# HW Transcoding Not Working with Nvidia GPU **URL:** \ **Category:** Plex Media Server\ **Tags:** server-linux\ **Created:** [March 17, 2021, 12:34pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/hw-transcoding-not-working-with-nvidia-gpu/701160 "2021-03-17T12:34:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![awensley](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/awensley/32/232329_2.png) [@awensley](https://forums.plex.tv/u/awensley)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2021, 12:34pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/hw-transcoding-not-working-with-nvidia-gpu/701160/1 "2021-03-17T12:34:04Z")
Server Version#: 1.22.1.4200-c073686f2 Player Version#: 4.53.0 I’m running PMS on an Ubuntu 20.04 server with AMD 5950x CPU and Nvidia RTX 3070 GPU. I have the nvidia drivers installed and `nvidia-smi` works correctly. ![image](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/plex/original/3X/4/0/40fa906c941b37dbb582b6616a5511a5a55b47d9.png) The Plex installation shows that it finds the GPU: ```auto Retrieving list of available distributions Downloading release "plexmediaserver_1.22.1.4200-c073686f2_amd64.deb" File downloaded (Reading database ... 88845 files and directories currently installed.) Preparing to unpack .../plexmediaserver_1.22.1.4200-c073686f2_amd64.deb ... PlexMediaServer install: Pre-installation Validation. PlexMediaServer install: Pre-installation Validation complete. Unpacking plexmediaserver (1.22.1.4200-c073686f2) over (1.22.0.4163-d8c4875dd) ... Setting up plexmediaserver (1.22.1.4200-c073686f2) ... PlexMediaServer install: PlexMediaServer-1.22.1.4200-c073686f2 - Installation starting. PlexMediaServer install: PlexMediaServer install: Now installing based on: PlexMediaServer install: Installation Type: Update PlexMediaServer install: Process Control: systemd PlexMediaServer install: Plex User: plex PlexMediaServer install: Plex Group: plex PlexMediaServer install: Video Group: render PlexMediaServer install: Metadata Dir: /var/lib/plexmediaserver/Library/Application Support PlexMediaServer install: Temp Directory: /tmp PlexMediaServer install: Lang Encoding: en_US.UTF-8 PlexMediaServer install: Intel QSV Hardware: Not found PlexMediaServer install: Nvidia GPU card: Found PlexMediaServer install: PlexMediaServer install: OpenCL library: Installed PlexMediaServer install: Beignet package: Installed PlexMediaServer install: PlexMediaServer install: Completing final configuration. PlexMediaServer install: Starting Plex Media Server. PlexMediaServer install: PlexMediaServer-1.22.1.4200-c073686f2 - Installation successful. Errors: 0, Warnings: 0 Processing triggers for libc-bin (2.31-0ubuntu9.2) ... Processing triggers for mime-support (3.64ubuntu1) ... ``` I have the options enabled: ![image](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/plex/original/3X/5/f/5f5a8ddeda23ade32acc204b30b62bb01ae7acda.jpeg) But it still doesn’t use hardware encoding: ![image](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/plex/original/3X/1/8/1831461bf5fe948eaf142ef3cadf08ea1293d34f.jpeg) What am I missing? ---
**Author:** ![ChuckPa](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/chuckpa/32/79710_2.png) [@ChuckPa](https://forums.plex.tv/u/ChuckPa)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2021, 2:49pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/hw-transcoding-not-working-with-nvidia-gpu/701160/2 "2021-03-17T14:49:04Z")
Missing the DEBUG (not VERBOSE) log files ZIP which capture the start of the playback for me to review 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![ChuckPa](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/chuckpa/32/79710_2.png) [@ChuckPa](https://forums.plex.tv/u/ChuckPa)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2021, 4:45pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/hw-transcoding-not-working-with-nvidia-gpu/701160/4 "2021-03-17T16:45:20Z")
Now you forgot what really matters. Turn DEBUG logging, not VERBOSE, back on please and try again? ---
**Author:** ![awensley](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/awensley/32/232329_2.png) [@awensley](https://forums.plex.tv/u/awensley)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2021, 5:56pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/hw-transcoding-not-working-with-nvidia-gpu/701160/5 "2021-03-17T17:56:07Z")
Whoops, for some reason, I thought debug was on by default. Here are the logs after enabling debug logging (not verbose) and streaming a transcoded video: _attachment deleted_ Looks like this is the relevant section: ```auto Mar 17, 2021 11:57:10.476 [0x7f888dffb700] ERROR - [Transcode] [FFMPEG] - libva: vaGetDriverNameByIndex() failed with unknown libva error, driver_name = (null) Mar 17, 2021 11:57:10.476 [0x7f888dffb700] ERROR - [Transcode] [FFMPEG] - Failed to initialise VAAPI connection: -1 (unknown libva error). Mar 17, 2021 11:57:11.362 [0x7f888dffb700] ERROR - [Transcode] [FFMPEG] - Cannot load libnvidia-encode.so.1 Mar 17, 2021 11:57:11.362 [0x7f888dffb700] ERROR - [Transcode] [FFMPEG] - The minimum required Nvidia driver for nvenc is 418.30 or newer Mar 17, 2021 11:57:11.382 [0x7f888dffb700] WARN - [Transcode] Codecs: avcodec_open2 returned -1 for encoder 'h264_nvenc' ``` ---
