So after building a desktop with an Intel i7 4790 (it is on the higher end for passmark scores) and seeing it a 40-50% pretty consistently transcoding large 1080p files, I have decided to go a different route. Here are my questions:
-I am ripping multiple copies from a Blu Ray disc wanting to have enough to avoid transcoding. How many different qualities do I need?
-Any advice on what to do with the audio? For the highest quality, I will keep original audio. Then step down to DTS, AAC, etc. Probably keeping 5.1 until the very low quality files that would only look decent on a phone or tablet anyway.
-How well will Plex handle this? If I have say 5 copies of a movie all at different qualities, will it be able to avoid transcoding?
Basically the biggest thing I am looking for is some kind of guidelines on how many copies I should rip and also the settings to rip everything at.
**Edit for detail: Assume all clients can play MP4 encoded with h.264 and either AAC or AC3 audio.
So after building a desktop with an Intel i7 4790 (it is on the higher end for passmark scores) and seeing it a 40-50% pretty consistently transcoding large 1080p files, I have decided to go a different route. Here are my questions:
-I am ripping multiple copies from a Blu Ray disc wanting to have enough to avoid transcoding. How many different qualities do I need?
-Any advice on what to do with the audio? For the highest quality, I will keep original audio. Then step down to DTS, AAC, etc. Probably keeping 5.1 until the very low quality files that would only look decent on a phone or tablet anyway.
-How well will Plex handle this? If I have say 5 copies of a movie all at different qualities, will it be able to avoid transcoding?
Basically the biggest thing I am looking for is some kind of guidelines on how many copies I should rip and also the settings to rip everything at.
what does/doesnt transcode depends on what the native capabilities of your client devices are, without specifying your clients and how they connect to your server, no one can answer your questions.
I guess I'm confused what you are asking for. Assume there is no transcoding because of the video/audio codecs used. Assume there is only transcoding because the client download speed is not high enough. I'm looking for file sizes, bitrates, etc. that will help Plex not transcode because of bandwidth restrictions.
I guess I'm confused what you are asking for. Assume there is no transcoding because of the video/audio codecs used. Assume there is only transcoding because the client download speed is not high enough. I'm looking for file sizes, bitrates, etc. that will help Plex not transcode because of bandwidth restrictions.
plex doesnt auto scale the stream size, the server will send the stream at whichever is the lowest of either the bit-rate of the media in question, or the bandwidth setting set in the client.
to avoid transcoding due to low bandwidth, encode the video just a bit lower than the bandwidth to you client, and set your client setting higher than what your actually bandwidth is.
e.g. if your bandwidth is 10Mbps, encode your videos to 9Mbps and set the client setting to anything more than 10Mbps.
plex doesnt auto scale the stream size, the server will send the stream at whichever is the lowest of either the bit-rate of the media in question, or the bandwidth setting set in the client.
to avoid transcoding due to low bandwidth, encode the video just a bit lower than the bandwidth to you client, and set your client setting higher than what your actually bandwidth is.
e.g. if your bandwidth is 10Mbps, encode your videos to 9Mbps and set the client setting to anything more than 10Mbps.
Yes I get that. I am asking how many duplicate files (of different qualities) do I need. Assume that there is no upload cap. Also assume that I have no control over the quality settings of the client. Do I really need to rip copies for 64kbps, 96kbps, 208kbps, 320kbps, 1.5Mbps, 2Mbps, 3Mbps, 4Mbps, 8Mbps, 10Mbps, 12Mbps, etc?
Yes I get that. I am asking how many duplicate files (of different qualities) do I need. Assume that there is no upload cap. Also assume that I have no control over the quality settings of the client. Do I really need to rip copies for 64kbps, 96kbps, 208kbps, 320kbps, 1.5Mbps, 2Mbps, 3Mbps, 4Mbps, 8Mbps, 10Mbps, 12Mbps, etc?
kinda obvious right - you'll need an encode at every quality option you want to make available for your clients, and you'll need to ensure they manually select the file appropriate for them.
kinda obvious right - you'll need an encode at every quality option you want to make available for your clients, and you'll need to ensure they manually select the file appropriate for them.
