[Guide] Hardware Transcoding: The JDM way! QuickSync and NVENC

Thx a lot for the quick reply! I ordered a HDMI one :slight_smile:

So i almost got all the pieces together for my NAS/Plex Server. The only thing i am not sure about is the LSI SAS card. You said the LSI 9207-8i was the fastest and most compatible but are those cards something that tend to disappear from the market or can i just buy them later when i want to use more than the 6 HDDs my Board supports.

I ask because i donā€™t see many offers on Ebay on Germany, most of them come from Chinaā€¦

And lastly: i once had a server based on Ubuntu 20.04 and everything ran fine other than the ssh with Putty from Windows to that server. Yes, i could use the terminal, but the remote desktop always failed. Even tho xming and x11 was set up.

Strangely on a RPi 3B+ i could do itā€¦

Has this been fixed? I didnā€™t want to always connect a monitor to it or rely on the terminal :joy:

Thx guys

I can get the shares to mount manually. Iā€™ve tried following Mthrboardā€™s guide for autofs.
I can never get the drive to mount. I have the mnt folders I want created.

Shares are currently on a QNAP NAS.

Iā€™m not sure if QNAPā€™s directory structure is the same as Unraid, so youā€™ll have to look into that.
Is NFS enabled?

I thought you were asking about auto-moutning folders/files from a machine running Windows, using SMB, which I think I can help with. Does your QNAP run Windows and youā€™re using SMB/CIFS to share with the Ubuntu machine?

I have been using windows shares from the QNAP. Iā€™m trying to use SMB/CIFS.
I may try using NFS when I get some time to look at it again.

Thanks!! That worked.

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Thinking of this Dell Outlet box to replace an old HP box I am using that is showing its age. Feedback or better ideas appreciated.

Has Quick Sync. Buy a GPU too? or not necessary?

Thank you!

How much is that? What will it be used for?

PLEX Media Server on Windows 10 + HD Homerun (cablecard) playback to 1080p TV. PLEX serves 2 Amazon Fire Sticks on Samsung TVs. All our Devices are HD or less, nothing at 4k. Typically no more than 1 or 2 streams.

Cost of that Vostro unit is $650 before tax + shipping.

It is replacing this dinosaur:

Thank you!

Thank you JDM!

I just bought the HP ProDesk 600 G4 with i5-8500T (6 cores, 8th gen intel cpu) and 16GB memory, no disk for $300 + tax, shipped on ebay. I love that this system has 2 nvme and a sata internally and usb-c, plus the additional cores. Looking at getting a Samsung evo plus 970 NVMe 1TB ($160) drive to start. Hoping to find a deal on some memory to bring the system up to 32GB (could have paid an extra $80 to go from 16GB to 32GB).

I currently have a 9 year old Unraid/Plex server/NAS (i5-3750k) in a 6 drive bay itx case. Last year I added a GTX 1060 to offload hw transcoding, so now I can sell or use this card for gaming instead.

Plex, VM and Docker workload will move to the HP ProDesk, but Iā€™m not too sure what to do about the NAS part of my old server. Eventually I want to retire the server after I figure out the best option for NAS.

would i use this same workflow if i have 2 seperate boxes? one for the the plex (HP Prodesk 400, ubuntu 20.04.2 LTS) and the nas I built with unraid?

Does anyone have a recommendation for prebuilts that 1. Can handle a ton of different docker services running on a few different proxmox VMs, 2. Have as much transcoding power as possible, 3. Are in a smaller form factor if possible, 4. Where cost isnā€™t a significant concern and 5. If there arenā€™t great prebuilt options, whatā€™s a good starting point to build around? Looking for as much power as I can get out of it without making the thing unwieldy.

Pick the important ones because you arenā€™t going to get all that in a single box, and it really is silly to try.

Server processors with high thread counts make the most sense for multiple VMā€™s and dockers. But they arenā€™t going to have quick sync, which is ideal for transcoding.

You can buy or build a low cost box that will excel at transcoding but be terrible for multiple VMs, and you can buy or build a box that will be great for VMā€™s but terrible at transcoding.

Thanks for the reply. I think Iā€™d be okay with having two separate boxes (would appreciate suggestions for any prebuilt standouts). I had a NUC order in before I found this thread and realized Iā€™d probably be overpaying for less performanceā€¦ But thereā€™s a lot to get my head around here so I thought Iā€™d ask.

Edit: I landed on a 7080 micro for the main server. Next step is to look more closely at a standalone transcoding box.

This is the new current favorite standalone transcoder/plex box: [Official] HP ProDesk 400 G4 SFF Owner's Thread

Novice hereā€¦ I am doing this and using a pro desk 400 g4 as a dedicated Plex server/transcoder. I then obviously want all the actual storage/downloads to go to my Unraid NAS (separate machine).

This is a first time setup so no need to transfer/migrate anything from a previous setup.

So in following the directions for the software setup, I am confused on what steps are for the Plex server and which ones are for the Unraid NAS (two separate machines).

Apologies for the elementary question! If I have missed a previous post or explanation please feel free to forward.

Currently setup:

  1. NAS with Unraid installed
  2. proDesk with Ubuntu 20.04 installed and Plex (plex pass purchased)
  3. HdHR connect duo
    ā€“ Now I just need them to talk!!

This whole experience has been so much fun. Itā€™s like legos for adults!

Thank you!

Thank you!

Step 1 is on Unraid, all other steps are on your ProDesk 400/Plex.

Newbie here. Trying to upgrade an ancient plex server. Currently using win 10 with an i7-940, 48gb ram, random video card (nvidia geforce gt 710) for display connectivity, sabertooth x58 mobo.

A buddy is giving me a prodesk 600 sff g4 with an i5-8500, and 8gb ram, with a 256gb nvme.

All of my media is in the i7 desktop, on 4 8tb red drives. My setup is automated with sonarr and radarr.

I plan on following this tutorial, but dont have a nas, and 2 of the 8tb hdd in the desktop, were setup as extended storage in disk utility. Do I need a nas? Can I use my current build to act as the storage for the media, and still have it use sonarr and radarr? How do I go about connecting my storage to the prodesk after setting it up?

Any help would be appreciated, thanks.

@Dondochaka, I have an HP ProDesk 600 G4 mini running Unraid, with Plex on docker (quicksync hw transcoding), and 32GB RAM for some moderate to light VM workload. I have a seperate unraid server acting as a NAS since the HP ProDesk mini has limited storage.

Not sure if you can do the above with proxmox. You would need to create a VM and pass it the internal GPU, but since you only have one GPU on the system, Iā€™m not sure if that would work. If you had a normal dedicated GPU that can handle transcoding, then it wouldnā€™t be a problem using proxmox. Considering youā€™re posting in a quicksync thread, I donā€™t think you want to do that.

Hi,

I currently do hardware conversions (with handbrake) of whatever files I have to H.264 (for best compatibility across a wide range of devices).
I use quick sync video and I have a couple of i5 (3rd generation) systems/CPUs.

Iā€™m very happy with the conversion speed.
I have not noticed any quality issue in my modest setup (a 42" 1080p TV).
File size is where I wish they were smaller. The same file converted via software can easily be half the size of the hardware encoded one.

Now, my question is, if I upgrade the CPU to a more modern QSV (eg the Intel Celeron G4900 - 8th-gen dual core here mentioned) where would I see the major improvements for H.264 conversions, please?
Speed, quality, file size or all of them?

Thanks,
Andrea