I’m looking into hardware acceleration and Plex under two models.
The Synology DS918+ should be supporting hardware acceleration, as I read on some places in the forum that people have got it to work.
However I also read here and there that Synology isn’t really supportive in regards to Plex and that Plex isn’t officially allowed to use that dedicated transcoder chip in the device?
This info does seem to match other sources I have found.
I also read people are having issues with hardware transcoding because of an update of Synology DSM, blocking the hardware transcoding.An update of Plex should solve this.
Now I’m also looking at a QNAP TS-435B.
The device has similar hardware so should perform quite the same.
I’m wondering though if someone knows whether it has the same hardware transcoding engine (chip?) as the DS918+ and is it allowed to use it from QNAP?
I would like a NAS with which I’m sure that it keeps supporting Plex, and if Synology is not really, stepping to QNAP might be an option for me.
Sidney,
The DS918+ does have the Intel J3455 CPU. That CPU has the ApolloLake GPU. This is what Plex uses. Synology has kept their ‘hardware transcoding’ proprietary to themselves. Plex does not get access but it’s doesn’t matter as Plex has direct access to the GPU. Furthermore, there are rumors Synology has marked their Video Station software as EOL.
The most important point, for now, that you should consider when purchasing a NAS which you want hardware transcoding with, is “what CPU/iGPU does it have?”
If the CPU is quick enough to run the core PMS software (part 1)
If the GPU is capable of hardware transcoding the video you have. (part 2)
If you’re planning for future growth, does the model you’re considering have that growth room. (part 3)
Can you afford the one you’ve just started drooling over because it satisfies all the above requirements? (part 4)
I personally don’t think Synology has much interest in the home-user market anymore. There have been announcements about them focusing on the enterprise SSD (e.g. Amazon / Google customer type) market. If you look at their product offering trend it appears the CPUs are getting ‘smaller’. A lot of advancements have been made but none of the bigger newer CPUs have found their way into their products.
QNAP, on the other hand, seems to be proactive and pushing forward with their hardware offering. Examine the TVS-1282-i7 as one example. i7-6700 (SkyLake). Pretty big for a NAS. It’s ‘big enough’, I can do all my tech support here (run multiple VMs) while doing all my Plex-centric work, while streaming video (transcoding included) and nobody notices.
Synology does have the well-established and polished DSM UI. IMO, QNAP has made big strides. It’s at the point where I’m happy with it but keep in mind I’m also a technically inclined person too. QNAP gives me access to those things I want & need. Synology has the “you don’t need to see that” style but at least they get it right most of the time.
Choice is yours.
I strongly recommend spending some time on each of the vendors ‘Live Demo’ sites. Take the time to learn. See how much is exposed to you. While the demos don’t let you effect changes, you see what you have access to change.
Thank you very much for taking the time to answer this, I appreciate it!
Nice QNAP on your end, don’t think it fits my budget tho hahah.
So I think I wasn’t clear enough about my current situation I think, judging your answer (as I’m not really new to Synology or the NAS market),
I currently am a Synology user, using a slightly older model and looking to upgrade it.
I do like the Synology User Interface, but I’m also a technically inclined person. I do know a thing or two about storage, networking etc. But I’m quite new to transcoding, so the mechanisms used by Synology isn’t really clear to me and information regarding it seems to be hard to find.
Now at the moment I have no real desire to be able to transcode 4K material, but as my NAS device will be with me for several years, and 4K content becomes more widely available, I see this becoming a desire in the future
If Synology Video Station will get no further development and processing power will not increase much in the coming years as it does with QNAP, switching to QNAP becomes more attractive to me. I will get used to their UI (took the live demo already indeed, more info available but Synology has less, layed out better).
So to get back to the other half of my question (as the one half regarding Synology and home-users is fully answered);
I started searching to web further and it seems that the J3455 has Intel QuickSync support. So the processor has a dedicated hardware core specifically designed for encoding and decoding (so this seems to be the dedicated piece of hardware handling this? ref: Intel Quick Sync Video - Wikipedia).
And if I want to most feaures out of this chip I need a processor out of the Kaby-, Gemenin-, of Coffeelake generation, driving up the price of my NAS build significantly… (part 4 )
Knowing all this (correct me if I was wrong above );
You say that Plex uses the GPU on the DS918+, but shouldn’t Plex use the dedicated hardware core (Intel QuickSync) when I select “Use hardware acceleration if available”, as internet seems to suggest they are to different things.
So if Intel QuickSync is being used, my NAS would show that the CPU is lesser utilized and thus should be able to handle transcoding better?
Are the Synology and QNAP apps using this dedicated core (QuickSync) and thus are able to transcode 4K streams on the fly (like they advertise), but Plex wasn’t/isn’t allowed to use it on Synology?
