Plex 4K capable server

D

Digital Viper-X-

[H]F Junkie
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I have a box now with a 6 core xeon 1650 and 32gb of memory, I ripped Pacific rim to 4k and I can't seem to stream it, all 6 cores get pegged at full speed and it buffers every minute or so :( , according to plexes own recommendations this should work! So I'm confused as to what I'm doing wrong, or what else I could be doing better ?
 
Well, I don't know what a 'xeon 1650' is, need the generation for that, but there's two points of interest: is Plex just streaming or is it also transcoding?

Streaming is just fileserving, transcoding really is going to peg your CPU. Check whatever you're streaming to, and check your rip settings against best-practices (I don't do this, don't know where to start).

*mostly responding because I just set up Plex on my desktop as a test run, to my Nvidia Shield, and it's working mighty well for many things- however, I do have a few files that the Shield cannot handle and Plex cannot transcode at all- and I'm also building a fileserver that will have a 1050Ti (cheapest/smallest 4GB 10-series Nvidia card for transcoding so as to keep the CPU free because it'll also be doing either pfSense or Sophos XG Home passive scanning)
 
1650 v3 (haswell) 6 core 3.5ghz

I have a 1080ti in there that is mining usually, but it was not during the test. It is transcoding, I tried to both my Xbox one x, and Sony TV, it's HEVC as well.
 
I'm in the same boat here except I'm running an older X5660 Xeon. I threw in a 1060 3GB card I had lying around and enabled HW decoding so I'll see if that helps my HEVC playback.
 
I still don’t get it. Why try and transcode? It makes no sense at all.

Not to mention, you lose HDR and WCG. What’s the point of 4k without that? Waste.
 
I don't WANT to transcode, but plex isn't giving me the option of playing the original file.

HEVC , MKV and ~70mbps
 
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kirbyrj said:
I'm in the same boat here except I'm running an older X5660 Xeon. I threw in a 1060 3GB card I had lying around and enabled HW decoding so I'll see if that helps my HEVC playback.
Click to expand...

Actually just picked up a 1050Ti, cheapest >3GB 10-series I could find, for this purpose. Boon that it's ITX and needs no external power :).
 
IdiotInCharge said:
Actually just picked up a 1050Ti, cheapest >3GB 10-series I could find, for this purpose. Boon that it's ITX and needs no external power :).
Click to expand...

I tried it today and it was crapping out on me when it was transcoding for my Chromecast. I have to play around with it. If I can't get it to work right I may just swap in my ryzen 2600 and make that my Plex server instead
 
Verge said:
I still don’t get it. Why try and transcode? It makes no sense at all.

Not to mention, you lose HDR and WCG. What’s the point of 4k without that? Waste.
Click to expand...

Well, main reason to transcode is that your sources are high-res, but you're either streaming to something low-res or streaming to something remotely limited by your upload and remote download speeds.
 
I just tried to play my 4K HEVC Forrest Gump movie on the Windows 10 Plex app on my gaming machine and it stuttered like crazy.
Plex server was sending it direct so it wasn't being stressed at all.
 
Zepher said:
I just tried to play my 4K HEVC Forrest Gump movie on the Windows 10 Plex app on my gaming machine and it stuttered like crazy.
Plex server was sending it direct so it wasn't being stressed at all.
Click to expand...

Assume it runs great in say VLC locally?
 
IdiotInCharge said:
Assume it runs great in say VLC locally?
Click to expand...

don't know about locally since the server is headless, but over the network with MPC-HC it plays fine.

forrest-gump-stressing-system-2.jpg
 
Yup, runs fine for me with MP-HC

My XBOX starts to stream it in original quailty, then says "buffering" and drops to convert to 4k at 71mbps

which is funny, it's connected via gigabit ethernet or wireless AC, both have the same issues, so it's not network bandwidth
 
I gave up on plex via pc or xbox for 4k, especially since I have an atmos system. Went with the nvidia sheild. Problem(s) solved.
 
Digital Viper-X- said:
so your shield streams plex 4k videos with no problem ?
Click to expand...

direct stream video and audio, yes, with full bitrate pass-through. So my 4k display and atmos system plays 4k HEVC x265 perfectly, no hitches or anything. If it has to transcode, thats a different issue, but, why would you every want/need to transcode a 4k source, just download the HD/BR source, would be faster to d/l and pre-transcode anyways.

btw, a roku device will downgrade the audio from atmos to 5.1, which = the suck

But yes, 4k, HDR, Atmos to 4k, HDR, Atmos = awesomeness on the nvidia shield.
 
