# Distributed Transcoding/Scaling **URL:** \ **Category:** Feature Suggestions\ **Created:** [September 17, 2014, 8:35am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/distributed-transcoding-scaling/76681 "2014-09-17T08:35:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![DarkSlice](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/darkslice/32/94836_2.png) [@DarkSlice](https://forums.plex.tv/u/DarkSlice)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2017, 11:19pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/distributed-transcoding-scaling/76681/61 "2017-01-07T23:19:44Z")
+1 also, could have done with this over the Christmas period. ---
**Author:** ![thebrack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ccd318/32.png) [@thebrack](https://forums.plex.tv/u/thebrack)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2017, 9:40am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/distributed-transcoding-scaling/76681/62 "2017-01-08T09:40:38Z")
Made sure to “like” the first post so it counts. Another NAS user here that would like a sometimes on PC to work as muscle when it can! ---
**Author:** ![Ajki](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/ajki/32/21258_2.png) [@Ajki](https://forums.plex.tv/u/Ajki)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2017, 5:35pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/distributed-transcoding-scaling/76681/63 "2017-01-12T17:35:31Z")
I really hope we can get this feature it would be life saver. ---
**Author:** ![essg88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19b73/32.png) [@essg88](https://forums.plex.tv/u/essg88)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2017, 10:16pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/distributed-transcoding-scaling/76681/64 "2017-01-19T22:16:23Z")
+1 lets make use of all the cores I liked the first post to make it count ---
**Author:** ![michielvanbaak](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/michielvanbaak/32/108552_2.png) [@michielvanbaak](https://forums.plex.tv/u/michielvanbaak)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2017, 2:40pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/distributed-transcoding-scaling/76681/65 "2017-01-29T14:40:13Z")
This would be so cool if it could handle ‘auto-scaling’ in cloud environments. Have one master server that’s always online, and when it needs to transcode (yes, direct play is better, but some users want transcodes) it spins up extra instances that do the heavy lifting, and it terminates them when done. ---
**Author:** ![Monsters\_Grin](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/monsters_grin/32/20166_2.png) [@Monsters\_Grin](https://forums.plex.tv/u/Monsters_Grin)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2017, 2:42pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/distributed-transcoding-scaling/76681/66 "2017-01-29T14:42:38Z")
> @michielvanbaak said: > This would be so cool if it could handle ‘auto-scaling’ in cloud environments. > Have one master server that’s always online, and when it needs to transcode (yes, direct play is better, but some users want transcodes) it spins up extra instances that do the heavy lifting, and it terminates them when done. I think it would be easier to apply this to “optimised versions”. It’s a much more controlled workload. ---
**Author:** ![michielvanbaak](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/michielvanbaak/32/108552_2.png) [@michielvanbaak](https://forums.plex.tv/u/michielvanbaak)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2017, 3:07pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/distributed-transcoding-scaling/76681/67 "2017-01-29T15:07:29Z")
> @Monsters_Grin said: > I think it would be easier to apply this to “optimised versions”. It’s a much more controlled workload. I agree that it would be easier to implement. But while at it, I can wish for it to work for realtime transcoding as well right 😉 The thing with “optimised versions” is it takes up a lot of diskspace 😉 But yeah, first MVP would be to have this functionality for ‘optimised versions’ ---
**Author:** ![dstwins](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/dstwins/32/10328_2.png) [@dstwins](https://forums.plex.tv/u/dstwins)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2017, 6:18am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/distributed-transcoding-scaling/76681/68 "2017-02-21T06:18:00Z")
+2 for this… (myself and my family would appreciate this) ---
**Author:** ![MattWeiler](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/mattweiler/32/23102_2.png) [@MattWeiler](https://forums.plex.tv/u/MattWeiler)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2017, 2:30am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/distributed-transcoding-scaling/76681/69 "2017-03-11T02:30:58Z")
Please make this happen. It’s really just creating a client which contains the transcoding code and a change to the transcoder on the main server to route requests to the slave with the least current load. ---
**Author:** ![michielvanbaak](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/michielvanbaak/32/108552_2.png) [@michielvanbaak](https://forums.plex.tv/u/michielvanbaak)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2017, 4:28pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/distributed-transcoding-scaling/76681/70 "2017-03-11T16:28:05Z")
@MattWeiler if it was that simple, we already had it 😉 ---
