How does an A/V Receiver come into play in regard to video codecs?

General Discussions
1

Hi everyone!
I have a budget Asustor AS202TE NAS which is pitiful for transcoding support according to Plex’s NAS Compatibility Guide.

If my only concern is getting content to my TV (which connects via HDMI to my Yamaha RX-V671 A/V Receiver), do I really need to worry my future purchase of a multiple-bay NAS capable of transcoding at the highest rate?

Where should my area of concern be directed to?

BTW, at present, I have no problem playing 1080P .mkv videos on my TV with this setup:

  1. Plex Media Server on Asustor AS202TE NAS with 2 X 3TB WD Red HDDs connected to gigabit LAN
  2. Plex Media Player on laptop connected to gigabit LAN and connected to the Yamaha A/V receiver via HDMI

Since my A/V receiver is also connected to the gigabit LAN, is there a better way to play my videos in my NAS?

THANKS!

2

This means that currently your laptop is playing the videos.
If you use PMP or OpenPHT on the laptop, this is very NAS-friendly and you don’t need to worry about transcoding on the NAS at all.
If you keep it that way, you can use almost any NAS.
(this does not apply if you use Plex Web to play the videos)

If you however want to extend your Plex usage to other client types (i.e. mobile iOS or Android apps or remote connection over the internet) then you need to make provisions for Transcoding on the server - which means you need a server device with a cpu which is fast enough to do it.
https://support.plex.tv/hc/en-us/articles/201774043-What-kind-of-CPU-do-I-need-for-my-Server-