Plex Geeks? I need a hardware setup for Plex.

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As I mentioned earlier, you would need a better CPU if you need transcoding (and this depends on your client/player devices too), also if you want to access Plex over the internet where the video might need to be downscaled etc.

If you are confident that all your players/client devices can play all your videos in Direct Stream mode (or only Audio Transcoding), just get the latest gen Intel Pentium series processor or something. Without transcoding even my low powered CPU with just a Passmark score of 1.6k, works flawlessly.

Also, you could get a mini pc with better CPU as well, there are i3 or i5 or i7 options available too. (An intel NUC is essentially from the same category of products).

Don't worry about the compactness, with the appropriate processor it runs great. So end of the day it depends on your needs, how many simultaneous video streams with/without transcoding etc etc.
 
Requirements:

2 Streams averagely of 1080p Full HD (We don't own 4K).

I am not sure if I need transcoding or not. Before yesterday, I never learnt about it too. But still not able to understand if I need it or not. I have always used my overkill PC to watch. It's the firs time, I am moving to TV for this. Do you use Transcoding?

Uses:

Movies of 1080p
Shows of 1080p
Songs of any quality or YouTube to MP3

If you could double check yourself. I own these devices:

WD MyCloud: My Cloud - Personal Cloud Storage | WD

Amazon FireTV Stick: Fire TV Stick with all-new Alexa Voice Remote | Streaming Media Player: Amazon.in: Kindle Store

GoogleChromeCast Gen 1: Google Chromecast HDMI Media Streaming Device - Google : Flipkart.com

So recommend me the best possible NUC or compact mini PC you can.

What's the use of transcoding and benfit of it? I tried looking for some videos explaining this but can't find.
 
Transcoding is needed when your client device does not support playing the video natively. Say for instance the video is in H265 format with AC3 audio, and your device doesn't support H265 format, Plex will need to convert the video on the fly to a format supported by your device. And that needs a lot of CPU. If two people are watching, then that might trigger two simultaneous transcodes too.

So your Chromecast, will definitely need Audio transcoding (I have a chromecast too), cause the chromecast I think supports only AAC audio or something (it's been a while). I don't see issues with just audio transcoding, my low power CPU can handle it just fine.. On Fire TV stick also, I have noticed that it needed transcoding at times. (Again I haven't noted down which formats etc as)

Sometimes when I enable subtitles (this is the one that troubles me the most), it would want to burn the subs to the video (this triggers transcoding). Would need to look into what subtitle formats can be inserted without transcoding and maybe can avoid this type of transcoding.

Considering all these, and be future proof, I would say get atleast a latest gen i3 based MiniPC or NUC depending on your budget.
 
And, all the transcoding you've mentioned above is the software or hardware? Because I believe hardware has the requirement of Plex Pass too.

Which model do you specifically suggest for the setup we are talking here? Since I believe you've good information about the NUC and MiniPCs.

I used VLC to run the Movie 1080p with .srt subtitle on AmazonFireStick directly from the WD NAS (without any PMS involved). And, it ran fine.
 
ajgamer said:
Okay, Thanks for the reply and just to make sure each unit is disk less it means I'll have to buy the Disk offline/online myself and it won't come with the unit?

Secondly, Do you recommend buying online or offline (Disk) and Which Disk?

Third, Can I use the Single Disk and keep the other disk empty or is it mandatory to have both?

Fourth, How do you clean the fan of the NAS?

Thanks.
Click to expand...
1. The NAS comes diskless out of the box, disks have to be purchased separately.
2. I prefer buying online but then I live in a small town with few retail options. If you live in a biggish city, you can explore offline too.
3. Buy a NAS specific hard disk like a red WD. These are built to run 24X7. I'm personally running a 3TB WD Red ans a 2TB Seagate Barracuda.
4.You can run a single disk, 2nd is optional.
5. The NAS I have is toolless and I think other Synology models are also toolless. So just slide off the upper cover and clean with a wipe. I also run a mild blower to release the stuck dirt but be careful with the blower.
 
Okay, Thanks @VivekA I did some research and found out that people use NUC nowadays which is a lot powerful as compared to NAS. What do you think?

I have two path here:

1. Going with totally new NAS will cost around 30K (with Disk)
2. Going with NUC and will cost around 30K (I will need to buy RAM, I already have one spare SSD and WD MyCloud NAS).

Of course, NUC will be overpowered as compared to NAS.

NAS is plug and play, NUC will be near to plug-play but can do a lot of stuff like Windows OS, Ubuntu etc.

What you think is the right path?
 

^ Yeah it should be able to do 1-2 simultaneous transcoded streams. Non-transcoded streams it should be able to do plenty.

Yeah the other background services should be fine, it doesn't need much resources etc.
 
Tell me one thing, What important things are required from a CPU/NUC which affects the number of simultaneous transcoded streams we can do?

Please tell me.
 
I think this FAQ on their site answers most things - https://support.plex.tv/articles/201774043-what-kind-of-cpu-do-i-need-for-my-server/
Mostly its the CPU capacity / performance.

Although I felt that the article is a bit dated, and a latest gen i3 should be able to do 1-2 simultaneous 1080p streams. Again things would vary depending on the type of source video and many factors.

I hadn't realised this, but with the paid subscription, they do enable to support to make use of the GPU for transcoding which can help offload some load from the CPU helping you transcode more simultaneous streams -- https://support.plex.tv/articles/115002178853-using-hardware-accelerated-streaming/
 
Do you have any idea, how can we test transcoding?

And, for using the transcoding on CPU, Do I need PlexPass?
 
Haha, Actually I'm right now working on a lot of stuff.

1. Going with NUC
2. Going with custom build home server. (I've a lot of hardware with me already).

Going with custom build have only 1 issue: More Power Consumption. Since minimum power supply is 300W

Hmmm, But it's good. Gave me a thought though. How can I test transcoding?

What I should demonstrate so that Plex Media Server starts transcoding and stream?

I can test that with my shitty spare laptop.
 
Yeah, going for a bull blown build doesn't make sense for something like this which needs to be running at all times. Say it uses 150w, that's 100+ units of electricity every month ie Rs 500 or more, just for running Plex. At that cost plus the upfront investment, you could just subscribe to all available video streaming platforms and just stream videos which would be way more cheaper 😀

Just install Plex and try to play something, you can change the video quality forcing a transcode, and then repeat that with multiple simultaneous clients.

And you can see the activity in the dashboard, something like this

FD4CvRa.png
 
^^ Made sens man. Okay. I'll go with the NUC.

How can I test transcoding?

What I should demonstrate so that Plex Media Server starts transcoding and stream?

I can test that with my shitty spare laptop.
 

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