Question Graphics card for media server

flozz1233

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Hello
I currently have a 280x Radeon in my media server and had noticed that the streams from it are getting a bit slow so was wondering which is the best route to go down?
I have noticed Nvidia is the way to go down however was wondering if anyone knows if AMD could be a potential GPU?
Video Encode and Decode GPU Support Matrix

I have been using this for a reference however wanted to know what people are currently using?
 
I certainly would not use nividia, under the assumption that in a media centre your going to use kodi at some point, nividia whilst they work, dropped frames, lag and stutter in kodi.
 
I certainly would not use nividia, under the assumption that in a media centre your going to use kodi at some point, nividia whilst they work, dropped frames, lag and stutter in kodi.
hi mate, thanks for your reply

I will be using emby not kodi for my media server but nice to know it doesnt work on kodi (y)
 
The details on what emby supports appears to be here:
MediaBrowser/Wiki

Assuming you're on windows It looks like it supports encoding hardware from all three brands but I couldn't see any mention of using the main GPU for encoding.

What formats are you transcoding to and from?
 
Unless you're transcoding, surely it doesn't matter. You don't even need a GPU in a media server. If you are transcoding, it would be better to try and eliminate that than throw resources at the server side of things.

Or perhaps I'm just misunderstanding what you mean by media server.
 
Unless you're transcoding, surely it doesn't matter. You don't even need a GPU in a media server. If you are transcoding, it would be better to try and eliminate that than throw resources at the server side of things.

Or perhaps I'm just misunderstanding what you mean by media server.

I agree with the above. a gpu is generally not needed for video streaming or even transcoding (depending on cpu)

what system are you using and what are you trying to achieve
 
upload_2019-7-24_19-19-14.png

hello @dollag @stevelup @EndlessWaves

I have tried watching Deadpool and it needs to transcode from h264 to h.264 as shown however is being restricted. Is this a case of I need to get a new cpu for this? as that is what is taking so long for it to transcode and my gpu is actually 3%
 
Why is it transcoding between the same format?

'Software' is often a term used to mean that it's the CPU doing the work rather than the GPU or dedicated encoding hardware, and task manager showing 100% load on a high end CPU (i7-9700K?) would seem to confirm that.

The first thing I'd do is dig through the settings to find out why it's not using the available Quicksync or VCE/AMF encoding hardware. From the low frame rate for that CPU (even if it's 4K) I wonder if it's not using any decode hardware either.

I'm not familiar with emby so I can't help with where the information is in the app. Windows task manager should show whether the GPU's included encode/decode hardware is working though:
upload_2019-7-24_20-14-58.png
 
Why is it transcoding between the same format?

'Software' is often a term used to mean that it's the CPU doing the work rather than the GPU or dedicated encoding hardware, and task manager showing 100% load on a high end CPU (i7-9700K?) would seem to confirm that.

The first thing I'd do is dig through the settings to find out why it's not using the available Quicksync or VCE/AMF encoding hardware. From the low frame rate for that CPU (even if it's 4K) I wonder if it's not using any decode hardware either.

I'm not familiar with emby so I can't help with where the information is in the app. Windows task manager should show whether the GPU's included encode/decode hardware is working though:
View attachment 1176619


I know with plex you have to turn on hardware accelerator which utilises the gpu (I believe that’s only for paid sub) it could be the same with emby but not familiar with the programme.

Plex also would transcode 264 to 264 under certain circumstances, I think it was mainly to do with the audio? Tbh I don’t remember.
 
upload_2019-7-24_20-28-31.png

so these are the setting which I have found however it is still using the CPU over GPU
upload_2019-7-24_20-30-58.png
 
It says it requires an emby premiere subscription, do you have one?

If you do then it may be a bug in the app, at this point I'd be contacting the program support.
 
Needlessly over-complicated! Just rule out transcoding and use suitable media players connected to your displays. Job done.
 
It says it requires an emby premiere subscription, do you have one?

If you do then it may be a bug in the app, at this point I'd be contacting the program support.

yes i do :)
Hardware - Emby Community
using some of the threads in this
nVidia Hardware Transcoding Calculator for Plex Estimates
im just confused how it was transcoding but this shows how many streams it can do at the moment. I am looking at purchasing a xeon chip for my machine as i currently have an x79 board
 

also looking at this video as well and i feel that everything is similar
 
Just get a cheap Kodi box and plug it into the TV. Will save you a world of pain and you’ll get a much better experience than using the on board media player anyway.
 

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