Hardware transcoder on Intel Core i3-2100

Channels DVR Server Troubleshooting
#1

Hi folks,

I'm currently running Channels DVR on a Windows 10 machine with Core i3-2100. Is there some way that I can enable Hardware Encoding with this machine/processor? I'd like to at least test Hardware Encoding as the machine seems to really struggle with the only thing available, software encoding, when 2 or 3 clients connect remotely at 3 or 4 mbps each, and the remote experience is not good. The server location has a reliable Internet upload connection of 12 mbps. It appears that this CPU is capable of Quick Sync video encoding.

I know this processor isn't serious encoding horsepower by today's standards, but I'm wondering how users are successfully connect multiple remote clients when you're running Channels DVR on a NAS or similar with significantly less horsepower than even this Core i3.

Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks.

#2

If its not showing up as an option then its likely going to be hard to get working. If it it did work, I'm guessing the quality fo the QuickSync encoder from the 2nd gen processors is not going to be good.

#3

That is a Sandy Bridge processor, which was the first generation to be able to encode AVC. Its quality is probably equivalent or inferior to what you could get to using software transcoding on that chipset.

(That particular chipset was introduced Jan 2011, and discontinued Sept 2013. That you can run Windows 10 on that is quite impressive.)

#4

Okay. I bought it specifically on the recommendation that I run Channels DVR on Windows 10, and it had Windows 10. I'm not an Apple guy, so I'm not sure what to do to make the Channels DVR remote experience better without spending some serious cash.

Anyways ... thanks for the input.

#5

Does anyone have a good gauge of how many hundreds of dollars I should spend to get the software to encode for a few remote clients? I'm just trying to get a feel for this.

Thanks in advance for any help.

#6

Considering you'll not only need a new processor, but also a new motherboard to put it on, it would say $200–500, leaning towards the high end. You could probably find something in the middle of that for your purposes if you searched a bit, though.

#7

Search for what exactly? Do you have some examples, maybe on Ebay or something?

#8

If you're willing to get your hands dirty with Linux, the nvidia jetson nano is a cheap option with a powerful transcoding engine.

For something hands off, the DS220+ would be able to serve up a couple remote clients.

If you're building a PC you want an Intel CPU that's less than 5 years old. The newer the processor the better the performance and video quality.

#9

Do you think this would be okay?

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Acer-Aspire-Desktop-11th-Gen-Intel-Core-i5-11400-6-Core-Processor-UHD-Graphics-730-8GB-DDR4-512GB-NVMe-M-2-SSD-Black-Windows-10-Home-XC-1660G-UW93/405376644

I noticed some users that frequent the forum that were advising to use a 10 year old Mac processor for Quicksync, so I was hoping this one might work on the Windows side of things.

#10

yes it supports Qyicksunc

Intel Core i511400 Processor 12M Cache up to 4.40 GHz Product Specifications

#11

Ya, thanks, I saw that. But so did the CPU in my last upgrade for Channels DVR, but that didn't go so well.

#12

I always use Intel Update Assistant to make sure I have the latest Video Drives.

#13

My primary challenge with that machine is getting RDC to work with Win 10/11 home (it will probably operate headless). I see it can be done, but I have to wonder how many times it will have to be re-done with the way automatic updates work with Windows these days.

#14

First test with this new machine (using hardware transcoding) - 1 client connected at 3mbps and it's using all cores at between 30% and 50% per core. Can transcoding really tax a system this fast that hard with just one remote client?

#15

Is there an explanation somewhere in regard to how exactly the transcoder functions? Just observing the system with multiple connected clients, I'm really struggling to understand what it's doing.

If 3 remote users are all connecting in at 2mbps, watching the same recording in progress, does Channels only have to transcode the media the one time? In this scenario, if the first remote user starts watching from the beginning, 30 mins after the recording started, does Channels transcode any of the first 30 minutes if there is no demand for it?

#16

You are probably maxing the CPU. Turn hyper-threading off to get the real number.

#17

I sure hope not. I wouldn't expect to max out an 11th gen Intel CPU, 6 cores at 4.2 ghz with a single [quicksync hardware] transcoding session.

#18

maxing hyperthreaded cpu means using 50% of it

#19

Well that would be really disappointing. I'll look into it.

In the meantime, any details that the developers would be willing to share on transcoding would be helpful.

#20

I went in to the Windows power settings and set the min CPU to 100%. There is a single transcode running right now for a 2mbps client, and the machine is hovering between 9 and 15%. That seems more in line with what I was hoping for with this hardware.

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