Best Media Server that supports Plex and 1080p+ transcoding

wjfcomputers · 19 Aug 2015 at 19:53

Hi All,

I currently run Plex on my laptop and store all of my movies on the laptop. I'm looking to offload the media files to a centralized store on my network, but I need it to support Plex and/or Chromecast so that I can stream to my TVs around the house.

I've looked at various NAS devices but most don't seem to have a CPU powerful enough to transcode on the fly.

What's the best option here?

Cheers!

wjfcomputers · 19 Aug 2015 at 20:25

An Intel NUC looks like an interesting option!

Kanifee · 20 Aug 2015 at 06:29

How many simultaneous 1080p transcodes are you wanting do accomplish with the server?

lude1962 · 20 Aug 2015 at 12:16

How does the plex server decide when to transcode?

james.miller · 20 Aug 2015 at 12:18

lude1962 said:
How does the plex server decide when to transcode?

the client (player) tells plex if it supports decoding or not. if it doesn't, plex tries to transcode

lude1962 · 20 Aug 2015 at 12:53

james.miller said:
the client (player) tells plex if it supports decoding or not. if it does, plex tries to transcode

sounds a bit back to front to me, if the client supports decoding why does the server have to transcode it, cant the file just be sent 'native' format.
can you give an example .
plex client on 1080p device (ie plex on xbmc) dvd mkv on server?

easyrider · 20 Aug 2015 at 13:13

Yes you can set plex not to transcode anything...

HP microserver for plex is what I use and chrome cast

NexusK · 20 Aug 2015 at 13:15

lude1962 said:
sounds a bit back to front to me, if the client supports decoding why does the server have to transcode it, cant the file just be sent 'native' format.
can you give an example .
plex client on 1080p device (ie plex on xbmc) dvd mkv on server?

The way i understand it is that Plex sends everything as is unless the destination can't play a particular codec, then it transcodes. For example if it's sending to fully featured amp everything is sent as is but if it's sending the same file to say a TV that doesn't support DTS audio it will transcode the audio for that particular file, if it's sending a format that the TV can play then it doesn't transcode.

Nymins · 20 Aug 2015 at 13:16

lude1962 said:
sounds a bit back to front to me, if the client supports decoding why does the server have to transcode it, cant the file just be sent 'native' format.
can you give an example .
plex client on 1080p device (ie plex on xbmc) dvd mkv on server?

Thats what it does. The server is unaware of the client until it streams something. When it does, the server sends the file and gets a response from the client to say if it natively supports the format, if so don't transcode, if not then transcode (there are other scenarios like subtitles, audio etc).

HEADRAT · 20 Aug 2015 at 13:28

I just make sure everything I have is MP4 then everything plays without transcode.

james.miller · 20 Aug 2015 at 13:44

lude1962 said:
can you give an example .
plex client on 1080p device (ie plex on xbmc) dvd mkv on server?

ok, so client tells the server it wants to play a file. Server tells client what type of video/audio it is. Client tells server it's level of support. Server streams accordingly.

lude1962 said:
sounds a bit back to front to me, if the client supports decoding why does the server have to transcode it, cant the file just be sent 'native' format.

It doesnt have to, that's why the server talks to the client first

Kemik · 20 Aug 2015 at 14:19

easyrider said:
Yes you can set plex not to transcode anything...

HP microserver for plex is what I use and chrome cast

How do you control the cast? Does Plex remote app for a phone allow you to control the microserver and then you can tell it to cast to the TV? Does it not eat phone battery or does Chromecast natively support Plex and know to get it from the server?

memyselfandi · 20 Aug 2015 at 14:21

james.miller said:
ok, so client tells the server it wants to play a file. Server tells client what type of video/audio it is. Client tells server it's level of support. Server streams accordingly.

It doesnt have to, that's why the server talks to the client first

I don't think, if the client can access the media store directly, that the server actually even streams if the client supports, and can see, the media. Instead the Plex client uses "direct play" which means it accesses the media share directly and plays back the media. The server just tells it where the media is. Hell I've rebooted my Plex server whilst watching something on the client via direct play (my Plex server is on a Mac Mini and my media is on a NAS) and playback wasn't affected.

easyrider · 20 Aug 2015 at 14:26

Kemik said:
How do you control the cast? Does Plex remote app for a phone allow you to control the microserver and then you can tell it to cast to the TV? Does it not eat phone battery or does Chromecast natively support Plex and know to get it from the server?

I use my iPad...and cast to the TV...

When casting the phone is doing nothing the chrome cast is...so battery is not an issue...

Install plex media server on the HP microserver configure the shares etc...using the web dashboard..

Then install plex app on iPad or phone that's it..

It's been great and it's so convienient.

Broken Hope · 20 Aug 2015 at 16:18

HEADRAT said:
I just make sure everything I have is MP4 then everything plays without transcode.

You realise MP4 is just a container right? If you have say DTS, or DTS HD or Dolby True HD and your device doesn't support decoding the format then it doesn't matter if you have it as a MP4 or a MKV the device still won't be able ot play it.

Chances are though the audio in your files is just bog standard Dolby Digital or AAC which is why you haven't had any problems.

Goose · 20 Aug 2015 at 17:44

easyrider said:
I use my iPad...and cast to the TV...

When casting the phone is doing nothing the chrome cast is...so battery is not an issue...

Install plex media server on the HP microserver configure the shares etc...using the web dashboard..

Then install plex app on iPad or phone that's it..

It's been great and it's so convienient.

Just out of interest, which Microserver version do you own and what software do you run on it? I'm thinking of getting one myself and installing EXPenology on it.

easyrider · 20 Aug 2015 at 18:42

Goose said:
Just out of interest, which Microserver version do you own and what software do you run on it? I'm thinking of getting one myself and installing EXPenology on it.

HP 54NL running windows 8.1 pro and Plex Media server.

All the Drives are in a storage Pool using Drivepool

wjfcomputers · 21 Aug 2015 at 10:16

I ended up going for an Intel NUC i5 with 16GB RAM (total overkill but it was so cheap) and a 500GB SSD. I'll probably need some more external storage in the future, but it's enough for now.

Transcodes 2 1080p streams simultaneously no problem. Happy with the little fella.