Ok that's what I figured but nobody had really spelled it out before. It would be nice if I could just do like one 480p encode, one 720p, and a high and low 1080p but looks like that's not going to happen. I'm assuming when Plex has the quality setting of "1.5Mbps 480p" it means that the resolution is 480p and the combined bitrate of the audio and video is 1.5Mbps?
Ok that's what I figured but nobody had really spelled it out before. It would be nice if I could just do like one 480p encode, one 720p, and a high and low 1080p but looks like that's not going to happen. I'm assuming when Plex has the quality setting of "1.5Mbps 480p" it means that the resolution is 480p and the combined bitrate of the audio and video is 1.5Mbps?
you dont care about res, you care about bit-rate - different source will look better at certain resolutions given the same bit-rate.
any why would you not just have a few files? they can have their client set to 20Mbps, and if they select the 2Mbps file, it will still come across at 2Mbps.
I guess if you wanted to create a bunch of different files at different bitrates the best way to distribute them would be to create a separate library section for each one, e.g:
Movies (High Quality)
Movies (Medium Quality)
Movies (Low Quality)
If you are sharing your server to people you know have limited bandwidth then you can share only the low quality sections
you dont care about res, you care about bit-rate - different source will look better at certain resolutions given the same bit-rate.
any why would you not just have a few files? they can have their client set to 20Mbps, and if they select the 2Mbps file, it will still come across at 2Mbps.
What if you reverse that though? What if they had their client set at 2Mbps and then chose a larger file such as 20Mbps. Right now, I only have one copy so I'm not 100% sure this is right but wouldn't it still transcode?
I guess if you wanted to create a bunch of different files at different bitrates the best way to distribute them would be to create a separate library section for each one, e.g:
Movies (High Quality)
Movies (Medium Quality)
Movies (Low Quality)
If you are sharing your server to people you know have limited bandwidth then you can share only the low quality sections
Seems like way too much work though.
It is a little bit of work but I just can't get enough processing power. Acording to the 2,000 passmark score guideline, I should be able to decode almost 5 streams with my i7 but I struggle to do two most of the time. Hard drive space is a lot cheaper than processing power.
What if you reverse that though? What if they had their client set at 2Mbps and then chose a larger file such as 20Mbps. Right now, I only have one copy so I'm not 100% sure this is right but wouldn't it still transcode?
yes, that will transcode down to their client setting
Giving them multiple options isnt going to solve that though, likely it will make it worse, there client might still be set on 2, but now they will have a 2, 4, 8, 10, 12 and 20 option to choose from and you're hoping they pick the right one.
So if I have a 2Mbps quality copy and they play the video on their client set a 2Mbps, it gives them a choice to play a 20Mbps copy? That makes zero sense... Back to square one I guess. There seems to be no good way of having 10+ users with Plex which seems strange considering a lot of the focus seems to be on having multiple clients and one server...
So if I have a 2Mbps quality copy and they play the video on their client set a 2Mbps, it gives them a choice to play a 20Mbps copy? That makes zero sense... Back to square one I guess. There seems to be no good way of having 10+ users with Plex which seems strange considering a lot of the focus seems to be on having multiple clients and one server...
there is no automatic here...
e.g.
you have a movie, called good movie
you make 20 different rips of it
for what you are suggesting you now need to make 20 different entries in plex for it (e.g., new movie (2Mbps), new movie (4Mbps) etc etc )
you need to now rely on your users playing the right one for their specific situation, if they pick a too big version, you are transcoding again.
Re-posting my answer for basically the same question just the other day:
There are several factors besides file format that determine transcoding. Bitrate vs. network connection speed is another big one, and you cannot always control this. Plex is designed around transcoding to deliver its feature-set… avoiding transcoding is like buying a car and trying to figure out how to use it always in 5th gear.
