Plex Hardware Transcoding on AMD Ryzen Based Mini PCs?

VIDEO INDEX:
00:00 - Intro
01:31 - Direct Stream
02:35 - Hardware Video Transcoding Described
04:10 - Software Transcoding Example on AMD Processor
05:19 - Intel Hardware Transcoding
06:44 - Testing AMD Hardware Transcoding
10:35 - Conclusion


Subscribe to my email lists!

Join the Facebook group to connect with me and other viewers!

Want to help the channel? Start a Member subscription or give a one time tip!

or contribute via Venmo!

Follow me on Facebook!

Follow me on Twitter!

Catch my longer interviews and wrap-ups in audio form on my podcast!

[RDelacroix]

I've been running a Plex server off an AMD 2400g for about 2 years. It works fine with HW transcoding 1080p Bluray rips to 1080p 8mbps for remote streaming but it will struggle or outright not work at all for UHD rips to 1080p 8mbps or even 720p 4mbps. Most of my devices can handle direct play locally of all my rips so that's not much of an issue since I can use the FHD versions for remote streaming.

[MrAddis]

I've been meaning to build a Plex server for a long time. These mini PCs are ridiculously powerful now. Intel's methodology has always been to figure it out software based and AMD's has been brute force. This has got me excited to see if I get one of the newer 6800U mini PCs in the future which have RDNA2 graphics what the performance may be like. 😬

[dakkon]

I keep hearing PMS transcoding works better in Linux and/or Docker, versus Windows. I would like to see some testing regarding this.

[jerzsubbie]

Thank you!! I’ve been looking for some quantifiable data on quick sync vs a more powerful Ryzen and you demonstrated that perfectly. Guess I’m getting an intel mini PC for my DIY Plex NAS.

[garynagle]

Pretty cool to see the transcoding support diversifying across CPU’s

[jonainsworth]

My Mini PC with a Ryzen 7 5700u will transcode using the iGPU hw without having to change any settings in Plex. Since this video Plex must have updated the software settings to support this yet people keep saying I need an intel based system, although it may still be the case that only a select few Ryzen based systems will work. Would be interesting to know.

[shansen]

Can confirm, ive been running a Ryzen PRO 4750G server for plex and a few crypto nodes. Its my general home file/htpc server. I just now upgraded to plex pass, and can confirm that HW transcoding works. The system has no dGPU.

[edwardelric]

I have been using a Beelink GTR mini PC connected to a 14tb external hard drive as a plex server since 2020.

The mini PC has an AMD R5 3550h processor and runs windows 10. I've had no problems with hardware transcoding on it.

Not sure how much better an intel cpu would be because I've always owned AMD but it has worked fine for me so if you find a good deal on a amd mini pc/ laptop i say go for it.

[faizannabi]

Please make video on 5600g or 5700g Apu based mini oc Plex or Intel 12 gen nuc

[iYousif_]

Thanks a lot, Lon. Is this still the case for AMD and Plex HW Transcoding? I am trying to secure Mini PC for PMS this Black Friday and I hope if there's available AMD options now since they're usually less expensive than the one with Intel.

[lyricbread]

@LonSeidman Excellent video! I know this is about a year old. What would be your absolute minimum recommendation for one of the current BeeLink models for a competent Plex Server? Also, wen hop? 😉

[macewindu]

I'm using a laptop with Intel UHD 630 as my Plex/Emby server and I'm really impressed with how it handles remote transcoding. I took the bottom panel off and have it sitting on a laptop cooling pad that actually moves air and is very quite. Low power device that's always on. It can handle a total of 16 1080p transcodes before starting to buffer. Intel Quick Sync is still the best option for transcoding IMO. I haven't used a dedicated Nvidia GPU for transcoding for a few years now.

[pczoran]

Any help with APU Ryzen 7 5700g and Plex with 4k video? I have atmos sound, signal for hdr but color are washed... So, I need little tweak with drivers or something...

[Digital_Kyle]

I would be interested to know if anyone has tested this compatibility with either the AMD Ryzen 5600G or 5700G? Thinking about replacing my CPU and board in my multipurpose plex server, and would really rather go with AMD if their APU's have started to work with Plex transcoding.

[WrdG]

Thanks Lon... was checking out Beelink Intel and AMD mini PCs to use for a Plex server, and it seems like Intel is the way to go. I'm currently using an old Celeron J3455 with Ubuntu server installed, and it seems to perform well when doing 1080p transcoding. It just tends to glitch with 4K content.

[Vash]

what os are you running the plex server on? Windows or linux?

[thetanman]

Hey Lon, I know you mentioned it in the video in passing, but I think it should be noted that the transcoding appears to be running on the GPU of the mini PC you're using. That particular Ryzen CPU (4800U) is a laptop chip with integrated graphics, a pretty old generation at that in fact. I think it's the Radeon RX Vega generation.

Current desktop Ryzen CPU's (except the APU's that have a G suffix in the model name) do not have integrated GPU's, so hardware transcoding won't be available.

It should also be noted that Intel desktop CPU's that have an F suffix in the model name have disabled integrated graphics, and therefore do not have QuickSync.

[shaunrattee]

There is a fix that allows you to unlock unlimited number of simultaneous streams on Nvidia consumer cards. I have had over 20+ h/w transcode streams on the RTX3060 without any issues. Been using the fix for a few years.

[HardcoreNacho]

Lon, please can you ask your connections at Plex to work on quick sync for the new 12th gen processors? My 12400 runs the IGPU at 78% for one video and 100% for two. My 6500T could run 7 without any issues but had difficulty with subtitles and 4K which is why I upgraded; or at least I thought I was upgrading.

[neilquinn]

Do you know if this is better supported now? I have some machines with the AMD 6900HX and 6800HS