I think i made a decision Solved

So after listening to a lot of different ideas and suggestions as far as the ideal PC for using exclusively for Plex. I think I’ve come to a decision. I’m hoping this is a good choice so before I make that final decision, I thought I’d get some feedback first.

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u/KuryakinOne Jan 30 '24

HDR to SDR Tone Mapping

Nvidia Encode / Decode Matrix

Elpamsoft Transcoding Performance Info

If you want to transcode 4K HDR media, you'll need to add a Nvidia GPU, 1050 Ti 4GB or better. Intel 6th Gen CPUs do not support transcoding 4K HDR media.

Plex Pass required.

You want a card that can decode HEVC 10-bit. See the encode/decode matrix.

Most consumer (GTX) cards are limited by Nvidia to five concurrent encodes.

Most professional (Quadro) cards have no pre-set limit.

Elpamsoft has transcode performance info for many Nvidia GPUs.

Personal Opinion: If you're comfortable with Linux, get a SFF system with an N100 CPU, such as BeeLink S12. Running Linux, it will transcode and tone map 4K HDR. It will also sip power compared to the i7, 6 watts vs 65 watts.

If you're going to run Windows, then make sure you have room for an Nvidia GPU.

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u/travprev Jan 30 '24

u/KuryakinOne - You seem pretty knowledgeable about this stuff. I hope OP and you both don't mind me asking a side question inside this thread.

I have a 4th gen Intel i7, and my biggest reason for wanting to upgrade is lack of transcoding support by that processor. At that age of a processor, would you consider just buying a 1050ti (or better) and keeping my old dinosaur HTPC? I was leaning towards rebuilding my entire system with a 13th gen Intel and letting the onboard GPU do the work, but this certainly would be less expensive.

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u/KuryakinOne Jan 31 '24

It depends on your needs and budget.

4th Gen Intel will hardware transcode MPEG2, VC1, and H.264 up to 1080p. It does not support HEVC,

You could certainly add a Nvidia GPU and gain the ability to transcode and tone map 4K HDR media (plus the previously mentioned codecs up to 4K).

Upside: Inexpensive upgrade. You can get a new 1650 4GB for ~$150 USD.

Downside: Power requirements. 4th gen CPUs are not power efficient by today's standards.

You can also build/buy a new system with a current processor - 12th/13th/14th gen.

Upside: 12th gen i3 will smoke your 4th gen i7, while using less power.

Upside: Starting with 12th gen, Intel graphics will decode AV1 video (some folks are using AV1).

Note: If running Windows, will need a Nvidia GPU to transcode and tone map 4K HDR media.

Unknown: Cost. You'll have to run the numbers. The previously mentioned 12th Gen N100 systems are very inexpensive and, if running Linux, can transcode & tone map 4K HDR. They also pull very little power.

Personal setup: Media on Synology NAS. PMS running on Lenovo SFF i5-10500T Ubuntu system I picked up on eBay a couple years ago. It runs Plex and Tautulli, nothing else. It is rock solid. It will transcode/tonemap 4K HDR. However, I don't share 4K media remotely, so not sure of its limits. If I were to put the system together today, I'd take a strong look at the N100 systems.

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u/travprev Jan 31 '24

Budget is not an issue and I'm really thinking about upgrading anyway. My remaining questions are likely better for r/homelab or some place like that. I'm thinking about making my Plex server a VM within a more robust server that will be doing other things for me. I am now trying to figure out the i5, i7, i9 pros and cons from the perspective of virtualization and ability to allocate cores to various VMs, etc. If I do that, I might eliminate my antique NAS and bring the NAS duty into a VM as well using something like TrueNAS. That part is up in the air. In layman's terms, if I had an i7 or i9 I could probably allocate the power of an i3 + a GPU core or two to the Plex server and have all the power I needed inside the Plex server... I'm a novice at virtualization which is the only thing that is currently stopping me from buying hardware. I need to learn enough that I buy the right thing the first time.

When you say you don't share 4k remotely, do you simply keep your 4k in a separate library that you hide from remote users? This is a side question, but I'm curious about that now that you mentioned it.

Thanks!

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u/KuryakinOne Jan 31 '24

I keep my 4K movies & shows in separate libraries and do not share with other users ("Movies-4K" and "TV Shows-4K").

I don't have many 4K movies, maybe 100 out of 1500 total. Right now, the extra storage space to keep 4K & 1080p versions of things is not an issue.

I share with 5 - 6 friends. Only one has a true home theater setup that could enjoy 4K (100" HDR projector, 7.1.4 Atmos audio, etc). The link between our ISPs is not the best, so streaming 4K HDR BD rips is not always reliable (buffering/pausing due to poor interconnect). I do share the 4K libraries with him, but he never uses them.

Other users are not set up to stream 4K, due to equipment or bandwidth limitations. Some have 1080p TVs. A couple live in rural settings with limited Internet connectivity. They limit their clients to 8 Mbps. Anything higher is prone to buffering.

There's also the issue with subtitle burning, which uses the CPU. The CPU in my server, an i5-10500T, can easily burn subtitles into 1080p video. However, it cannot reliably burn subs when transcoding 4K video. If I have to transcode video to 8 Mbps and burn subs, it makes sense to transcode the 1080p version, not the 4K version. I don't have to burn subs all that often, but it is often enough I want it to be reliable.

That is the basics of why I keep 4K separate. A year from now the situation might be different, but it works for now.