i9 vs Xeon??

General Discussions
41

@cayars said:
I personally think using your Plex server as your daily desktop is a bad thing to do but that’s just me. I would highly recommend a dedicated environment. You will not be happy when you are trying to use this computer and Plex is sucking up all your CPU for indexing, deep analysis and the tasks it does normally. It’s built to get the job done and over-with while managing it’s own resources. Throw in user jobs and you will likely be disappointed.

I will be getting a own machine in the future if/when it’s needed… right now I don’t.

I’d caution running Torrent programs on your Plex server. You will usually want to use a VPN for protection on the machine and a Plex will often give you fits when you do this as it to is forced to run through the VPN which kills performance and almost always kills your ability to access it remotely.

I’m not using a VPN anymore since I got 1000/1000 Mbit since December and I already discovered what you saying because any modern “consumer” routers has CPU’s that are not able to process the AES encryption. The VPN company I been using (ovpn.se) said they could provide up to 300-500 Mbit if I was able to process the encryption… I think I actually could if I would been using pfsense in Hyper-V. I been not researching the matter a lot. However, having only 50 % or less of the performance would be a waste. So I agree with you. I won’t do that… My “protection” would actually be within the tracker since I’m only using private torrent trackers with valid SSL certificates…

I doubt your issue with the 4K files is memory related. A few things to check would be:
Are the files direct streamed? If not that’s a whole other issue you need to address.
If yes to what client?

I been troubleshooting the problem for a while… I noticed that my router, the Asus RT-AC68U had a terrible performance drop since last summer. Maybe I smashed it when I was about to move togheter with my new girlfriend… something really has happened. I was messuring the broadband like a week ago and I didn’t got full speed (1000/1000)… Only like 950/600… and it was unstable… because next day it was like 600/600 and then it went up again. I don’t think the issue was related to the ISP either. And Wi-Fi area been waaay smaller… 4K was lagging too. Both wired (Cat 8 wall-> router AND Cat5e + Cat6 all the way between server → router → TV)

So, I switched back to my girlfriends router. A Jensen Scandinavia router (http://www.jensenofscandinavia.com) which she had 2 of… The better version is the “Airlink 1000AC”. But she had that router at her parrents place… I went there and was about to replace it as I thought it supported 1000 Mbit (it supported 5 ghz while the less good didn’t) and her parrents are about 90 years old, so they only do like internet banking. They don’t need such things… However I discovered that the (better) version, the “1000AC” did NOT support 1000/1000… it was supporting 100/10 while I was checing with the store… and the Wi-Fi coverege was about the same as the AC68 which was less good than 8 months ago… I would say OK coverage for a router the cheapest budget segment but not like the RT-AC68 been like… I also tried solving the performance issues with the Asus RT-AC68 by a bunch of things as reseting the router to factory resets, clearing the NV-ram, changing band, switching to Melin and back and downgrading the firmware… NOTHING helped. So, I sold the Asus RT-AC68 router on Tradera (like Ebay in Sweden) as “not fully functional”.

Since I now discovered that the Jensen router is that bad… really really bad for the 70 USD my non-technical girlfiend payed for it. I thought I should see if the router is the problem… Because the new hardware when I was rebuilding my server was like I previously mentioned:

  • Asrock Fat1lity Z370 M-ITX motherboard (Intel® I219V + ESD protection)
  • Intel i7 8700k CPU
  • HyperX Fury 8 GB RAM

I don’t think those components being faulty… I noticed no errors in Windows or other suspcious behaviour… The “bad” link should be (I guess!?) the router then…

You know what I did? I went in touch with Asus and Netgears sale departments and asked for getting my hands on a decent router… as I have a serious IT blog with some readers and SEO value. I did that! And… guess what!? Netgear offered me the Netgear Nighthawk X6S R8000P in return for a blogpost! They promised I will have the router next week… Guess if I’m happy now… So let’s see and get back to you soon…

GTX 1070 is a terrible choice for a Plex server as it’s limited to 2 HW transcodes. You would usually be far better off using QuickSync or an AMD GPU (windows).

Thanks you guys for another valuable tip of yours… I had no clue about that. If it wasn’t for you Cayars and those other fellows here at Plex Forums I would end up with wrong hardware… It really means a lot.

@teabag1701 said:
If you don’t game on your server than buy a nvidia quadro p2000 or above and use HW transcoding. Your gtx 1070 is limited to 2 streams and with at least a Quadro you have unlimited.

