I spent some time experimenting with a new feature in Plex’s hardware transcoder that allows for HEVC transcoding of media. This means that high quality 1080p streams can be sent remotely at the same bit rate (or less) as a 720p h.264 stream. You can see it in action in my latest monthly sponsored Plex video.
The goal was to see how well this feature performs in terms of efficiency and quality and how easy it is to set up on a Plex server. My test system was a low-cost GMKTec G3 Plus mini PC running Linux, equipped with an Intel N150 processor.
Setting up the feature was straightforward. In the Plex web interface, under the server settings, I enabled the experimental HEVC video encoding option. It was also necessary to ensure that hardware acceleration was turned on. Additionally, Plex provides an option for HEVC optimization, which pre-encodes videos for better playback on low-powered servers.
To test performance, I loaded a 4K HDR Blu-ray movie onto the Plex server and played it back on my laptop. Initially, the video was streamed in full 4K resolution, but I then switched to a lower bitrate of 720p at 2 Mbps to force a transcode. The server responded quickly, and the video quality remained impressive. Due to copyright restrictions, I couldn’t share a direct visual comparison, but the results were noticeably better than the standard H.264 encoding.
Checking the Plex dashboard, I confirmed that both decoding and encoding were being handled in hardware, with the output using HEVC. The CPU usage remained relatively low, hovering between 25% and 36%, which was similar to what I had observed with H.264 encoding. This suggests that enabling HEVC does not significantly increase the processing load, at least on a modern Intel processor like the one in my test setup. With this level of efficiency, I estimate that the system could handle three or four simultaneous transcodes without much issue.
For those considering enabling this feature, you’ll need at least a 7th-generation Intel Core i3, i5, or i7 processor. Lower-end hardware needs to have Jasper Lake or a newer architecture to be fully supported. Even if a system supports hardware transcoding, that doesn’t necessarily mean it will support HEVC encoding, as some older Intel chips lack the necessary features.
Playback device compatibility also plays a role in whether a client can receive an HEVC stream. On Apple and Android devices, including Apple TV and Android TV-based systems, the automatic quality adjustment features defaults to H.264. To ensure HEVC transcoding is used, the resolution and bitrate must be manually selected. Additionally, HEVC playback requires a Chromium-based browser on Windows, macOS or Linux, or Safari on macOS. Other browsers like Firefox and Opera won’t work. Similarly, the Xbox One S doesn’t support HEVC playback but will automatically revert to H.264 when necessary.
The improved efficiency and quality of HEVC make it a useful addition to Plex’s transcoding capabilities. It’s worth experimenting with if you have the right hardware.
Disclosure: This was a paid sponsorship by Plex, however they did not review or approve this content before it was uploaded.