Hey guys so here is the scoop. I want to go 4k because I have this 4k TV, Xbox 1 X with plex and 4k so I mean why not right?
Here is the problem, can any of you actually stream 4k media on the Mac side? Do I have to build a PC box for $1000 to accomplish this task?
Are you streaming 4k videos (40GB files?)
If yes what are your mac specs?
My network is comprised of CAT 6 & 7 cables with runs no more than 20’ maximum by design. I run a UBNT system but struggle to get the 4k streaming. It seems that when it does begin to play it will simply buffer forever and stutter play or I quit because I am impatient.
I have tried it with my Mac Pro (2012) heavily laden with PCIE SSD and SSD drives along with a massive xeon processor, 15" MBP (2016) model don’t remember the processor and a Mac mini which sadly only has an I5. The Mac Pro is no longer an option because I don’t like paying the electric bill.
Thanks in advance!
Before going into the hardware, you should look at the specific capabilities and restrictions of your clients. When it comes to 4K playback, clients tend to be even more touchy than with your “regular” content – e.g. when it comes to bitrate limits, supported codecs, codec/container and codec/codec combinations…
Transcoding a 4K movie is much more demanding than transcoding a 1080p movie.
If you need to transcode, you might be better off with a recent CPU which supports hw-transcoding compared to a more powerful Xeon which lags this feature.
Your SSDs are a nice addition to make the server itself more responsive – they’ll give you little to no value add when it comes to streaming your content. If you consider new hardware in general… check out an actual mini pc such as Intel’s NUC.
@tom thanks for your response. I have noticed the Xbox playback becomes quite jittery even with regular 1080p so I will troubleshoot that separately. I will look into the Intel NUC. I have been out of the PC game so long now it is truly shameful. The processors I have are not powerful enough as you mentioned.
Thanks for your response.
A lot of the 4k streaming load depends on if you’re transcoding. I have a mac mini (yes, the old 2 CPU version) streaming a raw MKV to Plex on an Apple Tv 4k - That works fine. But if I have to transcode that 4k (for a remote user or something) then the CPU gets really busy.
