New plan… thinking of getting a more powerful processor with the option to upgrade later and adding a dedicated GPU such as GTX 1050.
From what I’ve learnt in this thread am I correct in saying, we if purchase the GTX 1050 later, with Plex pass I will be able to have HW x265 decoding and then HW encoding h264 transcoding (since Plex doesn’t do x265 transcoding yea? I read a lot about the cheaper 1030 GT but noticed that it doesn’t encode, just decode.
I feel like a Debbie Downer, that Motherboard doesn’t support that CPU.
Take a step back, if you intend to use the Nvidia Shield as the streaming device, then the server doesn’t need HDMI 2.0a/b. It just needs a GPU that can handle HEVC formats (in case of non 4k clients or subs) understanding that at the moment Plex doesn’t handle HDR transcodes. Audio will still be an issue if you can’t properly handle lossless audio
On that HD audio subject:
At least the DTS MA audio tracks also works with optical connection, since it also carries the standard DTS track which is played correctly over toslink/spdif. That does not work for Atmos/TrueHD though. So you could wire your amp directly to your TV via optical and the Shield to the TV via HDMI. That is how I am operating my setup. Since I make the rips myself, I always contain all reasonable audio tracks, which always gives me at least one DTS track which my system can handle.
Hehe, was very late at night I pasted that, I thought it was Biostar H310MHC which does support it.
You are absolutely right about the HDMI socket since that will be on the server, so let’s forget that. I know we are going around and around, or least it feels like it, I just need to know if its worth purchasing the GTX 1050 with a slightly cheaper CPU or purchase a better CPU with UHD 600 series without a dedicated GPU, I know they both vary in the quality output but from what I can tell its very minor between the two, and software transcoding is better quality transcoding but a computer that can handle that is far out of my budget.
So,
So, what would you prefer? I guess fair CPU for transcoding the majority of AUDIO? and let the UHD handle the x264 and x265?
So the shield will pass through the DTS from Plex into the HDMI Output to the TV HDMI input and then out again using the optical out on the TV? and Plex Server detects the entire chain?
It does. I use an amp your audio output, but this should in principal work with every device capable of decoding DTS.
HDMI devices communicate with each other.
They tell each other what they are compatible with.
So when you plug a shield into a TV, the TV tells the shield (via hdmi) what codecs or protocols it understands.
The shield plex player then knows what the TV can accept.
The plex player and server communicate so that the server sends a compatible audio/video stream.
This is where the server determines whether or not content needs to be transcoded or can be directly played by the playback chain.
I know this depends on what you can get your hands on but I would use an i3-8100 with tha board.
For whatever it’s worth, I currently have a Windows 10 base Plex server with last generation’s Intel i5 CPU, and no GPU installed. Just using on-board video. I have both 4k UHD x265 and 1080p HD x265 content, as I’ve started re-ripping my HD BluRays to x265 instead of x264 to save space. My Plex clients are as follows…
Nvidia Shield - Direct plays all x265 content… Both 4k and regular 1080p.
Roku 3 - Doesn’t support x265 at all. But I can still watch the 1080p HD x265 content as the i5 transcodes this to x264 just fine.
Essentially, it really is the 4k content that you don’t want to even try transcoding. 1080p x265 can be transcoded by a recent i5 CPU no problem.
So i3-8100 without the GTX 1050? I think that’s doable within my budget if so.
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