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"This Is The ONLY Home Server You Should Buy" Or, why older computers may be better for the environment | Hardware Haven (www.youtube.com)
submitted 1 year ago by to c/selfhosted@lemmy.world
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I thought this video was rather interesting, because at 12:27, the presenter crunches the numbers to find out how many years it would take for a new computer purchase to be more environmentally friendly (in regards to total CO2 expended) compared to using a less efficient used model.

Depending on the specific use case, it could take as little as 3 years to breakeven in terms of CO2 if both systems were at max power draw forever, and as long as 30 if the systems are mostly at idle.

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[–] 3 points 1 year ago (9 children)

How much video is really needed for transcoding?

I ask because I need to get a video card for transcoding to a 65" 4k TV. I'm converting all my DVDs to MKV and using Jellyfin as my server and client. It transcodes lighter stuff fine (cartoons, old TV shows), but better movies get some artifacts that don't occur if I have the TV play the same file from a thumb drive.

I've read Jellyfin's recommendation, but it's really just "use at least this video chipset", not a particular card, so I'm trying to determine what card I should get.

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  • [–] 5 points 1 year ago

    You don't really want to live transcode 4K. That's a tremendous amount of horsepower required to go real time. When you rip your movies you want to make sure they're in some format that whatever player you're using can handle. If that means that you use a streaming stick in your TV instead of the app on your TV that's what you do. I think you could technically do it with a 10th+ gen Intel with embedded video. I know that a Nvidia 2070 super on a 7th gen Intel will not get the job done for an upper and Roku. So all of my 4K video is either h264 or HEVC so it all direct plays on my flavor of Roku.

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  • [–] 4 points 1 year ago (6 children)

    Server to TV should be local, why are you transcoding? I watch 4K files on my 4K TV without issues, with Kodi because I don't need Jellyfin for that.

    I use Jellyfin to stream when I'm outside my home, and transcoding 4K is what takes a lot of resources.

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  • [–] 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (5 children)

    It's transcoding because Jellyfin decided it needs to transcode for some reason, frustratingly. I've converted to formats/codecs I know the TV supports, and yet Jellyfin still transcodes, with a message about the TV not supporting the codec (yet if I play the file on the TV from a thumb drive, it works fine with the crappy built-in media player). I'm using the Jellyfin client on the TV because it's easy to install without a Samsung account, and I don't think I can get Kodi on it (besides my experience with Kodi is not great, it's sluggish on real hardware, I can only imagine how bad it would be on an underpowered garbage TV and I don't know if a client exists).

    From a bigger picture perspective, I think Jellyfin as a client will be better for my family. It's a simpler interface with less to get them in trouble.

    I'll need transcoding for other/non-local devices anyway, so I still have to address the issue (annoying iPad for example).

    If you have any advice about troubleshooting why it's transcoding, I'm all ears. This is the first I've gotten Jellyfin to work after multiple attempts over the years, across multiple servers and clients, so my experience with it is limited. I'm just glad it works at all - it's the first I've gotten to work other than Plex.

    Thanks - at least now I know it shouldn't be transcoding.

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  • [–] 2 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    I've encountered some unexpected transcodes or playback failures that seem to stem from app compatibility problems. Most TV/streaming stick apps for Jellyfin are maintained by only 1-2 volunteers so you can get some funky bugs given the enormous number of possible combinations of codecs, server settings, client hardware configurations and client versions even for just a single TV/streaming device platform

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  • [–] 2 points 1 year ago

    Well TBH my familiarity with Jellyfin is rather limited, I installed it, it works, I don't mess with it.

    The only problems I've had is when some friends had trouble logging in, which was solved with a cache and cookies cleanup. At least the only problems I know of: turns out my friends don't complain when it doesn't work.

    I know that Jellyfin CAN serve without transcoding (you can disable it on a per-user basis IIRC), but as to why it decides you can't, I have no idea. Have you tried filing a bug report? Sometimes it's a bug, sometimes they give you a solution. Sometimes both.

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  • [–] 2 points 1 year ago*

    A better value is just getting 6th gen or newer Intel CPU and using its built-in GPU to do the transcoding. If you want a discrete GPU, any low powered card that supports HEVC should work. Alternatively, you can get something like a Roku device to connect to your TV as they have pretty good compatibility and you'll avoid transcoding all together.

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