# Hardware transcoding on Synology DS918+?
**URL:** https://forums.plex.tv/t/hardware-transcoding-on-synology-ds918/221476
**Category:** General Discussions
**Created:** [January 13, 2018, 6:41pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/hardware-transcoding-on-synology-ds918/221476 "2018-01-13T18:41:43Z")
**Posts on this page:** 16
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@silentmiles](https://forums.plex.tv/u/silentmiles)
#### Post date: [January 13, 2018, 6:41pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/hardware-transcoding-on-synology-ds918/221476/1 "2018-01-13T18:41:43Z")
Hi Everyone,
I’ve just purchased a Synology DS918+ NAS. I thought that Plex supported hardware transcoding on this device, but I’m not able to enable it. I think I’ve met all of the requirements:
- Intel CPU with Quick Sync (Intel Celeron J3455 - apollolake)
- 64-bit architecture and 64-bit Linux (Linux media-server 4.4.15+ #15217 SMP PREEMPT Wed Dec 20 18:19:46 CST 2017 x86\_64 GNU/Linux synology\_apollolake\_918+)
- Plex Media Server 1.11.0.4666
- Active and logged-in Plex Pass subscription
- Advanced options enabled
But, my “Settings \> Server \> Transcoder” settings page does not include a “Use hardware acceleration when available” option.
I know that originally, a special version of Plex Server had to be downloaded, but I think this capability is included in anything afer 1.9.3 - is that true?
Any ideas?
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### Author:  [@ChuckPa](https://forums.plex.tv/u/ChuckPa)
#### Post date: [January 13, 2018, 7:31pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/hardware-transcoding-on-synology-ds918/221476/2 "2018-01-13T19:31:55Z")
Have you updated DSM since having installed PMS? If so, that update most likely reset the hardware configuration (they seem to like doing that)
1. Stop PMS in Package Center
2. Uninstall the binaries
3. Reinstall the same SPK
4. Verify the server is logged in to your Plex account
5. Settings - Server - Transcoder will now show the option
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### Author:  [@silentmiles](https://forums.plex.tv/u/silentmiles)
#### Post date: [January 14, 2018, 11:31am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/hardware-transcoding-on-synology-ds918/221476/3 "2018-01-14T11:31:14Z")
Will uninstalling and reinstalling effect the settings or library in any way?
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### Author:  [@ChuckPa](https://forums.plex.tv/u/ChuckPa)
#### Post date: [January 14, 2018, 3:54pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/hardware-transcoding-on-synology-ds918/221476/4 "2018-01-14T15:54:48Z")
No.
I store the application binaries in the `@appstore`.
Your PMS library data is stored out on the main storage volume (whichever volume you selected or moved it to)
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### Author:  [@ErMeglio](https://forums.plex.tv/u/ErMeglio)
#### Post date: [January 15, 2018, 12:01pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/hardware-transcoding-on-synology-ds918/221476/5 "2018-01-15T12:01:40Z")
Hi there,
I have the same configuration since a couple of weeks and I am experiencing the same issue.
I tried following the steps, however I still do not have the option. The server seems to be running under the plex user, as it can read and write the appropriate folder appointed for media, however I am not too sure how do I double check this (tried task manager and ps -A -all on PuTTy with no luck - the user is not reported), the user is part of the “video” group as well.
Also, (maybe completely different issue), for me the server link does not work at [http://my-internal-ip:32400/web/index.html](http://my-internal-ip:32400/web/index.html) …can this be related?
The server works fine, this apart.
Thanks 🙂
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### Author:  [@ChuckPa](https://forums.plex.tv/u/ChuckPa)
#### Post date: [January 15, 2018, 3:10pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/hardware-transcoding-on-synology-ds918/221476/6 "2018-01-15T15:10:42Z")
Would you please recreate the problem, let it play for a few seconds, stop playback, then gather the logs? **Settings - Server - Help - Download Logs** and attach the ZIP file?
Where did you download PMS from? Synology? or directly from Plex? If you downloaded from Synology, they only offer the 32 bit version which will not work for hardware transcoding.
Regarding the `ps` command: `ps -ef` not `ps -A` The username is reported in output column 1.
User `plex` 's default group is `users` as per Synology requirement. It is added to the `video` group in order to access the GPU.
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### Author:  [@ErMeglio](https://forums.plex.tv/u/ErMeglio)
#### Post date: [January 15, 2018, 3:32pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/hardware-transcoding-on-synology-ds918/221476/7 "2018-01-15T15:32:50Z")
> @ChuckPA said:
> Where did you download PMS from? Synology? or directly from Plex? If you downloaded from Synology, they only offer the 32 bit version which will not work for hardware transcoding.
