Hello, I am new in this.
I want 2 things:
1: Having a Plex Server on a Synology NAS.
2: Reproduce my media files over my local network on a computer (Windows 10/Plex Media Player/Intel Celeron G1820) connected to my TV.
I do not understand very well the transcoding thing, so my question is: Do I need to spend money on a NAS with transcoding capability or will I be fine with a cheaper one?
Thanks.
You only need to transcode when you have media that one or more of your clients is incapable of playing. As you only have one client (your Windows 10 PC with Plex Media Player) you should be able to keep your collection limited to content that can play natively without transcoding (i.e. video resolution and audio codecs).
Transcoding is usually only necessary when you have multiple clients with varying capabilities (for example, smartphones, tablets, 1080p TVs and, maybe, 4k TVs) and you want to minimise disk space buy keeping a single version of your movies or TV shows and converting it on-the-fly for the client that’s requesting it.
So, if your TV is capable of 1080p with Dolby Digital 5.1 audio, make sure as much of your content as possible matches those specs (or lower) and you shouldn’t have to worry about transcoding.
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This is only my opinion so take it for what its worth:
Transcoding allows Plex to “on the fly” reformat audio/video so the client attempting to play the media can handle the stream. This is one of the things that makes Plex great.
If you don’t understand transcoding really well, I am going to guess you also don’t know a ton about all the various media types and all the variables that come along with these different media formats. With that in mind I suspect your overall level of satisfaction will be much higher if you have a NAS that can handle transcoding so it can play whatever you throw at it.
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First of all @CarlosD, I don’t see that you have a PLEX Pass (PP). In order to use hardware transcoding, you need a PP. If you do get PP to have the ability to take advantage of transcoding, you don’t need a NAS that can transcode if you put the server on your computer running windows 10 as you stated. I use WD MyCloud NAS and it can’t transcode at all. The transcoding is done on the server installed on my windows 10 laptop. The only reason you would want it on the NAS itself is if you don’t want to leave a computer running all the time to save power and still use PLEX. Another alternative is a NVIDIA Shield as a server which I also use and is low power and can do transcoding as well. Also the Shield can transcode without needing a PP.
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Thank you very much. Your answer solves all my worries. Thank you all, this was very helpful. I will do what you suggest, I will buy a cheap NAS and install the Plex Server on a Windows PC that will do the job. (Also, I may change the CPU for a G1820T that is low power). That was very helpful, thank you.
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