Home media server

[BoredSysAdmin]

My understanding is CPU encoding over GPU and just make sure you have a reasonably healthy network. I thought if you don't have to drop bit rate trans-coding doesn't happen.

/me: Dons Prop fan cap:
Pure CPU encoding is better quality for long-term archival purposes, but GPU-accelerated (including iGPU like Intel QuickSync) encoding removes massive load from the CPU and (usually) allows multiple parallel encoding processes. Quality-wise, it's more than good enough for streaming.
And yes, transcoding doesn't have to happen if you have a sufficiently fast network AND your client device can support this exact video format. Still, most of the subtitles throw a monkey wrench into this.
I've heard many folks run their Plex servers on RasPi with video transcoding disabled, relying only on direct streaming. In some cases, it's a perfectly fine config, but trying to stream video on a cell network without transcoding is going to give a bad experience.

 

[jinjuku]

but trying to stream video on a cell network without transcoding is going to give a bad experience.

Ok, so my understanding is correct. I primarily stream locally and I have more than enough BW.
My server is Ubuntu 22 running 2X Xeon with 14C each/ 28HT. God I love used/refurbed HPE/Dell/Lenovo workstations.

My encodes routinely hit 260ish FPS. What are your tips and tricks for maxing that out? I'm just using the 1080 30fps preset.

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

Ok, so my understanding is correct. I primarily stream locally and I have more than enough BW.
My server is Ubuntu 22 running 2X Xeon with 14C each/ 28HT. God I love used/refurbed HPE/Dell/Lenovo workstations.

My encodes routinely hit 260ish FPS. What are your tips and tricks for maxing that out? I'm just using the 1080 30fps preset.

I don't have that many tricks in regards to video encodes. I used to do it often with my previous Freenas with smaller storage, but now I have nearly 50TB free, so space isn't a concern. I've also used lesser quality GPU/NVENC hardware path for encodes (again, lesser quality than pure CPU). I could get near 300fps on 1080 h264 NVEnc powered encodes with an old four-core Intel i5 CPU and Nvidia GTX1070t with Handbrake.

I noticed one thing that may be useful: a lower bitrate 1080p video preserves more details than a higher bitrate 720p. Same for 4k vs. 1080p, so even though I still don't have any 4k displays at home yet, I've shifted to getting and keeping more 4k titles as times come. Usually, this means a typical movie file size went from 5-10 GB to 25-30 GB, but for now, it's acceptable.

 

[jinjuku]

Cool. Just redoing my entire video library and resetting up plex. What's your typical DVD size? I'm around 700MB for 1080P30 fast

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

Cool. Just redoing my entire video library and resetting up plex. What's your typical DVD size? I'm around 700MB for 1080P30 fast

700MB for a 1080p movie seems too small, even for H.265/HEVC. For later codec, a 1.5h movie with 1080p would be around 2-3 GB at the least. But then DVDs aren't 1080p, but limited to much smaller 480p, so 700MB for 1.5h 480p is a reasonable size.

 

[panteragstk]

700MB for a 1080p movie seems too small, even for H.265/HEVC. For later codec, a 1.5h movie with 1080p would be around 2-3 GB at the least. But then DVDs aren't 1080p, but limited to much smaller 480p, so 700MB for 1.5h 480p is a reasonable size.

700mb for a 480p DVD was standard back in my Divx encoding days. With HEVC, that same size should get a much better quality video than I ever did with Divx.

I'm too picky, and have tons of storage, to re-encode things to HEVC for space. I've just got too many movies for it to be worth my time.

I do see the appeal, and I've seen shockingly good quality encodes that are 5gb and lower for a full 1080p movie with lossy audio.

 

[Bucknekked]

You got beef with Apple to eh?

I joined the Apple ecosystem just so I could listen to music on that gadget they used to have, the iPod. I thought it was great because I traveled a lot and it was one easy way to drag my music with me. Fast forward a decade or so and I am completely immersed in Apple. But on this forum I began to hear lots of voices that detest Apple and Apples way of doing business. Many of those concerns I was unaware of but now that I know about them I grew concerned as well. The more I learned and experienced, the more I came to realize that Apple may not be a benevolent content creator. They may be the evil empire as well.

So, back when I decided to rebuild and recode my music library up to the highest levels that make sense, I also decide to future proof myself. Disk is cheap so storing two or three copies of my library is of no consequence.
I encoded one copy in lossless Apple format so all my Apple stuff just uses it with no problem. I encoded another copy in FLAC format and organized it in Plex so I have an open format that works as well. And I have a third copy which sits on my NAS and a tertiary copy that sits in my gun safe.

If the Apple apocolypse occurs and either I hate them or they decide they hate me, I am perfectly able to just shut that stuff off and continue on Plex and Windows. So far, we are still on good terms because I love how their stuff works. Remember, in the Matrix lots of people just chose to stay in and eat steak in their dreams. Reality isn't for everyone.