@katwitch said:
Guys,
I’m running the 64 bit version on my DS918+ and have hardware transcoding enabled. Yet, I’m at about 50% CPU on a 1080 video streaming to my Apple TV. What am I doing wrong?
Were you able to fix your high CPU issue ?
Unfortunately, no. I didn’t get any advice and I’ve exhausted what I know to try.
There’s an important discovery that I made along the way that I haven’t seen anyone in this thread admit (yet). Turning on hardware transcoding pretty much makes watching live TV impossible. It causes the TV stream to pause and re-buffer every 20-30 seconds. At least it does on my DS918+ and Apple TV 4K. In my opinion, having low a CPU is not worth the trade of poor quality live TV streaming.
May I suggest testing some other device other than Apple TV
I read someone else also having issues with Apple TV 4K when transcoding on 918+
I’m not sure what the point of that would be. I’m not ditching my Apple TV or the 918+. The, “if you can’t get it to work, go buy something else” option shouldn’t be necessary with devices as popular as these two.
@ChuckPA said:
If I may add my thoughts regarding LiveTV with the AppleTV 4K?
I use the Channels app. My family prefers that UI so that’s what gets used.
Chuck - thanks for the suggestion. Unfortunately, the channels app is too light on content for my family. The only network options are NBC and CBS and they don’t include all programming. For example, right now my family likes watching the Olympics but you can’t get that on NBC’s Plex channel. Local news would be another example of what we use that you cannot get on channels.
Interesting. I have, arguably, one of the worst cable providers in the country. “Digital” content, including the things nobody watches, is some 30 channels.
I presume you’re referring to the NBC internet stream (“NBC’s Plex channel”) ? The Channels app communicates directly with the tuner and nothing else.
I was commenting on Live (broadcast) TV, not any particular special purpose stream
Interesting. I have, arguably, one of the worst cable providers in the country. “Digital” content, including the things nobody watches, is some 30 channels.
I presume you’re referring to the NBC internet stream (“NBC’s Plex channel”) ? The Channels app communicates directly with the tuner and nothing else.
I was commenting on Live (broadcast) TV, not any particular special purpose stream
Chuck,
You had originally mentioned the “channels app,” which is different from live, broadcast or over the air TV. I think I understand now. Thanks for clarifying. I’m actually TRYING to do the same thing. I want to watch over the air, but as I originally said, turning on hardware transcoding makes that impossible because of the constant buffering. It would seem this game of “look how low my CPU is” only works if you don’t care to stream live TV.
If I have been unclear, please allow me to sort it out.
##Channels app
Digital tuner (OTA or Cable Card) e.g Silicon Dust HDHR3 Prime
Channels app install on iOS or tvOS device just like you install the Plex app except it needs no server. It streams directly from the tuner.
Viewing of OTA or Cable provider (whatever you subscribed to) content on your iDevice Live
##Intel J3355 / J3455 CPU and LiveTV
Frankly, the “look how low” game is indeed meaningless if one doesn’t get all the functionality one wants.
Audio transcoding will forever be software based if it’s necessary at all. Converting 5.1 -> 2 channel can take up 30% of one of these little CPUs. It’s unavoidable. I see the day coming when the devices will accept and internally decode & convert to match their speaker configuration and audio transcoding will be a thing of the past.
If you can hang in a little bit longer regarding Live TV, I think you’ll be really pleased with what’s happening. (wish I could say more)
Hi all,
I’ve a Synology DS918+ with Plex running under Docker.
“Use hardware acceleration when available” is checked, however it seems the hardware transcoding is not used (high CPU usage during transcode)
See screenshots
And with debug log enabled I’ve found a message about it:
Mar 05, 2018 20:53:15.877 [0x7f3fde3f8700] DEBUG - Codecs: hardware transcoding: testing API vaapi
Mar 05, 2018 20:53:15.878 [0x7f3fde3f8700] ERROR - [FFMPEG] - No VA display found for device: /dev/dri/renderD128.
Mar 05, 2018 20:53:15.878 [0x7f3fde3f8700] DEBUG - Codecs:** hardware transcoding: opening hw device failed - probably not supported by this system, error: Invalid argument**
Mar 05, 2018 20:53:15.972 [0x7f3fe0bfd700] DEBUG - TPU: hardware transcoding: enabled, but no hardware decode accelerator found
Mar 05, 2018 20:53:15.973 [0x7f3fe0bfd700] DEBUG - TPU: hardware transcoding: zero-copy support not present
Plex Version 1.12.0.4829
I tried to used the Plex native app on Synology, but the “Use hardware acceleration when available” is not visible.
I use the Plex on Docker because it’s the most simple way to manage server (and it seems Plex on Docker is 64bits, not native Synology App, is it true?)
Any reason to not have hardware transcoding enabled?
Thanks for the answer.
I’ll test again with native, just seen that the version proposed by default was not 64 bits (PlexMediaServer-1.11.3.4803-c40bba82e-x86.spk). I guess, the main reason to no see the “Use hardware acceleration when available” option.
thanks
@“Mr. Happy” said:
How many streams can I get from DS918+, looking at purchasing one. Appreciate the feedback.
This is somewhat of a grey area. There are people in this thread with very low processor use on two streams but they are not streaming “live” or over the air broadcast. It really depends on what you plan to stream, the quality of the video being streamed, and the endpoint device receiving that stream. Two simultaneous streams from my DS918+ is realistic and possible with HD video to various endpoints such as an Xbox and Apple TV on the same network.
@“Mr. Happy” said:
How many streams can I get from DS918+, looking at purchasing one. Appreciate the feedback.
This is somewhat of a grey area. There are people in this thread with very low processor use on two streams but they are not streaming “live” or over the air broadcast. It really depends on what you plan to stream, the quality of the video being streamed, and the endpoint device receiving that stream. Two simultaneous streams from my DS918+ is realistic and possible with HD video to various endpoints such as an Xbox and Apple TV on the same network.
Thanks, my device is coming today. I guess I can always return it if I’m not happy with performance. The video that I’m looking at streaming is 1080p, 10bit, HEVC. A couple of devices will be transcoding and everything else will be direct play. Right now I’m run plex on my “Synology DS1815+” I’m hoping I can map the drive to the DS918+ and get better performance from Plex.
trumpy81: Thaaanks :neutral:
My idea was to use the exact same files, to compare my NAS performance with yours. Not just a random video.
My 718+ is struggling with 60mb/s HEVC SDR files - perhaps because of the 2GB of RAM.
@“tchad^dk” said:
trumpy81: Thaaanks :neutral:
My idea was to use the exact same files, to compare my NAS performance with yours. Not just a random video.
My 718+ is struggling with 60mb/s HEVC SDR files - perhaps because of the 2GB of RAM.
If I may augment here?
Your limitation is the memory. DSM + PMS = 1+ GB. The typical x18 series Synology user has increased to 8GB (both DIMMs) and has no issues
