currrently running an unraid server for Plex transcoding to various devices such as roku and Apple TV. I keep running into issues with buffering. What is everyone doing regarding transcoding 4k streams with no problems. I want solutions and not answers like it’s not worth it. I have 10G cat6a throughout the house. I want the best possible media stream to my video endpoints.
Did you have issues with disk bandwidth? I’m using a similar dual cpu Xeon setup like you with 128gb ram. I have unraid currently with Plex server on a docker. 4k streams always are buffering. I even tried nvidia hardware transcoding but found it buggy. I’m looking for a bulletproof setup. Do I need to get more powerful cpus? Better disk I/o?
The best possible is direct play, not transcoding anything.
1 Like
Have you read this entire thread Plex, 4k, transcoding, and you - aka the rules of 4k - a FAQ ?
Neither of those what?
Every thing you need to know is there for reading.
sorry i meant neither of those rules worked for me, “offloading” the transcoding to a different machine in a way is all thats worked for me. Am i making sense? not in a rude fashion of course
When you say direct play, I assume you are stating I should play from the output of my unraid server directly to a tv. With no intermediate player in between. Correct?
Sorry, no.
Direct play means plex streams from the server to the client without converting or transcoding anything.
If you read the faq linked above, you will know that hd audio and subtitles are the 2 biggest problems that causes unnecessary transcoding.
You do not need 10gb Ethernet.
You do not need iscsi.
Any server can stream 4K if it doesn’t have to transcode.
Any server that does need to transcode, means it has to have enough muscle to handle the content that is being converted.
Converting hevc/4K is not trivial.
2 Likes
How can I prevent plex from transcoding then. Can I direct play to a Dolby atmos receiver outputting to a 4k oled display without transcoding?
Beg to differ about what? The 10gbe and iscsi?
I play 4K/hevc/hdr all day without buffering, and not using iscsi or 10gbe.
Mac the answer is the first thing posted on that faq.
What issue?
Buffering?
Sure, a long time ago, before I got an nvidia shield + atmos receiver.
1 Like
To answer, no.
If you are trying to play 4K directly to a smart tv, then your tv is being limited by either 100mb Ethernet, or your WiFi.
Further there are no smart TVs that will play truehd +atmos through plex without transcoding.
1 Like
Teknojunky
Thank you for the input. To complicate matters, I have a 4k matrix video switch that outputs to all TVs in the house with my automation system. Your recommendation would require me to get an atmos receiver for every room with a tv even though I don’t have 5.1 in every room. Am I missing something?
That is entirely dependent on your matrix thing.
Apple tv4k has gigabit Ethernet so I assume that will be fine?
Atv 4K still cannot pass through truehd+atmos and that will still cause transcoding, but otherwise should be fine (from other people’s comments, I don’t have one).
Forget 4k transcoding on the fly.
Hardware acceleration is bugued. Software transcoding does an audio out of sync with big bitrate files.
Also, server consumption is high during all the movie.
Converting first 4k file to a proper format which can be direct played is the way to adopt.
It’s my own experience using Plex.
My own automatic script to re-encode a movie with an AC3 audio track from a pathfile, an audio trackId and a format (DTS, AAC) to avoid transcoding with my hardware (Sonos which cannot play DTS):
It takes less than 30 minutes to do the job. Cpu load < 10%
Compare to a 4K transcoding which loads CPU @ 80-90% during 90 minutes each time you will play it.
This topic was automatically closed 90 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.
