Intel UHD 600 4K HEVC HDR bt2020 playback stuttering

[Fragger]

Hello everybody,

I need your help playing back 4K HEVC HDR bt2020 movies on an Intel NUC (NUC7CJYSAMN) with Celeron J4005 and Intel Graphics UHD 600. All other files are running smoothly.

My configuration is:

Playback device:
Intel NUC Celeron J4005@2,00GHz with newest chipset drivers
Intel Graphics UHD 600 with newest Intel drivers
8GB RAM
Windows 11 Professional
240GB SSD Device
Gigabit Network Connection
Jellyfin Media Player Client 1.10.1

Jellyfin Server:
Intel i5-750 2,66GHz
No Graphic Card installed
12GB RAM
Windows 10 Professional
2TB SSD OS Device
90TB RAID5 on LSI 9361-8 Hardware RAID-Controller
Gigabit Network Connection
Jellyfin Server (as Service) 10.9.3

Audio/Video:
Onkyo TX-NR616 AV-Receiver over HDMI 1.4a
Mitsubishi HC7800D/W (Full-HD Resolution 1920x1080 / SDR)

Settings in Jellyfin Media Player:
Hardware Decoding: Enabled
OpenGL: Disabled
Display Refresh Rate Sync: On (tested and working)

Problem:
All 4K HEVC HDR (with bt2020) movies stutter when played. 4K HEVC SDR (bt709) movies run smoothly. It seems to be due to the encoding of HDR to SDR, which causes a GPU load (3D) of 100% / Video-Decode of 10%.

For example:
Input #0, matroska,webm, from 'file:E:\Movies\HD\Avatar - The Way of Water [2022] [2160p]\Avatar - The Way of Water [2022] [2160p].mkv':
  Metadata:
    title          : Avatar: The Way of Water
    encoder        : libebml v1.4.2 + libmatroska v1.6.4
    creation_time  : 2023-06-22T21:18:57.000000Z
  Duration: 03:12:53.15, start: 0.000000, bitrate: 39948 kb/s
Stream #0:0: Video: hevc (Main 10), yuv420p10le(tv, bt2020nc/bt2020/smpte2084), 3840x2076 [SAR 1:1 DAR 320:173], 23.98 fps, 23.98 tbr, 1k tbn (default)


When playing 4K HEVC SDR, the GPU load (3D) is around 80% / Video-Decode 10%.

For example:
Input #0, matroska,webm, from 'file:E:\Movies\HD\The Witch Next Door [2020] [2160p]\The Witch Next Door [2020] [2160p].mkv':
  Metadata:
    title          : The Witch Next Door
    encoder        : libebml v1.4.0 + libmatroska v1.6.0
    creation_time  : 2021-01-21T04:55:06.000000Z
  Duration: 01:35:15.96, start: 0.000000, bitrate: 48582 kb/s
Stream #0:0: Video: hevc (Main 10), yuv420p10le(tv, bt709), 3840x1608 [SAR 1:1 DAR 160:67], 24 fps, 24 tbr, 1k tbn (default)

Both screenshots of the task manager are attached.

With Plex Media Player Version 4.29.2, all files are running smoothly and there are no frame drops. So I think, the hardware is able to decode the files and is not the problem.

I tried to:
- set disable transcode in the user settings on server side (with no effect)
- installed transcode killer plugin (with no effect)
- set Hardware Decoding to Copy (much more stuttering)
- set OpenGL to enable (much more stuttering)
- set all force transcode in the client settings to enable (with no difference or more stuttering)

Can someone help me getting these files running without stuttering (without buying new hardware). I really want to switch from plex to jellyfin...

Thanks in advance
Sascha

[TheDreadPirate]

Both the client and the server are pretty underpowered. The server just can't transcode (CPU too old and slow, no GPU). And the client can't locally tone map fast enough.

You don't have a lot of options.

IMO, the cheapest option is to put in an Intel Arc GPU in the server so that it can transcode.