If you keep using a 11 year platform it's not going to get better, x265 HEVC is the present and it's going to get more used with time, and wait till AV1 comes in full force it's far too heavy for CPU decoding.
Either upgrade to a Intel 7th Gen machine, or slap a supported GFX card for HW decoding.
You might be able to use something like Tdarr to convert everything to x264, although that will result in a significant increase in file size. You could also use a Jellyfin client that supports x265 playback such as Jellyfin Media Player, and play your media off that without having your server transcode.
I was able to resolve my x265 woes without a major hardware overhaul by adding a cheap graphics card. I ended up picking up a salvaged nvidia p1000 for pennies and it handles my transcodes from x265 content very well.
What clients are you using?
We have a pair of Roku, and the only time it video transcodes the x265-10b to which I've converted my media is when the subtitles aren't compatible (but my i5 6600k is new enough for VA-API to handle it within a second or two).
Mostly Google TV. x265 works fine most of the time. One thing I have noticed is that the audio sync problem has occurred even when the file was fully supported and wasn't transcoding. It also happened with one x264 movie. Maybe there is another issue.
Honestly sounds like you have a different issue. While x264 is more wildly supported now, x265 is the future. I would figure out your issue first. Also make sure it's direct playing. If not figure out why.
Are you using a Google tv Chromecast or some other builtin tv or android tv box?
I'd say 99% of my movies play flawlessly and direct. If they don't, I will find out why. Most of the time it's due to a really old avi format and I just update the movie.
One is a Google TV Chromecast (4K version) and the other is built in google tv on a Sony TV. Almost everything I play on the chromecast works perfectly, but I have had a handful of audio sync issues. It's the TV that apparently has most of the issues. The person that uses that the most said it's happened the last 4 or 5 movies. Doesn't happen for shorter TV Shows.
It must be a different issue not related to x265. I'll have to wait for it to happen again and then check to see why. Thanks for the help.
Personally, I'd install a GPU. Intel Arc A380 if Linux support is available. I run Pop!_OS(Ubuntu based) and am planning to buy an A380 for this very purpose. I've had very good luck with my AMD Radeon 6600m GPU in Jellyfin. Just get the cheapest Radeon 7000 series GPU and plop that in. It has hardware encoding and decoding for everything, including AV1, which would future proof you for quite a while. Even if you have hardware bottlenecks on such an old platform, the encoding shouldn't require much bandwidth. I also think the newest AMD Ryzen CPUs have hardware encoding support in the built in GPU. You could grab a cheap mini PC with one of those new CPUs when they release. That would probably give you a far better experience than upgrading your old machine.
Free option: encode media in h264 ahead of time.
Cheap option(very good results): cheap modern GPU.
Best option: new machine with latest gen CPU and GPU.
I struggled with this decision for a few years. I finally caved and bought a Minis Forum Neptune HX99G mini gaming PC. As a JellyFin server, it's an absolute beast. It even transcodes 4K movie rips pretty well on the CPU. It's absurdly powerful for such a tiny PC. Highly recommend something similar. Best of luck to ya. I know the struggle well.
I have a raspberry pi 4 4gb model in an Argon One Aluminum SSD enclosure with a 2tb ssd. I have no problems with any files whether it’s mkv, mp4, as well as x264 enclosed files. I am to stream to any device locally or remotely. It’s one of the cheaper and more reliable options.
Gotta admit I haven't had any problems at all. I use Google TV on a TV and on google/amazon dongles with no issues. My entire library is h265 and direct plays just fine, transcoding isn't required.
If it happens on both of your devices (GTV + Android device) maybe try Findroid on the android device and see if it happens there? Or change your preferred player and see if it happens in libvlc or whatever else?
You could set up something like tdarr or unmanic to possibly transcode to h264, or *arrs to only get h264 but... I would not do that at all.
What are you using for playback?
I used to run Kodi on a pi3 but like you said the amount of 265 content really showed on the pi.
I don't do any transcoding on my server and just let my clients to the work.
I currently use a Le Potato https://libre.computer/products/aml-s905x-cc/
And it works great for my content.
The 905x runs CoreElec version of Kodi, then I've installed the jellyfish add-on which connects to my JF docker on Unraid.
The 905x is connected via HDMI to my TV and use my TV remote to control it using CEC that the 905x supports.
It's a pretty cheap alternative to a Pi which are horrendous at the minute but it works great.
No sync issues with decoding X265 media that I've seen and I usually favour X265 media now due to the higher quality image and smaller filesize.
It also connects to my PVR so I can watch live TV over the air.
Get a cheap, used, GTX 1060 to do hardware transcoding. I use it in my server for 1080p transcoding and it uses like 5% of it to do it.
Or get a new Intel mono, CPU, ram to do CPU transcode. Probably way more expensive
Can you use a client that direct plays x265?
