First QSV HW Build - Questions

[BlackLion]

I’m currently running Plex on a Windows 10 VM and my media is sitting on a 13 year old Synology with 2x 6TB drives. I’ve been having some random issues with my ESXi host so I’m thinking about building a dedicated Plex QSV HW Transcoding box and using my currently hardware to build a new NAS. I would like to be able to stream at least two (three would be nice) 4k files at the same time.

Plex - QSV HW Transcoder Build:

• Intel Core i7-10700K Processor
• 16GB RAM
• 512GB SSD
• Mobo TBD
• OS TBD

NAS Build (currently my ESXi host):

• Dell T7500
• 2x XEON X5650 2.66GHz SIX CORE
• 48GB RAM
• OS TBD

---

Questions:

1. What is the preferred OS for running Plex on a dedicated QSV transcoder?
   I would rather run Linux over Windows. I just started playing around with Arch Linux and so far I think I like it better than Ubuntu, but my initial thoughts is Ubuntu would probably be the safer direction (ease of use/stability) as of today.

2. NAS OS?
   I’ve been focused on Unraid or FreeNAS for my media storage. For this scenario is one going to have a clear advantage over the other? Are there others I should be considering?

3. Is there anything else I should have asked?

[JDM_WAAAT]

The G5900 is a 10th-gen Celeron CPU and will do the exact same thing as the 10700k for a fraction of the price.

[Official] HP S01-pf1013w Owner's Thread and Review

Overview The HP S01 is the successor to the insanely popular HP290. Why they didn’t call it the HP 300, we’ll probably never know. Despite the very similar exterior, many substantial changes have been made. [A7F1C0B1-2DC6-459B-A5E2-584FFAF2836C_1_105_c] Hardware HP S01-pf1013w Link 1 Link 2 Intel Celeron G5900 (2C/2T, 10th-gen QuickSync) 4GB DDR4 RAM 1TB SATA HDD 3 SATA ports (DVD drive, one for 2.5" SATA, one for 3.5" SATA) 1 x HDMI, 1 x VGA 2 x low profile PCIe slots (x16, x1) M.2 …

[JDM_WAAAT]

@BlackLion

• What is the preferred OS for running Plex on a dedicated QSV transcoder?
  I would rather run Linux over Windows. I just started playing around with Arch Linux and so far I think I like it better than Ubuntu, but my initial thoughts is Ubuntu would probably be the safer direction (ease of use/stability) as of today.
• NAS OS?
  I’ve been focused on Unraid or FreeNAS for my media storage. For this scenario is one going to have a clear advantage over the other? Are there others I should be considering?
• Is there anything else I should have asked?

Linux (Ubuntu 20.04 LTS) is the recommended OS. You can reference this thread here.

Unraid is generally our recommended NAS OS.

@BlackLion

I would like to be able to stream at least two (three would be nice) 4k files at the same time.

4K streaming does not require significant CPU horsepower or even QuickSync. The point of 4K is to watch in higher quality (possibly with HDR), so don’t transcode it.

[BlackLion]

Thanks for the quick response! (I wasn’t quite done with the original post and accidentally posted it…you responded before I could finish my edit…impressive lol)

[Hexa]

You’ll quickly discover that the community here is fantastic!

[BlackLion]

I picked up a HP S01 this weekend and I’m about to start the installation of Ubuntu/Plex. Since this box will only function as my Plex server, is there a preference when installing Plex (standard install vs docker/container)?

[Mthrboard]

You’ll get the best results if you just install it directly using the QuickSync guide.