Hello
I didnt find that very question Im facing right now here. If so, I dont mind a helping finger pointing me in the right direction.
Im a NAS-Newbie.
I just bought a ds418 and want to use it as a media server (movies/series) andything from 480P up to 4k. I dont own a 4k TV and wont own one in the near future.
I noticed that some files (4k and 480p) are barely playable (however, this is with the free version of plex) meaning, the 480P files generate 99% CPU consumption and the 4k files have way to much to transcode that I could watch a movie with it. Now I learned about plex pass, which would allow hardware transcoding, however this only works on a NAS like ds918+, and not on ds418, correct?
Is there any worth upgrading from ds418 to ds918+ for me?
Any help is appreciated.
So the 918+ supports hardware transcoding up to 1080P, not further tho. So my moviefiles get “liveconverted” either up or down to 1080P, right?
Ds918+ only allows to decode the 4kfiles into 1080, but not transcoding them. Im not sure what this exactly means. I take it that the receiving TV (at a friends house in this example) could scale it back up (he has a 4k TV) and this is done in order to reduce network load? Or do I have to convert the files “offline” before they are able to be watched?
I noted in the specs comparing ds918+ to ds418 that the 418 has max FPS of 60, while the 918+ “only” has 30. any thoughts on that? Afaik movies dont really go beyond 30 fps, so this would only be useful for viewing dronefootage or gaming videos.
What I take from this list is that the ds918+ will work way beyond what the ds418 can do with plex.
Lastly, I found differianting stats for simultaneos streams. According to Syno there can either be 2 streams of 4k, or 2 streams of HD transcoding going on at the same time. I hope this is correct?
According to some tests etc. I read that the ds418 can handle more 1080P streams than the 918+… Who made the typo here?
Any help is apprecieated, new to this so Ill have to take baby-steps
I will keep in mind your advices and try to prepare accordingly.
You gave good inputs that I will look into in order to avoid/fix problems that may occur (such as audioproblems or subtitles) and much keywords to lookup.
Streaming 4k across the net is something I will do differently I think (also considering bandwith of both sender and recipient), simply by letting those who want/need the 4k files having to download them in advance and then playing it “locally” instead of streaming them.
If possible I download movies/series in 1080P anyway.
On behalf of the list linked by ChuckPA I went ahead and exchanged my ds418 with a ds918+, and what can I say, even without plex premium the difference is night and day.
On behalf of my FPS-Question: I tried playing a 60FPS video and it had quite its problems (which was to be expected I suppose). CPU Usage went to 99% real fast(just for anyone who might stumble upon this and wonder the same)
I thank you both very much for your time, help and advice. The question has been answered by the initial answer and I will direct further questions I may have to according places.
