It has been four years since I last examined the feasibility of using AMD hardware for video transcoding on a Plex server. At that time, I found that hardware transcoding could be made to work on Windows with certain older mini PCs. In this month’s sponsored Plex video, I am revisiting this topic to see how the landscape has changed, specifically focusing on how different generations of AMD architecture—Zen 2 through Zen 5—perform under a Linux environment.
Check out the results in my latest video!
While Intel remains the standard recommendation for Plex hardware transcoding due to its consistent driver support and Quicksync technology, the current pricing and availability of AMD-based mini PCs make them a common choice for home lab enthusiasts. For this evaluation, I used a portable version of Unraid to test four different devices: a Zen 2-based Beelink SER4, a Zen 3 Geekom A5 Pro, a Zen 4 Geekom A8, and a Zen 5 Minix PC.
Starting with the older Zen 2 and Zen 3 architectures, the results were surprisingly functional. On the Ryzen 4800U and the 7530U, I successfully initiated hardware transcoding. When converting a 4K Blu-ray file to a 1080p 8-megabit stream, the systems utilized hardware decoding and encoding, which kept CPU utilization to a minimum. However, a significant limitation persists: hardware tone mapping is not supported on these chips. This means that while the video plays smoothly, HDR content does not display colors accurately, often appearing washed out.
As I moved to the newer Zen 4 and Zen 5 processors, I discovered hardware transcoding does not work. Instead, the systems relied on raw CPU power to handle the video processing. On the Zen 4-based Geekom A8, the 8745HS processor was capable enough to manage a 4K transcode through software, but it came at the cost of high CPU usage and noticeable fan noise. The Zen 5 Ryzen AI 365 showed similar behavior; it handled the task through software with better color accuracy for HDR content than the older chips, but lacked the efficiency of dedicated hardware acceleration.
To provide a baseline, I compared these results against a budget-friendly Intel N100 mini PC. Even as a low-end processor, the Intel chip handled hardware transcoding and HDR tone mapping simultaneously without strain. The CPU remained nearly idle while the video colors were mapped correctly, illustrating why Intel continues to be the preferred path for this specific use case.
For those who already own an older Zen 2 or Zen 3 AMD system, these devices can serve as capable Plex servers, provided the user does not require HDR tone mapping. For users with newer Zen 4 or Zen 5 hardware, the processing power is sufficient to handle one or two transcodes via software, though it is not the most efficient method.
I will continue to monitor updates to the Plex Media Server software, as future releases may eventually bridge the compatibility gap for newer AMD graphics architectures.
Disclosure: This was a sponsored post, however Plex did not review or approve this content prior to uploading.