Proxmox/truenas scale and hardware encoding
reddit / selfhosted

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AreYouEvenReal2 · 2023-11-15 15:11

Is there a way to get hardware encoding for Plex or Jellfin when using
Proxmox or TrueNAS scale. I want to do a setup for a media server
using containers but I am worried about the hardware encoding
limitations.

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Conscious-Fault-8800 · 2023-11-15 15:23

Yes

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adamsir2 · 2023-11-15 15:32

Haven't tried it yet but I used the jellyfin lxc from tteck github
script and JF worked fine. Apparently you can pass an igpu for
quixksync(assuming Intel) but its complicated on proxmox.

I have a repurposed Tesla p4 vfio/GPU pass through to my jellyfin VM.
I can try it with a jellyfin lxc after work if you're interested.

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dotinho · 2023-11-15 15:40

For Proxmox yes. I use one VM with pci pass thru, that pci is a
Nividia Card. Works good on Plex, Jellyfin and Tdarr.

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bobbarker4444 · 2023-11-15 17:32

I haven't used Truenas Scale but I know for sure that you can use HW
acceleration from an LXC container under Proxmox

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bklyngaucho · 2023-11-16 02:53

Yes. Google that 💩

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bit25slim · 2023-11-16 04:17

I do passthru for my 1080ti for a plex vm. Works great. Once in a
while I have to kick the vm as it may not attach but its rare.

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AreYouEvenReal2 · 2023-11-16 11:40

I did. It didn't give me the info I wanted. What if I want both Plex
and Jellyfin? What if I can't do GPU passthrough?

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AreYouEvenReal2 · 2023-11-16 12:09

Alright how do you do this? I made this post because I don't want to
do GPU passthrough if I can avoid it. I am pretty sure my board has
iommu issues that may or may not be surmountable. I will also have to
dig out my old GTX 970 and see what it can encode.

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AreYouEvenReal2 · 2023-11-16 12:14

My board has iommu issues so I am not sure I can do this. It doesn't
sound very practical to buy a separate GPU anyway.

Do you have to have Plex, Jellyfin, and Tdarr all in the same
container or VM?

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AreYouEvenReal2 · 2023-11-16 12:21

What's special about the p4? Does it have something like SR-IOV?

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dotinho · 2023-11-16 13:37

Yes, I have only one comercial GPU, like GTx 1050ti, it’s a consumer
gpu.
You just need to activate iommu

If you can’t use iommu, I string suggest use don’t use Proxmox but
Ubuntu for this task.

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AreYouEvenReal2 · 2023-11-16 14:29

I have found a way to pass nvidia gpus to docker containers on Windows
atleast, it should work on Linux. Still trying to determine if it
requires iommu. It's called the nvidia container runtime. I am shocked
no one thought to mention it here.

There is also this method to pass through access to CUDA:
https://bradford.la/2016/GPU-FFMPEG-in-LXC/

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adamsir2 · 2023-11-16 15:37

Not sure about sr-iov. I bought it originally for a vgpu setup which
worked pretty well but not exactly what I thought. Moved it to my
jellyfin VM and passed it through. Figured its a nice upgrade compared
to the p400 it replaced since it has 8gb ram two nvenc encoders. In my
minimal testing its worth the $100+$20 fan/shroud compared to the
p400(more transcodes).

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AreYouEvenReal2 · 2023-11-16 15:44

How many streams do two nvenc encoders do? How does it compare to
newer GPUs?

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adamsir2 · 2023-11-16 16:00

Theoretically "unlimited" streams but what they really mean is its ram
dependent. Doing a single 4k to 720p stream used just over 120mb of
ram. So in theory I could do 68.27 streams before it craps out. In
reality I had 10 4k to 720/1080 streams going and there was still room
to go.

As for newer GPUs, best bet is to look that GPU up with Plex. There's
a site that charts it out, elmsoft or something(forget the actual
name). I chose single slot,pcie powered cards for my setup because of
space.