Yes, thanks for the tip!! The p2000 seems suitable for me… You think it’s way more powerfull than my i7 8700k with quicksync? A total overkill? I noticed I tend to upgrade my harware for the fun rather for an actual need only… But it’s my hobby and I never know what kind of demand I will end up with…

@Balthazar2k4 said:

@“D. Cederqvist” said:
OK I got some news. My server is NOT able to stream my 30 GB 4k/HDR HEVC files. Buffer and lagg. … is all I got. I consider upgrading my RAM to 16 GB, replace my defect RT-AC68U router (bandwith and performance drop) and add a Asus GTX 1070 Strix GPU for hardware transcoding. After that I will save up for my 5 Western Digital 12 TB Gold drives.I expect I will be done in 1-2 years or so.

I am running a Pentium G4600 (HD630) for my Plex server (with 8GB RAM). I can easily direct stream multiple 50+GB HEVC HDR files and hardware transcode at least three simultaneously (that is all I have tested) to 1080p. I have 13 users and on average have three streams going. If I can do that with a G4600 your problems are something else…

So, the G4600 been able to transcode 3x50+GB HEVC HDR files without ever using your “backup”? Really? The i7 8700k might be more powerfull than I expect…

The reason I considered a GPU in first place was THIS thread: forums.plex.tv/discussion/209432/transcoding-4k-requirements/p1 requirements… I didn’t read it very carefully but it seems like GPU could be needed? Lets say there are 5-10+ streams and a few of the are 4K… wouldn’t I need it…? The P2000 is in a price range I can live with… and it looks cool. lol

42

Very cool you are getting a Netgear Nighthawk X6S R8000P.

In the mean time if you aren’t already running Merlin firmware on you AC68 you might want to give it a shot. This is the router I run and have no issues with it. But your router might be going bad as you mentioned and any new firmware might not make a difference. Worth a shot however. If it works better again you might have just experience a bad firmware upgrade or something. Get it working if possible and then you can sell it.

Carlo

43

@“D. Cederqvist” said:
So, the G4600 been able to transcode 3x50+GB HEVC HDR files without ever using your “backup”? Really? The i7 8700k might be more powerfull than I expect…

The HD630 (G6400) and UHD630 (8700K) are fundamentally the same GPU. If mine can do it, yours can too. You only need to consider the P2000 if you think you may be transcoding more than 3-4 4K HEVC streams.

44

@cayars said:
Very cool you are getting a Netgear Nighthawk X6S R8000P.

In the mean time if you aren’t already running Merlin firmware on you AC68 you might want to give it a shot. This is the router I run and have no issues with it. But your router might be going bad as you mentioned and any new firmware might not make a difference. Worth a shot however. If it works better again you might have just experience a bad firmware upgrade or something. Get it working if possible and then you can sell it.

Carlo

I been trying Merlin too… Both Merlin and Stock. And also older/newer Stock versions as well as older/newer Melin versions… Seems like a broken device to me. It was way better before… I don’t say it’s dead or broken. But performance isn’t the same whatever I do. Also, I been sending the device yesterday. So I don’t have my RT-AC68U here anymore… The Nighthawk is here after the weekend…

But, do you think the router is the main problem I had? The reason why it lag? Make a guess? What you think would be reasonable.

@Balthazar2k4 said:

@“D. Cederqvist” said:
So, the G4600 been able to transcode 3x50+GB HEVC HDR files without ever using your “backup”? Really? The i7 8700k might be more powerfull than I expect…

The HD630 (G6400) and UHD630 (8700K) are fundamentally the same GPU. If mine can do it, yours can too. You only need to consider the P2000 if you think you may be transcoding more than 3-4 4K HEVC streams.

Yes sir… I might get the P2000 later on. I will save it to my “shopping list for upcoming products” I got on Google Docs. Thanks.

45

As a guess, sure a faulty router could easily introduce lag to make video hard to use. Of course it’s only a guess and when you setup the new router we will mostly likely know if it is a router issue.

46

@cayars said:
To me it’s just not worth building a new system without hardware transcoding built in.

This assumes that you want/need to transcode. If you use decent clients that can Direct Play then this should not be necessary. Transcoding will always result in quality degradation whether done in software or hardware. Prior to moving all my media & PMS to the Cloud I used a 4TB Seagate Personal Cloud as a my PMS & this must be the cheapest & lowest powered NAS capable of running PMS. I tested it with five simultaneous 1080p streams which all played smoothly (Direct Play of course). It’s a myth that you need a honking great server to run PMS.

