The Ultimate Plex Media Server / EMBY Media Server

[s00confused]

I am so confused as to what I should chose for a quality media server (HARDWARE) that is capable of transcoding HVEC & 4K videos and movies which would be eventually viewed on my Roku.

This is my current Media Server: (running either Plex or Emby at one time)
Model Name: Mac mini (2018)
Model Identifier: Macmini8,1
Processor Name: 6-Core Intel Core i5
Processor Speed: 3 GHz
Number of Processors: 1
Total Number of Cores: 6
L2 Cache (per Core): 256 KB
L3 Cache: 9 MB
Memory: 32 GB

The frustration from the buffering I encounter during certain movies has me considering 2 machines:

(XEON)
Dell Power Edge T30 Server
INTEL XEON E3-1225 V5 3.3GHZ
1TB SATA HDD 7.2 RPM
8GB RAM UDIMM 2400

or,

(i7)
INTEL CORE I7-9700 3.0Ghz 9TH GEN
8GB DDR4 RAM
240GB SSD + 1TB HDD

Would either of these machine's processors cure all my transcoding / buffering issues? Are there other things i need to consider?

 

[DeathtoGnomes]

iirc, transcoding needs more cores while buffering needs more memory.

 

[claes]

I am so confused as to what I should chose for a quality media server (HARDWARE) that is capable of transcoding HVEC & 4K videos and movies which would be eventually viewed on my Roku.

This is my current Media Server: (running either Plex or Emby at one time)
Model Name: Mac mini (2018)
Model Identifier: Macmini8,1
Processor Name: 6-Core Intel Core i5
Processor Speed: 3 GHz
Number of Processors: 1
Total Number of Cores: 6
L2 Cache (per Core): 256 KB
L3 Cache: 9 MB
Memory: 32 GB

The frustration from the buffering I encounter during certain movies has me considering 2 machines:

(XEON)
Dell Power Edge T30 Server
INTEL XEON E3-1225 V5 3.3GHZ
1TB SATA HDD 7.2 RPM
8GB RAM UDIMM 2400

or,

(i7)
INTEL CORE I7-9700 3.0Ghz 9TH GEN
8GB DDR4 RAM
240GB SSD + 1TB HDD

Would either of these machine's processors cure all my transcoding / buffering issues? Are there other things i need to consider?

Your server has more than enough power to handle a few HEVC streams. I don’t think you’ll need to replace it unless you plan on transcoding quite a few streams. I imagine the problem lays somewhere else.

What Roku do you have? What does your network look like?

Edit: Wait... you’re transcoding HEVC? Are these clients local or remote?

It is generally considered bad practice to transcode h265. Most admins keep a separate library for those clients that can’t direct play h265.

 

[s00confused]

Your server has more than enough power to handle a few HEVC streams. I don’t think you’ll need to replace it unless you plan on transcoding quite a few streams. I imagine the problem lays somewhere else.

What Roku do you have? What does your network look like?

Edit: Wait... you’re transcoding HEVC? Are these clients local or remote?

It is generally considered bad practice to transcode h265. Most admins keep a separate library for those clients that can’t direct play h265.

I have a Roku 4 and a Roku Ultra. I am assuming its local as the Mac mini with the current plex and Emby servers are on my home network all connected via a wired network. Is it possible to play HEVC files without transcoding?

I just assumed everything on your server is transcoded to be played on a Roku.

Your server has more than enough power to handle a few HEVC streams. I don’t think you’ll need to replace it unless you plan on transcoding quite a few streams. I imagine the problem lays somewhere else.

What Roku do you have? What does your network look like?

Edit: Wait... you’re transcoding HEVC? Are these clients local or remote?

It is generally considered bad practice to transcode h265. Most admins keep a separate library for those clients that can’t direct play h265.

Not quite sure how to explain the network question but i'll try. I have a 5G home broadband router connected to a couple of switches and my mac mini and router as well. Not really sure how I would go about testing their optimum behavior but had this setup for the last few years thanks to a friend setting it up. How could i test if my network isnt able to handle it?

 

[Vya Domus]

Isn't HVEC really expensive though, why use it ? As long as you aren't terribly constrained by bandwidth there is almost no point in using it.

Regardless why not look into using a GPU ? It's an uphill battle with CPU transcoding and HVEC.

 

[s00confused]

Isn't HVEC really expensive though, why use it ? As long as you aren't terribly constrained by bandwidth there is almost no point in using it.