If 3 is the case, is Plex to leverage it on the QNAP…
If I buy a model equipped with a i3 dual core processor (like the TVS-417). The processor is from the Haswell series, meaning the QuickSync is not able to handle much content. But it doesn’t really matter since the CPU is powerful enough to do the job and does not need to use the QuickSync core?
I’m trying to understand the limitations before making a decision. Still thinking the QNAP TS-453B would fit my needs, knowing that if I need to transcode anything, I need a spacestation like yours
Hope you find another moment to help a brother out!
Plex uses the QSV interface to the GPU. QSV, in the terminology of the article you referenced, is another ‘core’ but isn’t the complete picture. It’s additional silicon, like a microcontroller, in the chip to utilize the GPU to decode or encode video. Think of how the SSE instructions are extensions. QSV is the same style thinking; a standardized extension added to Intel CPUs to allow access to the GPUs whether -2xxx family CPU/GPU or the new -8xxx family CPU/GPU. If you look on github, where Intel publishes their library, you’ll notice the title “Intel iGPU VAAPI Support”
For those codecs which libva/vaapi can decode or encode in hardware, Plex supports it provided the GPU is capable. Not all are. Scroll further down on the page you referenced to see the limitations. Intel Quick Sync Video - Wikipedia. You will observe CPU is greatly reduced when transcoding video. Audio transcoding is still done by the CPU. This is the typically observed 30% utilization level. In those cases, Video transcode has been reduced to about 2-3% CPU, fetching and actual streaming of the data another 1-2%, with audio transcoding being the remainder of that observed utilization.
Yes, Plex uses the QSV interface through the libva/vaapi (Intel) libraries. The Plex option “Use hardware acceleration if available” abstracts from “QSV” just enough to encompass operation on Windows machines. Windows, due to its standardized graphics architecture, can support PCIE GPUs as well. We don’t have that level of standardization or support in Linux yet. Everything we do have is done via proprietary drivers (e.g. nVidia display driver & replacement for ‘nouveau’ ). If you follow the development of libva and the libvaapi, we’re gaining ground VERY quickly once the singular roadblock was conquered and will have parity with Windows very soon.
Restating, Yes, Plex uses the QSV capability of the processor to transcode 4K if the GPU is capable. Synology did not grant permission to use their proprietary hardware solution.
Yes, QSV video transcoding support is what Plex advertises and supports at this time. I wish it was more but that’s it.
Comparing the TVS-471 to the TS-453B, you’re far better off with the TS-453B. You’ll have iGPU parity with my “space station”
I have this monster for several reasons. Video was not the driving factor. Virtualization of Linux distros for support and testing weighed in heavily. Being able to work as I do, run my home streaming, and have the storage all in one box drove my decision. In the end, the TVS-871 wasn’t good enough. I’m now poised to eventually remove the i7-6700 CPU and drop in the i7-7xxx CPU should I have the need and vaapi is ready. I doubt this will happen because of my players. The new TV accepts my video DirectPlay. Both AppleTVs, with the player I’m using, take the native 4K stream and do the 4K-> 2K conversion in the ATV >:)
Questions back to you:
Do you need 8 bays for 3.5" storage?
Do you need 4 bays for 2.5" storage or SSD?
Do you need two internal M.2 SSD slots?
Do you need internal PCI-E slots?
I bet this makes it’ pretty clear? If the i3 isn’t enough CPU for you, look at the i5 and i7 options. Being able to select a processor is a big advantage to QNAP over Synology. Frankly, if Synology allowed for processor selection or upgrade (most are soldered to the board), I’d never have looked at QNAP. That’s hindsight now. Synology doesn’t make a machine at this price/performance level. Their best offering is an old Xeon? really?
Take a look in the trade rags about where Synology has stated they’re heading. We ‘home’ folk aren’t in their future.
Personal comment: “The rich will make you poor but the poor will make you rich” and we ‘home folk’ are the ‘poor’ here
Thanks again for your very extended answer and explanation on the QSV usage in regards to Plex!!
Indeed if your media player (TV-sided or something else) is equipped to handle the streams, the NAS doesn’t even bother. My TV is starting to approach 5 years now, though it was Samsungs flagship model the time I bought it. It still copes well, I have to say
I have some things to consider.
I don’t need it for virtualization, as I got a dedicated host running Hyper-V datacenter for that matter, it has SSD’s and a hexacore i7. Still I don’t want to spin it up every time I want to watch media using Plex, hence looking for a decent upgrade of my NAS.
I do need four drives, so the TS-453B is still appealing.
Synology isn’t completely off though, since it has the same processor and the DS918+ also has HD500 on board and has a slick UI (as you also mentioned).
As Plex can leverage the QSV on both QNAP (TS-453B) and Synology (DS918+) this does not provide conclusion at the moment.
Though the rumors of Synology kind of leaving the consumer (home-user) market may be enough reason to switch to QNAP…
Choices choices choices haha.
Again, thank you very much for your effort on answering my question so detailed a you did.
All the best and we might meet again here.
)
