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I'm searching now but does AMD have an alternative/answer for Intel's QuickSync? Turning on HW acceleration on my Plex server (so that it uses QuickSync) is a g

I'm searching now but does AMD have an alternative/answer for Intel's QuickSync? Turning on HW acceleration on my Plex server (so that it uses QuickSync) is a game changer. From struggling to handle 3+ 1080p streams and pegging all the cores to being able to do 6+ without going over a load average of 1.

Thaxll 6y ago
When you have 24 "HT" cores I'm not sure why you would need QuickSync.
- Const-me 6y ago
  Because video resolution has grown well above 1080p. I’m looking at 4k monitor at the moment, recent chips have some support for 8k video.
- lotyrin 6y ago
  Because in addition to theoretical capacities I also care about my power bill and how comfortably cool the room my transcoding machine is in stays.
Const-me 6y ago
Video encoders/decoders are parts of GPUs, not CPUs. Only CPUs with integrated GPU have these pieces of hardware. AMD is pretty comparable in that regard: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_Core_Next https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_Core_Next but I don’t have computers with AMD APUs or GPUs, and don’t have a hands-on experience with these features.
- joshstrange 6y ago
  Hmm, looks like Plex doesn't have support for Video Core Next yet: https://forums.plex.tv/t/feature-request-add-support-for-amds-video-core-next-encoding/226861/35 https://forums.plex.tv/t/feature-request-add-support-for-amd... I'm still probably 3-6mo away from a new server build so I'll just re-evaluate then I guess and honestly I might just go with another storage server and leave my intel/QS server as-is and just go with a AMD that plays nice with UnRaid.
  - DenseComet 6y ago
    Plex supports Nvidia GPUs for hardware transcoding, so you could pick up a cheaper Nvidia GPU and stick it in the build, but that will probably not be possible for small builds.
    - lostlogin 6y ago
      I wanted AMD but quicksync for a Plex server is just so good. I bought an I7 NUC10 for this role and it’s great. Virtualised OS, Docker for Plex and it’ll do 11x transcodes (1080p to 720p) in hardware while also hosting several other machines. The first time you pass though the GPU to the Vm, then into Docker is a bit of a head scratcher, but it’s actually fine and works well. It has a maximum of 64gb ram and is tiny. With an nvme drive (Samsung Evo) it is really really fast. The next best option as far as I was concerned was the NUC8, and while I’d love to have the PSU onboard and no brick, a Mac Mini is a lot of money. The Nuc8 is a better option than the 10 for anything that’s needing actual graphics. The 10 has a very anaemic GPU compared to the 8, but has 2 more CPU cores when comparing i7s.
      - joshstrange 6y ago
        I hadn't considered a NUC to run the plex server, right now I enjoy managing everything through UnRaid but I'm not opposed to another device that would manage plex alone. QuickSync is CRAZY good, I stumbled onto a post about it a month or so ago and thought "Ehh, I'm probably already using it, w/e" then saw I needed to run some commands and mount a device in my plex docker container to actually enable it and I was blown away by how little load there was on the CPU. I know there has been some grumbling about QS not producing the best output but that seems to be mainly related to the earlier iterations of it, I have not noticed any issues. It kills me how long I waited to try this, it literally took <10min to setup and has been a huge performance boost. To everyone else: If you have an Intel CPU that supports QS and you are running Plex in a docker container then I HIGHLY recommend you look into enabling HW acceleration (both in plex settings and by mounting a device, /dev/dri, into your container). Here [0] are the directions I followed. Make sure you read the instructions, the first time I tried to follow this I misread the instructions and thought my CPU didn't support it or there was some other issue but it couldn't have been easier when I actually stopped and read instead of skimming. [0] https://forums.unraid.net/topic/77943-guide-plex-hardware-acceleration-using-intel-quick-sync/ https://forums.unraid.net/topic/77943-guide-plex-hardware-ac...
toast0 6y ago
QuickSync is GPU accelerated encode/decode right? This processor announcement is for their CPUs without GPUs, so you'd need a GPU add on board, and both AMD and NVidia support that. AMDs processors with GPUs (they call them APUs) support that too. AMD tends to release desktop CPU, then high end desktop/server, then laptop APU and finally desktop APU. They only released Zen2 desktop APUs a couple months ago, and they're currently OEM only and very hard to find in the US (grey market imports only, AFAIK, but send me an email if I'm wrong, address in profile)
- joshstrange 6y ago
  QuickSync is all in the CPU (no GPU needed). IIRC it's part of the Intel Graphics (built into the CPU) so maybe it's not exactly fair to call QuickSync part of the CPU but it's included in the physical CPU chip and I have no discrete graphics card in my server right now. I know I can get a GPU to offload decoding/encoding to but QuickSync is pretty awesome for my use-case and buying a graphics card has it's own issues (space in case, cost of card, getting it play nice with Plex in docker, etc).
  - toast0 6y ago
    It is GPU needed. The intel spec sheet for i3-9350KF doesn't show QuickSync, but i3-9350K does. The difference between the two is that the F series doesn't have a GPU (or it's disabled). Also unavailable on server class Xeons without GPUs. I agree, it's convenient to have a GPU on most CPUs, but AMD puts less priority on that market, so we just have to wait.

