 23, 2018 id probably go no less than a higherend i3 or more likely, i5s or better for 4k streams. Transcoding with gpu instead of cpu generalwindows. Im running into an unexpected problem with hardware transcoding. What are the hardware requirements for running a plex. After the initial cpu spike for upwards of 1 minute, it calmed down a bit to about 60% usage during.
Ue42f5500 with emby app devices connected with ethernet cable when i am trying to play a hevc. The new ds119j is synologys superaffordable nas model for those who want to throw together a budgetfriendly server for file storage. For the os i am leaning toward unraid, system overheads would be host os, vm or container with windows 10 for everyday use, dedicated plex container and a further container for torrents, sonar etc. Cpu requirements for transcoding general discussion emby. If you do decide down the road to upgrade your cpu, you probably want a coffee lake cpu either the i7 87008700k or the new xeon e2176g2186g if plex hardware transcoding really reduces the load on the cpu and offloads it to the igpu is of interest to you. What is the cheapest, current amd and intel cpu that can transcode 1080p video to an ipad without any stuttering. Oct 20, 2017 setting up ram transcoding in windows is fast and easy. So how does one guarantee high performance for transcoding with plex. But again with no requirements in terms of how it would be used, these potentially all could be too small, just right, or too large. Server settings bandwidth and transcoding limits plex.
So what are the deciding factor when it comes to transcoding. Transcoding with gpu general discussions plex forum. Therefore, youll need to ensure your video media is saved in a format which your plex media player can support. If you can obtain a sufficient cpu on your computer, the playback issue may be resolved then.
Cpu requirements for transcoding general discussion. For instance, if you only want to allow two transcodes to happen at any one time even if your computer is capable of more, you can set the value to 2. I have a core i3 4170 running in my home theater pc, which also runs plex and periodically transcodes and streams video to an ipad or chromecast in my bedroom. It does not feature transcoding engine which means that cpu will be working on its maximum to transcode the video. Things you need to know about hardware transcoding for plex. Usually, the transcoding speed is determined by the cpu performance of your computer. How to run plex media server with transcoding servermania.
The bandwidth and transcoding limit features require an active plex pass subscriptions subscription for the plex media server admin plex account. Transcoding with gpu instead of cpu posted in general windows. Hey guys, im trying to get some step by step instructions about how to actually install a gpu on my unraid server and get plex server running as a docker on unraid to use that gpu to do transcoding. What it is, how to use it, and why you need it plex is an amazing tool designed to give you access to your media content on all your devices. During the acceleration, the video quality may be compromised.
Whats more, you can try to enable the hardware acceleration function of plex to offload transcoding. If you have successfully setup your plex for requesting the correct stream at the right time and still facing issues, then it might be due to the transcoding speed. Mar 20, 2019 to provide content, plex uses the following automatic methods depending on the clients ability to access plex. Instead of playing hevc files directly, plex would automatically transcode 4k hevc videos to 1080p to meet the required properties so as to present the smooth playback. I had run my plex server on my main windows 7 desktop, which i. Setting up ram transcoding in win dows is fast and easy. When creating a new topic, youll need to use at least 1 tag, so start with a server tag and then optionally combine it with other tags that describe the player or feature if relevant to your topic to increase the visibility of your. Plex also supports gpu transcoding so that might be an option too. Hardwareaccelerated streaming is supported in plex media server on modern windows, mac, linux, and. For easy access, you will be able to launch the plex media server from the windows system tray. A technique used by the plex media server to find out about the type of client requesting service and adjust the file format and resolution. Jun 18, 2019 the more situations where transcoding will be required simultaneously, the more youll need to worry about your cpu capabilities. I dont often stream two 4k streams but with 6 users accessing my library it does happen.
Jun 06, 2017 media server make simple plex beginners guide. I do however understand that power consumption cannot be the deciding factor. You should be able to see if it is transcoding audio or video. Plex hardware transcode third party packages xpenology. Just upgrade intel cpu or get amd cpumobo combo for plex. Transcoding this file is very cpu intensive, we would prefer that the stream was killed and the user was forced to use a 1080p or 720p version. Media server downloads plex media server for windows. Hardware transcoding in plex with the p2000 and a 2u. You need to look at intel core i series to be able to cope with multiple streams. Recommended cpu for multiple video transcoding streams. Mar 25, 2020 how to pick the right nas for a plex media server. Your plex media server is generally limited by three main things. I then changed to a transcoding resolution and my plex vm saturated all of the cpus granted to it 2 for quite some time. The best devices to use as a plex media server the better.
So, i was thinking of switching to a more low profile solution. I have an emby server running on my main pc with i5 but the power usage is too much. My unraid server runs on a i7 4770 cpu which isnt enough for 4k h265 transcoding. Rich edmonds is a word conjurer at windows central, covering everything related to windows, gaming. Hi, when i start playback on either our roku3 or android tablets, the server cpu is running at 100%. I currently run pms on an old desktop running windows 7. Take a good look at the cpu deployed by companies in the nas devices you.