> First installation was done by Synology, then I have updated from the Plex server page, downloading the plk directly and installing it manually. However, this suggestion about the 32 bit version did the trick! I actually had x86 installed, so I downloaded x64 from the download page, installed it, and woila, the option is now there! Thank you 😉
> Regarding the `ps` command: `ps -ef` not `ps -A` The username is reported in output column 1.
> Confirmed - it runs under plex. Thanks for the tip, learning something new every day!
> User `plex` 's default group is `users` as per Synology requirement. It is added to the `video` group in order to access the GPU.
> I can confirm I have set it like this, plex is basically in both the groups, users and video.
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### Author:  [@ChuckPa](https://forums.plex.tv/u/ChuckPa)
#### Post date: [January 15, 2018, 4:23pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/hardware-transcoding-on-synology-ds918/221476/8 "2018-01-15T16:23:30Z")
Yes, `plex` is in both groups. (hint: I wrote the installer for Synology 😉 )
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### Author:  [@silentmiles](https://forums.plex.tv/u/silentmiles)
#### Post date: [January 27, 2018, 12:38pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/hardware-transcoding-on-synology-ds918/221476/9 "2018-01-27T12:38:21Z")
Thanks @ChuckPA. I’m getting back to this thread quite late, but your suggesting regarding 32-bit vs 64-bit fixed the issue for me.
I had actually upgraded from a DS415play (32-bit) to a DS918+ (64-bit). But, the version of Plex on the system was still 32-bit. I downloaded and installed the 64-bit version, and now it works fine.
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### Author:  [@HeartWare42](https://forums.plex.tv/u/HeartWare42)
#### Post date: [January 29, 2018, 6:01pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/hardware-transcoding-on-synology-ds918/221476/10 "2018-01-29T18:01:17Z")
Is there any way to see if an active transcoding is using hardware or software (I have a DS1817+, 2.4 GHz, 4 cores, DSM 6.1.4, Plex 1.11.0.4666 and have enabled the option in Server-\>Transcoder-\>Advanced)?
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### Author:  [@ChuckPa](https://forums.plex.tv/u/ChuckPa)
#### Post date: [January 29, 2018, 6:11pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/hardware-transcoding-on-synology-ds918/221476/11 "2018-01-29T18:11:06Z")
@HeartWare42
1. Inspect “Now Playing” with video actively playing and see `(hw)` indication
2. Observe CPU utilization in the DSM desktop
3. Use Resource monitor
4. Examine the log files
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### Author:  [@HeartWare42](https://forums.plex.tv/u/HeartWare42)
#### Post date: [January 29, 2018, 6:24pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/hardware-transcoding-on-synology-ds918/221476/12 "2018-01-29T18:24:02Z")
ERROR - [FFMPEG] - Cannot load libcuda.so.1
WARN - avcodec\_open2 returned -1313558101 for encoder ‘h264\_nvenc’
DEBUG - Codecs: hardware transcoding: testing API vaapi
ERROR - [FFMPEG] - No VA display found for device: /dev/dri/renderD128.
DEBUG - Codecs: hardware transcoding: opening hw device failed - probably not supported by this system, error: Invalid argument
Do I need to install/set up anything on my DS1817+, or doesn’t it support hardware encoding?
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### Author:  [@ChuckPa](https://forums.plex.tv/u/ChuckPa)
#### Post date: [January 29, 2018, 6:26pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/hardware-transcoding-on-synology-ds918/221476/13 "2018-01-29T18:26:06Z")
The DS1817+ is an Atom C2538 CPU. It doesn’t support HW transcoding.
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### Author:  [@HeartWare42](https://forums.plex.tv/u/HeartWare42)
#### Post date: [January 29, 2018, 6:32pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/hardware-transcoding-on-synology-ds918/221476/14 "2018-01-29T18:32:14Z")
Okay - thank you. Do you know of any Synology NAS that supports HW transcoding?
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### Author:  [@ChuckPa](https://forums.plex.tv/u/ChuckPa)
#### Post date: [January 29, 2018, 6:33pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/hardware-transcoding-on-synology-ds918/221476/15 "2018-01-29T18:33:10Z")
Any of them with the J3355 and J3455 (DS918+, etc). Just look around this subforum… threads are everywhere
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### Author:  [@system](https://forums.plex.tv/u/system)
#### Post date: [January 8, 2020, 12:26am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/hardware-transcoding-on-synology-ds918/221476/16 "2020-01-08T00:26:56Z")