Nearly every time when PLEX transcodes to 1080p, hardware transcoding fails. Absolutly random @ time, device and movie. In 720p it works every time.
The Server-Log says the following every time:
ERROR - [Transcoder] [h264_qsv @ 052db340] Error during encoding: device failed (-17)
ERROR - [Transcoder] Video encoding failed
Codecs: hardware transcoding: opening hw device failed - probably not supported by this system, error: Unknown error occurred
TPU: hardware transcoding: enabled, but no hardware decode accelerator found
This problem has been around for many versions of PMS. In the last few months I have reset the whole server, replaced (NUC7-> NUC8) Plex and reset the library. Nothing helps. This feature was paid with and does not work satisfactorily.
When I start a movie with 1080p limit, the hw transcoder fails. If I switch to 720p during playback, hw transcoding will turn on. If I change back to 1080p or automatically, the HW Transcoder fails again and the software takes over.
Feb 27, 2019 18:05:34.526 [1652] ERROR - [Transcoder] [h264_qsv @ 03f2d300] Error during encoding: device failed (-17)
Feb 27, 2019 18:05:34.526 [9196] ERROR - [Transcoder] Video encoding failed
...
Feb 27, 2019 18:05:34.604 [3464] DEBUG - TPU: hardware transcoding: enabled, but no hardware decode accelerator found
My attached log file contains two launches of the same movie. The first one works with hw transcoding. The second one, just seconds later, fails again.
I’m having exact same issue, and I’m using. Nuc7i7 … seems like op is too? I’m running win10, latest beta plexpass. 1080p transcodes don’t use hw accel, logs show ERROR - [Transcoder] [h264_qsv @ 02eaa4c0] Error during encoding: device failed (-17)
Using 720p and it works. I downloaded latest intel drivers, same issue. Any ideas??
I just downgraded my driver to intel 15.45 version (there apparently is a bug with the driver in windows 10 (this is discussed in many threads regarding windows 10 and intel drivers, you can reference this one. I just tried the driver and now my 1080p transcodes utilize hardware acceleration just fine. Take a look, I see you are using a nuc8 so maybe you want to see that last link what drivers they recommend for nuc8 chipset (I think it’s coffeelake?)
I doubt that this is an solution. I’m using a NUC7I3 with latest drivers and PMS 1.15.1.710. Same behavior as op. On Emby Hardware transcoding works as expected.
I also tried with the suggested driver versions in the thread you @zelik posted. No improvement.
Its broken without an ETA from the devs when there will be a transcoder bump. I use Ubuntu 18.04.2 LTS on all the NUCs I test PMS against with–from Haswell to Coffee Lake and everything in between. You may not want to hear it but if you want HW transcoding to work today–Ubuntu will work perfect.
I can also confirm this, after lots of testing. Intel acceleration is notoriously spotty on Windows with various Intel generations. It’ll work in one session and not another, with the same video file or live channel. But on my NUC7CJYH NUC using a J4005 CPU (Intel Gemini Lake), it’s 100% reliable on Ubuntu 18.04. HW acceleration always “locks in”. I never even have to think about it anymore.
I do have a minor twist: I can gain 100% reliability on Plex hardware acceleration on Windows, but only if I’m using an nvidia card. So if your machine is expandable, that may be an alternative for you.
This is just like, “my internet doesn’t work!”. You can’t ever know, it’s a troubleshooting issue. I would try this first: try lower default settings (e.g. instead of 1080p, try 720p, or lower 360p, and so on).
Since your 720p works, this is already known for your case.
Trying slower “Quality Mbps” also works sometimes.
“TPU: hardware transcoding: enabled, but no hardware decode accelerator found”
Another big problem is, what hardware are you using?
I found that my PS3 is the worst hardware to run Plex. I bought Roku and my Buffering and Transcoding problems literally went away. BTW I only bought Roku because of Plex problems. Roku has it’s own problems too! But it works well with Plex in my case.
It wouldn’t hurt to test WiFi versus Ethernet-cable (Cat5, Cat6, Cat7) connection.
Final thoughts:
It’s like Plex has many hardware systems that have can use Plex, but you won’t know the limitations of the hardware output until you try it out. I mean should we have to be Plex Engineers or Spec Experts to be a User? No, but it seems you have to be. For me I now know not to ever use PlayStation for Plex, I wasted countless hours troubleshooting.
