I know this has been asked numerous times, but I never seem to see the answers that help me out. I currently have a QNAP NAS TS-451+ with 8 TBs of usable storage. I have 7 TBs of content and some of that consists of 4K videos. I have recently upgraded by theater room to a Sony 4K 75 inch TV. I run all my media from a Plex server on my NAS either using the Plex app on my TV and in some cases I use DLNA. My issue is that I seem to have trouble streaming 4k content on my internal network from QNAP specifically unable to open the files at all and start watching them or continues to buffer, unless I shrink the video file, no matter what app I use to watch the video from. I prefer to take advantage of my TV and media system that I have now and view my content in 4k but at the same time I would prefer to limit my costs. I have considered buying another NAS that is marketed for 4K streaming, but I think there should be a cheaper way. I have tried Kodi and DLNA and I have similar issues with the 4K content when running from my NAS. Can I get some input on what improvements I should make to be able to watch 4k content internally only without ongoing buffering issues or unable to open them at all?
Not relevant but I have AT&T GB Fiber connection and I am running the Eero wireless devices for my internal network equipment. I have my home completely wired with CAT6.
My NAS as I mentioned is a QNAP NAS TS-451+ with 8 TBs of storage with a little under 1 TB free. I have about a TB of 4k content while everything else is 1080p and/or 720p
TV is Sony XBR75X940D with a hardwired network connection to it
I also have other media devices such as NVIDIA SHIELD (2015) and XBox One (not the S)
Plex runs on NAS connected via CAT6 connection to a gigabit switch
I am open to any suggestions or cheap alternatives. Thank you in advance!
To me this sounds a little backwards, if Iâve understood your question. You are asking for the correct hardware to run PMS on so as it does the transcoding without stuttering, buffering etc - correct? Well, if you transcode you will degrade the quality beyond the point of having it in 4K to begin with. So why aim for cater for transcoding of it? Possibly if the goal was to supply various other, non-4K, devices with a stream. But if the end-goal is to view the 4K material in its original form on a 4K TV - you do not, never, ever, want to use live-transcoding in PMS.
So, I humbly suggest you turn this around and look at the client-side instead. I am intrigued as to why the Shield would not work for you, as Iâve heard good thing about it in terms of 4K and x265. But I am not that well-read on the specifics of different models. Perhaps you have an older model which does not support as much as the one which is on sale of today. For best support in terms of codecs etc (so as to get the best possibilities to avoid live-transcoding) you could look at a NUC running PMP/OpenPHT.
as suggested, you should look at your client side instead. All my TVs are now 4K HDR units. The only time it needs to transcode is the Plex client causing it to transcode. (LG WebOS and Samsung Tizen Plex App are guilty of this). Because of the bad coding of the Official apps by the Plex team, my options for LG WebOS is use Xplay or DLNA stream. For the Samsung Tizen I have to use the DLNA stream.
Otherwise you would need to build a Plex Server with a Kirby Lake CPU and use the new Plex hardware transcode feature, which will degrade your 4K mediums anyway.
I personally run my Plex Server on a cluster of ESXi hosts with Xeon processors, but that is still isnât enough to live transcode 4k streams. I am waiting for Plex to stabilize the HW GPU support so I can stick in a few cheapy Nvidia 960 GPUS in my ESXi host for some pass-through PCIe HW GPU transcoding when I am away from home (4k stream down to 1080 streams).
My âcheapestâ recommendation to all this problem is to get a Chromecast Ultra + the RJ45 kit. The CCU can play HDR+Dolby Vision+HLG and can pass Dolby Atmos. So if you have an AVR that support ALL those standards, just stick the CCU in the AVR and you are set.
Thank you all for your responses so far. Peter you are correct, I was not very clear when I was explaining how it is currently works. I have tried to transcode some of the existing 4k content in Plex and keep it in the same format, only hoping that if I am transcoding it in Plex or on my NAS that it might work, but it didnât. In most cases I just keep it in the format I received it in. I prefer to not do any transcoding. I just want to direct play any content I have in its original format. So if that is a 4k video file that is 40g+ in size, I want to be able to play that without any shuttering, buffering, or no picture at all.
As for the Nvidia Shield, I was able to copy some of my 4k content to that device and I had more success running it on there than I did running the files from my NAS, but I still had some issues with running it from that device as well. My only thought was that because it was the first Shield rather then the newly released one it didnât support all forms of 4k such as HDR and Vision. The NUC would definitely probably help resolve the issue but its up there in price and only serves one purpose. I would rather invest that money into another NAS that supports a 4K if I was going to spend another $600 or more.
Camnchar - You mentioned the ODroid, what would be the min specs I would need accomplish this?
