Just purchased the Plex Pass over the weekend after trying the software and deciding I liked it better than other options.
Right, now I’m not sure where to post as there isn’t an encoding forum, but the question covers several areas. Linux (and Plex server hardware), encoding, TiVo Plex app.
I just recently bought a server for an IT certification. Nothing fancy, but enough to run server 2012 R2 with hyper-v. spec’s: Dell PowerEdge T20, Intel Xeon E3-1225 v3 3.2GHz Quad Core CPU / 32GB Memory . So I figured why not start digitizing my movie collection like I have been wanting to.
VM for Ubuntu with Plex installed. Ubuntu 14 installed in a gen 2 VM, 2 CPU’s and 4GB memory assigned.
Synology 1815+ with 4 WD Red 6TB HD. Will link aggregation on all 4 GB eth ports.
Planning to stream using the Plex app on a TiVo Roamio pro. I’m preferring this over other options, as the rest of my services like Amazon Prime and Vudu are available on the box as well and saves me from having another device hooked to the TV.
If I am correct, the Roamio Plex app will only do 720p. If I use h264 high profile or h.265, the plex server will need to transcode on the fly regardless correct? I also only plan on having 1 stream at any given time right now.
So the questions:
Do I encode at h.264 in an mkv wrapper for broader compatibility, and larger files? Or h.265 in an attempt to save space and preserve quality at the cost of having to transcode for the near future?
Related: What handbrake settings are users finding that work well?
Is my VM & host server underpowered for what I am attempting?
These questions just popped up last night after I upgraded my PowerDirector software to version 14 and discovered h.265 and the possible space savings.
Related: if anyone is using PD 14, what presets are you using.
H265 is mostly hardware side decoding. So the hardware needs to support it or the server will transcode the media to H264 by default. There aren’t a lot of devices that have direct H265 support, and those that do are generally more expensive.
Yes, it does create a smaller file. But if your client device doesn’t support H265 directly, then the server has to transcode. If your server hasn’t got enough CPU to do this, it’s going to buffer. A lot! In fact it might make the media completely unwatchable… It my not even be playable with some higher end CPU’s because H265 does require a lot of horsepower from the CPU…
H264 can direct play on most every device Plex has a client app for. It’s the default codec used when any transcoding is required, as a result. The trick with lower end servers is to maximize the Direct Playability of the media to reduce transcoding, and this is usually done by making the media MP4, H264 with AAC stereo audio for the first track, and DTS or SC3 for the second audio track. Putting subs into the same file isn’t directly supported by MP4, so subtitles are done by sidecar files. For instance, every movie I have in my libraries has a second srt file in the folder with it. (Well, most of them do, anyway…) Some have a third for Spanish.
I make a folder for each movie and place it in the movies folder. Library points to the /movies so as new files are added, the media is separated from others, and moving a folder moves all the files associated with the movie in question.
All of my media is converted to the format I outlined above, and this is done with conversion scripts. All extraneous subs and languages are deleted, and I only keep English stereo, and English DTS or AC3. English and Spanish subs are maintained. This is for well over 2K movies and 18000 TV episodes.
Others might have other opinions. Mine is, use the most common denominator, not the least… Maximize for Direct Play, and ensure your server’s hardware hasn’t got to take on extra heat, wear and tear…
I am near certain that HEVC support in Plex will all but require Plex to support hardware-based encoding, which is something they have decided as yet to support. Some clients do support it, but even they are still only newer hardware that will support full 4k HEVC decodes. CPUs are just not going to get that much faster in the near term, and the codec is not going to get that much more efficient in that timeframe. As many others have said, hard drives are cheap, just keep on using x264 for now. Too much pain otherwise.
After extensive testing I will continue to encode AVC/H.264 for some while yet. AVC/H.264 can produce excellent results with careful attention to encode settings (I’ve developed a great little bash script to prepare batches of media for remote viewing… but that for different thread of discussion). Conspicuous feature noted in a release announcement hints at future support for HEVC/H.265 in Plex Media Server! “4k and HEVC on capable devices with built-in Chromecast support (2016 Vizio TVs and the Nvidia Shield)”
Thanks to everyone for the replies. I’ll take the recommendation and use h.264. I’m not getting rid of the discs, so when it’s time I can always re-rip.
So with DVDs, I’ve read to examine the file to see what the original resolution was and encode for it. Some mentioned that even if it is 1080p to adjust to 720p for the encode. What is your preference? Use the MKV container or leave MP4? I keep reading on the container debate, but not sure which I “should” use.
With some of the TV stuff it is either 480, or 720 already, so through handbrake they go on strict.
On my TiVo Pulls using KMTTG, they are MPEG2, 1920x1080, 29.97 and 11,589k bit rate. I’ve been editing out any commercials with powerdirector or clipping the beginning and end of some movies and encoding. Should I leave these ones with 1920x1080 mp4 or adjust the encode to 720p and let it go? Or author the video at 1080p then handbrake to 720p? Just not sure if encoding these twice is a good idea for quality. they are already TiVo pulls.
The same could be asked on the bluray rips. 1080p h.264 or reduce to 720p?
I assume you mean BR instead of DVD since you talk about 1080p. I leave the encode at 1080p and let the playing device scale down to 720p as needed.
I use MKV since it supports DD+ and DTS inside the container. MP4 does not officially support that but some report it works on some clients.
With the TiVo, you have to test and pay attention to potential interlacing issues. Same thing for me, though, I leave everything at native resolutions whenever possible.
well it looks like my post last night didn’t make it.
I did some testing. I was using PowerDirector 14 to edit out commercials (using it because i already own it), or trim excess video from the beginning or end of some movies/TV shows that i pulled from my TiVo.
I took a decoded MPEG2 file from the TiVo and checked the info on it. basically 1080p, 29.97 FR, i think 11k BR and about 8-9GB in size. Placed it in PD14 and selected the AVC 1920x1080/24p it wanted to render it and had the output size would be around 11Gb
My next attempt. I took the same file, put it through Handbrake first on the high profile settings and got a 5-6GB file. now i took this file to PD14 expecting to be able to edit and just save, but no. HB actually changed the resolution to 1920x1072, with a BR of 22 or 23 something. so PD14 was wanting me to do another 2hr render and the estimated output at 8-9GB. the stupid program is adding 3GB somewhere that i just can’t figure out.
What i really need is a program that will let me clip out the commercials or trim the ends and then “stitch” it back together without re-encoding. Then I can just put it through HB.
But thank to everyone for the info. my rips straight from disc will be original resolution, h.264 high profile in an mkv wrapper from here on out.
What i really need is a program that will let me clip out the commercials or trim the ends and then “stitch” it back together without re-encoding. Then I can just put it through HB.
I use MeGUI to cut out commercials and trim end and beginning from recorded TV shows. It creates and uses avisynth scripts in more or less one process. It is similar to Handbrake in many ways, can create h264 and h265 files (and many other) Use the AVS cutter tool to edit before you create your edited versions. It probably requires a little patience to learn the process, because it is a little more “geeky” then Handbrake. But not so geeky you need to spend hours learning how to use it. I haven’t used Handbrake in years.
I found Avidemux. It is allowing me to edit out the unwanted parts of my TiVo pulls from KMTTG and save without having to re-encode! Now I can edit a bunch and save, then put through Handbrake in batches if needed overnight.
