Plex hardware transcoding without plex pass

Record content into your library to gain all the benefits of other personal media: beautiful metadata, access it anywhere and any time, and more. Feb 3, 2024 · This post assumes that you already have a Plex Pass subscription, which is required to use the hardware-accelerated streaming. 7571 (Plex Pass Beta) works Public: 1. 1 I moved my plex server to another computer that has similar specs. Mar 18, 2022 · Bringing this back to the top with updates and a new GPU, Nvidia Quadro K620. With Jellyfin, you can enjoy any multimedia format from your own server, including movies, TV shows, music, books, and photos. 5145 - New Transcoder Preview. But Plex Pass is absolutely worth it for Skip Intro, PlexAmp, and Editions, among other things. Or enjoying karaoke with timed lyrics. Written Instructions: https://forums. As far as I know, Plex doesn't give you that option. Aug 29, 2021 · Hi folks, recently got the Plex Pass and an NVIDIA Quadro card to enable hardware transcoding so I can watch stuff on the go, but it’s not working as expected. Turn on Show Advanced in the upper-right corner to expose advanced settings. I have an amd rx 570 that I would like to use for hardware transcoding. EDIT/SOLUTION: Install the Intel Media SDK. When the player is not capable or option is set to force burning. Jellyfin. Interestingly, when typing the console command "ls dev/dri" without quotes it would return card0, card1, render D128, and render D129. • 3 yr. Nvidia Titan RTX – Extremely Powerful Graphics Card for Plex Servers. It’s possible to have HW encoding, but you need to have proper setup for it. It offers a versatile platform for managing and streaming media. Jun 11, 2023 · Hook a compatible tuner and digital antenna up to your local Plex Media Server to let you watch and record free, over-the-air broadcasts available in your area. Can consume an entire CPU core (additional “25%” usage) Plex Hardware Transcoding (encoding) in Windows 10. I set up my Plex library and enable hardware transcoding in the settings. play the video on the device in question. That page about only supporting mp4 is ancient, and somehow Plex never updates it. Still running into the same issue with the server with the CPU hit 40%, but I'm pretty sure that's due to the audio transcoding. Hardware transcoding for more platforms (RPI, Synlogy, etc) Hardware Accelerated Streaming support on Raspberry Pi 4. Hardware acceleration can make transcoding faster and allow more simultaneous video transcodes, but it can also reduce video quality and compatibility. You'll have to try it to see what happens. Build a NAS like option 2, but istead of using a gpu to handle the transcoding i buy plex pass. Run a transcode with the discrete GPU disabled, reboot and enable. Feb 18, 2023 · Plex hardware transcoding is Plex Pass-reserved to help convert videos faster to ensure smoother HD or 4K video streaming to more devices at once. However, I still could not see the iGPU on the GPU statistics plugin (only my nvidia card appeared) or get the iGPU to perform hardware transcoding in Plex even after installing the intel_gpu_top plugin. Once that's done. Once you are at the Plex main dashboard, click on Remote Access in the left pane. 2. Also to be considered is that Plex has a hardware transcoder version now for servers with Intel CPUs. Hardware transcoding is also only available if you have Plex Pass. Useful if you don't have the transcoding capacity or if you want to utilize any old or low-spec devices, such as RPIs, old laptops, desktops, etc. 7. Nov 17, 2023 · Hi there, I am relatively new to Unraid as well as Plex and am experiencing challenges with setting up hardware transcoding in my Plex Docker container. After setup, dont forget to enable hardware transcoding (requires plex pass) in the plex settings. It will rarely work, but yes, it will be compatible. Hardware transcoding. Connect a compatible tuner and antenna to your server to let you watch over-the-air broadcasts available at your location live. Without Plex Pass, hardware transcoding won't be an option. 