Hardware Transcoding

Plex Media Server
1

Server Version#:
Player Version#:

Hi,

I have a pc with Windows 10, the specs are i7 3770k, 1660ti, 16gb ram. With 1 transcode it is constantly buffering and unwatchable while on the network, I have tried different qualities and files but anytime it’s transcoding it won’t stop buffering while direct play is fine. Any idea why?

2

Without knowing the characteristics of the actual file you are playing, it is impossible to say.
Please copy the first ~20 lines of the Plex XML info of this item into here.

3

Hi it happens with a number of files but here is an example of one:

<MediaContainer size="1" allowSync="1" identifier="com.plexapp.plugins.library" librarySectionID="1" librarySectionTitle="TV Shows" librarySectionUUID="17d85e48-c169-417c-8981-07a5a695b1b2" mediaTagPrefix="/system/bundle/media/flags/" mediaTagVersion="1606775432">

<Video ratingKey="3049" key="/library/metadata/3049" parentRatingKey="3048" grandparentRatingKey="3047" guid="com.plexapp.agents.thetvdb://355567/1/1?lang=en" parentGuid="com.plexapp.agents.thetvdb://355567/1?lang=en" grandparentGuid="com.plexapp.agents.thetvdb://355567?lang=en" type="episode" title="The Name of the Game" titleSort="Name of the Game" grandparentKey="/library/metadata/3047" parentKey="/library/metadata/3048" librarySectionTitle="TV Shows" librarySectionID="1" librarySectionKey="/library/sections/1" grandparentTitle="The Boys" parentTitle="Season 1" contentRating="TV-MA" summary="When a Supe kills the love of his life, A/V salesman Hughie Campbell teams up with Billy Butcher, a vigilante hell-bent on punishing corrupt Supes -- and Hughie's life will never be the same again." index="1" parentIndex="1" rating="8.0" year="2019" thumb="/library/metadata/3049/thumb/1607301244" art="/library/metadata/3047/art/1607299313" parentThumb="/library/metadata/3048/thumb/1607299313" grandparentThumb="/library/metadata/3047/thumb/1607299313" grandparentArt="/library/metadata/3047/art/1607299313" grandparentTheme="/library/metadata/3047/theme/1607299313" duration="3609888" originallyAvailableAt="2019-07-26" addedAt="1603764504" updatedAt="1607301244">

<Media id="2832" duration="3609888" bitrate="4989" width="3840" height="1632" aspectRatio="2.35" audioChannels="6" audioCodec="eac3" videoCodec="hevc" videoResolution="4k" container="mkv" videoFrameRate="24p" videoProfile="main 10">

<Part accessible="1" exists="1" id="2832" key="/library/parts/2832/1603764504/file.mkv" duration="3609888" file="E:\TV Shows\The Boys\Season 1\The Boys - S01E01 - The Name of the Game WEBDL-2160p.mkv" size="2251184180" container="mkv" videoProfile="main 10">

<Stream id="12619" streamType="1" default="1" codec="hevc" index="0" bitrate="4989" bitDepth="10" chromaSubsampling="4:2:0" codedHeight="1632" codedWidth="3840" colorPrimaries="bt2020" colorRange="tv" colorSpace="bt2020nc" colorTrc="smpte2084" frameRate="23.976" height="1632" level="150" profile="main 10" refFrames="1" width="3840" displayTitle="4K (HEVC Main 10 HDR)" extendedDisplayTitle="4K (HEVC Main 10 HDR)"/>

<Stream id="12620" streamType="2" selected="1" codec="eac3" index="1" channels="6" language="English" languageCode="eng" audioChannelLayout="5.1(side)" samplingRate="48000" displayTitle="English (EAC3 5.1)" extendedDisplayTitle="English (EAC3 5.1)"/>

<Stream id="12621" streamType="3" default="1" codec="vobsub" index="2" language="English" languageCode="eng" headerCompression="1" title="English (SDH)" displayTitle="English (VOBSUB)" extendedDisplayTitle="English (SDH) (VOBSUB)"/>

<Stream id="12622" streamType="3" codec="srt" index="3" language="English" languageCode="eng" displayTitle="English (SRT)" extendedDisplayTitle="English (SRT)"/>

</Part>

</Media>

<Writer id="117" filter="writer=117" tag="Eric Kripke"/>

<Extras size="0"> </Extras>

<Related> </Related>

</Video>

</MediaContainer>
4

This is a 4K video file, encoded in HEVC with 10 bit color. Which most likely means “HDR”.
Sorry to be blunt, but don’t even try to transcode this with your system, I’d say.
Your CPU model is over 8 years old. It has a meagre 6000 points in CPU mark https://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu=Intel+Core+i7-3770K+%40+3.50GHz&id=2
It hasn’t support for hardware decoding HEVC video either (Ivy Bridge) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_Quick_Sync_Video#Hardware_decoding_and_encoding

Your GPU might be somewhat more modern, but it cannot do the HDR to SDR conversion. That must be done by the CPU, which in your case lacks the power to do that fast enough.
You can try and disable
Settings - Server - Transcoder - ‘Show Advanced’ - “Enable HDR tone mapping”

But I strongly recommend to only play files like this on a Plex client which has native support for HEVC and HDR, so transcoding won’t be necessary.
On a desktop computer, try Plex Player for Windows/Mac (or Kodi with the Plex plugin).

5

OK thank you. I also have a i7 8770k, do you think this would be sufficient?

6

It might work, as the Coffee Lake CPU’s have support for hardware transcoding 10 bit HEVC.
You could still run into performance limits when you enable subtitles, though. But definitely worth a try.

Or simply steer clear of 4K HDR files.

7

OK cool, thanks again.

8

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