What NAS drive to run Plex smoothly 1080p + 5.1?
- Thread starter finbarqs
- Start date
Had a little time to look at this. You're at the point I was about a year and a half ago. Transcoding a 1080p file is tough to do for all but the beefiest CPUs. I think an Intel 2500k might be able to do it in realtime. I know my AMD FX-6100 will only transcode a BR rip at about 17-20fps which is about 5 frames too slow for doing it in real time. No off the shelf NAS is going to have the power to do this. So, you're gonna have to build your own, get something besides the PS3 or you could remux the .mkvs into .mpg or .mp4 files. The codecs aren't the problem with the .mkv files, just the container. You could use a couple of programs to convert. If you are never going to use them with anything other than the PS3 then go with
http://www.digital-digest.com/software/mkv2vob.html
It'll remux the .mkv to an .mpg file that is completely non-standard and may play back on some other bizarre devices but is really only good for the PS3. It only takes a bout 4 minutes to remux an HD movie and you can do 'em in batches.
Personally, I prefer to us this
http://www.videohelp.com/tools/tsMuxeR
Choose file type of .m2ts and it will remux your .mkv to a standard .m2ts (same as the file type on a BR disc). It'll be a little larger than your original .mkv file but that's normal and it will be standard compliant. Also gives you some options for dumping unwanted audio tracks and subs, etc. Can't do batches but you'll end up with "clean" .m2ts files that the PS3 loves and will playback on most other devices that are BR capable.
But, you'll still have Cinavia to deal with and no amount of transcoding or remuxing will solve that. I dumped my PS3 (and everything else Sony in my house) for a WDTV Live Hub 18 months ago and now I don't worry about transcoding, remuxing, Cinavia, etc. Just smooth streaming. You could probably go with Plex and a streaming Plex channel with a Roku if online services are important.
Hope some of this helps.
http://www.digital-digest.com/software/mkv2vob.html
It'll remux the .mkv to an .mpg file that is completely non-standard and may play back on some other bizarre devices but is really only good for the PS3. It only takes a bout 4 minutes to remux an HD movie and you can do 'em in batches.
Personally, I prefer to us this
http://www.videohelp.com/tools/tsMuxeR
Choose file type of .m2ts and it will remux your .mkv to a standard .m2ts (same as the file type on a BR disc). It'll be a little larger than your original .mkv file but that's normal and it will be standard compliant. Also gives you some options for dumping unwanted audio tracks and subs, etc. Can't do batches but you'll end up with "clean" .m2ts files that the PS3 loves and will playback on most other devices that are BR capable.
But, you'll still have Cinavia to deal with and no amount of transcoding or remuxing will solve that. I dumped my PS3 (and everything else Sony in my house) for a WDTV Live Hub 18 months ago and now I don't worry about transcoding, remuxing, Cinavia, etc. Just smooth streaming. You could probably go with Plex and a streaming Plex channel with a Roku if online services are important.
Hope some of this helps.
Just FYI, an Intel 2500k can easily transcode 1080p in real time. I built a Plex server with an Intel i5-3570k (which is only slightly faster) and I was able to transcode 4 blu-ray rips in real time with no frame drops.
The problem with transcoding arises when you want to fast forward and rewind. It tends to choke up the server regardless of how powerful the server is. Ideally, for viewing your media you should use a device that can handle many media types without the need for transcoding (and that also doesn't have cinavia). My personal preference is an HTPC, but that's too much work and $$ for many people. Interestingly, cloud media just released a Plex app for the Popcorn Hour a400. Sounds like it would be an excellent Plex client. http://files.syabas.com/press/130604 PLEX App for Cloud Media.pdf
The problem with transcoding arises when you want to fast forward and rewind. It tends to choke up the server regardless of how powerful the server is. Ideally, for viewing your media you should use a device that can handle many media types without the need for transcoding (and that also doesn't have cinavia). My personal preference is an HTPC, but that's too much work and $$ for many people. Interestingly, cloud media just released a Plex app for the Popcorn Hour a400. Sounds like it would be an excellent Plex client. http://files.syabas.com/press/130604 PLEX App for Cloud Media.pdf
I believe a 2500k can technically transcode up 5-6 streams simultaneously. A 930 should be able to do 3-4.
