Advice on which NAS to buy

Plex Media Server
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1

Hi,

My current media server, a 2-bay Synology (probably the DS216 play), is outdated and struggles to run Plex Media Server and other applications at the same time. I am planning to upgrade to a new NAS in the near future. My media library consists mostly of 1080p mkv files, with some h265 files. I may also consider having some 4k files in the future. My Plex media players are the Plex app on a Samsung The Serif smart TV and an Apple TV (1080p version) on an older 1080p Samsung TV. I do not plan to stream media on smartphones or tablets.

I am having trouble determining if my media needs to be transcoded or not. For example, if I play a 1080p file on the Samsung smart TV’s Plex app, will the Plex server perform transcoding? How about h265 files? Can the Samsung TV play them? My current configuration seems to have trouble playing 4k files but no problems with 1080p.

I have heard mixed reviews about the new Synologys running Plex and am considering QNAP as an alternative. The QNAP TS-464 seems to be quite powerful, but I am also considering the old Synology DS920+ or DS220+ if I want to spend less and stick with a 2-bay system.

Given my requirements, do I need a powerful NAS such as the TS-464 or the DS920+ or can I get by with a less powerful one? I often use subtitles.

Thank you and I am open for suggestions.

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My Choice will be the 920+ it is still the #1 in my Book..

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I’m in a similar boat. I have a DS416 and it is time to upgrade. The only options for me on current Synology 4 bays are DS420+ or DS923+.
DS923+ does not have any hardware video acceleration. This means you won’t really be able to transcode with it. Unless you can direct stream to all your devices then it’s not going to be good. If you want to start collecting 4K files then you will want hardware transcoding.
920+ does hardware but it is about 2 years older and in short supply.
DS420+ has hardware acceleration but again is a few years old now. And only 2 core.

After the DSM7 upgrade nonsense (happening again with the upcoming DSM7.2 apparently) I started looking at QNAP. For about DS420+ money you can get the QNAP TS-453D … … hardware video acceleration, 4 core vs 2 on syno etc. It’s a couple of years old now. For a bit more money you can get the newer TS-464, which is what I think I have settled on.

Even if you plan on using 2 drives to start with, having a couple of spare bays to expand would be good. I’m looking at RAID5 so need 4.

I will miss DSM, but the QNAP can do everything I need. When you compare hardware, the QNAP is much more desirable.