I've been ripping for years. Decided to try 4k rips since I've got one nice t.v. at home. Ordered a drive from Billy (great guy) and a 4K disc from amazon (Mission: Impossible (the first one)).
I have an unraid server at home. I use an Intel NUC with LibreElec / Kodi. Hardwired gig network.
It's not up to the task. It lags. I''' futz around with the setup but think it's no use. I'm not sure how old the nuc is, I forgot to look.
I'm thinking of upgrading THIS LAST TIME. I would like to keep my unraid server because it's build like a tank and about four years old.
I'm thinking of Nvidia Shield TV Pro and going over to Plex. Or should I stay with Kodi on the Nvidia Shield Pro?
Do smarter, more capable and YOUNGER minds agree - or am I going in the wrong direction?
4K playback at home
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RickInHouston
- Posts: 45
- Joined: Tue May 12, 2015 1:02 pm
4K playback at home
Last edited by RickInHouston on Wed Jun 16, 2021 2:01 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Re: 4K playback at home
I don't have much experience with Kodi, but I think it is fairly similar to Plex. Is the Kodi server trying to transcode your 4K rip and is that the source of the lag? Or, is the network the source of your lag? 4K rips are quite big. Is your client at the TV struggling?
In my case, my Plex server is on a Raspberry Pi 4. That is a handy little machine, but isn't very powerful. If anything tries to transcode, the Raspberry Pi can't keep up. When it doesn't have to transcode, however, it can serve 4k rips easily. In my case, I have wired ethernet all the way between the Pi and my TV and generally it works well. I've also had friends struggle with 4K rips only to eventually find out that their wifi wasn't as reliable as they thought it was and once some network improvements were made, 4K rips started working reliably.
In my case, my Plex server is on a Raspberry Pi 4. That is a handy little machine, but isn't very powerful. If anything tries to transcode, the Raspberry Pi can't keep up. When it doesn't have to transcode, however, it can serve 4k rips easily. In my case, I have wired ethernet all the way between the Pi and my TV and generally it works well. I've also had friends struggle with 4K rips only to eventually find out that their wifi wasn't as reliable as they thought it was and once some network improvements were made, 4K rips started working reliably.
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RickInHouston
- Posts: 45
- Joined: Tue May 12, 2015 1:02 pm
Re: 4K playback at home
Hard wired gig network. (I added this to my original post).
I would assume (because I do not know) the Kodi box (NUC) is doing any and all of the heavy lifting and the unraid server is simply serving the file.
I would assume (because I do not know) the Kodi box (NUC) is doing any and all of the heavy lifting and the unraid server is simply serving the file.
Re: 4K playback at home
I think the Nvidia Shield (Pro) hasn't been updated since 2019. There's still the non-pro model that is a tube and the pro model that is square-ish. The pro model has extra RAM over the non-pro, which I have read on this forum seems to make a difference. I think the pro model is highly regarded as a streaming client. If that's what you have, I don't see a reason to change it.
I guess that leaves your NUC.
I have a friend with an Unraid server who runs a Plex server in a Docker container on his Unraid server. If you were to do something like that you could remove the NUC from the equation.
I guess that leaves your NUC.
I have a friend with an Unraid server who runs a Plex server in a Docker container on his Unraid server. If you were to do something like that you could remove the NUC from the equation.
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RickInHouston
- Posts: 45
- Joined: Tue May 12, 2015 1:02 pm
Re: 4K playback at home
I do wish there was a 2021 shield, but I don't think much has really happened in the way of chip speed.
I've ready about Odroid N2+ and CoreElect but I'm tired of bleeding edge. It's 2021, for goodness sakes, 4K should be EASY.
I'm thinking shield and trying Kodi, if that doesn't work move over to Plex. Kodi has been to much to tinker with for me lately. I can get the Shield locally and return it if it doesn't give me the 4k experience I'm expecting (no lag or studder, but buttery smooth).
I've ready about Odroid N2+ and CoreElect but I'm tired of bleeding edge. It's 2021, for goodness sakes, 4K should be EASY.
