I currently have a Plex server running on a Synology NAS, I use the DVR functionality to record over-the-air TV shows and it works very well although the resulting files are pretty large and in TS format.
I currently use a seperate PC running FFMPEG to convert them to smaller file sizes and while I know this is part of my problem I transode them using X265 to reduce their size. The PC I use has a Core i5 processor and no separate graphics card.
Would the transcode be quicker with a graphics card?
I have an old Nvidia GT520 (I think) with 1Gb of memory, if I was to use that would it help?
I wonāt be spending significant money on a graphics card, I donāt have any need for it for any reason apart from this, so , is there something half decent, even second hand off Ebay that would make a significant impact on my transcode times?
I expect that I will have to tweak my FFMPEG command to take advantage of a dedicated GPU.
As I understand it, without getting too much into the details, a ābetterā CPU or GPU would perform better and for graphic processing a GPU would be better than a CPU.
I accept that a Core I5 has a GPU but the Intel UHD Graphics 630 is at best middle of the road, a bit of a jack of all trades.
It isnāt. This is about the QuickSync part of the GPU. It has not much to do with the abilities of the GPU in general. It is a specialized circuitry ā solely for decoding and encoding video. Of course there also has been technical evolution in this part, so knowing to which generation your CPU belongs bears some importance.
Thank you very much, my knowledge is scant and I obviously had it all wrong.
The CPU is an i5-10400 so not too shabby but it does take roughly an hour to transcode a 1-2Gb file - I can record them quicker than I can transcode them!
If this is windows, you can try first with Handbrake before trying ffmpeg.
If you have fulfilled the prerequisites from above, you should see the marked encoders as options in the GUI:
(the āNvidia NVencā options are there because the screenshot is from my machine, which has also an additional nVidia GPU)
I donāt think my over-the-air DVR is anywhere near the quality of a Bluray - but it is perfectly acceptable to me.
I was thinking recently about video quality. I vaguely remember Neill Armstrong landing on the moon, I remember seeing a man walking on the moon, I donāt remember watching a grainy picture on a maybe 16 or 18 inch screen. The quality of the picture didnāt diminish the event. Things have moved on now and I wouldnāt be so tolerant.
No, theyāre in the correct order. Not sure what display you are looking at them on, but the 2 areas that show the differences the most, are his forehead, and the bricks on the wall to the right of his headā¦
I would agree that how much you notice will entirely depend on the bitrate chosen and the quality of the original source content, but the differences are indeed noticeable, and even more so on my 65" 4K Sony XH95 TV.
