TrueNAS Core v12-U8 and Hardware Transcode Plex Issues

DevilNAS

Dabbler
Joined
Feb 5, 2022
Messages
21
Hello everyone,

Have been two days searching for a solution to this issue but I am not able to activate the hardware transcode on TrueNAS 12.0-U8.
I have made several tries but always without success.

The problem is that after I try to watch a movie that need transcode stay buffering for ever and sometimes reply with error s1003 (Network). The PLex Logs have nothing useful for this problem.
Direct Play works well and sound transcode too. The Video transcode is the problem because needs the hardware. If I deactivate the hardware transcode, everything works great until CPU reach 100% usage.

CPU: Intel i3-9100 with iGPU

First try:
Followed the @dak180 post https://www.truenas.com/community/threads/activating-plex-hardware-acceleration.75391/post-525442

Second try:
Used the https://github.com/danb35/freenas-iocage-plex (which didn't configured hardware transcode because is only compatible with TrueNAS 11 and 12 :confused:)

Third try:
Used the https://github.com/danb35/freenas-iocage-plex
And also https://github.com/kern2011/Freenas-Quicksync

Fourth try:
Installed the plugin or Plex Media Server from shell.
After that followed:
Code:
@@@ INTEL GPU OFFLOAD NOTES @@@

If you have a supported Intel GPU, you can leverage hardware
accelerated encoding/decoding in Plex Media Server on FreeBSD 12.0+.

The requirements are as follows:

* Install multimedia/drm-kmod: e.g., pkg install drm-fbsd12.0-kmod

* Enable loading of kernel module on boot: sysrc kld_list+="i915kms"
** If Plex will run in a jail, you must load the module outside the jail!

* Load the kernel module now (although reboot is advised): kldload i915kms

* Add plex user to the video group: pw groupmod -n video -m plex

* For jails, make a devfs ruleset to expose /dev/dri/* devices.

e.g., /dev/devfs.rules on the host:

[plex_drm=10]
add include $devfsrules_hide_all
add include $devfsrules_unhide_basic
add include $devfsrules_unhide_login
add include $devfsrules_jail
add path 'dri*' unhide
add path 'dri/*' unhide
add path 'drm*' unhide
add path 'drm/*' unhide

* Enable the devfs ruleset for your jail. e.g., devfs_ruleset=10 in your
/etc/jail.conf or for iocage, iocage set devfs_ruleset="10"

Please refer to documentation for all other FreeBSD jail management
utilities.

* Make sure hardware transcoding is enabled in the server settings

@@@ INTEL GPU OFFLOAD NOTES @@@


The problem is always the same with every try.

Anyone had the same problem that I am having now? How did you solved this issue?
 
Last edited:

deadnoise

Cadet
Joined
May 1, 2022
Messages
1
I've tried for 5 days with every single guide I could find and didn't manage to make it work. I merged to TrueNAS Scale and installed Plex from TrueCharts catalog. Unlike the official plugin, the TrueCharts version give you the option to assign the intel GPU to the app. I did everything (from the moment I decided to switch to Scale) in like 30 min and it all works flawlessly.
 

jgreco

Resident Grinch
Joined
May 29, 2011
Messages
18,681
Yeah, the Plex guys haven't been particularly interested in supporting GPU transcode on FreeBSD. I'm not accusing them of any nefarious intent, since I'm sure it is super-un-fun-twitchy work, as can be seen even by the number of issues on Linux.

I thought that Quicksync was the blessed path forward on FreeBSD.
 

DevilNAS

Dabbler
Joined
Feb 5, 2022
Messages
21
Did th same thing. Did the migration to SCALE and using the Plex Official App everything have been working great since the beginning of April.
 
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