Server too weak for transcodage?

Plex Media Server Desktops & Laptops
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Server Version#: 1.25.3.5409
Player Version#: 8.28.0.30077

Hello everybody,
To start, happy new year to all :stuck_out_tongue:

I have a transcoder problem on my linux server.

Specs:
CPU : 8x Intel(R) Core™ i5-8250U CPU @ 1.60GHz
RAM : 6gb
More than 100 free gb on disks

I enabled hardware decoding.
I’m trying to play my video files on my television (WebOS6 - LG Oled55) and on my phone (Android11 ​​- Galaxy S20 FE)

I can read all my files on my hard client installed on Windows.
Most of my media is in 4K HVEC (H.265), and for all these files, I have no worries.

However, on my phone and my television, I cannot play certain files in H.264 (some anime or series), if I deactivate transcoding, it indicates a reading error, and if I activate it and it tells me that my server is not powerful enough, however this kind of file, my devices are able to read them without transcoding, and moreover, my server is probably powerful enough to transcode H.264 1080p right?

When I’m doing 4K H.265, I’m at 5% CPU usage and the same for RAM.

I also specify that other files also in 1080p H.264 work without any problem, despite being heavier (2-3 times larger).

I would note one last thing, when I run these problematic files on Windows, I get a blue screen that appears less than a second before I run my media.

I don’t know if you can help me, but thanks in advance :stuck_out_tongue:


Bye :-)

PS1: I set the playback quality on my phone and TV to Original, to try to avoid transcoding, nothing changes…

PS2: I plan to get a QNAP TS-453D-4G, I saw on a Google sheet file that it was ok for 4K transcoding (although my devices are supposed to be able to read these files by default)

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Anything special about those videos of yours?
You can check some key characteristics using Get Info > View XML from the movie’s context menu in Plex Web; the interesting part will be the <Media>...</Media> section.

https://support.plex.tv/articles/201998867-investigate-media-information-and-formats/

Do you mean an actual blue-screen as in the system locks up or simply the app showing a blue background?

As for the QNAP TS-453D… just keep in mind not all media can be transcoded using the iGPU and that Celeron can barely keep up with 1080p content (if you’re lucky). The moment your clients need Plex to burn-in a subtitle, this will be over the CPU’s head. The same can be true for modern high-quality audio tracks which require excessive power to be decoded.

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To add to Tom,

The TS-453D will not be as powerful as powerful as your i5.

	Intel® Celeron® J4125 4-core/4-thread processor, burst up to 2.7 GHz

The i5 has more raw CPU power than the J4125 which is needed for audio transcoding and subtitle burning (which is a big problem for NAS processors).

J4125: 3024
i5-8250U: 5245

The i5 is 73% more powerful than the J4125

Like Tom, I too would be interested in knowing more about the playback failures

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