Affordable NUC with QSV support

[Burrito78 15]

Hi there,

 

i'm looking into getting the cheapest current Intel NUC (NUC6CAYH Arches Canyon) running Linux and Emby Server.

 

The goal is to have it automatically do QSV accelerated offline transcodes of my MKV Blu-ray rips to mobile friendly file sizes (~3 GB/film) in H.264 video with one audio track and burned in forced subs (if possible) using Folder Sync. Files are on a NAS.

 

Does this NUC support QSV in Emby under Linux?

 

What would be the easiest/smallest Linux distro for this approach (no GUI needed)?

 

Thanks in advance!

Edited March 22, 2017 by Burrito78

[mastrmind11 722]

I believe CentOS and RHEL are the only distros that support QSV... Intel dropped support in everything else after the 4.1 kernel.  And even then I'm not certain if you need to compile your own kernel to get it to work in the first place.  Basically if you want QSV w/o a headache, you'll need Windows.

[Burrito78 15]

Thanks for the reply! Windows isn't going to happen so QSV is not an option for me it seems.

 

Any recommendation for a good "bang for the buck" NUC or similar for software transcode? What Linux distro in this case would be ideal for this scenario?

[mastrmind11 722]

Thanks for the reply! Windows isn't going to happen so QSV is not an option for me it seems.

 

Any recommendation for a good "bang for the buck" NUC or similar for software transcode? What Linux distro in this case would be ideal for this scenario?

Do some internet research on CentOS and whether QSV is included in the latest kernel.. might solve all your problems right there.  As for NUCs, just search these forums, there are tons of threads about them.

[puithove 209]

That's interesting.  I hadn't picked up on that yet.  I did a quick google and found this which supports the idea of using CentOS.  That would be sad though as I'm not a fan of CentOS/RHEL.  I had been considering working on a new build to utilize quicksync for my server, but perhaps not.  Sure, I could probably futz around with it enough to make it work, but if it's a pain in my ass, I'll drop it eventually.

Edited March 23, 2017 by puithove

[mastrmind11 722]

That's interesting.  I hadn't picked up on that yet.  I did a quick google and found this which supports the idea of using CentOS.  That would be sad though as I'm not a fan of CentOS/RHEL.  I had been considering working on a new build to utilize quicksync for my server, but perhaps not.  Sure, I could probably futz around with it enough to make it work, but if it's a pain in my ass, I'll drop it eventually.

Yeah t hat's the info I stumbled across too.  I'm not a fan of CentOS/RHEL either, so figure I'd save messing with it for a rainy weekend.

[Guest plexman]

VAAPI is the way to go bro. Avoid intel qsv and patched kernels. I have a working hardware transcoding server with VAAPI. Check my post here https://emby.media/community/index.php?/topic/31174-hardware-encoding-on-ubuntu-server/page-5

[puithove 209]

VAAPI is the way to go bro. Avoid intel qsv and patched kernels. I have a working hardware transcoding server with VAAPI. Check my post here https://emby.media/community/index.php?/topic/31174-hardware-encoding-on-ubuntu-server/page-5

 

Ah, yes, thanks for returning us to sanity.

[Burrito78 15]

Would the Intel NUC NUC6CAYH be able to use VAAPI? I don't think thats the case. Skylake is too expensive for me only for offline transcoding.

 

If it doesn't support VAAPI does anyone have an idea at how much FPS i'm looking at with Emby software transcode of Blu-ray MKV rips to lower bitrate H.264?