Server Version#: Version 1.41.2.9200 Up to date
Player Version#:
How can I tell if the Plex Server is really using my Plex Pass’ Hardware acceleration to help with transcoding?
I am on a Synology DS418play
Monitor playback via Plex Dashboard → Now Playing + Expanded View.
There are two parts to a transcode: decoding from the current format, and encoding to the desired format. Both parts can use hardware acceleration.
(hw) will be displayed in the Plex Dashboard when hardware accelerated transcoding is being used.
For example, in the screenshot below, both the decoding from HDR10 and the encoding to H.264 are using hardware acceleration.
Audio transcoding always uses the CPU.
I am right now running the Optimization (Selected a title and optimize for TV and for Mobile) So that is where I am trying to see if it is using Hardware to boost performance.
The Optimize status screen does not show if hardware acceleration is being used.
However, optimization does use hardware acceleration.
If you want to verify things, you can dig into the Plex log files. Specifically, Plex Media Server.log and the rollovers, .1.log through.5.log.
Lines with MDE (Media Decision Engine) shows the transcode decisions. Lines with TPU show if hardware acceleration is in use.
I created an optimized version of The Iron Claw.
This shows the file being transcoded. The line regarding video.width shows I selected an optimization with a width of 1280 pixels.
Dec 06, 2024 22:36:49.633 [139814889753400] DEBUG - [Req#931a6] MDE: Selected protocol http; container: mp4
Dec 06, 2024 22:36:49.634 [139814889753400] DEBUG - [Req#931a6] MDE: analyzing media item 428438
Dec 06, 2024 22:36:49.634 [139814889753400] DEBUG - [Req#931a6] MDE: The Iron Claw (2023): no direct play video profile exists for http/mkv/hevc
Dec 06, 2024 22:36:49.634 [139814889753400] DEBUG - [Req#931a6] MDE: The Iron Claw (2023): no direct play video profile exists for http/mkv/hevc/eac3
Dec 06, 2024 22:36:49.634 [139814889753400] DEBUG - [Req#931a6] MDE: The Iron Claw (2023): non-selected embedded subtitle stream 972790 cannot be direct-played
Dec 06, 2024 22:36:49.634 [139814889753400] DEBUG - [Req#931a6] MDE: The Iron Claw (2023): non-selected embedded subtitle stream 972791 cannot be direct-played
Dec 06, 2024 22:36:49.634 [139814889753400] DEBUG - [Req#931a6] The Iron Claw - video.width limitation applies: 1920 > 1280
Dec 06, 2024 22:36:49.634 [139814889753400] DEBUG - [Req#931a6] MDE: The Iron Claw (2023): no remuxable profile found, so video stream will be transcoded
Dec 06, 2024 22:36:49.634 [139814889753400] DEBUG - [Req#931a6] MDE: Cannot direct stream video stream due to profile or setting limitations
The final entry with TPU shows Plex is using the vaapi decoder and encoder. Vaapi is the Intel graphics driver used on Linux systems. This aligns with the information in Using Hardware Accelerated Streaming.
Dec 06, 2024 22:36:49.654 [139814853946168] DEBUG - [Req#931a6] TPU: hardware transcoding: final decoder: vaapi, final encoder: vaapi
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