This is very true, QuickSync falls over very easily when trying to transcode even a single 4k stream.

Depends on the details of your transcode:

- what's the source/destination quality?

- what's the container format? Quicksync doesn't support them all; even the newest gen is missing av1 and VP9 IIRC. But then, the same can be said for discrete GPUs.

- what filters are you applying. Many (most?) filters are CPU bound, which will kill you really quick.

But for supported formats without filtering, 12g Intel quicksync is regularly benchmarked at 4-6 streams.

One should always measure internet advice against one's actual use case. Personally I would argue that if you have a library of 8K video and more than 4 4K devices, you don't qualify as a "regular" home user. But of that's the case, hardware up my friend!

10th-gen i5 could not handle a single stream with most of the 4k content I tried, even though it was benchmarked as working. So if you're trying to transcode from varying sources I would imagine most people will end up wanting a discrete GPU.

If you're ripping your own content and can ensure that everything is set up right so that the integrated GPU can handle it, sure, it will probably work.

That being said they could have made giant strides in this area on 11th-12th gen, I have no idea.

As I mentioned elsewhere, check the details of that transcode you tried. Are you doing tone mapping? That happens on the CPU (even with many discrete GPUs). Is it in a supported container format? Did you validate that the GPU was being used for the transcode?

Other 10th gen I5 users get multiple simultaneous 4k streams going at > 1x speed. Even with tone mapping it should only use like 45% CPU for a single stream.

Unfortunately the difference between software and hardware development cycles means that when you're on data formats that came to prominence in the last 2 years, even the newest hardware may not support it yet.

Or I could just solve the problem by putting an old 1070 in the box and not have to babysit something I have literally zero interest in.

Sure, it's always cheaper to use the hardware you've got than to buy something new! And you don't lose much: AV1 and VP9 compatibility the same, and probably your home doesn't use more than NVIDIA's maximum of 3 simultaneous transcodes anyway. And IIRC that's about the maximum 4k transcode throughput of a 1070 regardless.

Personally I moved from NVIDIA to quicksync exactly because I felt NVIDIA required too much babysitting. Driver compatibility, interactive mode updates, patches and patch compatibility... In comparison the intel driver felt like a cake walk. But you should definitely go with your own comfort level, especially for the price point!

> NVIDIA required too much babysitting

This is on a headless box so thankfully I've never run into any of those issues, I just install their driver and pass the GPU through to my Docker container.

1) if your device plays 4k, then what are you transcoding from? That's going to be the determining factor, not the 4k output stream. Certainly in a home situation, that's likely to be direct stream. If your source files are 8K or higher, I wouldn't consider you a normal home user.

2) quicksync on a 10g or newer cpu is benchmarked at 4-6 4k simultaneous streams, but a lot depends on the details: container format in particular matters a lot, and so do your transcode options. Color matching for example, is only ever done on CPU. And IIRC AV1 and VP9 are not supported by quicksync (or older discrete GPUs).

That said, it's completely correct that you should measure all advice against your actual output device capabilities and source quality.