I'm thinking shield and trying Kodi, if that doesn't work move over to Plex. Kodi has been to much to tinker with for me lately. I can get the Shield locally and return it if it doesn't give me the 4k experience I'm expecting (no lag or studder, but buttery smooth).
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RickInHouston
- Posts: 45
- Joined: Tue May 12, 2015 1:02 pm
Re: 4K playback at home
Went ahead and got the Shield Pro and 4k is playing quite well with the Kodi app inside Shield (through the Google Play Store).
Just in case anyone needs to know.
Just in case anyone needs to know.
Re: 4K playback at home
I'm not sure of your network layout, but I had some problems with my network that I just recently figured out and solved.
Like you, I have wired gigabit throughout the network, as well as an AC access point serving wifi. However, my HTPC and media server are hardwired. I realized though, that as I was transferring files from my encoding machine in my office to the media server in the living room, that the transfer speeds were painfully slow (like 20 - 30 MB/sec). a single 10GB encode might have taken around 30 mins at that point.
Finally, I narrowed the problem down to the switches I was using. So my network was like this:
(Office) ISP Modem --> Gigabit Router --> 8-port Gig Switch --> (Living room) 8-port Gig Switch --> Media Server
........................ --> Gigabit Router --> AP .................. --> (Living room) 8-port Gig Switch --> HTPC
I have 3 GigE runs coming out of the first 8-port Gig Switch in the office going out to 3 different rooms in the house, including the living room. In the living room, that feeds into another 8-port switch for my Media Server, HTPC, TV, PS3, Roku, & A/V Receiver to plug in.
What I found was that while the Media Server & HTPC were both Gigabit, all the rest of the other devices on the switch have only 100Mbit networking. And I had noticed the speeds slowing down before, but noted that when I rebooted the switch in the living room, it would speed back up again for a while. But eventually, it would slow back down again. So I'm not sure if the switches I have just can't handle mixed network speeds well, or if they have some sort of bug or what, but the speeds would always slow back down; as a result, I would sometimes have trouble with the HTPC being able to reliably handle even some 1080p content, much less 4k.
So what I did was get another GigE switch (5-port) and put the uplink from the office switch into that one instead of the existing 8-port switch, and also put the Media Server & HTPC on that 5-port switch. Then I ran a jumper from that switch to the existing 8-port switch, where all the 100Mbit devices are plugged in. Ever since I did that, I have not had any slowdowns on the network, and everything runs MUCH smoother.
Might be worth looking into.
Like you, I have wired gigabit throughout the network, as well as an AC access point serving wifi. However, my HTPC and media server are hardwired. I realized though, that as I was transferring files from my encoding machine in my office to the media server in the living room, that the transfer speeds were painfully slow (like 20 - 30 MB/sec). a single 10GB encode might have taken around 30 mins at that point.
Finally, I narrowed the problem down to the switches I was using. So my network was like this:
(Office) ISP Modem --> Gigabit Router --> 8-port Gig Switch --> (Living room) 8-port Gig Switch --> Media Server
........................ --> Gigabit Router --> AP .................. --> (Living room) 8-port Gig Switch --> HTPC
I have 3 GigE runs coming out of the first 8-port Gig Switch in the office going out to 3 different rooms in the house, including the living room. In the living room, that feeds into another 8-port switch for my Media Server, HTPC, TV, PS3, Roku, & A/V Receiver to plug in.
What I found was that while the Media Server & HTPC were both Gigabit, all the rest of the other devices on the switch have only 100Mbit networking. And I had noticed the speeds slowing down before, but noted that when I rebooted the switch in the living room, it would speed back up again for a while. But eventually, it would slow back down again. So I'm not sure if the switches I have just can't handle mixed network speeds well, or if they have some sort of bug or what, but the speeds would always slow back down; as a result, I would sometimes have trouble with the HTPC being able to reliably handle even some 1080p content, much less 4k.
So what I did was get another GigE switch (5-port) and put the uplink from the office switch into that one instead of the existing 8-port switch, and also put the Media Server & HTPC on that 5-port switch. Then I ran a jumper from that switch to the existing 8-port switch, where all the 100Mbit devices are plugged in. Ever since I did that, I have not had any slowdowns on the network, and everything runs MUCH smoother.
Might be worth looking into.