I have been a Plex user for only a few short years. I have loved the platform and all of the capabilities that Plex currently offers. I have a question/feature/product request. With my 9+TB of media files that I currently have on my Plex server, with all different types of file types and compression levels, I am looking for a tool or future feature from Plex to help optimize the media that I host on my server. I think that it would be helpful for a compression tool with all of the presets specifically to help plex, including naming, and all other metadata needed to import content directly into my library with all of the correct data. I have used tools like handbrake and others to compress files but it is a very manual process. I would love to be able to patch compress all of the media I have to a set standard. I hope what I am asking for makes sense. If anyone currently has a process or tools they are using to batch compress media files to plex recommended standards that would be a big help.
Also, if you have a decent and recent Intel CPU on your server, or if itās a shieldtv, you might have access to hardware accelerated transcoding of h265 files. Putting your files in h265 could save lots of space, but puts a strain on your server unless your clients can direct play it (most android devices and 4k devices can).
I am currently working on a Linux based script that may be of use, it recursively analyzes and transcodes all videos in sub paths.
Itās not complete, but it is fully functional.
The trick is to transcode for an intended goal. For example, transcoding to decrease your library size. Or transcoding so your clients can direct stream the content.
Be sure you are transcoding for the right reasons. Once itās done, there is no real āundoā button.
Transcoding just because you have a few differently encoded files is not a good reason. Plex can transcode on the fly, so as long as you have the CPU power, there is no real need.
On the other hand, if you donāt have a 24/7 high power CPU capable of transcoding the multiple streams you want, then transcoding to a format that all of your clients can natively handle, might be a reasonable choice.
The final thing to remember, is most recent Intel CPUs include up to x265 or HEVC hardware transcoding as standard via Quick sync. This includes Celerons. I have a little Celeron NUC that cost me about $180 USD, and it can transcode HEVC at 4K.
My point is, make sure you have a really good reason before transcoding an entire library. If you do, there WILL be quality loss.
