Higher Bitrate 720p Transcoding Quality

Plex Media Server NAS & Devices
1

Server Version#: 1.14.1.5488
Player Version#: 3.89.2

It would be nice if there were a higher bitrate 720p transcoding quality. 4Mb tends to be a little lean to transcode broadcast 720p60 video given my ISP’s 10Mb upstream bandwidth.

Also, it would be nice to have a HEVC/H.265 transcode option available when using hardware transcoding with hardware that supports it such as my Coffee Lake CPU or any QSV capable Skylake or better CPU. This would allow higher quality at lower bitrates.

2

I believe you are looking for a higher bit ENCODE when you must transcode. If you can direct play or direct stream, you can use the original 10 mbps bitrate, provided your upload and bandwidth restriction config are not a limitation.

3

Yes, of course but the entire stream, at least for the channel I was watching today, is over 10Mb. It would need to be transcoded. I suppose I could pre-convert it.

4

I think I get it. You have media that is higher bitrate than your upload, and thus must be transcoded to be usable. You have more upload, and GPU cycles that plex will use to for their max 720P offering.
Have you tried the Auto Quality option? I am not sure if it offers more than 4Mbps in 720p. Have you tried any of the 1080p options? or is your client restricted to displaying 720p?

I have not seen a case where plex chooses to encode using 265. Given your CPU/QSV, it could lead to better quality for clients that natively support it.

5

When you’re playing a 720p source it only shows 720p bitrate options and 4Mb is the maximum currently available.

I think what I’m going to try and do is set up Optimized Sources to automatically transcode certain shows above the 4Mb 720p max but below my 10Mb ceiling. I just hope the Optimized Sources doesn’t restrict 720p bitrate like real-time transcoding does.

The HEVC thing was strictly a feature request.

6

let us know if you can optimize between 4 and 10, and also importantly, will your client pick it up or will you have to select it manually!

7

This topic was automatically closed 90 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.