4K Plex Server CPU Recommendation

[Durvelle27]

It's apparently in the server log. Where that is, I don't know. On a search, I did find this:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet...9GklVycFTfqBTYidRs5bqT2onI/edit#gid=101193936

And there's the problem... mkv (≤2160p) h.264 is not supported. I verified myself. My mp4 4K h.264 is just a green video on the Xbox One S. Pathetic. The Xbox One has enough GPU power to decode it yet for some reason, Microsoft prohibits it.

I suspect it is downsampling it instead of actually transcoding it (because h.264 to h.264). Either way, transcoding 4K video is a bad idea.

No clue here either

Not sure where you found that google doc but man that really clears everything up for sure. So basically only my Smart TVs with Plex support direct play with no transcoding which accounts for 2 of my TVs the other 2 don’t have Plex Apps

Neither Xbox One nor my Chromecast Ultra support DirectPlay @4K though

Definitely need a better server than for transcoding the media

I think the issue you may be having is the fact that Xbox One (from what I can find) doesn't support mp4. Here's a list of video/media files Xbox One media player is compatible with (can find it here):

• 3GP audio
• 3GP video
• 3GP2
• AAC
• ADTS
• animated GIF
• .asf
• AVI DivX
• DV AVI
• AVI uncompressed
• AVI Xvid
• BMP
• JPEG
• GIF
• H.264 AVCHD
• M-JPEG
• .mkv
• .mov
• MP3
• MPEG-PS
• MPEG-2 MPEG-2 HD
• MPEG-2 TS
• H.264/MPEG-4 AVC
• MPEG-4 SP
• PNG
• TIFF
• WAV
• WMA
• WMA Lossless
• WMA Pro
• WMA Voice
• WMV
• WMV HD

As for the server log, I don't know if this is what you're specifically looking for, but you can download the logs from the Plex Server. Go into Settings > Server > Help and you should see this page so you can download the logs:
View attachment 100221

That list really isn’t that helpful as I’ve seen it numerous times but it doesn’t account for 4K

"H.264/MPEG-4 AVC" it supports it, just not at 4K or greater resolutions. Plex's list is accurate. Xbox One S only supports 4K HEVC or MPEG4 (not h.264). Xbox One X also adds support for 4K VP9.


I'm thinking the best solution is to convert it from h.264 to HEVC. HEVC is what ATSC 3.0 is moving towards anyway.

I can confirm the Xbox One does play 4K HEVC just fine

Converting from H.264 to HEVC would still require a better rig for the process. Likely a decent Quad

 

[cdawall]

less tan 1K more than $500

They got cheaper than this too.

 

[Jetster]

MP4 is supported. If the compresion is not supported it will trans code it
This is why I was saying Plex is not the best option for 4K. If it does not support the compression it will transcode it an deduce the quality

Getting ready to rebuild my NAS collecting 6 Tb drives

 

[FordGT90Concept]

Neither Xbox One nor my Chromecast Ultra support DirectPlay @4K though

Xbox One does if it is HEVC or MPEG4. I'm going to try using Handbrake to convert mine to HEVC.

Edit: Core i7-6700K at stock is going to take 14.5 19.5 21.5 hours (and keeps rising) to transcode the 88 minute video at 25 fps. cdawall wasn't joking. Live transcoding this isn't going to happen. It's estimating over a day now.

 

[cdawall]

Xbox One does if it is HEVC or MPEG4. I'm going to try using Handbrake to convert mine to HEVC.

Edit: Core i7-6700K at stock is going to take 14.5 19.5 21.5 hours (and keeps rising) to transcode the 88 minute video at 25 fps. cdawall wasn't joking. Live transcoding this isn't going to happen. It's estimating over a day now.

With my 16 core xeon humming it can get 10 minute batches done at a time live transcoding, but then it sits and buffers on 4K.

Mind you that is with file sizes like that...and full dolby atmos surround.

 

[FordGT90Concept]

8 hours and 25% done. I only have the one 4K file so it's worth it to me to git-r-done. This one was 20 GB coming in so quite a bit smaller than yours.

 

[Durvelle27]

8 hours and 25% done. I only have the one 4K file so it's worth it to me to git-r-done. This one was 20 GB coming in so quite a bit smaller than yours.

Most of my 4K files range between 20GB-60GB

MP4 is supported. If the compresion is not supported it will trans code it
This is why I was saying Plex is not the best option for 4K. If it does not support the compression it will transcode it an deduce the quality

Getting ready to rebuild my NAS collecting 6 Tb drives

But Plex is the only universal server available that’s supported by my Xbox’s and my TVs

But you guys think even with a better rig it still won’t work well. Just need 4K playback on the fly.

 

[Jetster]

I think it will work great. Just might not be 4k when all said and done but go for it

 

[FordGT90Concept]

Just need 4K playback on the fly.

Without direct play, that's just not possible unless you're prepared to blow five digits worth of money on a transcoding server (probably a four-way EPYC). Even that might still buffer.

Emby has similar support but it won't solve your 4K problem.

Most of my 4K files range between 20GB-60GB

How many do you have? Does all your play back equipment support HEVC? The most sane solution is to set up a separate computer (because the conversion will load the system to 100%) to convert them all. Once they're converted, you're good to go on your current hardware.

I think Handbrake actually runs its conversion threads at low priority. I'm able to play Battletech and can't even tell my CPU is still busy on the conversion.

 

[Durvelle27]

Without direct play, that's just not possible unless you're prepared to blow five digits worth of money on a transcoding server (probably a four-way EPYC). Even that might still buffer.

Emby has similar support but it won't solve your 4K problem.


