Don’t know if I’m allowed to say this or not, but got a few people that use this, I have the Plex Pass. i7-8700, 32GB RAM, GT 630.
TL;DR: I can watch 4K on my Amazon FireCube and PC, etc. Just fine (4K).
But it seems the others ( That don’t have 4K Displays ) can’t watch almost anything when they turn it to 720p or 1080p ( From 4K/4K File ).
If I upgrade the GPU to like a 3060 or 1660 Ti or something along those lines. Will they be able to watch stuff?
That old nVidia chip is of the “Kepler” generation. It has no support whatsoever for H.265 which is the codec that is used for 4K/HDR content. So if you are trying to transcode it down to a lower resolution, your server’s CPU has to do all the work. And it very well might not be able to do that, even though it is a relatively fast CPU – particularly if it has to perform tone mapping from HDR to SDR and/or burning in subtitles. PassMark - Intel Core i7-8700 @ 3.20GHz - Price performance comparison
Yes it’s why I was asking if I upgraded the GPU, would people be able to actually watch stuff? Will Hardware Encoding take over?
They might. But keep in mind that tone mapping from HDR to SDR is not performed in hardware on Windows currently. Which means the number of possible concurrently running transcodes from 4k down is just 1.
Pull the GT630. The Intel QSV graphics in the 8700 will be an upgrade, as it can transcode 4K HEVC video.
As @OttoKerner mentions, HDR-SDR tonemapping will use the CPU, but you’ll at least get hardware transcoding of the video.
My TV in the bedroom is 4K HDR (Samsung). Nothing else is though, and I don’t think they got HDR either. But I love watching it in 4K. ( I have 4K HDR Files ). So basically upgrading the GPU won’t do nothing for them? They still can’t watch nothing? ( If it’s 4K HDR )
One of them might be able to, depending on the specific file and its demands for transcoding.
But as soon as a second one wants to weatch at the same time, your server will run into its limits.
Either don’t share your 4K files, or pre-produce 1080p versions of them for remote streaming.
That’s disappointing to hear. Even if they went to the " Settings " and changed to " 1080p or 720p " option. It still wouldn’t work? ( With upgraded GPU )
It is not only the video transcoding which produces CPU load it is also, if required, the tone mapping plus the subtitle burning.
Almost all 4K media does also require tone mapping.
If there is only a highend audio track in e.g. DTS-HD MA with Atmos or Dolby True HD, then that is going to require a significant processing power as well.
If you really have may videos in 4K but not in HDR color, you might be able to achieve 2 concurrent transcodes.
