Server Version#: 4.146.0
Player Version#: 5.91.10 (on the tv)
I’m trying to run a mini-PC (Windows) as a Plex server. It has an N100 processor (quad core, turbo up to 3.4 GHz) w/ 16GB of RAM. It only has a 1 GBe network port.
I’m trying to stream 4 K files (mkv) to a Samsung Smart TV with a Plex player. During a 40-minute episode, it stuttered every so often, not constantly, but enough to affect video enjoyment.
I’m wondering if I need to upgrade my mini-PC to something stronger? I doubt going to 2.5 GBe would do much as the TV is likely limited to a 1 GBe port.
Is there something I am missing? Something else I could try? I do like subtitles with some of my shows - which is harder, right?
It’s more likely your TV can’t cope with the bandwidth of direct playing/streaming your 4K files. High-quality 4K videos will easily exceed 100 Mbps. Many TVs still come with a 100 Mbps LAN port (if at all) – WLAN might achieve better speeds.
Really? I’m super surprised. I will look into the model and see what it might have.
EDIT: I looked it up, and it has WIFI 5 and a 100 Mbps (QN75Q70CAF)
It does have USB 2.0 ports - is it worth it trying a USB to 1 GBe? (I know it can’t do full 1,000 Mbps - but the 480 Mbps over USB 2.0 would be faster.)
Between the three (direct playing / direct streaming / transcoding) which should I prefer? I know transcoding takes more CPU grunt.
Not that I want to throw money at the problem / project, but is there any value in upgrading to a stronger server machine? I found one with an i9-12900HK & 32GB of ram that would be about $375. (I could swap my 2TB media SSD into it.)
Direct play — the video is transferred to the client as-is
Direct stream —the content (video, audio, subtitles) remain unmodified but are placed into a different „container. This requires a little CPU effort
Transcoding — the content itself is re-encoded to meet certain technical constraints (e.g. to reduce the bitrate, resolution, codec…). This requires a lot of CPU power (subject to the source/target formats). With a Plex Pass, some of that work can be offloaded to a supported (i)GPU
Generally, the more direct play/stream you can get, the better. That’s subject to what formats are supported by the client, the formats of your media and general restrictions like available network bandwidth.
Do you think that the N100 is up to Direct Streaming (so I can use subtitles) of a 4k Blu-Ray rip? Looking at the second link you cited, the N100’s Passmark is 5400 - which is a little low for the cited suggestions (but they are talking transcoding).
The effort to put the media tracks into a new container/envelope can be neglected. It’s nowhere near the effort to re-encode the media.
The N100 will not be powerful enough to transcode 4K UHD media „by CPU“ — but it’s got a built-in GPU that supports hardware-accelerated transcoding, which should do the job.
I wouldn’t go for the extra adapter, if you have a somewhat stable WIFI.
From what I understand, it’s not necessarily so much about the execution units. The hardware decoder/encoder is part of the chip. There’ll be differences as for what formats the different generations support.
N100 = Alder lake
Iris XE = DG1
I haven’t found a good benchmark if they’re different in regards to how many parallel transcodes those chips support.
You most likely need a better client/player, 1gbit is plenty its the computing power of your player holding you back most likely.. get a higher end streaming device connected to your tv.
high end roku or nvidia shield tv streaming box… im sure some others will work but ive had good experiences with these 2.
I use a n100 as my plex server and it does fine with direct play and transcoding atleast for converting 4k to 1080p using transcoding on igpu. make sure your server settings are set to use hardware transcoding to use the IGPU. you need plex paid account for igpu i believe… but your n100 and gigabite is plenty for 1 to 2 streams i havent tried more streams then that but ive heard maybe 4 transcoding but the transcoding settings effect it enough i wont say it can do 4 transcodes of 4k to 4k at the same time.