47

@“D. Cederqvist” said:
OK I got some news. My server is NOT able to stream my 30 GB 4k/HDR HEVC files. Buffer and lagg. … is all I got.

Choose a decent client like an Nvidia Shield & you can Direct Play these files at full original quality & the load on your server will be negligible as it’s basically just acting as a file server. You could have a hundred simultaneous streams without a problem. Why bother with 4k/HDR HEVC files if you always transcode them to lower quality?

48

@nigelpb said:

@cayars said:
To me it’s just not worth building a new system without hardware transcoding built in.

This assumes that you want/need to transcode. If you use decent clients that can Direct Play then this should not be necessary. Transcoding will always result in quality degradation whether done in software or hardware. Prior to moving all my media & PMS to the Cloud I used a 4TB Seagate Personal Cloud as a my PMS & this must be the cheapest & lowest powered NAS capable of running PMS. I tested it with five simultaneous 1080p streams which all played smoothly (Direct Play of course). It’s a myth that you need a honking great server to run PMS.

I pretty much agree with that for things you have control over. However, not everyone is able or willing to run out and replace clients. Some users might have 4 Rokus or similar in their house already before finding Plex. Maybe they were being used for Netflix previously. This family may not be able to justify $800 to $1000 for new clients right away (if ever).

Then you have friends/family you may share with that may require transcoding either due to your upload bitrate. I’m a prime example of this. I was forced to switch from Verizon FIOS to Comast and my upload bandwidth went from 300 Mb to 5Mb. So while I have all my files converted to MP4/H.264/AAC so that they will direct play locally they may still require transcoding to fit in my 5Mb upload bandwidth to get to a friends house.

Then there are mobile uses which again will probably want to scale down your videos in both size and bitrate when using the cell network so you don’t blow your monthly allowance on one or two movies.

So there are definite needs for transcoding regardless of your specific devices.

49

@cayars said:

@nigelpb said:

@cayars said:
To me it’s just not worth building a new system without hardware transcoding built in.

This assumes that you want/need to transcode. If you use decent clients that can Direct Play then this should not be necessary. Transcoding will always result in quality degradation whether done in software or hardware. Prior to moving all my media & PMS to the Cloud I used a 4TB Seagate Personal Cloud as a my PMS & this must be the cheapest & lowest powered NAS capable of running PMS. I tested it with five simultaneous 1080p streams which all played smoothly (Direct Play of course). It’s a myth that you need a honking great server to run PMS.

I pretty much agree with that for things you have control over. However, not everyone is able or willing to run out and replace clients. Some users might have 4 Rokus or similar in their house already before finding Plex. Maybe they were being used for Netflix previously. This family may not be able to justify $800 to $1000 for new clients right away (if ever).

Rokus will Direct Play pretty much everything anyway but even replacing four of them with Nvidia Shields would cost less than $1000 & certainly less than a honking great server. Anyway you should never be transcoding on your local network for quality reasons if for no other.

Then you have friends/family you may share with that may require transcoding either due to your upload bitrate. I’m a prime example of this. I was forced to switch from Verizon FIOS to Comast and my upload bandwidth went from 300 Mb to 5Mb. So while I have all my files converted to MP4/H.264/AAC so that they will direct play locally they may still require transcoding to fit in my 5Mb upload bandwidth to get to a friends house.

Serving up your own private Netflix to friends & family is better done using a VPS & Cloud storage than a home PMS. Again this will be cheaper than a HGS in your home running PMS. Freeing the remote clients from the limitations of your home Internet upload bandwidth also means they can Direct Play thus getting better quality too.

Then there are mobile uses which again will probably want to scale down your videos in both size and bitrate when using the cell network so you don’t blow your monthly allowance on one or two movies.

Watching movies on a cell phone is not something that I would care to do but if your really must you would be better served by downloading them to the phone outside of Plex using iTunes or similar.

So there are definite needs for transcoding regardless of your specific devices.

All of which can be avoided & thus the cost of server hardware that really isn’t required if you plan accordingly.

50

@nigelpb said:
Rokus will Direct Play pretty much everything anyway but even replacing four of them with Nvidia Shields would cost less than $1000 & certainly less than a honking great server. Anyway you should never be transcoding on your local network for quality reasons if for no other.

