Intel N5105 can't handle single 4K transcode

Plex Media Server Desktops & Laptops
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I bought a Mini PC with 16GB RAM, a 500GB SSD and the Intel Celeron N5105 because of this post praising its performance.

But unfortunately my experience was extremely disappointing. I am running the PC on Windows and it can’t handle transcoding even a single 4K file. The CPU ramps up to 100% and the video keeps buffering on my client (Android).

Why is my experience so different compared to the other person? Why can’t 240€ of hardware handle even one 4K transcode? :frowning: My 70€ Fujitsu Futro S740 on Ubuntu had pretty much the same performance…

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HDR to SDR Tone Mapping

Are you trying to transcode and tonemap 4K HDR video?

The person in the reddit post is running Ubuntu, not Windows.

Plex does not support hardware accelerated tonemapping using Intel graphics on Windows based systems (see doc linked above). The CPU of the Celeron is not powerful enough to tonemap the transcoded video.

If you want to uses that mini PC to transcode and tonemap 4K HDR video, you will need to run Linux instead of Windows.

You should also know that the tests using a 400 Mbps jellyfish file are suspect, as they do not reflect real-world conditions.

Although the file is 10 bit HEVC, it is not HDR, so no tonemapping is involved.

Also, 4K HDR Blu-ray rips will burst above 100 Mbps, but average 40 Mbps - 90 Mbps. The highest bitrate movie I have seen is the 4K HDR 60fps version of Gemini Man, which runs ~125 Mbps.

You will be better served by testing with actual 4K HDR rips/remuxes or demo files, such as the ones available at https://4kmedia.org/.

1 Like
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Hey, thanks for your reply! Because I indeed wanted to play 4K HDR files I switched to Ubuntu now. Unfortunately hardware transcoding still doesn’t work. Plex only uses software transcoding which has constant buffering and ramps the CPU up to 100%.

Do you know if I can force Plex to use HW transcoding?

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If you have turned on the hardware checkboxes in the server settings, then you need to recheck your Intel driver installation. It will work if you find the missing piece.

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It worked with these instructions, thank you!!

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