Intel N100 Quick Sync 4K Transcoding - Which Linux Distro?
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Hi folks,
I'm currently revamping my Plex server setup and will be switching to a mini PC powered by 16GB of RAM and an Intel N100 with Quick Sync support. Something I never even thought of until after I ordered it, is that I can replace my entire 1080p library with just the 4K versions as there will be no need to have 2 separate versions.
If I understand correctly, the N100 has no issue hardware transcoding 4K > 1080p. My understanding is that hardware tone mapping only works with Linux and not Windows (which I don't want to install anyway). So my main question is, which distros are best for Plex and possibly Jellyfin hardware transcoding including tone mapping? Thanks!
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I've got an S12 Pro running Debian Unstable, I'd recommend any reasonably current distribution. I wouldn't recommend Ubuntu 22.04 LTS or its derivatives because 22.04 came out a couple months after the N100 did and I've heard of Quicksync not working on 22.04 with an N100 - but anything later than that should work fine.
I was considering Zorin OS 17 which I think is 22.04, but with a 6.5x kernal update, maybe this will work? I'm ok flipping to Ubuntu if necessary but would rather stick with Zorin or Mint. I prefer the desktop layout.
Ubuntu or Debian.
I'm running on Ubuntu 22.04 Desktop (originally 20.04) with an i5-10500T. Native install, no Docker. System is rock solid. Zero problems.
Re: hardware tone mapping, Linux supports Intel & Nvidia graphics. Windows is Nvidia only.
HDR to SDR Tone Mapping
The key fly in the ointment of replacing 1080p REMUXs with 4K REMUXs is subtitles, at least for me. Only a few clients can handle Image-format subtitles (like PGS) without forcing the server to transcode the video to burn the subs in, and this subtitle-induced transcoding is down via CPU. If you have a n100 + 4K remux + PGS subs active, then playing on the wrong client will bring your server to its knees.
I'm keen to hear if there are other solutions - aside from replacing client devices with ones that support PGS subs without transcoding.
Any.
I just built mine with Debian Bookworm as I strongly prefer Debian. I then upgraded to the 6.5.x kernel branch via backports. Running great for me on my little Beelink S12 Pro so far. Was previously running Plex on a Bookworm VM without hardware transcoding.
I use Ubuntu on my beelink with N100. It's working great for hw transcoding.
Until you run into a client that Plex thinks can play HDR/DV but it really can't. Or you run into a client that requires subtitle burn-in for image based subs and it brings your server to its knees at 4k resolution.
There's a few ways you can run into problems with 4k only sources that would be avoided by having a 1080p source along side the 4k.
I bought the gmktek g3 n100. I am using Debian bookworm cli. It works great as a standalone Plex server. It doesn't skip a beat playing multiple 4K HEVC streams over 2.5 GBE Ethernet LAN and clients WAN. However I can barely run anything else because the multiple processes cause this thing to overheat like crazy. I tried running a lot of other docker containers to see how far I could go and it wasn't very much. I think most of these Chinese n100 boards are about the same. Their heatsinks stink. There's some guy on Reddit he rigged a x86 custom passive cooler on his n100 board which looked really cool but I have yet to look into that. On another note I used jellyfin ffmpeg build, newer Debian kernel, Intel mesa drivers. These gpus on these are weak 750 mhz and slow. You will be lucky to transcode 4-6 large videos to any format a day using hardware acceleration and ffmpeg. I convert all to MP4 x264 ac3 I have a lot of old Roku clients. Even though my box can transcode several HEVC 4k streams for WAN playback over Plex I still want to be able to direct stream if possible just to keep this little box humming at 6-12W all day.