I have 5 * 6TB WD Red drives in a Raidz-1 pool, but my free space is starting to get full after 2 years of collecting media.
Before I splash out on 6 * 10TB Seagate Ironwolfs to go in a new Raidz-2 vdev, I was thinking whether or not it’s a bad time to encode the majority of my media to H.265 (from my raw Blu-rays, files, etc) to condense even further. Most of what I will encode will be older movies and shows that will be watched less regularly.
After recently upgrading my server which rocks a Intel Xeon E5-1650 v4 (6 cores up to 4GHz), it can handle 8 * 1080p transcodes effortlessly. I have yet to try a transcode from H.265/HEVC, but my hopes are that further down the line most of the devices I use in the near future can handle H.265 natively.
@tommehnet said:
Still? For transcoding, encoding or both? Say for example in an environment where I was using only Chromecast Ultras, Nvidia Shields, etc
The thing is, you cannot rule out the need for transcoding completely.
You’ll need transcoding from time to time, especially when remote. Every time when you need
a subtitle ‘burned in’
the bitrate reduced due to a limitation in the server’s upload or the client’s download
an inablility of the client to accept HDR color
transcoding will be required.
And then your server will struggle, because even a simple decoding of H.265 video requires a shedload of cpu resources.
Unless all your clients can DirectPlay 4K/HEVC, you’ll swamp the E5-1650 processor (or any other processor for that matter) on your PMS box with attempts to transcode on-the-fly.
Could somebody clarify this topic a bit further please? (Limited tech understanding here, have been looking high and low for an answer to this query and this thread is the closest I can find).
Am I understanding correctly that there are no NAS options yet that will allow problem-free playing of 1080p HEVC content?
I have always run plex from a desktop (i7) PC (via android app -> chromecast 1), and practically all content has always played without issue - as a result my library has slowly filled with HEVC/x265 files due to the great size/quality ratio.
Now i’m wanting (needing) to upgrade my storage situation to a NAS, and was hoping i could get one that would allow not having the power-hungry desktop on all the time. Am i going to have to keep shuffling my media around on usb drives while i wait for that to become an option?
If you’re going to employ a NAS (Not A Server) into the role of Plex Server and expect to make the switch to 265 you’d better do one of two things:
have a direct line installed from your place to whatever magical entity that exists that makes only good things happen - and keep fully paid up on that account.
or
use only the clients that can direct play 265 material and learn how to create 265 material they can easily direct play.
If you expect to be downloading from the internet (ahem) 265 material - you should be aware that those guys don’t know the first thing about creating material that will direct play on Planet Plex. They’re working on the assumption that you use VLC for everything (that will basically play any junk you throw at it).
have a direct line installed from your place to whatever magical entity that exists that makes only good things happen - and keep fully paid up on that account.
I’m sure this is very funny, but it’s not terribly helpful.
use only the clients that can direct play 265 material and learn how to create 265 material they can easily direct play.
Which may or may not include the chromecast ultra? Is there a list of clients that do definitely Direct Play x265 somewhere (excluding buying a new 4k TV)?
If you expect to be downloading from the internet (ahem) 265 material - you should be aware that those guys don’t know the first thing about creating material that will direct play on Planet Plex. They’re working on the assumption that you use VLC for everything (that will basically play any junk you throw at it).
And Direct Play is required because no NAS currently manufactured has a processor sufficient to transcode x265…? Are these even on the horizon? If not i guess i can save a fortune on just getting a NAS for storage only (and spend that money on my power bill leaving my desktop running).