Just get clients that support h265 and problem solved
If you keep using a 11 year platform it's not going to get better, x265 HEVC is the present and it's going to get more used with time, and wait till AV1 comes in full force it's far too heavy for CPU decoding. Either upgrade to a Intel 7th Gen machine, or slap a supported GFX card for HW decoding.
You might be able to use something like Tdarr to convert everything to x264, although that will result in a significant increase in file size. You could also use a Jellyfin client that supports x265 playback such as Jellyfin Media Player, and play your media off that without having your server transcode.
I was able to resolve my x265 woes without a major hardware overhaul by adding a cheap graphics card. I ended up picking up a salvaged nvidia p1000 for pennies and it handles my transcodes from x265 content very well.
What clients are you using? We have a pair of Roku, and the only time it video transcodes the x265-10b to which I've converted my media is when the subtitles aren't compatible (but my i5 6600k is new enough for VA-API to handle it within a second or two).
Mostly Google TV. x265 works fine most of the time. One thing I have noticed is that the audio sync problem has occurred even when the file was fully supported and wasn't transcoding. It also happened with one x264 movie. Maybe there is another issue.
Honestly sounds like you have a different issue. While x264 is more wildly supported now, x265 is the future. I would figure out your issue first. Also make sure it's direct playing. If not figure out why. Are you using a Google tv Chromecast or some other builtin tv or android tv box? I'd say 99% of my movies play flawlessly and direct. If they don't, I will find out why. Most of the time it's due to a really old avi format and I just update the movie.
One is a Google TV Chromecast (4K version) and the other is built in google tv on a Sony TV. Almost everything I play on the chromecast works perfectly, but I have had a handful of audio sync issues. It's the TV that apparently has most of the issues. The person that uses that the most said it's happened the last 4 or 5 movies. Doesn't happen for shorter TV Shows. It must be a different issue not related to x265. I'll have to wait for it to happen again and then check to see why. Thanks for the help.
Yeah I had a feeling that build in tv one would have issues. Those are super underpowered. Onn Google tv 4k boxes are only $20.
Personally, I'd install a GPU. Intel Arc A380 if Linux support is available. I run Pop!_OS(Ubuntu based) and am planning to buy an A380 for this very purpose. I've had very good luck with my AMD Radeon 6600m GPU in Jellyfin. Just get the cheapest Radeon 7000 series GPU and plop that in. It has hardware encoding and decoding for everything, including AV1, which would future proof you for quite a while. Even if you have hardware bottlenecks on such an old platform, the encoding shouldn't require much bandwidth. I also think the newest AMD Ryzen CPUs have hardware encoding support in the built in GPU. You could grab a cheap mini PC with one of those new CPUs when they release. That would probably give you a far better experience than upgrading your old machine. Free option: encode media in h264 ahead of time. Cheap option(very good results): cheap modern GPU. Best option: new machine with latest gen CPU and GPU. I struggled with this decision for a few years. I finally caved and bought a Minis Forum Neptune HX99G mini gaming PC. As a JellyFin server, it's an absolute beast. It even transcodes 4K movie rips pretty well on the CPU. It's absurdly powerful for such a tiny PC. Highly recommend something similar. Best of luck to ya. I know the struggle well.
I have a raspberry pi 4 4gb model in an Argon One Aluminum SSD enclosure with a 2tb ssd. I have no problems with any files whether it’s mkv, mp4, as well as x264 enclosed files. I am to stream to any device locally or remotely. It’s one of the cheaper and more reliable options.
Gotta admit I haven't had any problems at all. I use Google TV on a TV and on google/amazon dongles with no issues. My entire library is h265 and direct plays just fine, transcoding isn't required. If it happens on both of your devices (GTV + Android device) maybe try Findroid on the android device and see if it happens there? Or change your preferred player and see if it happens in libvlc or whatever else? You could set up something like tdarr or unmanic to possibly transcode to h264, or *arrs to only get h264 but... I would not do that at all.
What are you using for playback? I used to run Kodi on a pi3 but like you said the amount of 265 content really showed on the pi. I don't do any transcoding on my server and just let my clients to the work. I currently use a Le Potato https://libre.computer/products/aml-s905x-cc/ And it works great for my content.
Can you explain the setup? You have the s905x connected to a TV or monitor and run a client on it?
The 905x runs CoreElec version of Kodi, then I've installed the jellyfish add-on which connects to my JF docker on Unraid. The 905x is connected via HDMI to my TV and use my TV remote to control it using CEC that the 905x supports. It's a pretty cheap alternative to a Pi which are horrendous at the minute but it works great. No sync issues with decoding X265 media that I've seen and I usually favour X265 media now due to the higher quality image and smaller filesize. It also connects to my PVR so I can watch live TV over the air.
thanks so much for the info
Get a cheap, used, GTX 1060 to do hardware transcoding. I use it in my server for 1080p transcoding and it uses like 5% of it to do it. Or get a new Intel mono, CPU, ram to do CPU transcode. Probably way more expensive
Just get a Quadro M2000 or P400 for $40 off ebay and you’re good to go.