I’ll disagree with you big time on this. Rokus across the board can handle H.264 and the newer series can do certain H.265s but none of them will do other codecs such as mpeg2 which is needed for TV use. Mpeg2 is also one of the easiest codecs to decode. Rokus are one of the worst clients codec support wise.

Serving up your own private Netflix to friends & family is better done using a VPS & Cloud storage than a home PMS. Again this will be cheaper than a HGS in your home running PMS. Freeing the remote clients from the limitations of your home Internet upload bandwidth also means they can Direct Play thus getting better quality too.

That depends on a ton of factors but will mainly come down to $ and your upload bandwidth. I’ve uploaded my collection to the cloud more than 3 times to have service plans change and I end up loosing my collection. I’m done with cloud storage for Plex use. It’s just not reliable enough for me. I want my collection sitting in my mini data center that is fully under my control where policies will not change. :slight_smile: I personally don’t want to have to stream from a cloud provider to my home where my media originates from. If it’s already local I personally will now just keep it local.

Then there are mobile uses which again will probably want to scale down your videos in both size and bitrate when using the cell network so you don’t blow your monthly allowance on one or two movies.

Watching movies on a cell phone is not something that I would care to do but if your really must you would be better served by downloading them to the phone outside of Plex using iTunes or similar.

iTunes? Really, did you just say that? LOL My Android phones and tablets don’t want anything to do with iTunes. Why would I use that when I already have the movies/shows and can just sync them using Plex or copy the files to an SDCARD and then use Plex to play them back?

Of course this won’t work for Live TV so if I want that I’m going to have to stream them in real-time.

So there are definite needs for transcoding regardless of your specific devices.

All of which can be avoided & thus the cost of server hardware that really isn’t required if you plan accordingly.
Maybe if you only use limited features from Plex, but certainly not for most people. This is just not true.

51

@nigelpb said:

@cayars said:

@nigelpb said:

@cayars said:
To me it’s just not worth building a new system without hardware transcoding built in.

This assumes that you want/need to transcode. If you use decent clients that can Direct Play then this should not be necessary. Transcoding will always result in quality degradation whether done in software or hardware. Prior to moving all my media & PMS to the Cloud I used a 4TB Seagate Personal Cloud as a my PMS & this must be the cheapest & lowest powered NAS capable of running PMS. I tested it with five simultaneous 1080p streams which all played smoothly (Direct Play of course). It’s a myth that you need a honking great server to run PMS.

I pretty much agree with that for things you have control over. However, not everyone is able or willing to run out and replace clients. Some users might have 4 Rokus or similar in their house already before finding Plex. Maybe they were being used for Netflix previously. This family may not be able to justify $800 to $1000 for new clients right away (if ever).

Rokus will Direct Play pretty much everything anyway but even replacing four of them with Nvidia Shields would cost less than $1000 & certainly less than a honking great server. Anyway you should never be transcoding on your local network for quality reasons if for no other.

Then you have friends/family you may share with that may require transcoding either due to your upload bitrate. I’m a prime example of this. I was forced to switch from Verizon FIOS to Comast and my upload bandwidth went from 300 Mb to 5Mb. So while I have all my files converted to MP4/H.264/AAC so that they will direct play locally they may still require transcoding to fit in my 5Mb upload bandwidth to get to a friends house.

Serving up your own private Netflix to friends & family is better done using a VPS & Cloud storage than a home PMS. Again this will be cheaper than a HGS in your home running PMS. Freeing the remote clients from the limitations of your home Internet upload bandwidth also means they can Direct Play thus getting better quality too.

Then there are mobile uses which again will probably want to scale down your videos in both size and bitrate when using the cell network so you don’t blow your monthly allowance on one or two movies.

Watching movies on a cell phone is not something that I would care to do but if your really must you would be better served by downloading them to the phone outside of Plex using iTunes or similar.

So there are definite needs for transcoding regardless of your specific devices.

All of which can be avoided & thus the cost of server hardware that really isn’t required if you plan accordingly.

I’m pretty sure at this point you’re just arguing for the sake of arguing. @Cayars pointed out a few good cases where you might now have control and transcoding might occur. Also, a “great server” can be built using just about any i5 Kaby lake cpu, so not much money if you’ve already got a tower laying around.

Also, if you’re going to go out and get 4 shields, just make sure 1 of them is the pro version, build your server on it and bam, you’ve got h265 HW accelerated transcoding available for a very good Plex Media server.