Regardless why not look into using a GPU ? It's an uphill battle with CPU transcoding and HVEC.

As I understand it HVEC is the future and most videos are recorded in HEVC and most movies are also on HEVC format.

 

[claes]

I’m gonna rearrange your post to make my reply more coherent

I have a Roku 4 and a Roku Ultra. Is it possible to play HEVC files without transcoding?

I just assumed everything on your server is transcoded to be played on a Roku.

A common misunderstanding! Transcoding is only needed when a client can’t play the source file natively, either because the client doesn’t support the codec and needs to convert the file to a format it supports, or because there is insufficient bandwidth and the file has to be processed to a smaller size in order to make it to the other end (usually a problem for remote clients in our circumstances).

Your situation is ideal — all clients are on the same network as the server is and all clients support h265, so there’s no need to transcode. Both of your clients should direct play HEVC — there should be no reason to buffer other than a bandwidth limitation...

I am assuming its local as the Mac mini with the current plex and Emby servers are on my home network all connected via a wired network.

That’s great! Do you know if the Mac Mini is connected via fast or gigabit Ethernet? You can check in System Preferences, network.

HEVC streams can often exceed 100 Mbit/s, so the server will need to be connected to a gigabit (1000 Mbit/s) connection through all switches and the router.

Are the Roku’s connected via Ethernet or wireless? Both Roku’s only support fast Ethernet (100 Mbit/s), so it’s best for the Roku’s to connect wirelessly. You’ll want to make sure your WiFi is fast enough to support the devices.

If you can check these things hopefully we can get to the bottom of this!

 

[s00confused]

I’m gonna rearrange your post to make my reply more coherent A common misunderstanding! Transcoding is only needed when a client can’t play the source file natively, either because the client doesn’t support the codec and needs to convert the file to a format it supports, or because there is insufficient bandwidth and the file has to be processed to a smaller size in order to make it to the other end (usually a problem for remote clients in our circumstances).

Your situation is ideal — all clients are on the same network as the server is and all clients support h265, so there’s no need to transcode. Both of your clients should direct play HEVC — there should be no reason to buffer other than a bandwidth limitation...

That’s great! Do you know if the Mac Mini is connected via fast or gigabit Ethernet? You can check in System Preferences, network.

HEVC streams can often exceed 100 Mbit/s, so the server will need to be connected to a gigabit (1000 Mbit/s) connection through all switches and the router

Are the Roku’s connected via Ethernet or wireless? Both Roku’s only support fast Ethernet (100 Mbit/s), so it’s best for the Roku’s to connect wirelessly. You’ll want to make sure your WiFi is fast enough to support the devices.

If you can check these things hopefully we can get to the bottom of this!

CLAES thank you for clarification! I switched off transcoding on plex and noticed that my HEVC file played without a hitch on my Roku and also noticed that my mac processor was utilizing under 10%.

I will grab a gigabit switch today and hopefully any files that needs over 100mbps will also not be affected. The roku and the mac are connected to the same switch so will replacing that fix my bandwidth issue or do I have to have my entire home network switches replaced? I have 3 wifi switches and 1 main switch connected to the 5G Router. This could be expensive.

Did I check all the boxes?

 

[claes]

Looks right to me!

Are you sure your switches aren’t gigabit? Most networking devices built in the last decade or so are gigabit — you should check in your Mac’s system preferences to be sure.

If not, then you only need a gigabit connection from your Mac to your WiFi, assuming your WiFi router supports gigabit. If your WiFi router doesn’t support gigabit then you’ll want to upgrade the router.

Any other part of your network doesn’t need to be upgraded — since the Roku’s don’t support gigabit Ethernet it won’t benefit them. They are better off connected to AC WiFi. Not that you shouldn’t upgrade, but no need to spend the money now if this is your only network issue.

Edit: Whoops — forgot that the Roku and Mac were on the same switch! To reiterate, the only device that needs gigabit is the Mac, so if it’s connected as such you should be fine. The Roku’s should be on AC WiFi if you run into any further issues streaming, but no need to fix was isn’t broken

 

[silkstone]

For better transcoding:
If you have a paid version of plex, then add an Nvidia card and update the drivers to handle multiple NVEC encoding streams.
If you don't have or want to buy Emby or Plex. Go with Jellyfin and add either an Nvidia or AMD card.

If the issue is your switches, you can get cheap $30 gigabit switches, you'll just need to make sure your main router is gigabit capable too. If you list out the info of your network infrastructure, you'd be able to get better advice.