When you do this plex will use your graphics card instead for transcoding. You can filter the view by tag, like server windows, servermac, or serverlinux. I should mention that plex does have the ability to pre transcode video if you plan to watch a highres video on a lowres client for some specific material, this pre transcoding. It can track, organize and give access to your media files. In the plex cpu requirements article it cites that you need a cpu passmark score of 2,000 or higher for one 1080p transcode session. I use an a69500e amd and with 6 1080p streams im at about 20% cpu usage. Im intending to use plex as the media server, if that makes a difference. Media server downloads plex media server for windows, mac.
Nov 26, 2018 direct play didnt hit the cpu much at all. When running on windows, the following operating system versions are. From the plex page to transcode 1080p video, the minimum requirements are. If you have a choice between adding more ram assuming theres enough ram for the operating system to run well or a fasterbetter cpu, choose cpu for better plex transcoding performance. Apr 24, 2019 supposedly software transcoding using a large cpu gives better results over hardware transcoding gpudedicated video card.
Instructions for installing a gpu transcoding for unraid. According to the plex documentation that discusses cpu requirements, a processor passmark of 2000 is recommended to transcode a single 1080p media file and 1500 for a 720p media file. Youll need something scoring above 15,000 in passmark or even 16,000 as recommended by plex employee, which means ryzen 1700, ryzen 1700x, coffee lake 8700 and coffee lake 8700k will all stutter for 4k transcoding. Plex media server is compatible with most popular operating systems. Transcoding load is mostly dependant on whether were remuxing copying videoaudio into a new container or fully transcoding. I have an 8700k on an asus prime z370a motherboard and no other hardware has changed.
Plex media server runs on a variety of desktop and laptop computer platforms. My remote plex users are trying to play a media file and plex is automatically sending the 4k version of the file. Thats one client streaming one 1080 10mbps video file. When streaming content from a plex server that is encoded in h. The most basic thing to remember is that the more plex apps you have playing content at the same time, the more cpu power youll need.
Set the maximum number of transcoding sessions that you will allow simultaneously. And if you buy an arm model, transcoding will not be available. You can activate hardware acceleration in the settings for the plex media server under transcoder. Reviewing server history via plexpy showed many of my sessions are direct streams with very little transcoding.
Today i wanted to pit my old zezima rig with an intel core i76900k vs. Any ryzen has enough processing power to software transcode in real time the entry level r3 1200 has a passmark of 6771. Cpu requirements can vary dramatically, depending on how exactly you want to use plex, which particular plex apps youll be using, properties of your media, how many people will be using plex at the same time, and more. Most of the time you dont actually have to transcode anything. Running plex media server on a desktop computer is a very popular. If you stream the same content in the plex application, it will be direct streamed. As for the cpu, transcoding a single stream to a lowish quality target is trivial for any modern. Whether you want to run your plex media server on your everyday computer, youre looking to use a dedicated computer, or you want to run it on a nas device, youll need to make sure that the computernas is compatible and that it will support what you want to do.
But ya it does seem a pentium isnt going to handle it, though maybe if you have a spare gpu you could use, that might help mitigate the need for a different cpu, mb, etc. If a file does not play correctly, you can see if it is transcoding by going to the status page in plex web and then clicking on i icon of the video playing. Plex hardware transcoding with an intel cpu inside an ubuntu. Just upgrade intel cpu or get amd cpu mobo combo for plex. Supposedly software transcoding using a large cpu gives better results over hardware transcoding gpudedicated video card. I have also recently added a windows 10 system with 8vcpus and. It connects to the server to see what media files are available, displays a menu, and. The server has an i74790t so whilst not the most powerful chip, its no slouch either, and its running windows server 2012 r2. Letting a igpu for example do the heavy lifting may make an otherwise low end cpu capable. This is directly counter to the official page that you posted earlier where it explicitly says one of the requirements is an intel cpu supporting quick sync video. The current setup i have installed is just a simple. There are some things to hate on the ryzen for but transcoding and plex is one of the areas it can shine.
Stop or disable plex from transcoding 4k content using. Take a good look at the cpu deployed by companies in the nas. Aug 11, 2017 core2 duo e8600 scores 2400 in passmark, which is just above the recommended requirement of 1080p transcoding by plex. Transcoding requires plex pass one factor to keep in mind when it comes to hardware transcoding using the processor for the intense task is you need plex pass to do it with the plex. Hey everyone, i am looking to upgrade my server cpu but a large requirement for me has always been lower power consumption. How to fix buffering issues on plex media server plex. Generally, the more powerful the plex media servers cpu the better, as transcoding is a cpu intensive process. How to pick the right nas for a plex media server windows central. According to plex, your nas drive will need an x86 cpu. The cpu doesnt really have to do much work for this. Im currently doing it with an i32100 but i need a new system an suspect i can get something even lower power. I had set this up a month or so ago when i became a plex pass subscriber and i thought it was working but now i am seeing plex is using software transcode and spiking my cpu.
To configure it, select the plex media icon and choose open plex 3. Plex transcoding xeon vs intel core i3i5i7 nas compares. This article is primarily aimed toward windows, mac, or linux users who. Jul 02, 2019 however, before you hit the store looking to buy one, there are some things you need to consider. Plex media server works by streaming media usually video files such as movies or tv shows across the network to.
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