I’m planning a NAS/media server build for general centralized storage + Jellyfin to stream my media library, which consists of a mix of AVC, HEVC, and AV1 encoded videos. I’ll be watching on various devices, primarily on the living room TV w/ a Chromecast. The Chromecast is capable of playing AV1 videos (I know this b/c it says “direct playing” in the Jellyfin media info panel on my current setup).
Given that my Chromecast is capable of direct playing AV1 encodes, when I source the parts for my new server build, does my new server also need to be capable of AV1 transcoding or does this capability only matter if the client device doesn’t support AV1 video? I ask because I’ll possibly source my build from used parts, and the answer to this question may impact which generation Intel processors I focus on. I’m currently focusing on 12th gen i5-12400 b/c it has QSV capabilities and supports AV1, but if AV1 support isn’t needed for my server, then I may look for older gens to save a few bucks. Thank you!
Also if you want another resolution. Then it’ll also transcode afaik.
Yes.
If you always direct-play, the only bitrate you can use is original.
If you ever need to watch on a slow connections using a lower bitrate, that will require transcoding.
Or if you want subtitles but the player doesn’t support them. Then jellyfin will need to burn them into the stream.