I am purchasing a new NAS and want to make sure that I buy one with the ability to conduct multiple 4k transcoding. Many sites say a NAS with an i3 processor can do the trick but when you look at its passmark score, there is no way it should be able to transcode a 4K media file.
Please provide your thoughts.
Cheers!
This will all come down to the question if your (i)GPU is capable to handle the transcoding for your server (instead of the CPU). Intel CPUs with Intel Quick Sync from the Kaby Lake generation or newer should do that job just fine.
Caveat… this hardware-accelerated transcoding will only work for the video itself. If your transcode requires a subtitle to be burned into the video, the server needs to fallback to the CPU and its capabilities.
It’s also worth considering that the latest high-quality audio formats in 4K media are quite demanding if they need to be transcoded. Too demanding for some low-power NAS models.
To add to Tom,
When you are deciding on a processor, presuming all the video can be transcoded by the QSV, you need to start quantifying .
Now, given these criteria, setup the worst case scenario.
What does that look like ?
I am looking at a Synology DS1019+ with an Intel Celeron J3455, 8GB DDR3L or a QNAP TVS-h874 with an i5 Intel Processor. I also see that many sites say an i7 is needed for a 4K transcode and a few say an i3 is good enough…for a noob like me this is confusing as heck…
Does your media contain subtitles which might need burning or have you removed / pre-burned all subtitles ?
When people talk about needing an i3, i5, i7, or even an i9,
they’re talking about 2 things:
Burning the subtitles into the video stream
– Intel didn’t give us an API to use the transcoding hardware for this so the CPU itself must be fast enough to keep up with the burning for smooth real-time playback of all the currently-playing videos
Converting audio.
– This is straight forward crunching. If the movie is 7.1 audio and the player is only stereo, it needs to be converted.
When you group it all together – approximating
Number of audio streams to convert + ( 10 x Number of subtitles to burn )
You get a number.
I have an i7-7700 CPU.
– I can burn and convert 4 streams with that CPU (Same movie on all 6 players)
– I can transcode, without converting audio or subtitles 2 more streams
All this having been said. Is your media like mine ? we don’t know at this point.
Thank you! This helps me understand the CPU processing power need much better. Just for info, I have 5000 MP4 burned Blu Rays with subtitles burned in and a few MP4 burned 4Ks again with subtitles burned in. I never thought about Audio…so that really helps me out. I have my audio burned in at 5.1 stereo. I used DVDfab to burn my MP4s. Most files are 5-10 GB in size.
Hope that info helps.
So basically I am thinking I can get away with a Synology or a QNAP with i5 or i7 CPU in a NAS (or something comprable)
Thank you!
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