I am thinking about getting an HD HomeRun device to use with Plex and am trying to decide between the Connect and Extend. I would like to go with the Connect for cost reasons, but am wondering if the Extend’s transcoding abilities are worth the extra cost. I think my network could handle the raw MPEG2 stream from the Connect (recently upgraded to an AC router and WiFi isn’t too congested), but am also thinking about space requirements on my server. I have a decent computer running my Plex server, so it should be able to handle any transcoding from the computational aspect, either offline or live.
My question is: What support does Plex have for transcoding for DVR and live viewing from HD HomeRun devices? What options are available? It looks like I need a device to be able to set it up to look at the options myself, but I’d like to know before buying one. I have searched around some and seen references to transcoding, so it seems like that is something Plex can do. But if anyone can shed some light on the details of what is possible, I would appreciate it.
For reference, I have a Shield TV that will be the main client (not my server; set that up long before getting the Shield), but might occasionally want to view on an Android phone or Chromecast.
Plex currently has the ability to convert live streams while recording, although it’s tagged as an “experimental” feature, so your mileage may vary in terms of its reliability. I know in my case, using an HDHomeRun Connect, I’ve had less reliable recordings with this toggled on (either aborted recordings, or those that are stuck at 100% and never complete), so I’ve given up on it until Plex acknowledges it’s ready for mainstream use.
As a result, I’m recording all of my content in the raw MPEG2-TS. For transient recordings that I’m going to watch-and-delete, I don’t really care that much about the disk space. I remove commercials from anything I want to keep in my library anyway, so transcoding those to H.264 as part of that process isn’t really that big of a deal (the huge MPEG2-TS files are a bit more of a bear to work with, but still manageable on my MacBook Pro).
Plex does provide the ability to run a “postprocessing script” that you can craft yourself to run something after the recording is finished but before adding it to the library. This could be used to run Handbrake-CLI or ffmpeg to convert the recording, comskip to remove commercials, and so forth. I haven’t played with this yet; I’m planning to take a closer look at some point, but it hasn’t been a priority.
Note that SiliconDust’s product pages are a bit misleading; neither of the HDHomeRun devices — Connect or Extend — include built-in Wi-Fi, so you’ll have to hardwire them to your router either way (or use a Wi-Fi extender). The streaming issue has to do with your wireless clients, but since technically speaking, the Plex Media Server is your only “client” to the HDHomeRun, as long as that’s wired to your router as well, then your Wi-Fi isn’t really the issue. Even if you’re recording raw MPEG2-TS, Plex will most likely be transcoding your recordings for viewing on your client devices anyway.
So network performance really doesn’t have much of any bearing on choosing Connect or Extend; the only reason to worry about the difference for Plex users is saving disk space and transcoding time on the Plex Media Server. Of course, that also assumes you’re running a Plex Media Server capable of handling the transcoding; if you’re running a lower-performance NAS device, you’ll probably want to go with the Extend as you won’t even be able to transcode on-the-fly for viewing on your client devices.
@jhollington said:
The streaming issue has to do with your wireless clients, but since technically speaking, the Plex Media Server is your only “client” to the HDHomeRun, as long as that’s wired to your router as well, then your Wi-Fi isn’t really the issue. Even if you’re recording raw MPEG2-TS, Plex will most likely be transcoding your recordings for viewing on your client devices anyway.
Oh, this is an excellent insight that I had not thought about. My Plex server is indeed wired to my network, so WiFi wouldn’t matter for the HDHR in that case. I upgraded my server a while back so that it would have the horsepower to transcode on the fly. So sounds like I would be fine with a Connect in that case.
Of course, now they are no longer on sale, so I guess I will wait a bit longer for another sale or Plex Pass Perks offer, haha. Thanks for the help.
