Server Version: 1.41.3.9314
OS: Windows 11 23H2 22631.4830
CPU: i3 - 9100
RAM: 40GB (8gb RAM disk for transcoding)
GPU: Intel Arc A310
Storage: SSD for Windows and Plex, Spinning disks for media, RAM disk for transcode
I am running Plex on a home server running Windows 11. Yesterday I added an Intel Arc A310 to the machine in order to gain some more transcoding power. All drivers are fully up to date and resizable bar is enabled if that matters.
Transcoding performance is fantastic, except for one rather large gotcha. It is taking about 30 seconds for a transcode to get spun up and get going. I’ve tested many clients (including the web), so I’ve isolated the issue to the server side. What happens is you push play on the client. It seems as if nothing is happening. If you let it sit for about 30 seconds you will eventually get the typical orange spinner for about 2 seconds. At that point the GPU actually shows activity in windows, and plex acknowledges the session in the dashboard.
Switching back to software transcoding causes playback to begin quickly as expected. Direct playback is almost instant.
I’ve attached logs from 3 sessions. Hardware transcoding, Software transcoding, and Verbose Hardware transcoding.
Here is a small snippet that I believe shows the issue. Whatever this process of getting the GPU setup to transcode seems to take quite a bit of time.
Feb 09, 2025 10:17:38.490 [20400] INFO - [Req#3f9/Transcode] [FFMPEG] - Using device 8086:56a6 (Intel(R) Arc(TM) A310 Graphics).
Feb 09, 2025 10:17:41.623 [20400] INFO - [Req#3f9/Transcode] [FFMPEG] - MFT name: 'Microsoft AAC Audio Encoder MFT'
Feb 09, 2025 10:17:41.630 [20400] INFO - [Req#3f9/Transcode] [FFMPEG] - Using device 8086:56a6 (Intel(R) Arc(TM) A310 Graphics).
Feb 09, 2025 10:17:44.755 [20400] INFO - [Req#3f9/Transcode] [FFMPEG] - MFT name: 'Microsoft AAC Audio Encoder MFT'
Feb 09, 2025 10:17:44.762 [20400] INFO - [Req#3f9/Transcode] [FFMPEG] - Using device 8086:56a6 (Intel(R) Arc(TM) A310 Graphics).
Feb 09, 2025 10:17:47.882 [20400] INFO - [Req#3f9/Transcode] [FFMPEG] - MFT name: 'Microsoft AAC Audio Encoder MFT'
Feb 09, 2025 10:17:47.889 [20400] INFO - [Req#3f9/Transcode] [FFMPEG] - Using device 8086:56a6 (Intel(R) Arc(TM) A310 Graphics).
Feb 09, 2025 10:17:51.006 [20400] INFO - [Req#3f9/Transcode] [FFMPEG] - MFT name: 'Microsoft AAC Audio Encoder MFT'
Feb 09, 2025 10:17:51.182 [20400] INFO - [Req#406/Transcode] [FFMPEG] - Using device 8086:56a6 (Intel(R) Arc(TM) A310 Graphics).
Feb 09, 2025 10:17:54.316 [20400] INFO - [Req#406/Transcode] [FFMPEG] - MFT name: 'Microsoft AAC Audio Encoder MFT'
Feb 09, 2025 10:17:54.323 [20400] INFO - [Req#406/Transcode] [FFMPEG] - Using device 8086:56a6 (Intel(R) Arc(TM) A310 Graphics).
Feb 09, 2025 10:17:57.459 [20400] INFO - [Req#406/Transcode] [FFMPEG] - MFT name: 'Microsoft AAC Audio Encoder MFT'
Feb 09, 2025 10:17:57.467 [20400] INFO - [Req#406/Transcode] [FFMPEG] - Using device 8086:56a6 (Intel(R) Arc(TM) A310 Graphics).
Feb 09, 2025 10:18:00.603 [20400] INFO - [Req#406/Transcode] [FFMPEG] - MFT name: 'Microsoft AAC Audio Encoder MFT'
Feb 09, 2025 10:18:00.610 [20400] INFO - [Req#406/Transcode] [FFMPEG] - Using device 8086:56a6 (Intel(R) Arc(TM) A310 Graphics).
Feb 09, 2025 10:18:03.749 [20400] INFO - [Req#406/Transcode] [FFMPEG] - MFT name: 'Microsoft AAC Audio Encoder MFT'
When I look at that portion of the log on the software version that portion takes almost no time at all (without the Arc A310 portions of course).
Does anyone have any thoughts on how I can get this back to the speed I was used to seeing when I was using the iGPU?
verbose Plex Media Server Logs_2025-02-09_10-24-07.zip (1.8 MB)
software Plex Media Server Logs_2025-02-09_10-20-39.zip (1.7 MB)
non verbose Plex Media Server Logs_2025-02-09_10-18-21.zip (1.7 MB)