52

@KarlDag said:

@nigelpb said:

@cayars said:

@nigelpb said:

@cayars said:
To me it’s just not worth building a new system without hardware transcoding built in.

This assumes that you want/need to transcode. If you use decent clients that can Direct Play then this should not be necessary. Transcoding will always result in quality degradation whether done in software or hardware. Prior to moving all my media & PMS to the Cloud I used a 4TB Seagate Personal Cloud as a my PMS & this must be the cheapest & lowest powered NAS capable of running PMS. I tested it with five simultaneous 1080p streams which all played smoothly (Direct Play of course). It’s a myth that you need a honking great server to run PMS.

I pretty much agree with that for things you have control over. However, not everyone is able or willing to run out and replace clients. Some users might have 4 Rokus or similar in their house already before finding Plex. Maybe they were being used for Netflix previously. This family may not be able to justify $800 to $1000 for new clients right away (if ever).

Rokus will Direct Play pretty much everything anyway but even replacing four of them with Nvidia Shields would cost less than $1000 & certainly less than a honking great server. Anyway you should never be transcoding on your local network for quality reasons if for no other.

Then you have friends/family you may share with that may require transcoding either due to your upload bitrate. I’m a prime example of this. I was forced to switch from Verizon FIOS to Comast and my upload bandwidth went from 300 Mb to 5Mb. So while I have all my files converted to MP4/H.264/AAC so that they will direct play locally they may still require transcoding to fit in my 5Mb upload bandwidth to get to a friends house.

Serving up your own private Netflix to friends & family is better done using a VPS & Cloud storage than a home PMS. Again this will be cheaper than a HGS in your home running PMS. Freeing the remote clients from the limitations of your home Internet upload bandwidth also means they can Direct Play thus getting better quality too.

Then there are mobile uses which again will probably want to scale down your videos in both size and bitrate when using the cell network so you don’t blow your monthly allowance on one or two movies.

Watching movies on a cell phone is not something that I would care to do but if your really must you would be better served by downloading them to the phone outside of Plex using iTunes or similar.

So there are definite needs for transcoding regardless of your specific devices.

All of which can be avoided & thus the cost of server hardware that really isn’t required if you plan accordingly.

I’m pretty sure at this point you’re just arguing for the sake of arguing. @Cayars pointed out a few good cases where you might now have control and transcoding might occur. Also, a “great server” can be built using just about any i5 Kaby lake cpu, so not much money if you’ve already got a tower laying around.

Also, if you’re going to go out and get 4 shields, just make sure 1 of them is the pro version, build your server on it and bam, you’ve got h265 HW accelerated transcoding available for a very good Plex Media server.

I somewhat agree with @cayars. Also he’s a Plex Ninja for good a reason. :wink: There just not a “few reasons” why have a dedicated server… That was just examples… I don’t say you can’t run PLEX in a home environment with on direct play and local files… I think it depends on who you are and what you need… For my purposes, having a PLEX server that I use regulary for my “high end” Hi-Fi hometheatre setup, my (and my girlfriends) mobile devices and currently 5 families (with multiple kids) which includes MANY devices been used on a regular basis.

My ex girlfriend for instance has 2 kids. She run Android and kids are using Iphones. My other friend and his wife are using Android and Nokia. They has an older teenage girl. She might use Android, PS4 and Windows for PLEX. My dad is using Macbook and an Apple TV. She and his wife are watching PLEX on a regular basis. My girlfriend is using Android and she has 2 kids in their 20’s + grand children. We’re using a 3 Chromecasts for our devices… 1 ordinary Chromecast + 1 Chromecast Ultra + 1 Chromecast Audio. I been using Linux the last 5-10 years… Not currently but if I have a good reason to have a linux based computer I will. Except all my friends and all their kids I play my music and movies libraries a lot when I’m on the fly… Yesterday I went to the paint shop. I listened to Plex. If I go abroad… I listen to Plex and watch movies with our Samsung Tablet… So, except there is a lot activity outside the home network I watch movies, TV shows and listen to music A LOT at home too. Like every evening when we’re at home. My Server is Windows 10 and I might consider to get an Lumnia this summer. That’s another OS and device. There are also 2 another families that are using Plex I have not even mentioned yet. They have kids too. I plan to share Plex to a few more friends later on. SO, I simply can’t live without a “Server” for hardware transcoding… While your situation might be different.