Mbz - I agree that is more than likely client side, although my TV supports all formats but it could be a coding issue as you suggested. I have a Samsung from several years ago and I remember having numerous issues with Plex app on that TV. Trying the Chromecast is super inexpensive and that would quickly rule out a client side issue if I still encounter issues. Are you aware of any Smart TVs that are known to work better with streaming 4k content from a NAS device? I ask this because I also have a Hi-Sense 4k and another Haier 4k TV setup in my kids play rooms. Although those TVs are much cheaper and I didnât get them to be handling all the top end content out there, its worth me testing on them if they have been rumored to work better than the Sony.
I think we are running around in circles here. Not sure who is not understanding whom but I will try again, and I hope for no hard feelings. I am just trying to get to the bottom of this to ensure you get the best possible solution.
What is a NAS that âsupports 4Kâ in your mind? You already have a NAS that that can send data fast enough across a gigabit LAN in order to accomodate a 4K high bitrate stream. And youâve concluded that everything is wired with CAT6 (4K has to be wired, wireless will be impossible) so that should not be an issue either.
Plex Client 4k HDR is a mess right now for most devices. Other than using Google Cast. I have a LG C7P, Samsung KS8000, and Sony X800E.
The LG C7P works great with Xplay (paid Plex App), otherwise the official LG Plex app ALWAYS transcode if it is in MKV container.
The Samsung Tizen, same as the LG when it comes to the official Plex app. It will always uses Direct Stream even if there is no subtitles to be display. I am thinking it might be audio stream. Because most of the 4K stream are DTS-MA or TrueHD, and since TV HDMI/ARC canât do lossless, it needs to convert.
The Sony, same scenario with the official Plex App. But the Sony has built in Chromecast so using Chromecast works fine.
Like I said, all the official Plex app for TV are a mess
OpenPHT on PC doesnât have 10bit HEVC decoding. The codes needs to be updated to the latest Kodi codes for hardware decoding.
Nvidia Shield is good, but I forget, it is missing either Dolby Vision or Atmos support.
Which comes to Chromecast Ultra which seems to be the only option if you âwant it allâ. Obviously you need the RJ45 kit.
I myself is thinking of using the Chromecast Ultra for the other 2 TVs because current TVs canât pass Lossless Atmos/DTS:X to truly get the optimal experience.
Thank you all for your input. I will start with a Chromecast Ultra and see how it goes.
Just so I am not leaving any question unanswered and in case someone has something new to provide, my NAS is also my Plex server, so its not just a straight storage device. If you have used a QNAP or Synology NAS before, they come with apps and all kinds of tools, including its own Media clients, Plex, Kodi, etc. It was my understanding that your Plex server had to be able to handle 4K output. Maybe I misunderstood this, but if its just about acting as a storage device only, then you are correct, the NAS shouldnât be the problem. Hope I have cleared up the confusion.
I double-checked and the receiver app for chromecast has not been updated with the additional capabilities over the regular chromecast. The best options as of now are to use PMP or the Shield (in a home-theater setup where 4K and x265 are important factors).
From my experience, it all comes down to the client being able (or not) to use Direct Streaming and the CPU on your NAS being able to take the beating of live transcoding.
In my case, streaming 4K content from my QNAP 269L to my Samsung TVâs Plex client, involves transcoding. It all goes down to hell from there; the CPU is too weak to perform such a task. It will go above 90% utilization and the streaming becomes a painful experience.
However, if I use the Plex client on my Mac, not requiring any sort of transcoding, the CPU usage hovers around 40% and all is good, playing the exact same 4K file.
Streaming the same file via the TVâs DLNA âfile browserâ, keeps the NASâs CPU usage around 10% and the streaming is flawless.
As long as you are wired on gigabit, bandwidth is not a concern, unless you have ⊠10 clients streaming 4K at the same time, saturating the NIC on your NAS.
The way I see it, it all comes down to the balance between performance($$$) and convenience; you will either have to use an expensive NAS, with a powerful CPU that can handle whatever Plexâs transcoding throws at it, or look at client alternatives that will not tax the CPU on your exiting NAS.
I stream 4k from my media server , and I am very serious when it comes to my Audio / Video collection . My setup works great for me, and most of my 4K videos are 80GB and over
Here is my setup .
I have everything in my basement I hate seeing cables, so each room I have cables which runs back to my basement switch room.
A Custom Build NAS server Intel Xeon E3-1230 V5 with 8GB RAM 4 x 4TB HDD and 1 x 1TB for CACHE Drive ( The reason I chose Xeon E3-1230 its low cost 8 thread CPU but it does not have GPU so its less expensive then core i7 and more powerful CPU . Remember Plex Server does not utilize GPU it can only utilize CPU no point of getting i5 or i7 and spend more. When you buy motherboard just add a cheep graphic card so system can boot. I donât understand why people buy CPU with GPU on it , because everyone add graphic card on motherboard and Build-in GPU does nothing. I wish Plex Media Server can make use of GPU , but currently they donât.
