Hi
I have a NAS server WD EX2 which does not do transcoding. I am thinking of getting a mini PC - namely this one :
It is using an Intel Celeron chip. I read that you need at least i5 chip for solid transcoding, do you think Intel Celeron J3455 is powerful enough for remote play, i.e. transcoding ?
Aim higher.
What codecs will your videos be using? Will you be using hardware transcoding? Where will the videos be stored? How many transcodes are you looking at?
There are plenty of variables at play.
If you’re using hardware transcoding and storing videos on a USB drive or a NAS, that CPU will probably be fine. The Celeron has Quick Sync and can handle a surprising number of transcodes. It can accelerate decode of HEVC, MPEG2, and VC-1 as well as AVC. (There have been a few complains about transcode issues with those CPUs, you might look around the forum)
6GB of memory is plenty too. The MMC drive will probably slow and it’s big enough, but a bit on the small end when you add in transcoding space. That’s possibly the biggest concern with that unit.
So I am relatively new to transcoding, I will enable HW encoding
Codec - if you mean file format - MP4
The videos are stored on a server - the mini PC and the server will be on the same LAN and that is how the mini PC will pick up the files. I need to research if I can direct my server to the PC via USB 3 but I think that is not possible - I will research
This chip belongs to the Apollo Lake generation.
While it possesses a solid video HW transcoding ability, don’t expect it to be also able to do burning-in of subtitles or transcoding of TrueHD or DTS HD-MA audio at the same time.
It just doesn’t have the general-purpose number-crunching power for it.
https://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu=Intel+Celeron+J3455+%40+1.50GHz
So, if you restrict your files to the most basic audio formats DTS, AC3, and AAC
and use no subtitles (or if, only in SRT format), you might be able to get away with this CPU. (in fact, it is used in some NAS models as well).
I suggest you check out this thread. There are many of us having problems with HW Transcoding & Intel QuickSync right now. In my case it is unusable. It would be a shame to purchase hardware that does not have the horsepower to transcode without QuickSync only to find out its too bad to use.
superb advice. Thanks everyone. I need to do some more research.
The thing is how much do I want to spend on solutions for Plex until it becomes a false economy. I mean the whole point of Plex is to have a digital library so we do not need to spend money on a physical one, but if we keep throwing money on HW kit to get Plex to transcode well than that just counters whatever saving made on buying physical.
A mini PC at £200 is really all I want to spend given I just spent £400 on a WD EX2 server. The mini PC is to run in the background when I am away from home and I can get access to the media, but if the solution to strong transcoding is to spend a lot of money, to me, it is not worth it. I might as well download the shows / movies I intend to see and keep the file locally on my ipad or laptop.
This topic was automatically closed 90 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.