32. For example a CPU that would use 100% CPU while transcoding one 1080p 10Mbps stream will now only use 30% CPU. If an app tells the server it can’t handle the video or audio in the stream at all, the server will convert the incompatible tracks to a compatible one and send that to the app. exe to Graphics settings. Jan 18, 2024 · Server Version#: 1. Once you have it, sign in to Plex with your account and you will be able to enable it. Plex Pass is absolutely worth it. Generally, the more powerful the Plex Media Server’s CPU the better, as transcoding is a CPU intensive process. Below are a few pictures to help you configure hardware transcoding. I can confirm that this did, in fact Not so straightforward. Feb 13, 2019 · In some cases, a server reboot may be required in order to use the GPU again once you try to use it with both a docker container and VM. However, I have some users that are computer illiterate and somehow "reset" their remote stream setting to NOT be MAXIMUM or ORIGINAL quality. exe”, “plex media server. Normally if a video player can not understand the media format it is unable to playback the media. No. Without hardware acceleration, transcoding is a struggle, especially with 10-bit h. a different app with a smaller buffer might need ~8. Navigate to Settings > Server > Transcoder to access the server settings. Quote. Is hardware transcoding turned on on your Plex server settings? Open the Plex Web app. I have had HandBrake and Plex both using the iGPU at the same time for hw transcoding. upgrade your clients and TV to support 4K HDR. tv/t/dsm-7-plex Switch PMS between application and service (currently application) Remove and re-add plex transcoder. exe”, and “plex transocder. Jan 3, 2023 · After installing an NVIDIA graphics card, follow these steps to allocate the graphics card to the NAS system: Go to Control Panel > Hardware > Hardware Resource. Very nice to see someone else show that they have hardware transcoding working. This system is an Alienware laptop with an external amplifier running a full size 5700XT. Award. Feb 13, 2019 · We want to provide our Plex container with access to one of the devices on our unRAID box. 10 votes, 16 comments. I know the Nvidia ShieldTV can hardware transcode without plex pass, and I think there are some WD NAS devices that do it too. Disabling and reenabling transcoding. I am running Debian but whenever I try to stream 4K, my system load shoots up and video won’t even load. 7557-1cf77d501 September 25, 2023 Beta 1. NVIDIA Quadro P2200 – Best Budget GPU for Plex 1080p Streaming. Money well spent! Enable hardware transcoding in Plex. Open the Plex Web app. Edit: For those looking for the TL;DR, It lets you cluster a bunch of devices to handle transcoding workloads in Plex. apt install pve-kernel-6. The CPU in that box will choke on a single 1080p transcode trying to handle it through the regular CPU core. 4 Plex Version: 1. 265 8-bit. Another option: have a look at NVidia Control Panel -> Manage 3D settings -> Program settings-> Preferred graphics processor. VM also has a hack to enable more than 2 simultaneous nvenc streams. To take advantage of hw decode you need plex pass. The Shield has hardware transcoding, but it's only just barely up to the challenge for the type of files that are popular for Anime, and it might buffer while transcoding. I am asking that if you are to respond to this thread that you kindly use screenshots and detailed instructions to explain how to perform a specific task. Does everyone on my server benefits from hardware transcoding? Sep 9, 2020 · To avoid Plex transcoding, you need to know the client devices that are connected to your Plex Media Server, including your devices and others outside your home. Nov 8, 2019 · Are you logged into the plex server with your plex account that has the plex pass? Have you checked the use hardware acceleration when available box on the transcoder page of the server settings? Jul 1, 2021 · Hi, I have been using the plex app on my old Samsung F8000 (Direct Play). 7571-13cdc68dc September 27, 2023 All transcoder binaries / modules are the same Nov 30, 2022 · Tip!: HDR to SDR tone mapping support is currently available as a Plex Pass preview and requires an active Plex Pass subscription for the main Plex Media Server account. This feature allows Plex Media Server to maintain high visual fidelity of content, by applying tone mapping to convert HDR (high dynamic range) color content to SDR (standard May 10, 2021 · Video Encode is multi-threaded - depends on codec but typically 3-4% with HW. 1 - I have a problem with DTS movies and shows with a few frames of audio cutting out every now and then. When I first started my server, my cpu would stay at 100% load while someone was watching a 4k file that needed to be transcoded. 2 (to support 13th gen Intel CPU) apt update. 12. And doing online conversion is a waste of resources. 