Edit: An i5 might or might not be “enough”… As I said. It really depends on your actual needs. For my sake, I don’t think an i5 would be “enough”. For you… Maybe an i3 would do the job.

53

@“D. Cederqvist” said:

@KarlDag said:

@nigelpb said:

@cayars said:

@nigelpb said:

@cayars said:
To me it’s just not worth building a new system without hardware transcoding built in.

This assumes that you want/need to transcode. If you use decent clients that can Direct Play then this should not be necessary. Transcoding will always result in quality degradation whether done in software or hardware. Prior to moving all my media & PMS to the Cloud I used a 4TB Seagate Personal Cloud as a my PMS & this must be the cheapest & lowest powered NAS capable of running PMS. I tested it with five simultaneous 1080p streams which all played smoothly (Direct Play of course). It’s a myth that you need a honking great server to run PMS.

I pretty much agree with that for things you have control over. However, not everyone is able or willing to run out and replace clients. Some users might have 4 Rokus or similar in their house already before finding Plex. Maybe they were being used for Netflix previously. This family may not be able to justify $800 to $1000 for new clients right away (if ever).

Rokus will Direct Play pretty much everything anyway but even replacing four of them with Nvidia Shields would cost less than $1000 & certainly less than a honking great server. Anyway you should never be transcoding on your local network for quality reasons if for no other.

Then you have friends/family you may share with that may require transcoding either due to your upload bitrate. I’m a prime example of this. I was forced to switch from Verizon FIOS to Comast and my upload bandwidth went from 300 Mb to 5Mb. So while I have all my files converted to MP4/H.264/AAC so that they will direct play locally they may still require transcoding to fit in my 5Mb upload bandwidth to get to a friends house.

Serving up your own private Netflix to friends & family is better done using a VPS & Cloud storage than a home PMS. Again this will be cheaper than a HGS in your home running PMS. Freeing the remote clients from the limitations of your home Internet upload bandwidth also means they can Direct Play thus getting better quality too.

Then there are mobile uses which again will probably want to scale down your videos in both size and bitrate when using the cell network so you don’t blow your monthly allowance on one or two movies.

Watching movies on a cell phone is not something that I would care to do but if your really must you would be better served by downloading them to the phone outside of Plex using iTunes or similar.

So there are definite needs for transcoding regardless of your specific devices.

All of which can be avoided & thus the cost of server hardware that really isn’t required if you plan accordingly.

I’m pretty sure at this point you’re just arguing for the sake of arguing. @Cayars pointed out a few good cases where you might now have control and transcoding might occur. Also, a “great server” can be built using just about any i5 Kaby lake cpu, so not much money if you’ve already got a tower laying around.

Also, if you’re going to go out and get 4 shields, just make sure 1 of them is the pro version, build your server on it and bam, you’ve got h265 HW accelerated transcoding available for a very good Plex Media server.

I somewhat agree with @cayars. Also he’s a Plex Ninja for good a reason. :wink: There just not a “few reasons” why have a dedicated server… That was just examples… I don’t say you can’t run PLEX in a home environment with on direct play and local files… I think it depends on who you are and what you need… For my purposes, having a PLEX server that I use regulary for my “high end” Hi-Fi hometheatre setup, my (and my girlfriends) mobile devices and currently 5 families (with multiple kids) which includes MANY devices been used on a regular basis.

My ex girlfriend for instance has 2 kids. She run Android and kids are using Iphones. My other friend and his wife are using Android and Nokia. They has an older teenage girl. She might use Android, PS4 and Windows for PLEX. My dad is using Macbook and an Apple TV. She and his wife are watching PLEX on a regular basis. My girlfriend is using Android and she has 2 kids in their 20’s + grand children. We’re using a 3 Chromecasts for our devices… 1 ordinary Chromecast + 1 Chromecast Ultra + 1 Chromecast Audio. I been using Linux the last 5-10 years… Not currently but if I have a good reason to have a linux based computer I will. Except all my friends and all their kids I play my music and movies libraries a lot when I’m on the fly… Yesterday I went to the paint shop. I listened to Plex. If I go abroad… I listen to Plex and watch movies with our Samsung Tablet… So, except there is a lot activity outside the home network I watch movies, TV shows and listen to music A LOT at home too. Like every evening when we’re at home. My Server is Windows 10 and I might consider to get an Lumnia this summer. That’s another OS and device. There are also 2 another families that are using Plex I have not even mentioned yet. They have kids too. I plan to share Plex to a few more friends later on. SO, I simply can’t live without a “Server” for hardware transcoding… While your situation might be different.

