I’m about to buy a QNAP NAS specifically (TVS-h1288X-W1250-16G). This model comes with
Intel® Xeon® W-1250 Processor and GPU Intel® UHD Graphics P630.
My requirement is to transcode 15-20 simultaneous users (outside my internal network) using different type of devices like mobiles, tablets, TV and the content is mixed 4k and 1080 and perhaps some subtitle burning will kick in.
Do you think this will suffice? Any resource that tells how much intel UHD graphic card can transcode simultaneously? Any suggestions?
The UHD630 graphics processor will easily transcode 600 Mbps of input video bitrate. (I have multiple UHD630 processors)
As is always the case, Curating the media well is key to success.
Be certain to remove unnecessary subtitle tracks from the source files.
Use text-based subtitles where possible (SRT is the most portable and can be sent to all players without burning into the video – which is hard on the CPU)
I urge using 32GB of memory for that many transcodes. You can easily upgrade the memory yourself. Make absolute certain to match what’s already in the box. (it’s easy to open and get the Info off the RDIMMs)
IMPORTANT: The h1288x gives you the option of using QTS or QuTS
– QTS uses standard Linux file system (EXT4)
– QuTS uses ZFS storage management. ZFS needs memory.
– If you want ZFS storage… upgrade the box to full 64 GB ECC RDIMM.
(You’ll need it for that many transcodes for the I/O)
Any other questions, I’ll try to answer.
(I have a TVS-1282-i7-64GB here)
May I ask further, given the fact that I need 15-20 simultaneous hardware video transcodes of 4k, 1k, 720, and I need something with a redundant power supply, scalable storage, and reliable solution for enterprise use cases, honestly we are a bit confused and unable to find clear guidelines on how to build such solution that works perfectly for Plex. In general we are hesitant about QNAP solution.
We thought of building our own custom rack mount servers, and have some questions to start with:
1- Any reference GPU Nvidia card? How to know which NVidia card is supported by the Plex server? Is there a list of compatible cards or a set of features we need to look for in Nvidia cards?
2- For a standalone server, do we’ve need to purchase an Xeon CPU with Internal GPU, or better to use an external GPU such as Nvidia?
3. How about RAM, CPU frequency, and other aspects we should consider in the sizing?
4. If there is a good reference in this forum or guide that we may use for such calculation, appreciate sharing it here.
You need license / authorization from Plex Legal before going further.
We, here, are the consumer side of Plex.
As for configuring for something which can transcode 20 simultaneous streams,
It can be done
If you’re going to support simulataneous transcodes, you’re going to need
– A whopping GPU (enterprise datacenter grade with an incredible amount of RAM)
OR
– Enforce streaming limits
OR (most practical)
– Prepare the media in advance to avoid video transcoding all together. Transcoding audio only. (Even this can be mitigated with proper preparation)
(Storage is cheap by comparison with DataCenter grade equipment)
There are MANY elements to formulating a viable CUSTOM solution to this problem.
There is nothing which I can provide which guarantees success without knowing a great deal more of the ‘nitty gritty’ details.
Again, as stated by FordGuy (who posted just as I started writing),
You need to speak to Plex Legal first . You need and want their authorization else anything you do will get shutdown as fast as you stand it up.
I apologize, perhaps I miss-translated my words to English. When I mentioned enterprise use case, I mean I have more than 10 users among family and friends, so I thought better to say enterprise to ensure the solution is sufficient in term of capacity.
Additionally, I found that no reference to a qnap storage that have a good intel GPU can support around this much of simultaneous users, so thought better to size a rack mount servers, since I have a rack at home.
Just to clarify my use-case, it is for personal, home users, and not commercial thing for sure.
I was thinking of a used HP or Dell servers with some RAM like 32-64 GB, and 50-60TB of disk and a NVidia cards, a powerful one to run such environment.
I would appreciate your support how to pick the right NVidia cards in term of GPU memory, model, any good reference to start with?