3. This card is listed in the Nvidia Support Matrix identified whereas the Geforce GT 730 was not. 99. The right approach would be to create optimized versions of media in advance, using actual compute hardware and plex supports that. This process is called Transcoding and can be quite powerful: Note: Subtitles can introduce a wrinkle here sometimes. I do use Jellyfin and on my LG C1 TV it's working well (with hardware transcoding for some non-supported audio codecs mostly)…. Sep 21, 2018 · To enable hardware transcoding with Plex, first you’ll need to get Plex Pass. Tip!: While Plex Media Server can install and run on a computer with a slower processor, you might not have a very good experience, depending on your usage. I've only been using it for a day, but I'm impressed so far. Plex with Plex Pass and Emby Premier will both transcode. NVIDIA Quadro RTX 5000 – A Reliable GPU for 4K Video Transcoding. Transcoding is the process of converting media from one format to another so it can be played by a device. This issue happens when using the Windows remote desktop application to connect to their server. upgrade your server to support transcoding 4K HDR. Was this article helpful? Yes. The dashboard states 720p (H. Sep 18, 2023 · Get the Lifetime Plex Pass for a Lifetime of Fun and Entertainment Many more reasons make Plex Pass a must-have, like the convenience of keeping multiple editions of your favorite movies in one place. You are free to go use that hardware feature you own for any other non-Plex related purpose. in the logs, look for entries with. Jan 3, 2023 · Plex Pass. It often alarms people when their CPU suddenly is at 100% because of Plex. Head over to the Docker Tab, click on the your Plex container. Certain other cards don’t seem to work with Plex. Use Google to troubleshoot why said feature doesn't work on your setup specifically. Get a Plex Pass: http://lon. However if I start the same movie from my LG TV. 4 Mbps of bandwidth to ensure smooth playback. Plex has not officially tested hardware transcoding on the 920 yet, the plex official lists is here, plex just uses native intel quick sync support for transcoding, this only requires specific intel CPUs to be in the NAS. If I turn off HW transcoding, the video playback is very smooth (although CPU usage is high at 70%+) If I turn on HW transcoding, the video playback stutters regularly (although CPU usage is at around 25-30% only). TL;DR: Problem is that Plex will only hardware transcode when hardware-accelerated video encoding and HDR tone mapping are both disabled. Jellyfin is the best Plex alternative. 7621 Happy holidays, forum users! We've got something special in store for you with this release: it enables hardware transcoding for Windows, macOS, and Linux for Plex Pass users. System Details: Unraid Server Version: 6. 2260 Player Version#: Version 4. With this configuration, you can stop docker, start native and continue without change. 29. The Best Graphics Cards for Plex Video Transcoding. Additionally, Plex Pass gives you some awesome quality-of-life features. You can, of course, also watch content Nov 27, 2023 · Plex Media Server supports hardware transcoding. 265 source content. Despite various attempts and configurations, it seems like hardware transcoding is not functioning as expected, and I would greatly appreciate any guidance or suggestions. Edit 2: My first Gold! Edit 3: A lot of people suggest just buying a quicksync cpu. From personal media on your own server, to podcasts, web shows, and news, to streaming music, you can enjoy it all in one app, on any device. Any pointers on how can I further debug this would be greatly appreciated! Apr 18, 2023 · 1. 611 Nov 8, 2019 · Would adding a Graphics Card bring down the CPU usage to a reasonable level for transcoding and optimizing/. If hardware transcoding (or any other feature) does not work, it should not be related to this repository. So far I have been tested running the Plex server on the two hardware configurations: System #1: System #2. mde: will tell WHY something is transcoded. May 26, 2023 · Server Version#: 1. For future reference, here is the post from the Intel subreddit from 2016. When using iGPU hardware transcoding, the server's CPU offloads the transcoding process to the iGPU, which results in faster transcoding times and lower CPU usage. 20. Plex Media Server 1. Many years ago, probably more than a decade ago, I bought a lifetime Plex Pass subscription for myself for Christmas. The "Skip Intro" button will not be displayed on clients that don't have the Plex Pass. This may sound crazy but I read someplace where if I change the For questions and comments about the Plex Media Server. All of my stuff is mkv and it all plays fine in Plex on my Roku Ultras without transcoding. Subtitle burning (Image based) a. Software transcode for live playback sessions gets crunched through as fast as the CPU can handle it until the transcode buffer is topped up. ago. (Recording of broadcasts requires a Plex Pass subscription. I think the default is still 60 these days. apt full-upgrade. After this, you should consult the Using Hardware-Accelerated Streaming article to enable hardware acceleration within the Plex app. 7 I run my Plex in docker. tv/plexpass (compensated affiliate link) - Plex offers a great free server for hosting your personal media on your local network May 16, 2023 · Complete the remaining setup (specify your local media folder and set a transcode directory, preferrably a location on your cache pool) and click apply to create the docker. Nowhere in the OP the model is mentioned. You can purchase a monthly subscription to Plex Pass for $4. Pyraxic December 8, 2018, 5:48am 1. downgrade your media files to ones without HDR. I still can see a new process in the nvidia-smi. Hello, I am new to Plex and bought the premium membership to try out Plex features. It would be nice to be able to only disable video transcoding on the server side. That transcoding support is available to any software running on the NAS, though how it is run (i. One of them is playback of videos with ASS subtitles. Plex Media Server will attempt to use hardware-accelerated video codecs when encoding and decoding video. One thing to note is that hardware transcoding is a benefit of Plex Pass. Apr 4, 2024 · The Plex Media Server is free to use. I also confirmed the HardwareDevicePath was set accurately; the previous post was a typo from reading my notes. I have some 4K HEVC/x265 content I would like to stream to various devices and browsers which is requiring the content to be transcoded to x264. Click on Show Advanced in the upper-right corner to expose Plex asking you to pay a fee to use a non-essential feature is not unreasonable at all. Upgrade to Plex Pass; Hardware Transcoding Use the dedicated video decoder and encoder hardware support in your computer/device to convert videos and stream HD or I would get a plex pass to support the devs! Yes. Zotac GeForce GTX 1660 – Best Mid-Range Transcoding GPU. I tried to enable PCM+DD only on the app but then i get no surround sound, only stereo PCM. Turn on Use hardware acceleration when available. Dec 8, 2018 · General Discussions. 6316. Using hardware transcoding reduces CPU usage and power consumption, and may substantially improve transcoding performance. Plex Pass truly turns your Plex Media Server into a personal streaming service. 1. However, neither Plex itself nor intel_gpu_top indicate any activity on the iGPU when transcoding. Then it becomes all subjective on if it is really worth it. Was this article helpful? Jan 22, 2020 · Server Version#: 1. This will dramatically reduce the requirements. If I (the Server owner) buy Plex Pass. If you plan to stream movies and TV shows from many different media types, then this feature of the Plex Pass along is worth the expense. Transcoding 4k isn't possible. The users that run their Plex Media Server on Windows may encounter an issue where hardware transcoding stops working. I can't speak to hardware transcoding personally. This page is community-driven and not run by or affiliated with Plex, Inc. With hardware acceleration it will do significantly better routing the transcode through the built-in H264 encoder. If you don’t have or want Plex Pass, you can still read on to set up Plex on k8s, just know that you are going to be limited to the beefiness of your CPU for doing software transcoding (which is a pretty intensive task). Make it a Plex Pass only feature! Sep 28, 2023 · There was an issue for HW transcoding on the version you have installed: PMS 1. TL;DR. Plex can realize this and convert the media to a format the player can understand so that players can always playback the media. The settings for my new media server are exactly the same as my old one. Select QTS mode. Is there any preformance difference if i go for this? Dec 5, 2023 · Configure Plex to use a ramdisk for temporary transcode files. Feb 19, 2019 · A: go to Plex > settings > console > filter > type “mde” without the quotes. Hardware transcoding makes media streaming from your NAS faster and more efficient. Mar 1, 2021 · It had troubles transcoding 4K HEVC streams to the point where they were unplayable. Plex supports mkv just fine. 7557 (Public) works 1. Even if a file’s audio, video, and Get a Plex Pass: http://lon. TL;DR: its a way to use the processing power of the server to make sure all media can be played VM uses nVidia docker runtime to run Plex in docker container with HW acceleration working just fine. magkliarn. I have a lot of videos with Oct 5, 2022 · A Plex Pass subscription lets you stream media from your server to devices outside your home, including those owned by friends and family. exe” programs to the list, but you might just need the transcoder executable - though adding them all won’t hurt. Aug 18, 2021 · That’s it. We need to change the relevant permissions on our Quick Sync Device which we do by typing into the terminal window: chmod -R 777 /dev/dri. This is transcoding. reboot. 