While plex streaming, one of the primary features you need to look upon is accelerating the hardware. It can support any media file and play at the back inside Plex, irrespective of any movie or web series.
The video’s length, resolution, and scale determine the power that your CPU requires for transcoding. So, when you use a graphics card, you tend to shorten the pressure on the CPU for running your video.
Also, the GPU is equally responsible for increasing the video transcoding speed and not using massive power from the CPU. There is a shallow effect on the video playback on the device as the CPU-intensive transcoding activities usually offload to the dedicated hardware.
You would indeed need a strong GPU for plex streaming; for example, NVIDIA’S graphics card performs much better than the AMD graphics card.
What is transcoding plex?
There are built-in transcoders that Plex media services provide for ease of their users to convert any incompatible media format to a compatible format while streaming into a client’s device. As of now, there are two transcoders in Plex Media Server- One is Plex transcoder, and the other one is Plex Universal Transcoder. Both the transcoders are based on FFMPEG. Plex decided to stop with the development of Plex Transcoder and develop a replacement Plex Universal Transcoder that is more powerful, smarter, and faster.When do you need transcoding?
- The video format is not compatible enough with the client’s device. The design might be codec, bitrate, container, or resolution.
- The video’s bitrate must be higher than the required client’s app.
- There are instances where we need to burn the video’s subtitles for using subtitles, which requires a transcoding process.
- While using Plex Server content remotely, the Plex would convert the video first into a low-quality file to avoid buffering. This is generally done as the network speed does not support full quality.
Setting Plex Transcoding
The Plex Transcoding process gets automatically enabled when required, but you need to add some transcoder’s settings before playing it in advance. You can check your computer or NAS and see if it meets Plex Media Server’s requirements. If you do not have Plex Media, you can download it from the Plex Media Server’s downloads page and install it following the on-screen wizard, and finish the server setup when required.Also, Read: Cheap Ready Graphics CardNow go to settings and hit transcoder, and now you can specify transcoder quality and maximum simultaneous video transcode. So, there are four options for Transcoder quality–
- Automatic- Plex Media Server chooses one of the three options, and this one is the most recommended one among users.
- High-Speed Encoding- The transcoding speed would be faster, but with poor streaming quality.
- High-quality encoding- The rate would be high-quality, but the transcoding would be slow.
- Hurt the CPU- High quality with slow transcoding and heavy CPU usage.
Best and Cheap GPU for Plex Transcoding
1. PNY VCQP2200-SB NVIDIA Quadro P2200
Specifications:- 1280 CUDA Cores
- 5GB GDDR5x graphics RAM
- 5K resolution with 30-bit color
- It has excellent and powerful graphics performance and display capability that helps to work on large models.
- It provides precise detailing and clarity.
- It supports 30-bit color support that enhances color accuracy.
Pros
- Improved 3D designing
- Great GPU memory
- Powerful graphics
- Great compute performance
Cons
- No cons yet
2. ZOTAC GeForce GTX 1660 Twin 6 GB
Specifications:- 6 GB Memory
- 14 Gbps memory
- 1,408 Cuda Cores
- This comes with a 1,408 Cuda Core count.
- It has 88 TMUs.
- 105 W power during 4K Plex Transcoding.
Pros
- Extremely quiet while running
- Power-efficient
- The temperature of the cards is moderate
Cons
- Lacks backplate
- No idle fan-stop
Also,Read: Low Profile Graphics Card
3. NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 2080 Ti Founders Edition
Specifications:- Maximum Overclocking
- 11 GB of GDDR6 memory
- 352-bit memory bus width
- Dual-axial 13-blade coupled with vapor chamber.
- Cool and quiet performance.
Pros
- GPU provides the best technology
- Memory Clock Speed is 14000 MHz
Cons
- Temperature issue
4. Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1050 Ti OC
Specifications:- 7 Gbps memory clock
- Boost clock of 1,442 MHz
- Supports H.265
- The GPU consumes less than 75W every time.
- Runs coolly and is quiet.
Pros
- Has 768 CUDA Cores
- 32 ROPs
- 48 TMUs
Cons
- The price is a bit high
Also, Read: Graphics Card For Gaming Laptop
5. ASUS TUF Gaming NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Graphics Card
Specifications:- PCIe 4.0
- 10 GB GDDR6X
- HDMI 2.1
- DisplayPort 1.4a ports
- Latest Ampere SM Architecture.
- Delivers 2X than that of the 1st gen.
- Digital Algorithms like DLSS.
Pros
- GPU Tweak II software
- Fine-tune game settings
- The latest edition graphics card provides a great gaming experience
Cons
- No cons yet