Recommendations: Cheapest Graphics card for decoding/encoding

[Crestj 67]

After some testing it seems my i3 7310T cannot encode quick enough (although it says it's ahead of current playing time) to supply video to my Chromecast.

 

I installed a second Emby Server on another PC with a GTX 1050 and it performed perfectly when casting to Chromecast in every test.

 

I'm don't really want to spend ~£130 for a graphics card if all I want it for is the transcoding parts. It's for a headless server.

 

Are there any cheaper alternatives (preferably NVIDIA) that would perform equally?

Edited May 2, 2020 by Crestj

[rbjtech 4218]

Why is it transcoding ?  If you fix that, then the Chromecast will direct stream and you will not need to transcode anything...

[Crestj 67]

Honestly I've tried everything.

 

It's transcoding as the bitrate is too high. Even if I get it to direct stream it jumps about horribly, audio out of sync and freezes.

 

The only difference is the failing one is Windows 2016 and the working one is Windows 10 with a quicker cpu.

 

Just weird that as soon as I use a graphics card instead of the cpu it all works perfectly.

[Jdiesel 1113]

Do you have hardware acceleration enabled with the i3 7310T? According to my search it should have a HD 630 iGPU which should be pretty capable. Not all tasks can be hardware accelerated though so it would be helpful to post a transcoding log to see what is going on.

[Crestj 67]

Yeah I chose it because it was low power but capable of transcoding.

 

I'll kick a video off and post the logs.

[Crestj 67]

Here's the transcode log playing a video.

 

Artifacts on screen from about 5 seconds in and video froze just afterwards but caught up again after about 10 seconds.

 

This happens all the time but the transcode status in the Emby Dashboard shows it minutes ahead of play time and running about 96fps.

ffmpeg-transcode-7d855f9d-a519-478d-9e82-22459215b303_1.txt

Edited May 2, 2020 by Crestj

[Crestj 67]

Here is another video direct streamed that stuttered all the way through playback.

ffmpeg-remux-b0de8332-07ec-4873-a835-15ca26fb29e0_1 - Direct Stream.txt

[Jdiesel 1113]

I'm not confident you have an issue due to lack of hardware horsepower. The first video in burning in some PGS subtitles but it looks like the hardware is keeping up. The second video is a straight up audio conversion which the hardware can handle easily. Is there anything different able the network between the two PCs?

 

Maybe @@softworkz can provide some insight. Sometimes there are subtle differences in things like keyframes that aren't easily noticed by the average person that can cause issues with certain players.

[Crestj 67]

The 2 PC's are both on 1gb ethernet plugged into the same hub that the wireless router feeds off.

 

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

[softworkz 3325]

@@Crestj - Could you try how playback works from a browser like Chrome?

[Crestj 67]

Here's the same video that was constantly stuttering when direct streaming to the chromecast.

 

Played using Chrome through wireless connection.

ffmpeg-remux-4712d0b9-644e-4acd-9934-c0b558e0c195_1 - played from Chrome.txt

[softworkz 3325]

Does it play ok there?

[Crestj 67]

Perfectly

[rbjtech 4218]

Try changing your wireless channel to something else - I had an issue not long ago where a phone running emby for android just would not play without pausing every few seconds unless the bitrate was forced really low.

 

Playing in the chrome browser on the same phone played perfectly at high bitrates. (ie identical scenario to what you are seeing here).

 

I resolved it by changing the wireless channel and the issue disappeared entirely.  The previous channel I used was not being used by anything, but for some reason the combination of emby for android and that channel did not work properly. 

 

Worth trying as it's a quick setting to change on your router/AP - all the devices will re-adopt to the new channel - so nothing to do on those.

Edited May 3, 2020 by rbjtech

[Crestj 67]

Thanks, that sounds conceivable but I'm using Google wifi so don't have control at that level.
One downside to Google wifi is that they don't let you in to the really useful settings!

Edit: if I can cast YouTube, Netflix and other video services without the issue then would this not mean the wifi is performing OK?

 

I seem to be able to play some videos but others are more prone to stuttering constantly.

 

2 test videos are both MKV's using H264 yet one plays and the other is unwatchable.

 

I've measured Wifi speeds and it ranges from 10mbps to 25mbps on both videos, clearly fast enough to cope.

 

Am I missing something? I'm running out of bottlenecks?!?!?!

Edited May 3, 2020 by Crestj

[Jdiesel 1113]

Maybe try disabling hardware acceleration for testing. The cpu should still be able to handle it.

[Crestj 67]

Disabled hardware acceleration and played a video that stuttered and nothing changed.

 

It must be my emby server as I played the same video from Netflix and its perfect.

 

It's only to chromecast devices from emby that the issue occurs.

[Crestj 67]

After some more testing I am now completely confused!

 

I've tried a gen1 chromecast and this also shows the issue.

 

I have a Google home next to the tv (which acts like a chromecast) and this plays the same video perfectly!

 

I've tried chromecasts on other tvs in the house and the same stuttering occurs.

 

None of this makes sense to me!?!

 

It doesnt appear to be a transcoding issue, or a network issue, or a chromecast issue (if the Google home hub is a real test) and now have nothing left to test!

 

All Windows running emby theatre, all android phones, smart tvs with the emby app (LG) and all browsers play this fine.

[Jdiesel 1113]

Can you post the media info, from the web view, for one of the files your were having trouble with? I was looking at the Doctor Dolittle log and noticed the framerate was 59.94 which is strange for a film.

[Crestj 67]

Here you go

[rbjtech 4218]

Thanks, that sounds conceivable but I'm using Google wifi so don't have control at that level.

One downside to Google wifi is that they don't let you in to the really useful settings!

 

Edit: if I can cast YouTube, Netflix and other video services without the issue then would this not mean the wifi is performing OK?

 

I seem to be able to play some videos but others are more prone to stuttering constantly.

 

2 test videos are both MKV's using H264 yet one plays and the other is unwatchable.

 

I've measured Wifi speeds and it ranges from 10mbps to 25mbps on both videos, clearly fast enough to cope.

 

Am I missing something? I'm running out of bottlenecks?!?!?!

 

Yea I thought that too - the phone was fine for all other wifi issues (speed test way higher than my emby bandwidth needs), only the Emby app and that wifi-band had the issue.  Bizarre I know .. but worth a punt.

[Crestj 67]

So looks like Chromecast is just off the menu then with my Google Wifi. 

 

Any cheap alternatives? Don't want to buy a Smart TV or Roku to fix this.

[Crestj 67]

Update :

Found an amazon firetv stick and plugged that in with the emby app on it.

 

Everything I stream to that works perfectly.

 

Having already tried 3 chromecasts I guess there is just an inherant issue with chromecasts.

 

Weird but I can't explain it any other way.

[BAlGaInTl 279]

Interesting.

 

My Chromecast works pefectly.

 

Is it possible that your display is causing some kind of interference with the wireless signal?  

 

for fun, you could try hooking up the Chromecast using an extension cable if you have one and get it out from behind the display.

[Crestj 67]

It's already hanging down below the TV with line of sight to the wifi router! 

 

Not sure what more it needs.

 

It is an old TV so I wondered if the USB was just not supplying enough power but even plugged it into a wall plug and it was the same.

 

You would think Google Wifi would know how to talk to a Chromecast. lol

 

No other streaming is an issue for me (LG app on smart tv, Amazon Fire stick)

 

Weird.