HEVC Hardware Decoding/Encoding

[jmdale1984]

New here... howdy, folks!

I've been a long time HTPC builder/user, and I've collected a massive library of video (~6TB). I'm tired of buying new hard drives, so I've decided to start using Handbrake to convert my entire library to HEVC.

The problem is... My i3-3220t gets pretty choked up converting all of these files (3-4 hours for a 720p movie, haven't even mustered the courage to try a 1080p file yet). If that were the only problem, I could live with it, but it also suffers a little on playback. With 720p, it just lags a little before playback starts, or when skipping ahead. Again, haven't tried 1080p yet, and I'm not even worried about 4k (my eyes can't see the difference).

The question is... What is a cheap solution to build/buy an HTPC with decent processing power and HEVC hardware encoding/decoding?

I know the new Intel Skylake CPUs offer this, but are there any cheaper (AMD) solutions? Eventually, I'll probably buy something with an i7-6700t... but I can't afford that right now.

Also, are any Android chipsets currently capable of this? My phone (Moto X 2013) seems to dislike HEVC even more than my PC.

[KarMa]

Handbrake is on x265 version 1.5 but the latest versions are 1.8. It's noticeably faster than the version Handbrake comes with, due to acceleration with assembly encoding. I know I was impressed with the difference from an early 1.6 to an early 1.7 version. Can only imagine 1.5 vs 1.8 x265.

I convert my videos with MeGui as I can easily swap out x265 versions, or I can just encode with .bat scripts.

Should also note that x265 does some heavy denoising by default, but you use the command "--tune grain" without the ", to stop the denoising. Denoising helps with compression but hurts the detail obviously.

I like my $100 AMD FX-6300. I get about 10fps, encoding 720p videos with the x265 preset medium. You would need a AM3 motherboard though.

[jmdale1984]

Thanks, I hadn't even considered that using a different encoder might help. I'm only familiar with Handbrake and Ripbot 264

[El Heggunte]

Regarding the playback issues only...

you should try the Strongene Lentoid DirectShow Decoder.
AFAIR, only the 64-bit version of LAV Video may be "fast enough" to compare with the Chinese stuff.

If you prefer not to use DirectShow-based players,
you should give a try to MPlayer
(without any GUIs, because the GUIs themselves already are small resource-hogs, and HEVC decoding is a very-complex job).