PMS will not transcode True HD for clients

Plex Media Server NAS & Devices
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1

I’m using LSIO’s docker container on a Snyology DS1817+ NAS with the latest PMS installed (1.20.3.3437). I’m testing out playing a movie through my Samsung Galaxy S8+ mobile android device and all TrueHD audio (whether 5.1 or 7.1) streams fail with error “unable to play media” device. I have video transcoding disabled on PMS because the NAS does not support hardware transcoding support. The client can play 4K and 1080p streams so that shouldn’t be a problem. I also have subtitles disabled to make sure that the error isn’t caused by the video not being supported. And playing the same file with the alternate audio stream (AC3 or DTS-HD MA, for example) works just fine, so it isn’t the video.

I have debug logging enabled in PMS and here are the logs:

The relevant logs start from Oct 18, 2020, 19:10:25 and here’s a snippet:

Oct 18, 2020 19:10:25.189 [0x7f63437f6700] DEBUG - It took 10.000000 ms to retrieve 101 items.
Oct 18, 2020 19:10:25.190 [0x7f63437f6700] DEBUG - We're going to try to auto-select an audio stream for account 1.
Oct 18, 2020 19:10:25.190 [0x7f63437f6700] DEBUG - Selecting best audio stream for part ID 78900 (autoselect: 1 language: en)
Oct 18, 2020 19:10:25.190 [0x7f63437f6700] DEBUG - Audio Stream: 181028, Subtitle Stream: 0
Oct 18, 2020 19:10:25.203 [0x7f63437f6700] DEBUG - It took 0.000000 ms to retrieve 101 items.
Oct 18, 2020 19:10:25.254 [0x7f63cbfff700] DEBUG - Completed: [192.168.10.203:45474] 200 GET /library/metadata/29686?includeChapters=1&includeLoudnessRamps=1&includeMarkers=1&includeRelated=1 (17 live) TLS GZIP 76ms 11151 bytes (pipelined: 22)
Oct 18, 2020 19:10:25.282 [0x7f63cbfff700] DEBUG - Auth: authenticated user 1 as Kevin Ong
Oct 18, 2020 19:10:25.282 [0x7f63827fc700] DEBUG - Request: [192.168.10.203:45542 (Subnet)] GET /video/:/transcode/universal/decision?audioBoost=120&autoAdjustQuality=0&directPlay=0&directStream=1&directStreamAudio=1&fastSeek=1&hasMDE=1&location=lan&maxVideoBitrate=200000&mediaBufferSize=209664&mediaIndex=0&partIndex=0&path=%2Flibrary%2Fmetadata%2F29686&protocol=*&session=4ebe9634721bc941-com-plexapp-android&subtitleSize=100&videoBitrate=200000&videoQuality=100&videoResolution=3840x2160 (18 live) TLS GZIP Signed-in Token (Kevin Ong)
Oct 18, 2020 19:10:25.282 [0x7f63827fc700] DEBUG - [Transcode] Found session GUID of 4ebe9634721bc941-com-plexapp-android in session start.
Oct 18, 2020 19:10:25.283 [0x7f63827fc700] DEBUG - [Transcode] TranscodeUniversalRequest: using augmented profile Android
Oct 18, 2020 19:10:25.283 [0x7f63827fc700] DEBUG - [Transcode] Downloading document http://127.0.0.1:32400/library/metadata/29686?includeBandwidths=1&offset=-1&X-Plex-Incomplete-Segments=1&X-Plex-Session-Identifier=4ebe9634721bc941-com-plexapp-android
Oct 18, 2020 19:10:25.283 [0x7f63827fc700] DEBUG - [Transcode] Auth: authenticated user 1 as Kevin Ong
Oct 18, 2020 19:10:25.295 [0x7f63827fc700] DEBUG - [Transcode] It took 10.000000 ms to retrieve 101 items.