Verge said:
no, delete plex


just get rid of it


Then shield works perfectly.
Click to expand...

So what do you use to stream ? Kodi ? Kodi on my tv doesn't seem to keep up , it only has 100mbps wired and the spikes cause it to buffer. Xbox kodi doesn't support windows shares
 
Digital Viper-X- said:
So what do you use to stream ? Kodi ? Kodi on my tv doesn't seem to keep up , it only has 100mbps wired and the spikes cause it to buffer. Xbox kodi doesn't support windows shares
Click to expand...

Plex and the Shield is amazing, not sure if he's trolling or not.
 
Digital Viper-X- said:
So what do you use to stream ? Kodi ? Kodi on my tv doesn't seem to keep up , it only has 100mbps wired and the spikes cause it to buffer. Xbox kodi doesn't support windows shares
Click to expand...

I use shield over gig and xbmc. 4k won't work over 100mbit.
 
And this is precisely why I don't encourage people to use Plex unless they want to use all the features it comes with.


It's a complicated tool with a high learning curve that's difficult to tame.
 
I have a intel NUC i5 with 16gb of ram, 275gb ssd brand new that I'm selling for super cheap, $299 + shipping but I did install Plex on it and it streamed 4K without issue
 
defaultluser said:
I use Universal Media Server, and my TV's DLNA media playback. Dead-simple, since the defaults are no transcode.
Click to expand...

I see a long list of supported devices, but no Shield- I could probably 'cast' to it, but the Plex app on the Shield does make things quite simple.
 
What player are you using? Are you using Plex Media Player? OpenPHT?

Because I do know that the OpenPHT application struggles with 4k
 
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SixFootDuo said:
I have a intel NUC i5 with 16gb of ram, 275gb ssd brand new that I'm selling for super cheap, $299 + shipping but I did install Plex on it and it streamed 4K without issue
Click to expand...


Most NUCs, maybe all NUCs use a lspcon converter chip for hdmi so you can't take advantage of 4k
 
IdiotInCharge said:
I see a long list of supported devices, but no Shield- I could probably 'cast' to it, but the Plex app on the Shield does make things quite simple.
Click to expand...

there's no casting from shield. it reads your stuff off a file share and plays them.


that simple. done and done. If you need to stream something, use a built in app.
 
IdiotInCharge said:
I see a long list of supported devices, but no Shield- I could probably 'cast' to it, but the Plex app on the Shield does make things quite simple.
Click to expand...


You run the Universal Media Server on your PC that has your media.

You run DLNA playback on any other devices on your local network, You point them to the server, and you can stream you entire media library.

MOST TVS HAVE THEIR OWN DLNA MEDIA PAYER. But if you want to roll your own:

My favorite DLNA player on Android is MediaHouse.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.dbapp.android.mediahouse&hl=en_US

I use it to stream to my phone, but thre's nothing stopping you from streaming to your Shield.
 
defaultluser said:
I use Universal Media Server, and my TV's DLNA media playback. Dead-simple, since the defaults are no transcode.
Click to expand...

Using a simple DLNA server is easier for me as well. I just want to access and play the media, not transcode it into another format for playback.
 
defaultluser said:
And this is precisely why I don't encourage people to use Plex unless they want to use all the features it comes with.


It's a complicated tool with a high learning curve that's difficult to tame.
Click to expand...
Interesting, I would understand for my parents or something but anyone around here should have no problem setting up Plex server.

The UI for dlna on most TVs is terrible. My Sammy just has a bunch of folders. I guess if you just want to watch once and throw stuff away. But if you want cover art and all that Plex/Emby is a must.

Also dlna is ok if you just use TV speakers. But when using an AVR your sound quality is gimped to lossy Dd/DTS.
 
lightsout said:
Interesting, I would understand for my parents or something but anyone around here should have no problem setting up Plex server.

The UI for dlna on most TVs is terrible. My Sammy just has a bunch of folders. I guess if you just want to watch once and throw stuff away. But if you want cover art and all that Plex/Emby is a must.

