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HW transcoding performance AMD vs Intel - Printable Version

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HW transcoding performance AMD vs Intel - milanos94 - 2024-10-26

Hello all!

It's my first post on this forum as I want to start my jellyfin journey, hope I am posting under correct category.

I want to buy my first NAS server with capabilities to run few VMs/docker containers. I have decided to go for AOOSTAR WTR PRO 4 Bay mini PC which will allow me to utilize both NAS and miniPC in single box.
This piece of hardware comes with two available CPUs - Intel N100 and AMD Ryzen 7 5825u. 

My issue is - I know that AMD cpu is much more powerfull and I don't care so much about energy efficiency, it still has low TDP of 15W. I feel pretty comfortable with all homelab related topics except one - streaming and HW transcoding. 
My research about best CPU for HW transcoding gave me one conclusion - Intel is much better at this due to quickSync. And it's the only thing which makes me even consider N100. 

Is it really that bad for AMD? Will I be able to comfortably stream in 4K using  AMD Ryzen 7 5825u or it needs to be Intel chip?


RE: HW transcoding performance AMD vs Intel - Fate - 2024-10-26

The problem is not the transcoding speed.
It's the transcoding quality. It will look very noticeable worse than Intel.

My gaming rig is AMD and all my servers at work are AMD Epyc but my homelab jellyfin instance is using an Intel J5005.
To be specific here AMD's h264 AMF encoder is bad, AMD's h265 encoder is MUCH better and closer to Intel.
I didn't see any numbers on the AV1 encoder yet.


RE: HW transcoding performance AMD vs Intel - milanos94 - 2024-10-26

Thanks for your answer Smiling-face
I have unused Dell Wyse 5070 with Pentium J5005 so maybe I will still get NAS box with AMD and use j5005 for streaming until I upgrade to N100


RE: HW transcoding performance AMD vs Intel - jztreso - 2024-12-23

(2024-10-26, 12:37 PM)Fate Wrote: The problem is not the transcoding speed.
It's the transcoding quality. It will look very noticeable worse than Intel.

My gaming rig is AMD and all my servers at work are AMD Epyc but my homelab jellyfin instance is using an Intel J5005.
To be specific here AMD's h264 AMF encoder is bad, AMD's h265 encoder is MUCH better and closer to Intel.
I didn't see any numbers on the AV1 encoder yet.

There is no AV1 encoder on these chips, only a decoder.
I'm also running a 7900x in my system and i'm able to transcode a 20mbps av1, with the hardware decoder into h265 at about 45 fps, using VA-API.

My best suggestion for these aoostar nas boxes are to stick with streaming site quality, if the plan is to use it outside the home, with multiple users.
The current transcoders are currently able to do x4 4k h265 to h264 transcodes and one av1 to h265 at a time, so relying on direct play and wide compatibility should be the main priority, with transcoding being a fallback for older devices.