99 and an annual one for $39. May 4, 2018 · The hardware transcoding options for Plex may be significantly sub-optimal, but permanently doubling your storage requirements from now until the end of time isn’t much of an alternative. Choose one of the following -. 4. b. This means that it can utilize hardware-accelerated video codecs to enhance the process of encoding and decoding video files. But I've heard that in general hardware transcoding with Plex doesn't produce as good of an image. At the same time, switching from software-based transcoding to GPU hardware transcoding can also allocate the heavy decoding & encoding task from CPU to GPU, so as to help your computer do more Sep 28, 2023 · There was an issue for HW transcoding on the version you have installed: PMS 1. 6. Aug 22, 2022 · Supported Video Formats for Plex. 7571-13cdc68dc September 27, 2023 All transcoder binaries / modules are the same May 25, 2023 · For example, to direct play that previous “3. I was able to setup hardware transcoding using my NVIDIA card. Reinstall PMS including a rollback to v1. ) Oct 17, 2023 · As a minimum, we recommend: Intel Core i3 (or equivalent) or faster. 6+ HW transcoding issues and corrections Desktops & Laptops. In Transcoder tab, the GPU is listed as Sep 24, 2021 · Hi, Since I upgraded to Plex Pass and starting using Hardware Transcoding I have had a few issues. Select [Transcoder] and then click [Show Advanced] 3 The Intel Quick Sync Video (iGPU) is a hardware component integrated into Intel CPUs, which provides hardware-accelerated video encoding and decoding. Login to Proxox, Check/Test your DNS from proxmox, change repositories, update. tv/plexpass - For this month's Plex sponsored video we take a look at hardware transcoding and how it can dramatically improve th May 1, 2023 · Plex gives you one place to find and access all the media that matters to you. , as a native package or within an Docker container) can make it more complex to set up. 5. Audio transcoding is multi-threaded - typically 10-15% but up to 25% per stream. 7089 Player Version#: NA I have noticed periodically that Plex will stop communicating with my GPU and go back to transcoding via CPU. But I also see the Plex-Transcoder process eating the whole CPU and the movie May 23, 2023 · Mezzmo. Plenty of other features too like PlexAmp. Generally, any modern computer should meet that minimum. 2. It's a client sided limitation. youtu Transcoding on a synology DS918+ will work fine for 1080p and 4k content. There are other options but not many unfortunately. Jul 4, 2021 · Transcode. exe", "plex media scanner. This is working great with my Ryzen 5 5500U with Radeon iGPU. Feb 13, 2019 · Fortunately Intel CPUs have a little thing called Quick Sync which is their native hardware encoding and decoding core. In the case of Plex, it will look at the source media file and determine if can be played on the client requesting the file. 18. I read up on hardware transcoding using Intel Quick Sync and since I have Plex pass, I decided to buy new hardware for my server. examine the log entries with the MDE: and TPU: lines, these should help explain why plex is transcoding. I put together an i7-10700k system and installed Ubuntu Server 20. Reply. Also, I use Plex for like 80% of my media consumption and felt that they really just deserved my 100 bucks. 4 Mbps of bandwidth because the smaller buffer can’t tolerate spikes as well. Everything else works fine with the system GPU related and once I do a simple restart of the docker container (not the entire docker daemon) it works fine again for a while. If it can't be played, Plex will determine what will need to be converted in order for the media file to play on Dec 20, 2019 · I want to start out by saying that lately reading threads about 4K transcoding issues I am confused what solutions to follow. DSM 7, with new Packaging 2. This can dramatically reduce the CPU overhead required for transcoding and Plex can leverage this using their Hardware Acceleration feature. When set to nothing, it uses the default Plex application support directory. Hardware transcoding (direct hardware passthrough) is prohibited by Synology in the GUI. Click Save Changes at the bottom. So if you want 4k transcoding, you are going to have to build a PC that has the processing power to make this possible. e. 0, using the native data without change. 5 Mbps average bitrate” file: an app that has a large buffer might only need ~5. Mar 22, 2023 · Would be great to see if someone tries with this guide and system-d, I’m just wiped and not going to try. Photo by Jellyfin. Our 'Movies & Shows' streaming service is free to all users and ad-supported. hardware transcoding allows you to use a GPU to transcode the video to a client instead of relying on the CPU to perform the transcoding. Once the Plex Media Server container is running, the following steps will turn on the Hardware Transcoding option: Open the Plex Web app. 04. 