Oct 18, 2020 19:10:25.297 [0x7f63827fc700] DEBUG - [Transcode] We're going to try to auto-select an audio stream for account 1.
Oct 18, 2020 19:10:25.297 [0x7f63827fc700] DEBUG - [Transcode] Selecting best audio stream for part ID 78900 (autoselect: 1 language: en)
Oct 18, 2020 19:10:25.297 [0x7f63827fc700] DEBUG - [Transcode] Audio Stream: 181028, Subtitle Stream: 0
Oct 18, 2020 19:10:25.301 [0x7f63827fc700] DEBUG - [Transcode] Codecs: testing h264_nvenc (encoder)
Oct 18, 2020 19:10:25.302 [0x7f63827fc700] DEBUG - [Transcode] Codecs: hardware transcoding: testing API nvenc
Oct 18, 2020 19:10:25.302 [0x7f63827fc700] ERROR - [Transcode] [FFMPEG] - Cannot load libcuda.so.1
Oct 18, 2020 19:10:25.302 [0x7f63827fc700] ERROR - [Transcode] [FFMPEG] - Could not dynamically load CUDA
Oct 18, 2020 19:10:25.302 [0x7f63827fc700] DEBUG - [Transcode] Codecs: hardware transcoding: opening hw device failed - probably not supported by this system, error: Unknown error occurred
Oct 18, 2020 19:10:25.302 [0x7f63827fc700] DEBUG - [Transcode] Codecs: testing hevc (decoder) with hwdevice vaapi
Oct 18, 2020 19:10:25.302 [0x7f63827fc700] DEBUG - [Transcode] Codecs: hardware transcoding: testing API vaapi
Oct 18, 2020 19:10:25.302 [0x7f63827fc700] DEBUG - [Transcode] Codecs: hardware transcoding: opening hw device failed - probably not supported by this system, error: Generic error in an external library
Oct 18, 2020 19:10:25.302 [0x7f63827fc700] DEBUG - [Transcode] Codecs: testing hevc (decoder) with hwdevice nvdec
Oct 18, 2020 19:10:25.302 [0x7f63827fc700] DEBUG - [Transcode] Codecs: hardware transcoding: testing API nvdec
Oct 18, 2020 19:10:25.303 [0x7f63827fc700] ERROR - [Transcode] [FFMPEG] - Cannot load libcuda.so.1
Oct 18, 2020 19:10:25.303 [0x7f63827fc700] ERROR - [Transcode] [FFMPEG] - Could not dynamically load CUDA
Oct 18, 2020 19:10:25.303 [0x7f63827fc700] DEBUG - [Transcode] Codecs: hardware transcoding: opening hw device failed - probably not supported by this system, error: Unknown error occurred
Oct 18, 2020 19:10:25.303 [0x7f63827fc700] DEBUG - [Transcode] Scaled up video bitrate to 254421Kbps based on 4.500000x fudge factor.
Oct 18, 2020 19:10:25.303 [0x7f63827fc700] DEBUG - [Transcode] MDE: Selected protocol hls; container: mkv
Oct 18, 2020 19:10:25.303 [0x7f63827fc700] DEBUG - [Transcode] MDE: analyzing media item 72200
Oct 18, 2020 19:10:25.304 [0x7f63827fc700] DEBUG - [Transcode] MDE: Mission: Impossible (1996): Direct Play is disabled
Oct 18, 2020 19:10:25.304 [0x7f63827fc700] DEBUG - [Transcode] MDE: Mission: Impossible (1996): media must be transcoded in order to use the hls protocol
Oct 18, 2020 19:10:25.304 [0x7f63827fc700] DEBUG - [Transcode] MDE: Mission: Impossible (1996): no direct play video profile exists for http/mkv/hevc
Oct 18, 2020 19:10:25.304 [0x7f63827fc700] DEBUG - [Transcode] MDE: Mission: Impossible (1996): no direct play video profile exists for http/mkv/hevc/truehd
Oct 18, 2020 19:10:25.304 [0x7f63827fc700] DEBUG - [Transcode] MDE: Mission: Impossible (1996): no direct play video profile exists for http/mkv/hevc/ac3
Oct 18, 2020 19:10:25.304 [0x7f63827fc700] DEBUG - [Transcode] Mission: Impossible - video.colorTrc limitation applies: smpte2084 != bt709|bt470m|smpte240m|smpte170m|bt470bg|bt2020-10 [list]
