Transcode performance expectations

[newjerseyninja 0]

Hello,

 

I am interested in putting together an emby server.

 

My media sources are for the most part handbrake transcoded to 1080p.

 

I have a variety of other mobile devices for the wife and kids.

 

I'd like to be able to play transcoded multiple streams at the same time to these devices.

 

Let's say I will need to transcode 3 or 4 videos to these devices.

 

I intend to use linux as the base OS.

 

Questions:

 

Does intel Quicksync support multiple transcodes at the same time in Linux or Windows?  Does Nvidia's boards support this, which one?

 

Would a Celeron N3150 be up to this task, or a pentium 3710?

 

Is there an ARM based board that could handle this?

 

What Nvidia card could handle this?

 

Separately:

 

What is the state of the OMX compatible version of the server for say a raspberrypi emby server?  How many transcodes can it handle simultaneously?  I'm asking because it would be convenient to take it on the road.

 

What is the state of an AMD compatible version of the server for the same application?

 

 

 

I'd like to do this the least expensive way or lowest power consumption way.

 

Thanks

 

 

 

 

 

 

[legallink 187]

Lowest power consumption/lease expensive means to put  your media in a format that does not require transcoding and can be directly streamed.  MP4's with AAC audio codecs and a low resolution if you are looking for remote streaming with poor connectivity or low upload bandwidth.  After that, the system you put it on can be a very light/inexpensive system.

[newjerseyninja 0]

Lowest power consumption/lease expensive means to put  your media in a format that does not require transcoding and can be directly streamed.  MP4's with AAC audio codecs and a low resolution if you are looking for remote streaming with poor connectivity or low upload bandwidth.  After that, the system you put it on can be a very light/inexpensive system.

Thanks,

 

I get that, but then I really have no use for emby.

[Deathsquirrel 745]

Thanks,

 

I get that, but then I really have no use for emby.

 

Then you have no use for ANY media server.  Either you don't transcode or you put some hardware muscle behind it.

 

edit -- just to be clear, transcoding isn't a lightweight process.  You can run low-powered hardware and handle multiple streams with no transcoding with the right media and client devices or you can run more powerful hardware and have less picky source material and more flexible client options.

Edited August 1, 2016 by Deathsquirrel

[newjerseyninja 0]

Then you have no use for ANY media server.  Either you don't transcode or you put some hardware muscle behind it.

 

edit -- just to be clear, transcoding isn't a lightweight process.  You can run low-powered hardware and handle multiple streams with no transcoding with the right media and client devices or you can run more powerful hardware and have less picky source material and more flexible client options.

 

Emby's value-add (to me) would be to transcode streams to end devices. 

 

The previous poster's suggestion was that the cheapest and lowest power method serve the media files to lower-spec devices would be to pre-transcode them.  This is an obvious solution, but not one I am interested in, I really do not want mutliple copies of one file.

 

ANY other media server can serve pre-transcoded files via DLNA or other means.

 

I understand that transcoding CAN BE a CPU intensive process, unless this process(es) can get offloaded to the GPU.

 

That's why I asked about the state of offloading transcoding to the GPU and its expected performance.

 

Thanks for caring enough to post.

Edited August 1, 2016 by newjerseyninja

[Luke 42083]

With the hardware transcoding you have a good chance to be able to do some light transcoding on cheaper devices.

[Luke 42083]

You can read about OMX development here:

 

http://emby.media/community/index.php?/topic/36227-h264-omx-instead-of-x264/

 

 

 

I have built an version of ffmpeg for RPi enabled to encode via OpenMAX IL for Raspberry Pi (h264_omx), which is capable of transcoding 720p at 50+ fps.

[Luke 42083]

@@newjerseyninja

 

The upcoming Emby Server 4.2 will have h264_omx built-in for Raspberry Pi hardware encoding. Thanks guys.