Personally, I would have a decently powered server for transcoding and streaming to mobile devices but on my tvs I'd have something that can play most things without transcoding. Its going to be hard to not transcode for mobile devices, especially if you have a mix of them. For tvs its easier to find a device that plays most everything.
Personally, I would have a decently powered server for transcoding and streaming to mobile devices but on my tvs I'd have something that can play most things without transcoding. Its going to be hard to not transcode for mobile devices, especially if you have a mix of them. For tvs its easier to find a device that plays most everything.
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Sorry, but it's about this time that I call bullshit. Unless your destination resolution for all of those devices was 320x240 it didn't happen. I guess there's also the possibility that you may have been transcoding to a codec that was not x264, maybe a simple MPEG-4 L2 stream at SD resolutions. But no, you were not simultaneously transcoding 4 BR rips to any kind of HD quality.
Not only that, but OP was having trouble just streaming 1 HD stream over powerline and you're saying you were simultaneously streaming 4. Did you find a way to wire your 2 phones and tablet via Gigabit to your router?
Not only that, but OP was having trouble just streaming 1 HD stream over powerline and you're saying you were simultaneously streaming 4. Did you find a way to wire your 2 phones and tablet via Gigabit to your router?
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*Sigh* I don't know what to say. I didn't test it extensively, and like I said I was transcoding to various qualities, some probably SD, but it worked smoothly without any stuttering. I was just doing a quick stress test. In the real world I would never need to transcode four movies at a time, maybe 2 max. Also, why would I need the phone and tablet on gigabit? It doesn't take much to send a 8-12 mb/s stream over wifi.
Btw, here's assassin doing something similar, although I have no idea what quality the streams are or what his CPU is.
Btw, here's assassin doing something similar, although I have no idea what quality the streams are or what his CPU is.
I caved in and made my synology DS213 over the DS213+ (since it's power PC) and the DS213 has more GHz (though single ARM CPU). Since PS3 has the protection, I'm thinking perhaps maybe I should get myself something else... which sucks since I really don't want another media station... I really like to condense things down..
well, I knew this wouldn't work on the PS3, but didn't know it wouldn't work on the web apps as well! Not even iOS! So apparently, iOS doesn't support mkv as well, so transcoding is required (for the Plex app that I shelled over 4.99 for!)
Anyways, what's a format that is universally supported? I don't really wanna leave my pc on to do the transcoding... I have 1080p HD mkv videos in both DD and DTS 5.1. They're all 5.1!
Anyways, what's a format that is universally supported? I don't really wanna leave my pc on to do the transcoding... I have 1080p HD mkv videos in both DD and DTS 5.1. They're all 5.1!
For best compatibility across most devices:
1 - .m4v container
2 - 720p resolution
3 - x264 codec
4 - baseline profile with no b-frames and 4 reference frames
5 - 2 channel .aac audio as your 1st audio track, you could leave a multi-channel in as the 2nd track but it must be the 2nd.
These might be a little over aggressive settings but they'l make sure that it'll still work with older devices like ipods, etc. If most of the devices are newer, you can probably use 3 b-frames and a main profile.
1 - .m4v container
2 - 720p resolution
3 - x264 codec
4 - baseline profile with no b-frames and 4 reference frames
5 - 2 channel .aac audio as your 1st audio track, you could leave a multi-channel in as the 2nd track but it must be the 2nd.
These might be a little over aggressive settings but they'l make sure that it'll still work with older devices like ipods, etc. If most of the devices are newer, you can probably use 3 b-frames and a main profile.
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