Oct 18, 2020 19:10:25.304 [0x7f63827fc700] DEBUG - [Transcode] MDE: Mission: Impossible (1996): no remuxable profile found, so video stream will be transcoded
Oct 18, 2020 19:10:25.304 [0x7f63827fc700] DEBUG - [Transcode] Codecs: testing h264_nvenc (encoder)
Oct 18, 2020 19:10:25.304 [0x7f63827fc700] DEBUG - [Transcode] Codecs: hardware transcoding: testing API nvenc
Oct 18, 2020 19:10:25.304 [0x7f63827fc700] ERROR - [Transcode] [FFMPEG] - Cannot load libcuda.so.1
Oct 18, 2020 19:10:25.304 [0x7f63827fc700] ERROR - [Transcode] [FFMPEG] - Could not dynamically load CUDA
Oct 18, 2020 19:10:25.304 [0x7f63827fc700] DEBUG - [Transcode] Codecs: hardware transcoding: opening hw device failed - probably not supported by this system, error: Unknown error occurred
Oct 18, 2020 19:10:25.304 [0x7f63827fc700] DEBUG - [Transcode] MDE: Cannot direct stream video stream due to profile or setting limitations
Oct 18, 2020 19:10:25.304 [0x7f63827fc700] DEBUG - [Transcode] Codecs: testing hevc (decoder) with hwdevice vaapi
Oct 18, 2020 19:10:25.305 [0x7f63827fc700] DEBUG - [Transcode] Codecs: hardware transcoding: testing API vaapi
Oct 18, 2020 19:10:25.305 [0x7f63827fc700] DEBUG - [Transcode] Codecs: hardware transcoding: opening hw device failed - probably not supported by this system, error: Generic error in an external library
Oct 18, 2020 19:10:25.305 [0x7f63827fc700] DEBUG - [Transcode] Codecs: testing hevc (decoder) with hwdevice nvdec
Oct 18, 2020 19:10:25.305 [0x7f63827fc700] DEBUG - [Transcode] Codecs: hardware transcoding: testing API nvdec
Oct 18, 2020 19:10:25.305 [0x7f63827fc700] ERROR - [Transcode] [FFMPEG] - Cannot load libcuda.so.1
Oct 18, 2020 19:10:25.305 [0x7f63827fc700] ERROR - [Transcode] [FFMPEG] - Could not dynamically load CUDA
Oct 18, 2020 19:10:25.305 [0x7f63827fc700] DEBUG - [Transcode] Codecs: hardware transcoding: opening hw device failed - probably not supported by this system, error: Unknown error occurred
Oct 18, 2020 19:10:25.305 [0x7f63827fc700] DEBUG - [Transcode] Scaled up video bitrate to 254421Kbps based on 4.500000x fudge factor.
Oct 18, 2020 19:10:25.306 [0x7f63827fc700] DEBUG - [Transcode] MDE: Cannot direct stream audio stream due to codec truehd when profile only allows aac
Oct 18, 2020 19:10:25.306 [0x7f63827fc700] DEBUG - [Transcode] MDE: Mission: Impossible (1996): selected media 0 / 72200
Oct 18, 2020 19:10:25.306 [0x7f63827fc700] DEBUG - [Transcode] Streaming Resource: Calculated bandwidth of 267955kbps exceeds bandwidth limit. Changing decision parameters provided by client to fit bandwidth limit of 200000kbps
Oct 18, 2020 19:10:25.306 [0x7f63827fc700] DEBUG - [Transcode] Streaming Resource: Determining preferred transcode encoders through transcode only decision.
Oct 18, 2020 19:10:25.306 [0x7f63827fc700] DEBUG - [Transcode] Codecs: testing h264_nvenc (encoder)
Oct 18, 2020 19:10:25.306 [0x7f63827fc700] DEBUG - [Transcode] Codecs: hardware transcoding: testing API nvenc
Oct 18, 2020 19:10:25.307 [0x7f63827fc700] ERROR - [Transcode] [FFMPEG] - Cannot load libcuda.so.1
