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Enabling Hardware Acceleration in Plex Media Server


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Hi All,

 

I was wondering if it's possible to enable hardware acceleration using xpenology in the Plex App. 

 

I'm currently running DSM version 6.1.6

 

Here is a list of my current hardware:

 

This is the motherboard I'm running:  SUPERMICRO MBD-X9SCM-F-O Server Motherboard

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813182253

 

This is the RAM I'm running:  Kingston 16GB (2 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM ECC Unbuffered DDR3 1333 Server Memory

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820239117

 

This is the CPU I'm running:  XEON E3-1245 v2 3.4GHz 8MB 4Core  -  * Please note that this CPU has an onboard GPU*

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA68F7759239&cm_re=XEON_E3-1245_v2-_-9SIA68F7759239-_-Product

 

My question is -  is there a way to enable hardware acceleration using either the onboard GPU or possibly with a video card?

 

I vaguely remember reading on another forum that the fact that I have IPMI enabled on the motherboard might be issue.

 

Thanks,

 

Jon

 

 

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You have to download intel 64 bit version of plex for synology and manually install to get hw acceleration option under transcoder tab. Such ver is not available in synology app store. 

Any way you will get working hw acceleration with 916+ bootloader only, plus your hardware should be compatible.

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I have indeed very similar hardware .... 

Never got it working. 916er image has some other disadvantages and also plex doesn't used the OnChip GPU. 

I flashed the box multiple times with different images (and also some other drivers because of my 10GbE network adapter) but stillt never worked. 

 

I gave up on this.

Let me know if you found a suitable way.

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Thanks for the reply deloza. 

 

So are you saying that I need to flash the model 916+ to get this to work?  I'm currently using model name : DS3615xs right now.   

 

Where would I also go about downloading the intel 64 bit version of plex for synology?  Is it in the community tab of the package center?

 

 

 

 

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3 minutes ago, smokers said:

I have indeed very similar hardware .... 

Never got it working. 916er image has some other disadvantages and also plex doesn't used the OnChip GPU. 

I flashed the box multiple times with different images (and also some other drivers because of my 10GbE network adapter) but stillt never worked. 

 

I gave up on this.

Let me know if you found a suitable way.

Honestly I'm not very well versed with the whole NAS environment.  I can follow write ups and how-tos, but anything more advanced I have to do a lot of digging to make sure I do something to mess up the whole NAS I already have set up.  

 

Ideally I would love to get hardware acceleration working but ultimately if it's too difficult then I may just have to scrap the idea.  I have also been thinking of possibly building a newer NAS with some dual cpu e5-2680's and moving to Unraid and exploring my options there as well.  

 

Thx for your input smokers.

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48 minutes ago, blackthorne said:

Honestly I'm not very well versed with the whole NAS environment.  I can follow write ups and how-tos, but anything more advanced I have to do a lot of digging to make sure I do something to mess up the whole NAS I already have set up.  

 

Ideally I would love to get hardware acceleration working but ultimately if it's too difficult then I may just have to scrap the idea.  I have also been thinking of possibly building a newer NAS with some dual cpu e5-2680's and moving to Unraid and exploring my options there as well.  

 

Thx for your input smokers.

 

I think if hardware support is a mandatory, you should think about unraid - unfortunately.

In DSM / Xpenology it is quite hard to get it work altough DSM is (for me) a much better / prettier system as Unraid.

If you have a possibility to try unraid on baremetal, give it a try with the trial the offer. check if hardware acc is working and if yes usw it :D otherwise you could dig deeper into DSM and hardware acc. 

 

Keep in mind that the hardware transcoded media may not look good at all (!). There is a difference in transcoded media you actually can see ;-) 

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Smoker,

 

I used Unraid a LONG (around 2010 I think) time ago and decided to find something more user friendly.  Which is how I found Xpenology and decided to give it a try.  Overall I like DSM but getting hardware acc to work would be ideal.  But Unraid has some a long way.  I emailed them and they updated my old license to a current one.

 

I currently run 2 Plex media servers.  One on my NAS and a 2nd on my old desktop pc.  The 2nd old desktop pc has hardware accelerated and I use that one to share my media with friends.  The NAS Plex server is dedicated to my wife and a cpl of other people.  I'm a stickler for image quality and only grab the highest quality remux encodes.  The 4k content I have are all direct play thru my Vizio smart tv  or my Roku Ultra.  

