Emby and CPU usage

[podrae 3]

Hi Guys

 

I have been using Emby for a month or so and absolutely love it. Im not sure this used to be a problem when i first setup but I have noticed that I cant run two streams at once as it maxes out my cpu.

 

Its on auto and each stream uses about 47% on ffmpeg (transcoding i imagine)

 

What im wondering is if this is normal, I have a server with a 8400 core 2 duo 3.0ghz cpu and 4gig of ram in it.

 

It seems to encode the video even when sending it to the browser of other pcs which shouldnt need to transcode anything i would have thought, What are you guys running and hows the performance?

[Deathsquirrel 745]

Browser has to transcode most things.  If you don't want transcoding use a full featured PC client instead.  Classic, theater or the win 8.1 p are good choices.

[JeremyFr79 228]

8400 is an extremely old and under performing CPU in comparison to newer stuff.  47% seem's about right for a single stream depending on the resolution/bitrate of the original file.  As Deathsquirrel also stated browser will alway's use transcoding.  My old server had a pair of Xeon 5640's which are equivalent to to a C2Q 9650 (top of line quad available at time your proc came out) and with 2 of those running 8 cores at 3.16Ghz I could squeek by 4 sometimes 5 transcode streams of 1080p high bitrate files.  Live TV ran nearly 50% for a single channel.

 

My new server is running 2 Xeon X55700's which are equivalent to first gen I7's and transcoding is no longer an issue as far as CPU goes.  

Edited April 29, 2015 by JeremyFr79

[podrae 3]

8400 is an extremely old and under performing CPU in comparison to newer stuff.  47% seem's about right for a single stream depending on the resolution/bitrate of the original file.  As Deathsquirrel also stated browser will alway's use transcoding.  My old server had a pair of Xeon 5640's which are equivalent to to a C2Q 9650 (top of line quad available at time your proc came out) and with 2 of those running 8 cores at 3.16Ghz I could squeek by 4 sometimes 5 transcode streams of 1080p high bitrate files.  Live TV ran nearly 50% for a single channel.

 

My new server is running 2 Xeon X5640's which are equivalent to first gen I7's and transcoding is no longer an issue as far as CPU goes.  

Wow so it really is that demanding!! I guess ill have to look into getting a quad so i can at least run a couple. I mean my gaming machine only has a 2nd gen i5 at 3.6ghz. If you use one of the dedicated media apps can you connect that to a remote server?

[JeremyFr79 228]

Wow so it really is that demanding!! I guess ill have to look into getting a quad so i can at least run a couple. I mean my gaming machine only has a 2nd gen i5 at 3.6ghz. If you use one of the dedicated media apps can you connect that to a remote server?

absolutely that'll work just fine, but yes transcoding on the fly can be extremely demanding, the other thing you have to remember is that Emby will typically transcode faster than it plays and cache the transcode so that it can complete the transcode and use your processing resources for a shorter period of time.  For instance my rig when watching a 22 minute long episode of tv encoded at 720p will transcode the entire episode in 45 seconds without breaking a sweat.  If you could throw money at a decent current gen quad core I5 you'd be more than fine for transcoding, And alot more energy efficient while you're at it.

[JeremyFr79 228]

Sorry had to edit my post lol I have X5570's not 5640's lol so you're talking 2.93Ghz Quad cores with HT so 16 threads of processing.