BoredSysAdmin

BoredSysAdmin

Audioholic Slumlord
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

jinjuku

Moderator
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

BoredSysAdmin

Audioholic Slumlord
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

jinjuku

Moderator
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

BoredSysAdmin

Audioholic Slumlord
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

panteragstk

Audioholic Warlord
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

Bucknekked

Audioholic Samurai
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.
 
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