**Author:** ![MattWeiler](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/mattweiler/32/23102_2.png) [@MattWeiler](https://forums.plex.tv/u/MattWeiler)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2017, 4:41pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/distributed-transcoding-scaling/76681/71 "2017-03-11T16:41:25Z")
> @michielvanbaak said: > @MattWeiler if it was that simple, we already had it 😉 Sorry, didn’t mean to be rude. Conceptually, it’s that simple, but I don’t know how you guys implemented your transcoder logic. I just wish that the 3rd party hack that I found wasn’t just for Linux installs ☹ [https://forums.plex.tv/discussion/178320/plex-remote-transcoder-a-distributed-transcoding-backend-for-plex](https://forums.plex.tv/discussion/178320/plex-remote-transcoder-a-distributed-transcoding-backend-for-plex) ---
**Author:** ![Suspense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b782af/32.png) [@Suspense](https://forums.plex.tv/u/Suspense)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2017, 4:44pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/distributed-transcoding-scaling/76681/72 "2017-03-11T16:44:00Z")
I think its safe to assume that load balancing exists after plex cloud But its a great way for them to monetize exactly that feature, i doubt itll ever be introduced as a self hosted solution ---
**Author:** ![MattWeiler](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/mattweiler/32/23102_2.png) [@MattWeiler](https://forums.plex.tv/u/MattWeiler)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2017, 4:57pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/distributed-transcoding-scaling/76681/73 "2017-03-11T16:57:59Z")
> @Suspense said: > I think its safe to assume that load balancing exists after plex cloud > > But its a great way for them to monetize exactly that feature, i doubt itll ever be introduced as a self hosted solution Isn’t the Plex cloud just a way to allow your Plex server to use your existing cloud storage options as media folders? If so, then that wouldn’t solve the transcoding load issue. But maybe I’m wrong about the Plex cloud thing. It just seems like an obvious option to allow horizonal scaling of the transcoding tasks. ---
**Author:** ![Suspense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b782af/32.png) [@Suspense](https://forums.plex.tv/u/Suspense)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2017, 5:29pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/distributed-transcoding-scaling/76681/74 "2017-03-11T17:29:01Z")
> @MattWeiler said: > > > @Suspense said: > > I think its safe to assume that load balancing exists after plex cloud > > > > But its a great way for them to monetize exactly that feature, i doubt itll ever be introduced as a self hosted solution > > Isn’t the Plex cloud just a way to allow your Plex server to use your existing cloud storage options as media folders? > If so, then that wouldn’t solve the transcoding load issue. > > But maybe I’m wrong about the Plex cloud thing. > It just seems like an obvious option to allow horizonal scaling of the transcoding tasks. Plex cloud spawns a plex server in the cloud for you, to stream content from your cloud drives. It allows up to 3 simultanious transcodes, per plex cloud instance. It wouldnt make sense to spawn a VPS for just 3 transcodes per plex cloud user, so they most likely use a load balancing system to spawn transcode tasks, exactly what this thread is asking for. ---
**Author:** ![MattWeiler](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/mattweiler/32/23102_2.png) [@MattWeiler](https://forums.plex.tv/u/MattWeiler)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2017, 5:34pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/distributed-transcoding-scaling/76681/75 "2017-03-11T17:34:53Z")
> @Suspense said: > > > @MattWeiler said: > > > > > @Suspense said: > > > I think its safe to assume that load balancing exists after plex cloud > > > > > > But its a great way for them to monetize exactly that feature, i doubt itll ever be introduced as a self hosted solution > > > > Isn’t the Plex cloud just a way to allow your Plex server to use your existing cloud storage options as media folders? > > If so, then that wouldn’t solve the transcoding load issue. > > > > But maybe I’m wrong about the Plex cloud thing. > > It just seems like an obvious option to allow horizonal scaling of the transcoding tasks. > > Plex cloud spawns a plex server in the cloud for you, to stream content from your cloud drives. > > It allows up to 3 simultanious transcodes, per plex cloud instance. It wouldnt make sense to spawn a VPS for just 3 transcodes per plex cloud user, so they most likely use a load balancing system to spawn transcode tasks, exactly what this thread is asking for. That sucks, I already pay for my account. I shouldn’t have to pay to increase my media servers transcoding power. I have no problem with them making money, Plex is awesome, but I’m already paying for my account. I guess I’m gonna have to look into writing my own transcoding client-server tool which’ll just use the existing Plex transcoding tool. ---
