I have an Intel i7-7600U CPU with HD Graphics 620.
Trying to stream 4K content often caused 100% CPU usage. I just got Plex Pass, which enabled HW acceleration.
Tried streaming a couple of items and while my CPU is now using less than 50% and GPU is less than 50% as well, I keep getting spinwheel (please wait) from Plex.
Tried using Samsung S8 as the player, another laptop, as well as my desktop (LAN)
Plex is on 1G LAN and I’m testing within my house, so network is not a concern and the pauses last for about 10secs each time every 30secs or so.
I assumed that HW acceleration (transcoding HEVC to h264) would allow 4K streaming, but so far that’s not the case. All my devices support HEVC, however, I assume the PLEX player doesn’t and that’s the reason for transcoding to begin with.
The only reason for a paid subscription for me is the transcoding on a laptop (lower power usage). If that doesn’t work, I may as well use the desktop(i7-8700k) with software transcoding. At the same time, I was considering Synology DS918+, but if a laptop with i7-7600U can’t handle 4K transcoding, it seems doubtful that Intel Celeron J3455 would.
