I can understand that back in the day the server requirement for transcoding 4k was large and the argument “if you have to transcode 4k you’re doing it wrong”.
However, with modern celerons having increasingly powerful QuickSync (CPU!) hw acceleration, 4k transcoding isn’t a big deal anymore. And we’re talking 6-15w tdp tiny little systems. The future is coming. What once was hard is now easy.
That’s why I’m kindly requesting to put 4k transcoding back on the map.
I’ve got a stunning looking 1600p amoled device I’d like to feed some 4k to but it won’t decode hevc. 4k h264 it does without problems. Converting it in Handbrake is so time consuming. Plex does 4k to 1080p transcoding beautifully and with low cpu usage.
How do I know that it plays back 4k h264? Not with the help of Plex because plex thinks the device is 4k unsupported and won’t let me try. In VLC for Android it works fine. (Thx vlc)
So I guess that’s my second concern and it’s that Plex won’t try (or won’t allow the user to set) a codec/resolution THAT WORKS. How about letting us manually set the output in an advanced menu? That would solve a TON of headache.
that whole topic is about transcoding from 4k and nothing to do with transcoding to 4k.
transcoding to 4k x264 is problematic because 4k x264 files are generally much larger than x265 (that is why 4k is encoded to x265 in the first place).
you will generally get better quality with 1080 @ say 10 mbs, vs trying to stuff 4k into that same @ 10 mbs stream.
your real problem is you need a device that actually supports hevc/x265.
He’s right… Something has suddenly changed in the past couple weeks. My users (those that have not had issues in the past) are now having issues playing back 265 encoded content. Literally nothing has changed on my end.
Throw in this and the fact I received a push notification this morning “reminding me to rate” something I recently watched and I’m closer than ever to just shutting down entirely. I don’t have patience for this bullshit anymore.
I don’t use Plex over the internet but on my lan. Speeds above 10 Mbps are no problem.
You’ll get more requests for this in time because with new formats like AV1 and a huge supply of h264 and h265 devices that still work fine, people just need to transcode without the drop in resolution.
If the source is 10Mbit AV1/hevc and it gets transcoded to 50Mbit h264 it’s perfectly fine for me. It’s just lan you know. At least those files can be watched on any device without a resolution drop. A 10w celeron can now keep up with that framerate.
We all use Plex differently. I’m just letting you know that my kind are still out there and likely growing. Thx for replying. Appreciate it!
Thx for replying. Appreciate it!