Edit: An i5 might or might not be “enough”… As I said. It really depends on your actual needs. For my sake, I don’t think an i5 would be “enough”. For you… Maybe an i3 would do the job.

We’re saying the same thing. The guy who said PMS didn’t need power and you should just manage with pretranscoding everything simply has a very limited use case and doesn’t see far down the road (or really doesn’t plan to share with anyone). I’m saying that there are cheap-ish options that allow running a PMS with hardware acceleration of even HEVC 10 bit files, and that trying to do without it seems foolish to me.

Of course some people’s needs might be more than an i5, but with the HD630 helping out I realy think most people would have more then enough power for their use case, especially as more and more clients support HEVC playback.

54

In a nutshell if you are building a system for in house use only where something like Kodi could have been used then yes you could skip transcoding. But you can pretty much do this now by making sure all your media is in a common format such as MP4/H.264/AAC already and have great success with Plex running on a low powered “server”.

55

OK, @cayars and everybody else in this thread aiming to helpout. I have some news here.

I got my new Netgear router here but I still got problems with lagg and buffering.

Yesterday we was watching on Chromecast and there was an issue while the streamings services are freezing, the image is freezing for several seconds. And then it plays for a while and then it freezing again. That “freezing” is related to both the streaming services online (Netflix etc. on Chromecast) AND @Orca’s PLEX on Samsung TV. For PLEX I been using ethernet cables ALL the way. Chromecast 2nd generation is on 5ghz Wi-Fi. When you got from outside and into our appartment we got a SMALL hallway with a bookshelf on the right and then stairs up to a another big hallway which is between i.e. the kitchen, the living room and the bedroom. Above the outside door the input for the ethernet is… Until yesterday the router been in the bookself (in the small hallway) beyond the stairs. So, I got a 10m ethernet cable and placed the router upstairs. It may have a better impact on the wi-fi. However since the appartment is only 92 square meters I think the placement of the router should be a problem. Also, since PLEX been on wire I think the lagg/buffering might be related to another problem. My infrastructure, server and network shouldn’t be any issues with?

The infrastructure looks like this:

  • Server -

OS: Windows 10 Enterprise 2016 LTSB x64
SSD: Samsung 850 PRO 256 GB
HDD: Western Digital RED 3.5" 4 TB, Western Digital BLUE 2.5" 1 TB
MOBO: Asrock Fatal1ty Z370 Gaming-ITX/ac (supports 1000/1000 mbit)
CPU: Intel Core i7 8700k
RAM: Kingston HyperX Fury Black DDR4 2400MHz 2x4GB
PSU: Seasonic Prime Titanium 750w

  • Network -

Router: Netgear X6S AC4000 (supports 1000/1000 mbit)
ISP: 1000/1000 Mbit
Cables: Cat 8 + Cat 5e + Cat 6

  • Devices & Players-

Samsung UE55JS9005XE
Samsung Galaxy Express II
Samsung Galaxy Note 4
Samsung Galaxy Tab A
HTC One M9 (Prime Camera Edition)
Lenovo B50
Chromecast 2nd Generation
Chromecast Ultra (In a few days from now, instead of apps on one Samsung SmartTV)
Chromecast Audio (Inluded on our AV-Reciever Onkyo TX-RZ720)
Apple iPad Pro
Huawei Honor 7

(That’s just some of them but usually just ONE or two active streams in a sender)

Could the issues be related to my settings maybe?

56

Your server looks fine but it seems like you have some sort of network issue.
It could very well just be a WIFI issue.

Are either of your Chromecast or TV running Orca’s program hardwired? If not can you run a temporary Ethernet cable to one of them and try again?

This would be helpful in identifying where the issue is so we can look to see how to fix it.

57

@cayars said:
Your server looks fine but it seems like you have some sort of network issue.
It could very well just be a WIFI issue.

Are either of your Chromecast or TV running Orca’s program hardwired? If not can you run a temporary Ethernet cable to one of them and try again?

This would be helpful in identifying where the issue is so we can look to see how to fix it.

Yes, between Samsung SmartTV (2015 apps) AND router < - > PLEX server it was hardwired. So, patchcables ALL the way. I had 1 Cat8 cable + 1 Cat 6 cable + 1 Cat 5e cable… It lagg just like on wi-fi with Chromecast and Netflix… I been trying out 2 different TV’s as well.

