I’m currently hosting PMS on my Synology DS220+. I’m for the most part using the client Plex app on my new LG OLED CX.
Unfortunately, the latest LG models can’t play DTS, So I’ve run into the issue of not having audio on with some of my media. I try to direct play as much as possible with my media (including 4K) but DTS is quite common in media.
So I’ve disabled DTS in the client app and the audio successfully gets transcoded by Plex. Now when I also enable srt subtitles my synology CPU and RAM starts to suffer. (I’ve read this is because subtitles forces a video transcode along with the already transcoding audio)
My question is if a more powerful CPU can handle the problem mentioned above.
I’ve been looking to buy an intel nuc to host my PMS on (along with some other services via ESXi) but I was wondering if only using the i7 CPU will be enough to transcode the audio and subtitle video feed.
Or will an GPU help get the job done using hardware acceleration?
The NUCs I’ve been having trouble deciding on are the NUC10i7FNH and NUC8i7HVK.
The NUCs with Core iX CPU’s all have Quicksync support. (which means hardware transcoding capability). So no extra GPU is required.
In order to make use of the hardfare transcoding capability, you’ll need a Plex Pass.
If I remember correctly, the LG app burns in subtitles when audio is transcoded. So video must be transcoded as well. Unfortunately Intel Celeron is not capable of burning subtitles but you wanna avoid that anyway and only direct play 4K content.
You can try Xplay app or buy a streaming device which can direct play your content (Nvidia Shield pro).
I’m going to look deeper into this. I want to make the most of plex’s capability to transcode DTS audio and I rather buy a homeserver (which I can use to host other services) then an expensive AV receiver.
What would you advise as a low power usage / compact device to run plex on?
Ah oké I see.
I’ve also been looking at the Shield but only know of it from what I’ve been reading on this forum so could you please elaborate the use of a shield pro?
Would connecting the Shield to my TV and using the plex app on it enable me to transcode DTS audio and use SRT subtitles? I fully intend to just direct play video but transcoding audio would be great as I would not have to pay attention the audio of the media I download (not DTS)
The Shield can decode the regular DTS just fine on its own. Heck, it can even read VOBSUB and PGS subtitles.
Which of course means that SRT subtitles are no problem either.
Awesome! Because of some other features of the shield I’m seriously considering buying one. Does that also mean I can just leave my PMS on my NAS instead of migrating to the NUC or does a powerfull CPU also bring some additional perks to plex?
Noooo you’re instigating doubt in making my choice between the 2 nucs again
I’ll take any advise! You mentioned it’s CPU when processing video. But wouldn’t you make more use of its unique AMD GPU? I’m asking this because the nuc10 CPU is getting a higher benchmark.
I’m really glad you’re helping me solve my doubts!
I’m still new to plex, but I totally can see my family wanting to make use of my plex setup
The NUC you mentioned will still be fine for direct playing simultaneous streams I assume?
In which cases would you someone normally be using hardware acceleration on the nuc’s igpu or an extra GPU (in 8i7HVK’s case)
and the added bonus of an AMD Radeon RX Vega M GH Graphics
It’s my experience that we run out of CPU (i7 power) on audio and subtitle-burning long before we run out of internal GPU power.
That said, if you have more than 6 simultaneous streams you want burning with
==or==
need to do color HDR → SDR tonemapping then you want an i9-based.
an i9-10xxx CPU makes more sense than an i7-10xxx based in this case because you have enough CPU to drive the internal GPU as hard as it needs to be driven and keep up with the secondary Audio + Subtitle work (when required).
Think of it this way?
i7-8xxx or i9-10xxx based.
I also have a Shield Pro 2019.
When it’s playing anything (which is DirectPlay from PMS), there is no load on the server. The Shield is doing everything. Audio, Video, Subtitles, AND Tone Mapping.
I have an i7-7700 as the main server with Apple 4 TVs and Nvidia Shields.
This configuration lets the i7 coast along
Seems to me the Shield will fix any problem I have
For me a nuci9 is out of the question as it is disgustingly overpriced for a backbone hehe.
As for the devices which won’t have access to the shield, if I understand correctly you advise the 8i7hvk over the 10i7fnh as a PMS because of it’s significant better iGPU when having similar capable CPU’s? Sorry if you have to repeat yourself, I just want to be certain