**Author:** ![awensley](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/awensley/32/232329_2.png) [@awensley](https://forums.plex.tv/u/awensley)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2021, 6:34pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/hw-transcoding-not-working-with-nvidia-gpu/701160/6 "2021-03-17T18:34:39Z")
Yup. That was it. I had to install `libnvidia-encode-460-server` ![image](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/plex/original/3X/3/9/39c90b836e918f9dbc3748aaffce8fabd9b6dc72.png) Now it works: ![image](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/plex/original/3X/d/3/d3d8d97d718db03289e3015b1419a9a860d85cd8.jpeg) ---
**Author:** ![Anuruddha](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/anuruddha/32/23809_2.png) [@Anuruddha](https://forums.plex.tv/u/Anuruddha)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2021, 11:45pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/hw-transcoding-not-working-with-nvidia-gpu/701160/7 "2021-03-17T23:45:18Z")
- Have you tried more than 3 transcodes to check Plex is doing HW transcode? I have similar issue after update to Plex Server 1.22.1.4200. I’m using Windows 10 Pro 20H2: 19042.868. I installed Nvidia GEFORCE GAME READY Driver 461.92 with Nvidia patch. But Plex can do only 3 HW transcodes. Forth transcode is HW decode or software. The I downgraded (Fresh install) Nvidia drivers to 461.72. But still no luck. I don’t know Plex or windows or Nvidia patch making this issue. you can find my both threads in here. [https://github.com/keylase/nvidia-patch/issues/388](https://github.com/keylase/nvidia-patch/issues/388) [https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-hardware-transcoding-failed-with-nvidia-geforce-1660-with-geforce-game-ready-driver-461-72-patched-drivers/701218](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-hardware-transcoding-failed-with-nvidia-geforce-1660-with-geforce-game-ready-driver-461-72-patched-drivers/701218) Please help me. ---
**Author:** ![Anuruddha](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/anuruddha/32/23809_2.png) [@Anuruddha](https://forums.plex.tv/u/Anuruddha)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2021, 12:47am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/hw-transcoding-not-working-with-nvidia-gpu/701160/8 "2021-03-18T00:47:20Z")
Can anybody please help me? ☹ ---
**Author:** ![awensley](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/awensley/32/232329_2.png) [@awensley](https://forums.plex.tv/u/awensley)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2021, 1:00pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/hw-transcoding-not-working-with-nvidia-gpu/701160/9 "2021-03-18T13:00:51Z")
Your problem and solution would be different from mine, as I’m running on Linux, and you’re on Windows. ---
**Author:** ![Anuruddha](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/anuruddha/32/23809_2.png) [@Anuruddha](https://forums.plex.tv/u/Anuruddha)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2021, 1:34pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/hw-transcoding-not-working-with-nvidia-gpu/701160/10 "2021-03-18T13:34:54Z")
Thank you very much for the reply. Can you please test and let me know how many HW transcodes (I mean decode and encode) Plex can do? 🙂 ![](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/plex/original/3X/0/5/05330d805d0792e3a5481484384c06e340b9128d.png) ---
**Author:** ![awensley](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/awensley/32/232329_2.png) [@awensley](https://forums.plex.tv/u/awensley)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2021, 2:08pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/hw-transcoding-not-working-with-nvidia-gpu/701160/11 "2021-03-18T14:08:35Z")
I don’t know the answer to this, nor can I test it. My test wouldn’t indicate the potential performance for your case since Linux and Windows have very different implementations. [This site](https://www.elpamsoft.com/?p=Plex-Hardware-Transcoding) has some relevant info and tips. Your GPU is the `TU116`, and it has a hard session limit of 3. ---
**Author:** ![Anuruddha](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/anuruddha/32/23809_2.png) [@Anuruddha](https://forums.plex.tv/u/Anuruddha)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2021, 2:26pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/hw-transcoding-not-working-with-nvidia-gpu/701160/12 "2021-03-18T14:26:21Z")
Yes I know Plex server has different implementation for Linux and windows platforms but core features are the same in each build number. I just need to know PMS 1.22.1.4200 did any changes to HW transcoding or not. Thank you for your help. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![ChuckPa](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/chuckpa/32/79710_2.png) [@ChuckPa](https://forums.plex.tv/u/ChuckPa)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2021, 4:28pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/hw-transcoding-not-working-with-nvidia-gpu/701160/13 "2021-03-18T16:28:41Z")
There have been some library additions: Here’s where I’m working in another thread. [https://global.discourse-cdn.com/plex/optimized/3X/3/9/39cd5855fe40009abb5f329348d81a9f27912f8b\_2\_690x377.png](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/plex/optimized/3X/3/9/39cd5855fe40009abb5f329348d81a9f27912f8b_2_690x377.png) This is more related to regular Plex than HW transcoding per se ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/plex/original/3X/2/a/2acb9765406f63293d357b4ec509ec39aa28f2ad.png) [@system](https://forums.plex.tv/u/system)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2021, 4:29pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/hw-transcoding-not-working-with-nvidia-gpu/701160/14 "2021-06-16T16:29:30Z")
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