Also dlna is ok if you just use TV speakers. But when using an AVR your sound quality is gimped to lossy Dd/DTS.
Click to expand...

Says the pickiest man in the entire universe :D

You're a corner-case. Most people don't mind lossy audio in their movies, and don't have 11.5-channels super-surround setups. AC3 is plenty high-quality as a source, because modern encoders use the same tricks they added to mp3 with LAME, and they also bumped the audio bitrate from 448 to 640 with Blu-Ray.

128-Kbps per-channel ABR for 5.1 should be fine.


Or if you're going to re-encode that rip anyway,you can always use TrueHD as your audio source (most modern Blu-Rays have it), and use AAC as your lossy container.

If you don't know the name of the movie that you want to watch, and need cover art to help you find it, then I guess you're just beyond help with a simple alphabetical folder set. Way easier to find than just looking at my shelf full of cases :D

Cover art is "nice," but just to show off when your one movie-nut friend comes over. After that it's just another distraction from finding the movie I want.
 
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If you really want cover art, you can use something like Infuse on an Apple TV connected to a DLNA server (just as one example). Plex isn’t the only game in town for cover art, other apps and systems do it now too.
 
I can stream 4k with an E3 1240 V5. It's only going to handle one stream but. It would be nice if Plex would get HW offload working for 4K HDR transcodes so the 1050TI in the box could handle the work.

The only thing that handles HEVC right now correctly in the plex world is their player in my experience. Besides the transcoding rips out HDR and that really is the real benefit to the 4K blurays is the HDR
 
defaultluser said:
Says the pickiest man in the entire universe :D

You're a corner-case. Most people don't mind lossy audio in their movies, and don't have 11.5-channels super-surround setups. AC3 is plenty high-quality as a source, because modern encoders use the same tricks they added to mp3 with LAME, and they also bumped the audio bitrate from 448 to 640 with Blu-Ray.

128-Kbps per-channel ABR for 5.1 should be fine.


Or if you're going to re-encode that rip anyway,you can always use TrueHD as your audio source (most modern Blu-Rays have it), and use AAC as your lossy container.

If you don't know the name of the movie that you want to watch, and need cover art to help you find it, then I guess you're just beyond help with a simple alphabetical folder set. Way easier to find than just looking at my shelf full of cases :D

Cover art is "nice," but just to show off when your one movie-nut friend comes over. After that it's just another distraction from finding the movie I want.
Click to expand...
I want the overall experience, not just click the file. And I would argue many people that take time time to rip media on a server want more than just click and play. AC3 is ok sure, but if you spend decent cash on an audio setup, why use lossy audio, same thing with transcoding the video, we're at a point with HHD sizes that all that is not necessary.

I've been using interfaces with cover art/fan art for a good ten years (before plex was ever a thing or at least not popular, if I wanted basic file structure I would just hook up an HTPC to the TV with a keyboard and mouse.
 
Plex will transcode the video stream if your clients Plex app setting is configured to use less bandwidth than the file requires to play natively.

In my bedroom I have a 1080p TV connected to a Roku Streaming Stick Plus with Plex installed on it to grab media off a PC in the other room using wireless AC. I played back a 40gb 4K HDR mkv on it and of course my Plex server was transcoding the entire file which fully pegged my i5 6600k. After some research I decided to switch my client quaility to original source from 20mbps it was default at and replayed the file. Sure enough Plex was only transcoding the audio and direct streaming the video. Moral of the story is it could just be your quality settings on whatever you are using as a client if the client is known to play back said file types.

Both the PS4 and Xbox One are very picky in regards to what they will and won’t play. Just like many TVs using their native players. In my living room my TV pretty much plays anything I ask it to directly from a network share without any issues. Biggest file I’ve tried was 60gb. I have my TV wired and it only has a 100mbps port. But it plays 4K 10 bit videos with any audio I’ve tried without an issue. It’s a Sony XBR75X900F and I’m sure the other sizes would play them as well. They do have wireless AC so that’s always an option too if you were looking to go that route at some point.

The nvidia shield is what I would have gotten if my Sony TV or Roku on the hisense TV in my bedroom wouldn’t work as well as they do. I’m most surprised that the roku is accepting the 4K file natively and downscaling it for my bedroom TV.
 
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