How many do you have? Does all your play back equipment support HEVC? The most sane solution is to set up a separate computer (because the conversion will load the system to 100%) to convert them all. Once they're converted, you're good to go on your current hardware.

I think Handbrake actually runs its conversion threads at low priority. I'm able to play Battletech and can't even tell my CPU is still busy on the conversion.

Right now like 20 many movies which will continue to grow over time

Yes all my devices support 4K HVEC

And the whole idea was to have a computer dedicated as a server. It wouldn’t be used for anything else outside of that.

 

[FordGT90Concept]

So about a month to transcode on a high-end quad-core. Make sure to rip future movies as HEVC. Seems like the best solution to me and costs you nothing but some time.

I am not doing this conversion on my server because I don't want to interrupt it in case it has to transcode something else on demand. I usually don't leave my computer running 24/7 but I can make an exception for two nights.


Like I said, ATSC 3.0 is going to adopt HEVC for OTA content. HEVC is going to become more prevalent in the future, not less. This is why I have no problem spending the ~34 hours it takes to convert it. It's future proofing in a sense because I can't count on Microsoft not being stupid with h.264 4K support.

 

[Durvelle27]

So about a month to transcode on a high-end quad-core. Make sure to rip future movies as HEVC. Seems like the best solution to me and costs you nothing but some time.

I am not doing this conversion on my server because I don't want to interrupt it in case it has to transcode something else on demand. I usually don't leave my computer running 24/7 but I can make an exception for two nights.


Like I said, ATSC 3.0 is going to adopt HEVC for OTA content. HEVC is going to become more prevalent in the future, not less. This is why I have no problem spending the ~34 hours it takes to convert it. It's future proofing in a sense because I can't count on Microsoft not being stupid with h.264 4K support.

My rigs normally run 24/7

I think it’s kind of a selfish move by Microsoft to limit the range of compatible formats considering they push Xbox to be the all around best entertainment system

 

[arroyo]

My Asustor AS6204T NAS is doing as Plex server with perfectly fine performence and it is only Celeron N3150.

 

[Durvelle27]

My Asustor AS6204T NAS is doing as Plex server with perfectly fine performence and it is only Celeron N3150.

If you read through the thread Plex runs and plays fine but when it comes to 4K H.264 it’s a struggle

 

[FordGT90Concept]

I think it’s kind of a selfish move by Microsoft to limit the range of compatible formats considering they push Xbox to be the all around best entertainment system

Only reason I can think of that they don't is because perhaps the Jaguar CPU cores can't handle it.

My Asustor AS6204T NAS is doing as Plex server with perfectly fine performence and it is only Celeron N3150.

Direct streaming, Plex/Emby could run on a toaster. The moment something requires transcoding, that's when toasters won't do. Modest processors can handle 1080p. 2160p is a completely different animal (exponentially more costly to transcode than 1080p).

 

[cdawall]

Direct streaming, Plex/Emby could run on a toaster. The moment something requires transcoding, that's when toasters won't do. Modest processors can handle 1080p. 2160p is a completely different animal (exponentially more costly to transcode than 1080p).

Exactly I have tested up to 8 1080P transcodes simultaneously with my xeon. It cannot handle one 4k transcoding.

 

[Durvelle27]

Exactly I have tested up to 8 1080P transcodes simultaneously with my xeon. It cannot handle one 4k transcoding.

That’s just insane

 

[FordGT90Concept]

I think Vega or even Polaris can maybe do it (supports HEVC encoding and h.264 decoding) but the software side of things isn't really there. About the only thing I found on this subject: https://www.reddit.com/r/Amd/comments/4yjaya
There's apparently a Windows-only library that works but Plex/Emby support is virtually nonexistent. NVENC gets a lot more love for some reason.

 

[Durvelle27]

I think Vega or even Polaris can maybe do it (supports HEVC encoding and h.264 decoding) but the software side of things isn't really there. About the only thing I found on this subject: https://www.reddit.com/r/Amd/comments/4yjaya

Most Nvidia GPUs also support both encoding and decoding of H.264 & HEVC as well

 

[FordGT90Concept]

Yeah but Radeon cards have a lot more compute horsepower for the buck and also no arbitrary limit on number of streams.

 

[Durvelle27]

Yeah but Radeon cards have a lot more compute horsepower for the buck and also no arbitrary limit on number of streams.

I’m going to get a cheaper AMD GPU that supports HEVC and H.264 and see if it helps if any and pair it with a Quad. Hopefully that can geter done

 

[FordGT90Concept]

I wouldn't recommend it. I've never successfully used Radeon to transcode. People using NVENC is spotty too.

Edit: https://support.plex.tv/articles/115002178853-using-hardware-accelerated-streaming/
Plex only supports QuickSync and NVENC. MediaFoundation may support encoding on Radeon cards but I wouldn't put money on that.

Edit: Emby has a lot more options but your mileage may vary:

Edit: MF for Plex and AMD AMF for Emby are Windows-only.

 

[HammerON]

Sub'd out of interest for a future project.

 

[Durvelle27]

I wouldn't recommend it. I've never successfully used Radeon to transcode. People using NVENC is spotty too.

Edit: https://support.plex.tv/articles/115002178853-using-hardware-accelerated-streaming/
Plex only supports QuickSync and NVENC. MediaFoundation may support encoding on Radeon cards but I wouldn't put money on that.

Edit: Emby has a lot more options but your mileage may vary:

Edit: MF for Plex and AMD AMF for Emby are Windows-only.

OS I’m using is Windows 10 so that’s no issue

 

[cdawall]

That’s just insane

I don't think plex can scale to all of the cores correctly. It seems ok pushes multiple small transcodes to 2-4 threads, but giving 32 threads one job doesn't work.