Oct 18, 2020 19:10:25.307 [0x7f63827fc700] ERROR - [Transcode] [FFMPEG] - Could not dynamically load CUDA
Oct 18, 2020 19:10:25.307 [0x7f63827fc700] DEBUG - [Transcode] Codecs: hardware transcoding: opening hw device failed - probably not supported by this system, error: Unknown error occurred
Oct 18, 2020 19:10:25.307 [0x7f63827fc700] DEBUG - [Transcode] Codecs: testing hevc (decoder) with hwdevice vaapi
Oct 18, 2020 19:10:25.307 [0x7f63827fc700] DEBUG - [Transcode] Codecs: hardware transcoding: testing API vaapi
Oct 18, 2020 19:10:25.307 [0x7f63827fc700] DEBUG - [Transcode] Codecs: hardware transcoding: opening hw device failed - probably not supported by this system, error: Generic error in an external library
Oct 18, 2020 19:10:25.307 [0x7f63827fc700] DEBUG - [Transcode] Codecs: testing hevc (decoder) with hwdevice nvdec
Oct 18, 2020 19:10:25.307 [0x7f63827fc700] DEBUG - [Transcode] Codecs: hardware transcoding: testing API nvdec
Oct 18, 2020 19:10:25.307 [0x7f63827fc700] ERROR - [Transcode] [FFMPEG] - Cannot load libcuda.so.1
Oct 18, 2020 19:10:25.307 [0x7f63827fc700] ERROR - [Transcode] [FFMPEG] - Could not dynamically load CUDA
Oct 18, 2020 19:10:25.307 [0x7f63827fc700] DEBUG - [Transcode] Codecs: hardware transcoding: opening hw device failed - probably not supported by this system, error: Unknown error occurred
Oct 18, 2020 19:10:25.307 [0x7f63827fc700] DEBUG - [Transcode] Scaled up video bitrate to 254421Kbps based on 4.500000x fudge factor.
Oct 18, 2020 19:10:25.308 [0x7f63827fc700] DEBUG - [Transcode] Codecs: testing h264_nvenc (encoder)
Oct 18, 2020 19:10:25.309 [0x7f63827fc700] DEBUG - [Transcode] Codecs: hardware transcoding: testing API nvenc
Oct 18, 2020 19:10:25.309 [0x7f63827fc700] ERROR - [Transcode] [FFMPEG] - Cannot load libcuda.so.1
Oct 18, 2020 19:10:25.309 [0x7f63827fc700] ERROR - [Transcode] [FFMPEG] - Could not dynamically load CUDA
Oct 18, 2020 19:10:25.309 [0x7f63827fc700] DEBUG - [Transcode] Codecs: hardware transcoding: opening hw device failed - probably not supported by this system, error: Unknown error occurred
Oct 18, 2020 19:10:25.309 [0x7f63827fc700] DEBUG - [Transcode] Codecs: testing hevc (decoder) with hwdevice vaapi
Oct 18, 2020 19:10:25.309 [0x7f63827fc700] DEBUG - [Transcode] Codecs: hardware transcoding: testing API vaapi
Oct 18, 2020 19:10:25.309 [0x7f63827fc700] DEBUG - [Transcode] Codecs: hardware transcoding: opening hw device failed - probably not supported by this system, error: Generic error in an external library
Oct 18, 2020 19:10:25.309 [0x7f63827fc700] DEBUG - [Transcode] Codecs: testing hevc (decoder) with hwdevice nvdec
Oct 18, 2020 19:10:25.310 [0x7f63827fc700] DEBUG - [Transcode] Codecs: hardware transcoding: testing API nvdec
Oct 18, 2020 19:10:25.310 [0x7f63827fc700] ERROR - [Transcode] [FFMPEG] - Cannot load libcuda.so.1
Oct 18, 2020 19:10:25.310 [0x7f63827fc700] ERROR - [Transcode] [FFMPEG] - Could not dynamically load CUDA
Oct 18, 2020 19:10:25.310 [0x7f63827fc700] DEBUG - [Transcode] Codecs: hardware transcoding: opening hw device failed - probably not supported by this system, error: Unknown error occurred

