Raspberry Pi server opinion

Plex Media Server NAS & Devices
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Hello plex user,

I am looking at upgrading my setup, currently using Kodi but my box is at the end of his life and would need replacement - I would also need to purchase another one to add into the bedroom.

Long story short, I am looking at my options and with two fairly recent smart tvs I am questioning the need to have a box running Kodi on each tvs when they are capable of playing most video files.

For reference I have a Samsung UE65MU6120K and an LG 43UM7000PLA (below a screenshot of both tv’s video files capacity.


The key point is to have access to all my library on both tv’s and also two computer and to keep track of what has been watched (shared library)

Now I understand that the raspberry (will purchase a Pi 4b with 8gb or ram) will not be able to trans-code.

The question there is with this equipment will there be a need to trans-code files? I am not looking to stream files on the go outside of the house onto a tablet or smartphone. I might however, used Plex to play my music outside of the house onto my android phone, 99% of my files are mp3.

It will shortly be equipped with a fibre to the home running at 300 mb/s download and 120mb/s upload so I can’t imagine that I will have issue there?

What’s you opinion?

Thank you for your time, and I am looking forward to your replies.

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Using the Plex app on LG & Samsung TVs:

  • Enabling image based subtitles, PGS or VOBSUB, results in a video transcode.
  • If the audio is transcoding, enabling any subtitle results in a video transcode.

Neither TV supports TrueHD audio, so playing a TrueHD audio track will result in an audio transcode. Movies released on Blu-ray with TrueHD audio also have a Dolby Digital (AC-3) version of the audio. If available, choose the Dolby Digital audio track instead of the TrueHD audio track.

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Thank you for your reply.

There is a possibility of using a Bmax B1 (MaxMini B1 - Mini PC - BMAX) - a small computer (specs below) According to this topic (What is the state of Linux hardware transcoding with AMD CPUs?) that Bmax should then be able to trans-code as the CPU has Intel Quick Sync Video. (Intel Spec sheet => Intel® Celeron® Processor N3060 (2M Cache, up to 2.48 GHz) Product Specifications)

That should be also be powerful enough to run all other desired services?

CPU: Intel Celeron N3060
Graphics: Intel HD Graphics 400
RAM: 4GB Lattice DDR3
Storage: 64GB BWIN

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That CPU has a very low PassMark score of 672. In my opinion it would not be a good choice for a Plex server, even if using hardware transcoding (using Quick Sync Graphics) when transcoding video (Plex Pass required).

It will most likely fail when burning in subtitles to the video stream. “Burning in” subtitles is adding the subtitles to the video instead of sending them as a separate part of the stream.

When running Plex on Linux and using Intel Quick Sync Graphics, subtitles are burned into the video stream by the CPU, even though the video is transcoded by the GPU.

Furthermore, the process is single threaded. Celeron processors have low single threaded capability, so they struggle with burning in subtitles.

I run Plex on a Synology DS918+, with a J3455 processor. It can transcode video just fine, but it struggles with burning in subtitles to some movies, such as Blu-ray rips.

How this affects you:

You’re running into a limitation of the Plex app for Samsung and LG TVs. As mentioned in my first reply, enabling subtitles can result in a video transcode. If this happens, the subtitles will be burned into the video stream.

Options:

Avoid subtitles when using the Samsung or LG TVs. If you do use them, use only SRT (text) subtitles and audio that does not transcode (Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital Plus, dts).

Use a higher power CPU. Something not a Celeron, such as an i3 or better. An i3-7100 or 8100 could transcode 1080p w/o a Plex Pass. With a Plex Pass they can transcode 4K using hardware acceleration (unknown if they will perform HDR → SDR tonemapping).

Use a different Plex client. Not all Plex clients have the same limitations as the Samsung and LG apps. For example, the Plex Android TV app does not transcode video when subtitles are used.

I have a Nvidia Shield and an Amazon FireStick 4K (both AndroidTV based). I can enable PGS/VOBSUB/SRT subtitles on either without the video transcoding.

Unfortunately there is no master list of Plex clients and how they handle various video/audio/subtitle formats. I can’t tell you how a Roku stick or Apple TV would behave, as I’ve no direct experience with either.

Additional References:

Plex CPU requirements when transcoding w/o hardware acceleration
What kind of CPU do I need for my Server?

Plex HDR to SDR Tonemapping - Still in beta. System requirements are still largely unknown.

Wikipedia: Intel Quick Sync Graphics Note Apollo Lake or later is needed to transcode 4K HDR video.

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