Operating system is linux base Limetech unRAID ( Limetech unRAID License cost like $60 or something but highly custom , you can run docker container, you can integrate Usenet, and so much more )
8 port network Switch I have Cisco Switches SG300 its best choice ( 1 gig) , you can buy used from eBay and they are cheep. You may chose HP switches but purchase business switch. A good switch make whole lot of difference, Switch handle all your network traffic and 4K means a lot of network traffic. A bad switch will choke. You may even be more technical then me , but for those who are unfamiliar - Switch maintain Arp table, and have to maintain and memorize incremental tcp ports and those start from 1024 and ends 65535 . After 30 minutes a cheep switch will choke, and same is with WIFI routers.
Google WIFI with 3 access points
Every room , I have Cat6 cable ( 1gig) which connects back to my basement switch.
My NAS server runs Plex Media Server and I have set it to "Transcode Quality = Auto and background transcoding = slow
I have dual Ethernet connected to my switch with Nick teaming ( which utilize both network card). but donât worry about it if you have 1 nick card thatâs ok too, I have tested it does not make whole lot of difference.
Main Media room: Have nVidia Shield TV connected with Ethernet - 4 K video and I use DTS - MA and higher sound decoding ( runs like butter)
Living Room : Samsung 8 series curve TV I use native Plex application install on it and connected to WIFI , It can only handle 1080p , if I try 4K it start buffering, I know WIFI can be unreliable and slower , so I test my living room TV by connecting it through ethernet and it turn out to be even worst . I did some research and found Samsung ethernet technology is the worst. I checked they support Cat7 cable but no difference in data transfer rate.
I will be adding nVideo Shield in my Living room too, if you like to watch local stored media there is nothing better then nVidia Shield TV, I have tried almost every media player but nVidia Shield is the best.
My experience with network technology in appliances . When it comes to network and software technology only US technology is best, Japan/Korea/China have always been behind in this game, I tried Sony which is even worst. I have seen good reviews for LG and that can be because they run webOS which is pam OS they purchased Pam OS back in 2013 from HP. Samsung also bought Boxee way back, and Boxee was 5 year ahead of everyone , but they did nothing with it and killed it 2015, such a shame . I loved boxee , I still have Boxee box purchased in 2007 in my basement and it is still better then most current Android media players.
Here are some screen shots of my unRaid media server - If you have any network question you are more then welcome , I may not have all the answers but will try ( I am a network engineer consultant by trade currently working for Cisco )
@CableShark said:
Remember Plex Server does not utilize GPU it can only utilize CPU no point of getting i5 or i7 and spend more. When you buy motherboard just add a cheep graphic card so system can boot. I donât understand why people buy CPU with GPU on it , because everyone add graphic card on motherboard and Build-in GPU does nothing. I wish Plex Media Server can make use of GPU , but currently they donât.
There are a couple of drawbacks to Hardware-Accelerated Streaming:
The video quality may be lower, appearing more blurry or blocky. This is especially true and more noticeable when streaming at low quality levels below 720p. (Hardware-accelerated video encoders are faster, but lower quality than software encoders.)
Some rare video formats may play incorrectly on certain devices. This is unexpected, and users should report these issues to Plex in our friendly forums.
So, before you ship in a boat-load of cash on this Hardware Encoding solution thinking it may be the answer to all your prayers - know that it very likely is not.
It may well be more cost effective to up your CPU game instead. A GPU does some niche things - some really well - others not so well. A CPU does a lot more.
Consider also, as is the nature of things like this, that top of the line, end-all-be-all GPU unit you buy today, may, in 3 months be a notorious piece of junk theyâre giving away free in a box of corn flakes. Plexâs limited GPU possibilities have you pigeon-holed into only a few units. The shelf-life of a strong CPU may run longer.
If you happen to already have A GPU that Plex can make use of - and also have a crappy CPU - well, there you go.
If youâre going to have to start buying stuff so you can Hardware Encode - that may not be what you really want to do.
This is a new info , may be worth playing but really not a solution for GPU utilization like JuiseWSA mention and I run Docker container on Linux , which is not supported.
I wish Plex utilizes same technology as Crypto currency has adopted , they crap out GPU juice . GPU have become way advance why not make use of it , there could be some limitations which Plex coders know and I donât , I am not as coder anyway.
Try using a Apple TV. Using Plex on Tv apps is very limited no matter how fast your NAS is. Itâs better to use the NVIDIA Shield to Stream 4K. Hereâs a list of streaming devices for plex on 4K.
Roku Ultra â Best Plex Client Device for Most Users.
Amazon Fire TV â Plex Streaming with a Great Ecosystem.
Apple TV 4K â Best Plex Client for Apple Users.
Xiaomi Mi Box S.
PlayStation 4 Pro â Best Plex Client for Gamers.