What is going on? The expectation is for PMS to transcode the audio to a stream that is compatible with the client since the client doesn’t obviously support TrueHD.

2

So I tried enabling video transcoding and played the same movie on the same client. Unexpectedly, on top of converting TRUEHD to AAC it tried converting the 4K HEVC to 4K H264 video too! Naturally, it made my NAS’ CPU usage crawl to 100% and the movie was stuck at buffering! So, does that mean that Plex can only convert TRUEHD to a compatible audio format if it can also convert 4K HEVC to 4K H264 ? Why can’t it convert just the audio alone?

4

I know that it doesn’t support hardware transcoding. But as the feature says “use hw trancsoding WHEN AVAILABLE”. Shouldn’t Plex be smart enough to not use hw transcoding when not available in a hardware?

I thought transcoding audio needs a lot less CPU power compared to video? Your 2000 passmark requirement is for a 1080p bitrate file so that’s video transcoding. Do you have any baseline requirement for truehd audio?

Also, I have another Debian NAS that use an Intel Gemini Lake J505 CPU that supports hw transcoding. It has the same behavior when I disable video transcoding. It does not transcode audio only. What is the explanation to that?

Any reason why you don’t like the LSIO docker container?

6

What do you mean “when appropriate video is available”? So the feature label “use hardware acceleration when available” is ambiguous, don’t you think? If you read it normally, it’s saying that it will use hw acceleration if it’s available.

Ok, I didn’t know audio transcoding requires as much as video transcoding. Yes, I know audio transcoding is software only. Does direct streaming also apply for audio though?

Ok, I’ll do the test on my J5005 NAS and check the logs for the same error.

I understand the Docker layer adding complexity to Plex but if I don’t do any kind of transcoding anyway, why bother switching, right? And the docker layer adds a very minor hit to Plex. That’s the whole concept of docker technology. Direct playing files off of this PMS works just fine.

8

On the same docker PMS, I played another 1080p/TrueHD 7.1 movie and it’s doing what I’m expecting it to do now:

image

And it was just using 60% CPU of my NAS.

And then I played the same 4K/TrueHD Mission Impossible movie and got the same error as before.

So that tells me that transcoding audio DOES NOT use as much CPU resources as transcoding video. I’m curious why you said otherwise?

I thought direct streaming doesn’t use that much CPU resource too? If so, why did playing a 1080p/truehd movie work but playing a 4k/truehd movie did not?

10

Transcoding a 1080p video to a 720p video results to more than 60% CPU usage on this system. Maybe even close to a 100% because like you said this CPU only has 1080 CPU passmark score.

Yes, transcoding audio ONLY is my goal. So the question now is why can it not transcode audio ONLY when a 4k/truehd movie file is being played when it can transcode audio only for a 1080p/truehd movie file? Basically, this is the summary on the same client:

  1. 4K/AC3 movie file -> direct play of both video and audio which proves that the client supports 4K
  2. 4K/TrueHD -> cannot play
  3. 1080p/TrueHD -> direct stream of video and transcode of TrueHD to EAC3

My goal is for the result of #3 to work with the #2 movie file type. I hope that makes sense.

11

Why can it direct play a 4K video (while direct playing an AC3 audio) but cannot direct stream a 4K video (while transcoding the audio). I think that sums up the question in this thread.

13

Again, I’m playing the same Mission Impossible 4K/TrueHD file. The Gravity 1080p/TrueHD file was just to prove that my PMS can handle a TrueHD transcode. So let’s concentrate on the Mission Impossible file here.

Again, video transcoding is disabled. This is the streaming decision log for Mission: Impossible:

Oct 19, 2020 08:12:50.754 [0x7f63ca7fc700] DEBUG - [Transcode] Streaming Resource: Reached Decision id=29686 codes=(General=2000,Neither direct play nor conversion is available. Direct Play=3000,App cannot direct play this item. Direct play is disabled. Transcode=4002,Not enough CPU for conversion of this item.)

Why can it not direct stream a 4K video? Is direct streaming not supported for 4K? We saw that it happened on the 1080p/TrueHd file so what’s the reason why it can’t happen on the 4K video.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not pushing my hardware to something that it cannot support but I want to understand why it can’t in the first place. It’s not making sense to me at this point unless I’m missing something. I do hope you continue to help.

15

Of course, I didn’t miss those. My question is why would it need to convert the 4K video?! It should be direct streaming it because my client supports 4K.

17

I understand what you’re saying. It’s all about compatibility.

BUT, like I mentioned earlier this same client can DIRECT PLAY the same Mission: Impossible file at 4K. But it will only direct play the file when I choose the AC3 stream on the same file. When TrueHD is chosen, I expect it to direct stream the video and transcode the audio (because I know it can transcode a TrueHD stream, as proven when I played another 1080p/TrueHd file).

So we’re talking about the same client and the same 4K/TrueHd/AC3 file here. With that said, what do you mean by my client not supporting this particular video?

19

Argh. I really don’t get it. Because what you’re explaining are incompatibilities between DIFFERENT clients. I’m using the same client to test and I have a simple question:

Why does a 4K stream need to be re-encoded (while a TrueHD audio stream is selected) when it can direct play the same 4K stream (while AC3 is selected)? I still don’t see an answer to that question. The client can direct play the 4K stream which means IT SUPPORTS it. So if an unsupported audio stream of that same file is selected, why can it not just transcode the audio?

Also, I will not re-encode all my files to MP4, H.264/AAC. I have 9.2.4 setup home theater setup that can accommodate all types of files through an Nvidia Shield TV Pro and a Dolby Atmos Marantz receiver. That is the main reason I have TrueHD movies. What I’m doing now with my mobile device is more of initial testing as I’m finding out different capabilities with different types of devices. Like I said, I’m just trying to find out the technical answer behind this failure.