2 LTS and the latest version of Plex media server on it. Feb 5, 2024 · I added the “Plex commercial skipper. Feb 7, 2020 · Raspberry Pi4 HW transcoding: Found. Update Kernel to 6. It takes work on the part of the developer to design and implement these features. Off topic I think PLEX team should make a few technical instruction videos on this matter for the purpose of Audio transcoding is a piece of cake for most computers. Modern Intel CPUs with integrated graphics can easily transcode multiple 4K HDR movies at one time Nov 18, 2023 · Install App, Plex-Media-Server (official from Plex) - this is only version that natively supports HW TC without other extra parameters and craziness I'm aware of. Mar 11, 2024 · Plex Media Server will attempt to use hardware-accelerated video codecs when encoding and decoding video. Oct 30, 2022 · And by default, Plex really likes to transcode as transcoded will always be compatible. Upgrade to Plex Pass; Hardware Transcoding Use the dedicated video decoder and encoder hardware support in your computer/device to convert videos and stream HD or Advertising this as Plex Pass feature is a pure scam, given it is a non working for its intended target of decoding 4K files, the ones most of us cant decode on cpu, and as such, hardware decoding should never have left the alpha/preview stage, in the state it currently is. Picking out a Plex server AKA "Right Sizing" your plex server:https://www. If you are debating getting Plex Pass just for hardware transcoding, I'd recommend you either don't or pay for a month and really try it out. I did some looking around the forums and it seems Linux graphic cards are questionable, in the sense that some have drivers that decode but don’t encode. When I start a 4K movie in the browser I can see the new process in the nvidia-smi and the CPU load is low. You can mitigate that a bit by lowering the transcode buffer from the default to 30. Hope this post helps people decide if they want to use Plex with quicksync/hw transcoding on TrueNAS Scale. It is a free and open-source media server solution. The Plex Media Server is smart software that makes playing Movies, TV Shows and other media on your computer simple. It allows you to pick which GPU to use for each program if you have Nvidia cards. I'd only ever recommend someone buy a Synology NAS for hosting Plex as long as they get Jan 3, 2023 · After installing an NVIDIA graphics card, follow these steps to allocate the graphics card to the NAS system: Go to Control Panel > Hardware > Hardware Resource. Go to [Settings], and switch to [Server] settings. Use hardware-accelerated video encoding. In the PLAY series synology includes another playback chip that DS PLAY can use to transcode, it does not use quick sync. . In order to test if transcoding is working, it’s easiest to setup inbound internet access to your Plex server and then use a device like a phone on a cellular connection (NOT WiFi) to stream media and verify Plex is hardware transcoding. Its worth it to support the ongoing development of the software. 6. The resolution of this is to use Docker compose or Docker run and add the clause I am using the tteck Plex helper script (can't link to it or post will be deleted) with the default configuration. Live TV transcoding/buffering issue on Samsung TV client. 1. tv/t/dsm-7-packaging-2-0-docker-the-how-to/737361Plex DSM 7 Setup Instructions: https://forums. With just docker containers, multiple containers can use the iGPU simultaneously. Jun 24, 2023 · I get the transcode rate on the Samsung TV Plex client when showing “Playback Information”. 264) (hw) → 720p (H264) - Transcode (hw). One of the quick and instantaneous speedups to watching a transcoded video was switching over the Plex temporary transcode directory to be /dev/shm – Linux’s temporary filesystem stored in memory. Apr 21, 2023 · Processor Usage: Transcoding a media file can be CPU intensive. I noticed these logs: May 26, 2023 23:17:39. Hardware transcode only works up to 1080p with H. plex. Tried to force direct streaming or transcoding on these files and i get the error: Unable to connect to the content server Oct 17, 2018 · Hardware accelerated transcoding performance in plex with AMD Graphics cards. 3. I checked Plex Server on my Synology 918+ and noted that CPU usage is very low (around 5% due to hw decode and encode is being used). 24. Apr 28, 2022 · Regarding hardware transcoding, there are exceptions for Plex Media Server running on embedded platforms. im iw ff ja ce pj ui oj oc ha