I been ordering a Chromecast Ultra to the next week. Instead of using the in-built apps on ethernet cables. I also been calling my ISP to get here technicans since I only get 600/100 (sometimes 700/200) while I’m paying for 1000/1000. So, there it seems to be a failure too. But I don’t think it has to be related to the LAN connection… 4K files might lagg more than HD and music files. Netflix (with Chromecast) laggs on ordinary HD files sometimes.

What to do? I have been thinking there might be some network interfarance… What you think @cayars? But at the same time I don’t really understand since I got issues with both hardwired and Wi-Fi. Wi-Fi signal is not as good as I been expecting… Not full signal maybe 30-40 squaremeters away, in one direction. And I been trying out 3 routers so far… Same thing with RT-AC68U… I thought it was defunct but I don’t know.

Do you have any clue what this is about?

58

Do you have a switch anywhere or do you plug your devices directly into the router?

If it were me I’d try some simple diagnostics. Turn off everything that uses your network (verify in router). EVERYTHING. Check router logs to see if there is anything still communicating. Then turn on one device at a time and test. For example try only the TV and see if your lag issues are gone. It’s quite possible you could have a device on the network causing your issues. Turn off TV and try just the Chromecast.

Chromecast’s are notorious for flooding a network with packets and it could be something as simple as this. By eliminating all devices but the one you are testing you can check/eliminate this problem.

Remember to turn off all WIFI devices such as cell phones.

59

Hello, sorry for a late reply but I’m BACK now.

@cayars said:
Do you have a switch anywhere or do you plug your devices directly into the router?

If it were me I’d try some simple diagnostics. Turn off everything that uses your network (verify in router). EVERYTHING. Check router logs to see if there is anything still communicating. Then turn on one device at a time and test. For example try only the TV and see if your lag issues are gone. It’s quite possible you could have a device on the network causing your issues. Turn off TV and try just the Chromecast.

Chromecast’s are notorious for flooding a network with packets and it could be something as simple as this. By eliminating all devices but the one you are testing you can check/eliminate this problem.

Remember to turn off all WIFI devices such as cell phones.

I was troubleshooting for a while, and I finally found the problem. Windows 10 was likely infected with malware (no AV found it!) and it was somehow stealing badwidth. Also my ISP, only guaranteed 70 % capacity. So I get speeds between 700 Mbit and 1000 Mbit. When it comes to the Wi-Fi, I noticed I much better coverage when I took the router upstairs. Since I got only outerwear downstairs, there is no true reason to have the router anyway there. I don’t know why the coverage are such bad downstairs, since the area between the kitchen and the frontdoor is so small. It’s just a stair and a room in between… and it doesn’t matter if got a Asus RT-AC68, or a Netgear Nighthawk X6S. Coverage is bad in the kitchen anyway… But once again, since I moved up the router (and reinstalled Windows) the coverage been clearly better.

OK… I been considering one thing. IF I should bring down my monitor/keyboard and place the “server” downstairs. What about if I get a headless CentOS 7 installation with PLEX. I’m quite familiar with the terminal by now… and then I accessing it from a laptop…

I did also hear about a nice solution with somebody whom had couchpotato and PMS installed togheter… HE got a headless XEN installation with separate VM’s for each purpose. What about if I setup XEN and put up a headless torrent client (rTorrent? Deluge?) in one VM and on the other VM I got PMS. Would that be a better solution than setting up a torrent client togheter with the same installation? And why’s that in case it is?

When it comes to the physical world, there also a good reason to swap a smaller format. First reason is that I (my gf) been putting two patchcables in the wall which I can’t remove. Since I got the router upstairs and the fiberconverter downstairs, I can only use one ethernet cable. I also got a big chassis (Fractal Design Define R5) with a small format. My motherboard is a competent mini-ITX motherboard. I could switch to a small “box” chassis such as Fractal Design Node 304, then connect the patchcable downstairs and bring it to the router upstairs… I could put my old laptop (an old i3 and 4 GB DDR3 RAM) with an 5400 RPM HDD and replace it with my Samsung 850 Pro that’s currently in my server. Then I got a clearly faster laptop, more space in the apartment (removing a desktop with a chair) and more money in my pocket.

How good isn’t that?

What do you say, should I use ZEN or not? Maybe Docker? FreeNAS or CentOS headless?