 

Ideally I'd like to consolidate both Plex servers into one which is why having hardware acc would be great for my NAS.  

 

Thanks for your input...

Edited by blackthorne
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3 часа назад, blackthorne сказал:

So are you saying that I need to flash the model 916+ to get this to work?  I'm currently using model name : DS3615xs right now.   

Only one xpenology loader DS916+ support hw acceleration for DSM at this time. But the main problem that loader DS916+ is required very specific hardware (CPU) for HW activation. 

 

3 часа назад, blackthorne сказал:

Where would I also go about downloading the intel 64 bit version of plex for synology?  Is it in the community tab of the package center?

  You can download directly from http://plex.tv if you have plex pass.

 

Plex hw easy activating on win, linux or OS systems, but unfortunately a lot of restrictions on synology.   

Edited by deloza
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On 6/6/2018 at 5:18 PM, Архип said:

 

What a nonsense

Spoiler

916_194.thumb.png.8fe862f0854c8b7be44d92efbfc9091b.png

 

 

Yeah you are right, ... it IS possible, but only with a specific set of hardware and some fiddling with config files. 

I tried many tutorials, most of them included obtaining the licence for video-station etc. - but nothing really worked and available support is quite low since plex doesn't support xpenology (DSM with other hardware than synology offers) and xpenology do only offer some little support about plex. 

 

If someone got it working with an (current) iGPU, I'm open for giving it a new try. But so far I just saw some solutions which uses real dedicated GPUs.

 

Feel free to share your solution and your hardware, so maybe we can put together the missing pieces.

 

 

 

BTW: the 916er image does not support the same hardware set as 3516er image. This is another part which makes it harder to get a good working environment -  and it makes it even more hard to get it work for the mainstream which will follow up some easy tutorials but no kernel-building instructions. 

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Currently playing 4k Dark Tower and it's just direct streaming to the AppleTV 4k... I'll have to find something that transcodes when playing... BUT, my water cooler fans do spin heavier when I play a 4k video vs 1080p

It's an Asus Z97 Pro Board, 32GB ram, i7 4790k, no add on video cards or peripherals. 

image.png.edfb55a4114303e20f7b100c27cd4e56.png

 

Atomic Blonde, 4k... Now converting on the fly, definitely a heavier load

image.png.f73580ab07cbf8f5743e128d43fab9cb.png

 

WELL NOW SHE'S WOKEN UP!!!! :) Playing via web browser. Seems to be doing fine.


image.png.679e4bf216f27402716cd91d726168d2.png

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5 часов назад, Bucket сказал:

Currently playing 4k Dark Tower and it's just direct streaming to the AppleTV 4k... I'll have to find something that transcodes when playing... BUT, my water cooler fans do spin heavier when I play a 4k video vs 1080p

It's an Asus Z97 Pro Board, 32GB ram, i7 4790k, no add on video cards or peripherals. 

image.png.edfb55a4114303e20f7b100c27cd4e56.png

 

It seems you've got just SW transcoding on CPU.

For HW transcoding i guess it must be 916+ with a valid SN and compatible HW (e.g n3150, j3710 chipsets)/

Edited by fallenlord26
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12 hours ago, fallenlord26 said:

 

It seems you've got just SW transcoding on CPU.

For HW transcoding i guess it must be 916+ with a valid SN and compatible HW (e.g n3150, j3710 chipsets)/

 

 

That's extremely interesting considering how much it starts to utilize the system...

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As I already said. HW transcoding won't work on most systems. There is a really small combination of hardware, and software (DSM) configurations that will work with hardware transcode. And transcoding based on an iGPU is none of them (as far as I know).

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  • 1 month later...
On 6/2/2018 at 9:15 AM, blackthorne said:

This is the CPU I'm running:  XEON E3-1245 v2 3.4GHz 8MB 4Core  -  * Please note that this CPU has an onboard GPU* 

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA68F7759239&cm_re=XEON_E3-1245_v2-_-9SIA68F7759239-_-Product

  

My question is -  is there a way to enable hardware acceleration using either the onboard GPU or possibly with a video card? 

 

1. Not every server board actualy leverages the iGPU, most have a dedicated on board gfx adapter (like the HP Microserver gen8...)

2. You need to at least have a XEON E3 v3 CPU to have a iGPU providing the required features. A V2 CPU is not sufficient.

 

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