20

Also, I specifically used a client device that does not support TrueHD to test this out. It’s not like this test client is my main client. I’m just doing this for the sake of testing because I bought a Fire Stick 4K that will go in my LG 4K TV’s (a combination of OLED and non-OLED) and I know that the Fire Stick doesn’t support TrueHD decoding/passthrough. So I would like to know if “audio transcoding only” works in Plex.

21

This is a direct answer to my question!

It’s a post from 2017 but it directly explains the behavior I’m seeing. So for a 4K HEVC file, direct streaming is not supported if the audio needs to be transcoded. A video transcode is needed. I’m surprised that it’s already 2020 and the Plex team still can’t figure out how to direct stream 4K HEVC.

I’m sorry but I do not see that explanation in your post regarding client-server compatibilities. This is what I’ve been trying to say from the very beginning but it seems that we are not understanding each other.

Also, I’m seeing numerous posts of people telling that audio transcoding is not as heavy as video transcoding. Here’s an example: Reddit - Dive into anything . You might want to steer away from the notion that audio transcoding takes as much CPU as video transcoding as that’s completely wrong. No offense meant.

22

Audio transcoding can only utilize one core of a cpu in order to keep it in sync with the Video.
Neither of you CPU choices appears to have enough single core capability to handle real time lossless audio transcoding. Since there are many factors that could impact this I can understand why Plex does not provide requirements.

23

Ok. So are you saying that with a higher-tier CPU, direct streaming 4K HEVC while transcoding TrueHD to EAC3 is possible? I have an Intel NUC 10th gen kit with an i7-10710U CPU (10K average cpu passmark score) that I’m planning to use and migrate this PMS instance to. If that is true, then this should work. If it doesn’t, then 4K HEVC direct streaming is still not supported until now regardless of CPU performance. I would hope some Plex dev can confirm this though.

25

I’m really not sure why you are being aggressive. I’m not being a know-it-all. I can admit easily that I’m not an expert with what I’m asking here. I’m just going by what I read here in the forums. And since that I’m 100% sure that you understand more than me is the reason why I even posted here in the forums in the first place.

I’m asking a question and I’m giving out behavior comparisons here but you don’t give me a direct answer. I’m testing with the same client and I’m asking I’m asking why it cannot direct stream a 4K HEVC video while transcoding audio but you keep on insisting that my client does not support this particular video? How can you even say that if it can direct play 4K HEVC while the chosen audio stream is AC3?

Again, I’m just going by what I understand. If I’m not understanding it correctly, I’m asking your help as to what is making me confused about this whole thing. The comparison I’m explaining makes sense to me which is why I don’t understand what you are trying to point out.

Again, I don’t want any argument here. This is a simple discussion. I’m not well-versed in this field. I don’t pretend to. If I’m wrong, I can easily accept that. Sorry if you felt offended.

27

@trumpy81, I read all your answers over and over again and I just have some further clarifications to see if I understood. Can you answer these?

Is the reason why the mission impossible 4k/TrueHD file cannot direct stream video/transcode audio because the CPU does not have enough juice to do so? Is it that simple?

And if I understand it correctly, I was able to direct stream video/transcode audio the Gravity 1080p/TrueHD file because my CPU can handle that “specific” audio at 60% CPU, correct?

28

Putting this in perspective if I may:

The more complex audio codecs ( 8 channel is a a primary example ) require a lot more CPU power.

Most NAS CPUs don’t provide enough CPU for more than 1 stream. The J3455 is one of those where you will get one, maybe 2, hardware transcoded or direct stream playbacks with audio transcoded.

That will work until subtitles are involved. If a NAS CPU gets subtitles involved, it’s usually game-over. They can’t keep up.

Regarding processors:

  1. In the Intel family, -7xxx series (KabyLake) CPUs provide HEVC HDR capable and it’s excellent quality.
  2. i5-7500 quad core is a good solid workhorse for 2 streams
  3. i7-7700 quad core is a good solid workhorse for 3-4, maybe more, streams

In the above, i am discounting video. Direct Play of the video or transcoded by the hardware makes no difference.

hope this helps

PS: C2538 will be VERY hard pressed to perform 1 audio stream. I have such a CPU and it really does not do well. It makes a great NAS but it is not a “Media Server appliance”

1 Like
29

Got it. Thanks!

31

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