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

Was thinking about upgrading but then I read that the first point release will be in July/August.
Going to wait until after that to see if there are any issues reported by other users.

The latest LTS version will be required if you run one of the newest intel cpus. I upgraded to an i5-12400 and had to upgrade to 22.04 LTS for the new kernel which supported the new intel video. Works ok now, but i think <10th Gen is still the most compatible.

Correct. To clarify, for a dedicated QSV box, thereā€™s really no reason to use anything higher than 8th-10th gen right now unless youā€™re interested in wasting money.

1 Like

Still rocking an i5 7400.
Upgrading my NASKillers to 10th gen (already owned gear from previous pc builds) soon.
But my QSV will stay the same for now.

1 Like

Iā€™m still using an Old Broadwell i5 5250U. Is it worth the improvement to go to 12th Gen now? Thanks.

It worth it to upgrade, but unless you have other things or future plans iā€™d recommend the 10th gen for less issues.

1 Like

Thanks, I guess the software is not updated yet for the new architecture? I am replacing an old Plex server.

Not to 12th gen, but definitely 7th or 8th gen.

1 Like

Great, thanks. I found a deal on a NUC. NUC8i5BEH ā€“ should be a great thing for PLEX?

I mean, itā€™s fineā€¦ but probably much more expensive than what you actually need to spend.

Keep an eye out for the HP 290 and HP S01.

1 Like

Thanks.

hey yā€™all, I have a geforce 750ti laying around. I havenā€™t had a chance to experiment with it yet. I was wondering if anyone had personal experience with a card of this generation.

from reading upon the nvenc and nvdec, it looks like it can decode h.264, but it canā€™t decode h.265. So it wouldnā€™t be able to decode 4k (yes, I know the advice is not to transcode 4k, but I have enough wonky clients in the house where it just sometimes happens). Does that limitation sound right?

You really should avoid using it. A dedicated QSV transcoding box can be had for under $200, and itā€™ll do everything you want.

This oneā€™s overkill, but itā€™s a really good deal.

1 Like

yeah I hear you. in my case, I already have the 750ti on hand, so itā€™s free. (actually, my server currently has a 3060ti in there, and it works fine, but I may be removing it soon).

i saw a listing yesterday on facebook marketplace for a guy selling and 8th gen desktop for $50. unfortunately he sold it before I could act.

Hi guys,

I want to buy this -

HP ProDesk 600 G2 SFF #L1Q39AV

Processor: Intel Ā® Core ā„¢ i5-6500 CPU @ 3.20GHz, 3192 MHz, 4 Core(ā€˜S),
Intel Ā® HP Graphics 530

Good enough?

Thanks for the help

Youā€™ll want 7th gen or newer if you have any H265 content. Look for 8GB of RAM as well. Still should be lots of prebuilt options that fit the bill, and donā€™t shy away from fewer cores either.

Hi, longtime appreciator of the guide. I have been successfully running Plex hardware transcoding in a docker container on an HP-S01.

Yesterday ā€¦

EDIT: ā€¦I hate to say it, but you know what Iā€™m gonna say: a reboot fixed it. I wonder what the issue was. Oh well. Read on if youā€™re bored, otherwise ignore this post!

ā€¦ I powered down the system and moved it to another room. I turned it back on, noticed Plex was down, and attempted to start it:

$ docker-compose up -d
Creating plex ... error

ERROR: for plex  Cannot start service plex: error 
gathering device information while adding custom 
device "/dev/dri": no such file or directory

This references the docker devices mapping which lets the container use the iGPU. Per @Mthrboard 's instructions here. Itā€™s always worked smoothly in the past. Iā€™m not sure why a cold start would make it not work now. The system has been rebooted before.

Commenting out /dev/dri permits the Plex container to load perfectly, but without hardware transcoding I presume.

1 Like

Hey guys!

With the whole Plex data leak does anyone know how to claim your server?

Navigate to IP:Port/manage of your Plex server

Try this: