What transcode quality value do you use for LiveTV-DVR?

deyraud
Sat, 07 Feb 2026 18:49:03 +0000
Live TV & DVR

Tuner Make/Model: HD HomeRun Flex 4K

Hardware Transcoding Enabled: yes

Transcode Quality: 99 (default)

Transcode Codex: HEVC

Transcode Hardware: Intel QSV

It’s Olympics time and this is the first time I’ve ever seriously used the DVR functionality of Plex. While I’m pleased as punch at the quality of the video being captured, the bitrate, as discussed in quite a few threads, is quite high. Not as high as capturing the raw MPEG2 stream, but still a bit higher than needed for HEVC, as I understand it.

I’m recording from CBC, which is 720p/60 @ 16Mb OTA. With the default transcode quality, I’m transcoding at 9Mb which translates to roughly 2GB per 30min, which I feel is a little bit extra for HEVC.

I know I could perform tests and figure out what works for me, but I’m certain that folks have already beaten this horse into glue, so I’m just curious.. what value have you set for the transcode quality?

Deets for us nerds
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Source:
Virtual Channel 4.1 CBOT-DT
Frequency 539.000 MHz
Program Number 3
Modulation Lock 8vsb
Signal Strength 100%
Signal Quality 96%
Symbol Quality 100%
Streaming Rate 16.561 Mbps

Destination:
Duration 29:58
Bitrate 9576 kbps
Width 1280
Height 720
Aspect Ratio 1.78
Video Resolution 720p
Container MPEGTS
Video Frame Rate 60p
Duration 29:58
File Milano Cortina Olympics 2026 (2026) - 2026-02-06 07 00 00 - Primetime.ts
Size 2.08 GB
Codec HEVC
Bitrate 9000 kbps
Bit Depth 8
Chroma Location left
Chroma Subsampling 4:2:0
Codec ID HEVC
Coded Height 720
Coded Width 1280
Color Primaries bt709
Color Range tv
Color Space bt709
Color Trc bt709
Frame Rate 59.94 fps
Height 720
Level 3.1
Profile main
Ref Frames 1
Stream Identifier 256
Width 1280
Display Title 720p (HEVC Main)
Extended Display Title 720p (HEVC Main)

11 posts - 6 participants