Thaxll 6y ago

When you have 24 "HT" cores I'm not sure why you would need QuickSync.

Const-me 6y ago
Because video resolution has grown well above 1080p. I’m looking at 4k monitor at the moment, recent chips have some support for 8k video.
lotyrin 6y ago
Because in addition to theoretical capacities I also care about my power bill and how comfortably cool the room my transcoding machine is in stays.

Const-me 6y ago

Video encoders/decoders are parts of GPUs, not CPUs. Only CPUs with integrated GPU have these pieces of hardware. AMD is pretty comparable in that regard: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_Core_Next https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_Core_Next but I don’t have computers with AMD APUs or GPUs, and don’t have a hands-on experience with these features.

joshstrange 6y ago
Hmm, looks like Plex doesn't have support for Video Core Next yet: https://forums.plex.tv/t/feature-request-add-support-for-amds-video-core-next-encoding/226861/35 https://forums.plex.tv/t/feature-request-add-support-for-amd... I'm still probably 3-6mo away from a new server build so I'll just re-evaluate then I guess and honestly I might just go with another storage server and leave my intel/QS server as-is and just go with a AMD that plays nice with UnRaid.
- DenseComet 6y ago
  Plex supports Nvidia GPUs for hardware transcoding, so you could pick up a cheaper Nvidia GPU and stick it in the build, but that will probably not be possible for small builds.
  - lostlogin 6y ago
    I wanted AMD but quicksync for a Plex server is just so good. I bought an I7 NUC10 for this role and it’s great. Virtualised OS, Docker for Plex and it’ll do 11x transcodes (1080p to 720p) in hardware while also hosting several other machines. The first time you pass though the GPU to the Vm, then into Docker is a bit of a head scratcher, but it’s actually fine and works well. It has a maximum of 64gb ram and is tiny. With an nvme drive (Samsung Evo) it is really really fast. The next best option as far as I was concerned was the NUC8, and while I’d love to have the PSU onboard and no brick, a Mac Mini is a lot of money. The Nuc8 is a better option than the 10 for anything that’s needing actual graphics. The 10 has a very anaemic GPU compared to the 8, but has 2 more CPU cores when comparing i7s.
    - joshstrange 6y ago
      I hadn't considered a NUC to run the plex server, right now I enjoy managing everything through UnRaid but I'm not opposed to another device that would manage plex alone. QuickSync is CRAZY good, I stumbled onto a post about it a month or so ago and thought "Ehh, I'm probably already using it, w/e" then saw I needed to run some commands and mount a device in my plex docker container to actually enable it and I was blown away by how little load there was on the CPU. I know there has been some grumbling about QS not producing the best output but that seems to be mainly related to the earlier iterations of it, I have not noticed any issues. It kills me how long I waited to try this, it literally took <10min to setup and has been a huge performance boost. To everyone else: If you have an Intel CPU that supports QS and you are running Plex in a docker container then I HIGHLY recommend you look into enabling HW acceleration (both in plex settings and by mounting a device, /dev/dri, into your container). Here [0] are the directions I followed. Make sure you read the instructions, the first time I tried to follow this I misread the instructions and thought my CPU didn't support it or there was some other issue but it couldn't have been easier when I actually stopped and read instead of skimming. [0] https://forums.unraid.net/topic/77943-guide-plex-hardware-acceleration-using-intel-quick-sync/ https://forums.unraid.net/topic/77943-guide-plex-hardware-ac...

toast0 6y ago

QuickSync is GPU accelerated encode/decode right? This processor announcement is for their CPUs without GPUs, so you'd need a GPU add on board, and both AMD and NVidia support that. AMDs processors with GPUs (they call them APUs) support that too. AMD tends to release desktop CPU, then high end desktop/server, then laptop APU and finally desktop APU. They only released Zen2 desktop APUs a couple months ago, and they're currently OEM only and very hard to find in the US (grey market imports only, AFAIK, but send me an email if I'm wrong, address in profile)

joshstrange 6y ago
QuickSync is all in the CPU (no GPU needed). IIRC it's part of the Intel Graphics (built into the CPU) so maybe it's not exactly fair to call QuickSync part of the CPU but it's included in the physical CPU chip and I have no discrete graphics card in my server right now. I know I can get a GPU to offload decoding/encoding to but QuickSync is pretty awesome for my use-case and buying a graphics card has it's own issues (space in case, cost of card, getting it play nice with Plex in docker, etc).
- toast0 6y ago
  It is GPU needed. The intel spec sheet for i3-9350KF doesn't show QuickSync, but i3-9350K does. The difference between the two is that the F series doesn't have a GPU (or it's disabled). Also unavailable on server class Xeons without GPUs. I agree, it's convenient to have a GPU on most CPUs, but AMD puts less priority on that market, so we just have to wait.