4K Transcoding with NVIDIA Shield or invest in a powerful CPU/GPU?

Plex Media Server
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Server Version#: always the latest
Player Version#: always the latest

I have a movie library with lots of 4K movies currently sitting on a DIY NAS with an Intel Core i3-8350 (and Quick Video Sync). As players I use NVIDIA Shield on a 4K-capable TV and Apple TV on a smaller TV not supporting 4K, both in a Gigabit home network that performs well.

Streaming to the NVIDIA Shield in 4K is no issue (Direct streaming) but when it comes to transcoding for the Apple TV, clearly the CPU on my NAS/Plex Server can’t handle that.

I’m thinking about two options:

  1. Use NVIDIA Shield as a Plex server
  2. Buy a better CPU for the NAS/Plex server or
  3. Buy a dedicated Graphics card (NVIDIA) for the NAS/Plex server

I’ve read a lot on the forums and other websites and it’s still hard to predict which setup will work.

Would the NVIDIA Shield even transcode 4K fast enough to handle 1 concurrent stream?

Should I invest in a better CPU (like a recent i7/i9) or would it be better to use a graphics card?

Basically all I want is to be able to play 4K videos on the smaller TV (with transcoding), and occasionally I need transcoding because of subtitles.

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Your CPU is a “Coffee Lake” model, which should be able to transcode HEVC video in hardware. Intel Quick Sync Video - Wikipedia

Only thing you might need to do is disable the HDR to SDR conversion, because this requires quite a lot of “traditional” cpu power and cannot be accelerated that well with hardware features.
Your i3 is a bit weak in this regard PassMark - Intel Core i3-8350K @ 4.00GHz - Price performance comparison

The cheapest option would be to get a second Shield. Because updating the cpu will probably require a new mainboard as well.

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Thanks for your answer. So the Shield should be able to transcode as the server? I’m a bit cautious because the price tag for the Shield seems too good to be true
 Most 4K movies I have are (HEVC Main 10 HDR) but I also have some 4K (H.264) and H.265.

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your existing server is going to be more powerful than using shield as a server.

I suspect (could be wrong though) that otto meant another shield as CLIENT for the smaller tv.

you may also want to review @

and other shield related articles before making any decision to use shield as server.

a probably better alternative would be switch to linux based OS for pms (assuming you are currently on windows).

otherwise, it might be even best to troubleshoot what exact issues you are experiencing, and why.

specific versions, ‘always latest’ is not a version
details on the server, what os, what version os, cpu/ram/gpu, etc.

what does your server pms dashboard show when playing a problem video ?

and clean logs that capture the issues experienced.

it may just come down to cpu load of tone mapping + subtitles (and I assume audio transcoding too) is more than the single core power of your i3.

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Yes, I meant the shield to be used as a client, since you’ve reported that it works splendidly on the one you’ve already got.

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Why not just make an optimized versions of the 4K movies to play on the other devices. It does not cost anything but a little bit HD space. That is what I do for our TV’s and remote streaming.

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Hmm yeah, I like that idea. Avoiding the big transcoding jobs at all. It would be cool if there is an API call do this. I’ll check that, maybe with a little tinkering :slight_smile:

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Keep in mind that ripping a FHD disc will get you a better quality than transcoding an UHD rip.
Because the (manually performed) tonemapping on a FHD disc will always be better than an automatically approximated one.

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You can easily make optimized versions through plex. click on the dots of a movie and select optimize.

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The point with having the Nvidia Shield is:

  1. It will Direct Play anything you give it. Strong server not required.
  2. You won’t need to maintain two or more copies of a file. One, master, good quality 4K and you’re done. The Shield does the work needed for each TV
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Hi im new here so please put this post in the right place if it is not.

I have a Nvidia shield(purchased in 2017 so not the latest one) which keeps buffering to play 4K content from my NAS locally.

I have an Apple TV 4k and it has no problems playing 4k content from my NAS locally.

Iv updated the plex player on my shield to the latest, still the same thing keeps buffing then playing 1-2mins, and buffers again. Iv asked a few people and they say that their shield plays 4k content fine. The plex server is up to date also.

I tried playing 4k video from a USB attached to my shield with VLC and it works fine.
So im sure the shield is able to play 4k content. Im just wondering if theres any settings iv missed or something.

thanks.

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Check the HEVC HDR tone mapping setting.

There are reports of forced tone mapping when there is no need.

Shield 2019 Pro will tone map natively.
Turn off tone mapping in Plex . Settings - Server - Transcoder - show advanced and retest on the shield.

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Hi thanks for the help.

I turned off Enable HDR tone mapping on the plex server.

It helps a little but it still buffers quite often.

Im almost certain it has to do with shield plex as I am able to play the same video file with better video quality I believe on shield vlc.

Im trying to figure out if I should buy a 2019 shield or just another apple TV 4k?

thanks.

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Personally, I would opt for the Shield Pro 2019.
Both Shield and ATV4K are equal in capability with exception of audio support by Apple.

Apple won’t pass through audio to a AVR . They force decode to LPCM core 5.1 only.

7.1 & Atmos is lost.

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Iv done some further investigation and have found its not server side or player side that’s causing the buffering.

Some files are transcoding and some are direct playing. However it baffles me as to why one file will transcode and other will direct play. The 4K remux are all the same encoding.

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OMG thank you!!!

audio is the simple answer!

thank you so much again!

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