**Author:** ![Suspense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b782af/32.png) [@Suspense](https://forums.plex.tv/u/Suspense)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2017, 5:38pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/distributed-transcoding-scaling/76681/76 "2017-03-11T17:38:01Z")
> @MattWeiler said: > > > @Suspense said: > > > > > @MattWeiler said: > > > > > > > @Suspense said: > > > > I think its safe to assume that load balancing exists after plex cloud > > > > > > > > But its a great way for them to monetize exactly that feature, i doubt itll ever be introduced as a self hosted solution > > > > > > Isn’t the Plex cloud just a way to allow your Plex server to use your existing cloud storage options as media folders? > > > If so, then that wouldn’t solve the transcoding load issue. > > > > > > But maybe I’m wrong about the Plex cloud thing. > > > It just seems like an obvious option to allow horizonal scaling of the transcoding tasks. > > > > Plex cloud spawns a plex server in the cloud for you, to stream content from your cloud drives. > > > > It allows up to 3 simultanious transcodes, per plex cloud instance. It wouldnt make sense to spawn a VPS for just 3 transcodes per plex cloud user, so they most likely use a load balancing system to spawn transcode tasks, exactly what this thread is asking for. > > That sucks, I already pay for my account. > I shouldn’t have to pay to increase my media servers transcoding power. > > I have no problem with them making money, Plex is awesome, but I’m already paying for my account. > > I guess I’m gonna have to look into writing my own transcoding client-server tool which’ll just use the existing Plex transcoding tool. You cant really pay to get out of that situation. Plex cloud allowes just 3 transcodes per plex cloud instance, and each plex account is only allowed 1 plex cloud instance. So the backend system most likely exists, its just not available to us, and i doubt it will be. ---
**Author:** ![michielvanbaak](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/michielvanbaak/32/108552_2.png) [@michielvanbaak](https://forums.plex.tv/u/michielvanbaak)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2017, 5:46pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/distributed-transcoding-scaling/76681/77 "2017-03-11T17:46:23Z")
It’s probably docker. ---
**Author:** ![linkim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/97f17d/32.png) [@linkim](https://forums.plex.tv/u/linkim)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2017, 2:22pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/distributed-transcoding-scaling/76681/78 "2017-03-21T14:22:25Z")
+1 I hv Synology NAS. Sending transcoding to another device such as pc wud be great help to lighten the load of NAS. ---
**Author:** ![MattWeiler](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/mattweiler/32/23102_2.png) [@MattWeiler](https://forums.plex.tv/u/MattWeiler)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2017, 2:57pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/distributed-transcoding-scaling/76681/79 "2017-03-21T14:57:39Z")
> @Suspense said: > > > @MattWeiler said: > > > > > @Suspense said: > > > > > > > @MattWeiler said: > > > > > > > > > @Suspense said: > > > > > I think its safe to assume that load balancing exists after plex cloud > > > > > > > > > > But its a great way for them to monetize exactly that feature, i doubt itll ever be introduced as a self hosted solution > > > > > > > > Isn’t the Plex cloud just a way to allow your Plex server to use your existing cloud storage options as media folders? > > > > If so, then that wouldn’t solve the transcoding load issue. > > > > > > > > But maybe I’m wrong about the Plex cloud thing. > > > > It just seems like an obvious option to allow horizonal scaling of the transcoding tasks. > > > > > > Plex cloud spawns a plex server in the cloud for you, to stream content from your cloud drives. > > > > > > It allows up to 3 simultanious transcodes, per plex cloud instance. It wouldnt make sense to spawn a VPS for just 3 transcodes per plex cloud user, so they most likely use a load balancing system to spawn transcode tasks, exactly what this thread is asking for. > > > > That sucks, I already pay for my account. > > I shouldn’t have to pay to increase my media servers transcoding power. > > > > I have no problem with them making money, Plex is awesome, but I’m already paying for my account. > > > > I guess I’m gonna have to look into writing my own transcoding client-server tool which’ll just use the existing Plex transcoding tool. > > You cant really pay to get out of that situation. Plex cloud allowes just 3 transcodes per plex cloud instance, and each plex account is only allowed 1 plex cloud instance. > > So the backend system most likely exists, its just not available to us, and i doubt it will be. That’s a good point. So this just shows that there’s an even greater need for this feature. Vertical scaling has hardware limits but horizontal scaling really doesn’t 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![max0909](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c5a1d2/32.png) [@max0909](https://forums.plex.tv/u/max0909)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2017, 12:38am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/distributed-transcoding-scaling/76681/80 "2017-03-25T00:38:22Z")
+1 for now i’ve got two servers running, which uses the same media files. But both systems have got their own Mediadata base. Like this idea that the second server only support server one for transcoding. [Previous page](https://forums.plex.tv/t/distributed-transcoding-scaling/76681.md?page=3) [Next page](https://forums.plex.tv/t/distributed-transcoding-scaling/76681.md?page=5)