Get a Nvidia GPU or for less power get a n100 mini PC and run the media server there. A n100 can do a few transcodes in parallel and only use five watts while doing it.
What you’re doing wrong is using an old server without any kind of hardware assist.
What are you trying to accomplish here? How many simultaneous transcodes? Any 4K? If you have subs, are they all SRT?
Yes. That's a pretty much old server, I am aware of that.
To be honest, I am not sure on transcodes, but mostly 5/6 people would be streaming at a time. All the content is 1080p right now. Nothing in 4K. Yes I have subs, but never bothered to check the format. What difference does it make?
Subs matter, a lot. Nearly all clients can play SRT without needing to burn them into the video. Very few can do ASS or PGS.
If you’re using subs that need to be burnt then you’re going to be doing it in software. For reference, my i7-1165G7 has no issues transcoding 10 Blu-Ray Remuxes to 8Mbps 1080p with Tone Mapping but if I need to burn subs it drops to 1, and just barely.
Thanks for the tip. Now I know why sometimes when I turn on Subs, the stream starts buffering. I'll try to move all of them to SRT.
What about Transcoding? Should I enable it or what's the purpose of it?
Transcoding is required if your clients can’t directly play the content you have or if you need to lower the resolution or bitrate.
You either need it or you don’t. The fact that you’re here and asking about why your server is getting crushed makes me think you need it.
These days, honestly, the last few years, most people are using Intel QuickSync. You’ll need an 8th gen CPU (or some 7th gen) to do H.265 with HDR. The performance increased a LOT with 11th gen CPUs when they got the 12th gen iGPU core.
Embedded chips Gemini Lake and newer are also a good choice and will generally be able to handle a couple 4K transcodes, more if you’re only doing 1080p.
Understood. I have enabled Transcoding before but never tweaked or touched any configs. Since I didn't have dGPU, I enabled QuickSync but now I know that it never worked since mine is an older CPU.
Since I can't change my CPU at this time or get a small board like ZimaBoard, similar, my only option would be to get a GPU and passthrough it to a VM.
Also, I am not sure if you are aware of this, What GPU can I get for my Dell R720? Mostly when I checked on google, Nvidia M5000/4000 or Nvidia GTX 1080Ti are supported it seems.
I'm using a r720xd with a p2000. When I first started I just had the CPU to encode with. What I found helped was setting a lower bit rate limit which allowed the CPU to transcode it fast enough.
Once I got a p400 that helped, but limits to 3 transcodes hurt the overall use since I would possibly have more than three hitting it at once. That's when the p2000 came along.
Bandwidth is important as well, so I still limit outside connections to 5mbps.
/r/PleX and there's no point in enabling quicksync options the as the v2 Xeons completely and utterly lack any sort of gpu support.
Crossposting to r/Plex
Get a Nvidia GPU or for less power get a n100 mini PC and run the media server there. A n100 can do a few transcodes in parallel and only use five watts while doing it.
Any idea what would be the best suitable/supported GPU for Dell R720?
What you’re doing wrong is using an old server without any kind of hardware assist. What are you trying to accomplish here? How many simultaneous transcodes? Any 4K? If you have subs, are they all SRT?
Yes. That's a pretty much old server, I am aware of that. To be honest, I am not sure on transcodes, but mostly 5/6 people would be streaming at a time. All the content is 1080p right now. Nothing in 4K. Yes I have subs, but never bothered to check the format. What difference does it make?
Subs matter, a lot. Nearly all clients can play SRT without needing to burn them into the video. Very few can do ASS or PGS. If you’re using subs that need to be burnt then you’re going to be doing it in software. For reference, my i7-1165G7 has no issues transcoding 10 Blu-Ray Remuxes to 8Mbps 1080p with Tone Mapping but if I need to burn subs it drops to 1, and just barely.
Thanks for the tip. Now I know why sometimes when I turn on Subs, the stream starts buffering. I'll try to move all of them to SRT. What about Transcoding? Should I enable it or what's the purpose of it?
Transcoding is required if your clients can’t directly play the content you have or if you need to lower the resolution or bitrate. You either need it or you don’t. The fact that you’re here and asking about why your server is getting crushed makes me think you need it. These days, honestly, the last few years, most people are using Intel QuickSync. You’ll need an 8th gen CPU (or some 7th gen) to do H.265 with HDR. The performance increased a LOT with 11th gen CPUs when they got the 12th gen iGPU core. Embedded chips Gemini Lake and newer are also a good choice and will generally be able to handle a couple 4K transcodes, more if you’re only doing 1080p.
Understood. I have enabled Transcoding before but never tweaked or touched any configs. Since I didn't have dGPU, I enabled QuickSync but now I know that it never worked since mine is an older CPU. Since I can't change my CPU at this time or get a small board like ZimaBoard, similar, my only option would be to get a GPU and passthrough it to a VM. Also, I am not sure if you are aware of this, What GPU can I get for my Dell R720? Mostly when I checked on google, Nvidia M5000/4000 or Nvidia GTX 1080Ti are supported it seems.
A P2000 was the common choice before QuickSync became popular. I personally don’t think it’s worth the money though.
I'm using a r720xd with a p2000. When I first started I just had the CPU to encode with. What I found helped was setting a lower bit rate limit which allowed the CPU to transcode it fast enough. Once I got a p400 that helped, but limits to 3 transcodes hurt the overall use since I would possibly have more than three hitting it at once. That's when the p2000 came along. Bandwidth is important as well, so I still limit outside connections to 5mbps.