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New CPU Seems to be unable to handle FFMPEG? - Printable Version

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New CPU Seems to be unable to handle FFMPEG? - Ang - 2024-07-13

So i was previously using a Samsung Laptop with an I7-1165G7, But all the USB hard drive adapters was to much and they kept disconnecting and reconnecting. so I found a dell from I believe 2016 which I upgraded. so its got the included I7-4790 And Nvidia GTX 745, 24GB of ram, And all the hard drives, Except one because its built into an enclosure, are Internal. The CPU is almost half the performance, But I figured with more ram, a dedicated GPU that should be the same as the Integrated graphics on the Samsung laptop, And a Decent enough CPU it should run fine. and it does run fine once playing. But FFMPEG Seems to pin the CPU to 100% every time I jump through a video, which results in a bunch of buffering, where as on the Laptop it had more power, so it was almost Instant to jump around. this gets annoying since I do jump around a lot. Both devices struggle with moving through a long file though, I'm talking like 5-10 hours. Is there anything I can do about this, or will I be forced to build a new computer? i was really hoping to use this dell that I upgraded.


RE: New CPU Seems to be unable to handle FFMPEG? - Efficient_Good_5784 - 2024-07-13

More ram doesn't equal better transcoding support. The only time it actually provides a benefit is when tone mapping HDR content.

You "upgraded" from an 11th gen Intel CPU to a 4th gen Intel CPU.
The 11th gen you had is codenamed "Tiger Lake: https://ark.intel.com/content/www/us/en/ark/products/208921/intel-core-i7-1165g7-processor-12m-cache-up-to-4-70-ghz-with-ipu.html
The 4th gen is codenamed "Haswell": https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/sku/80806/intel-core-i74790-processor-8m-cache-up-to-4-00-ghz/specifications.html

Look at the Intel Quick Sync table: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_Quick_Sync_Video#Hardware_decoding_and_encoding
You will see that Tiger Lake has way better HWA codec decode support than the 4th gen you "upgraded" to.

Also, I'm not familiar with what codecs the GTX 745 has support for, but it's an old GPU in tech years. Just because it's a dedicated GPU doesn't mean that it will actually provide better transcoding support. The i7-1165G7's iGPU most likely has way better HWA support for video transcoding than this GPU.

Finally, your new upgrade is pegging the CPU more as compared the your previous Samsung laptop's CPU because it's an older CPU. There were many improvements to the instructions per clock and clock rate since then.

I'm not trying to be mean here, but you basically downgraded here. You didn't upgrade anything other than getting more ram.


RE: New CPU Seems to be unable to handle FFMPEG? - Ang - 2024-07-13

(2024-07-13, 02:12 AM)Efficient_Good_5784 Wrote: More ram doesn't equal better transcoding support. The only time it actually provides a benefit is when tone mapping HDR content.

You "upgraded" from an 11th gen Intel CPU to a 4th gen Intel CPU.
The 11th gen you had is codenamed "Tiger Lake: https://ark.intel.com/content/www/us/en/ark/products/208921/intel-core-i7-1165g7-processor-12m-cache-up-to-4-70-ghz-with-ipu.html
The 4th gen is codenamed "Haswell": https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/sku/80806/intel-core-i74790-processor-8m-cache-up-to-4-00-ghz/specifications.html

Look at the Intel Quick Sync table: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_Quick_Sync_Video#Hardware_decoding_and_encoding
You will see that Tiger Lake has way better HWA codec decode support than the 4th gen you "upgraded" to.

Also, I'm not familiar with what codecs the GTX 745 has support for, but it's an old GPU in tech years. Just because it's a dedicated GPU doesn't mean that it will actually provide better transcoding support. The i7-1165G7's iGPU most likely has way better HWA support for video transcoding than this GPU.

Finally, your new upgrade is pegging the CPU more as compared the your previous Samsung laptop's CPU because it's an older CPU. There were many improvements to the instructions per clock and clock rate since then.

I'm not trying to be mean here, but you basically downgraded here. You didn't upgrade anything other than getting more ram.

I never said it did, I just mentioned that I got more.
I know that the laptops CPU is way newer, but its a laptop. it cant handle having 5 drives hooked up over a USB hub, its a basic hub with cheap hard drive to USB Adapters And it results in them randomly disconnecting, so it just wasn't working.
I have not checked if the Samsungs CPU was being pinned, I just know that it did buffer less. but it also is almost double the performance.

Jellyfin absolutely works on the Dell, it just has that buffer which sucks. I have a I believe 6th gen I7 and board for it, but no ram, and I don't know if the CPU is good or if its crashing. i could buy ram, and if it fits in the dells case use that. I think its an I7-6700. Do you think that would be worth bothering with if I can get ram for cheap and it works?


RE: New CPU Seems to be unable to handle FFMPEG? - TheDreadPirate - 2024-07-13

For a while I ran Jellyfin on an Intel J4205 with 4GB of RAM. It was a super low power and slow CPU, but the Intel Quick Sync in the iGPU was new enough that it worked really well for Jellyfin.

RAM is not the problem in your case and getting more RAM is not the solution. The old CPU is just not nearly as fast as your laptop and the version of Quick Sync in the iGPU is not well supported in modern Linux. And the codec support wasn't great anyway. And it is probably CPU transcoding, which is kind of slow even on a fast CPU and super slow on older CPUs.

We recommend 7th gen Intel CPUs and newer. Their Quick Sync is sufficiently capable for modern media and Intel still supports them in their drivers.

Your options are 1) pre-transcode your media to avoid transcoding or 2) get newer hardware. If you are in the US, surplus office PCs with 7th and 8th gen Intel CPUs are plentiful and cheap.


RE: New CPU Seems to be unable to handle FFMPEG? - Efficient_Good_5784 - 2024-07-13

(2024-07-13, 04:18 AM)Ang Wrote: I know that the laptops CPU is way newer, but its a laptop. it cant handle having 5 drives hooked up over a USB hub, its a basic hub with cheap hard drive to USB Adapters And it results in them randomly disconnecting, so it just wasn't working.
I have not checked if the Samsungs CPU was being pinned, I just know that it did buffer less. but it also is almost double the performance.
I would suggest if you're having to connect multiple drives, it's probably time you look into building a NAS to locally host all your data. It will more reliably host your media storage than a USB hub can.