Forgive the ignorance of this question but when I check the Plex NAS Compatibility list, the only criteria I see measured is related to transcoding.
This makes me wonder if, all I wanted to do is host a Plex Media Server with all “pre-transcoded” files stored on it, any NAS would work?
I would only be using the NAS/Plex server for LAN streaming (1080p + future 4K) and low-res (480p) internet streaming (because of upload speed limitations).
Of course, music, photos, etc. would also be pretested/pre-encoded for applicable situations (LAN vs. internet). In short, the NAS will never be doing any transcoding.
If I couldn’t use any modern NAS to do this regardless of PLEX recommendation, what am I missing?
If you can guarantee that you don’t need transcoding, than any NAS will work. The hard part is making sure you don’t need transcoding. 1080p H264 video with 2-channel AAC would do it. Anything else and it’s up to the client.
So, if I’m streaming a 4k, Dolby 6-channel movie over wired LAN to a Pioneer 4K receiver and a Samsung 4K TV, I would have no issues because these clients can handle it and Plex could stream it in it’s native file format without transcoding down, correct?
Of course for older movies the specs would be closer to your 1080P, H264 with 2-channel AAC. And even older movies may be 480 or 720 with stereo or even mono sound. I know they’ll work because they’re the majority of my ripped collection. They work fine over LAN and WAN.
I guess what i’m wanting to verify is that Plex will play almost anything within its file format limits via wired LAN on a high-end entertainment system without the need to transcode. Anything going wireless or internet would certainly be pre-transcoded down to their respective limits which also would eliminate server/NAS transcoding. This would really open up my NAS selection options.
All movies I own are ripped down to pertinent specs (pre-transcoding). I want to try 4K stuff which is what I’m hoping can be played with as little transcoding as possible.
That depends. Assuming you are using the Plex app on the Samsung, video may be fine. There are different ways to encode files so just saying 4K doesn’t guarantee anything. The audio may be a bigger issue. In some cases, if the audio isn’t supported, it may need to transcode the video too. The TV would need to support passing through the audio. Supporting it locally and being able to passthrough are different and typically not specified in the device’s specs. Also depends on if you use ARC, optical, or eARC. Plex doesn’t support eARC yet. ARC and optical have limitations on what it can passthrough even if the TV/receiver support it.
A better setup is to use a dedicated streaming box like an Apple TV, NVidia Shield, Roku, etc. Then connect the box to the receiver and from the receiver to the TV. This way all the passthrough is done via HDMI which is better. Of course, each box has it’s own limitations too. Currently, the NVidia Shield has the best range of supported audio and video codecs.
if all your content can direct play on your client(s), then you could use something as low powered as a raspberry pi server.
all your 4k questions and answers should be in the thread linked above, but just be aware that 4k content is more difficult to work with than 1080 bluray and older.
more complex codecs (hevc/x265), bigger files, higher bit rates, HD audio, all put more load on both the client and server, even when direct playing.
to answer the OP topic question:
is brand/model important ?
no. what matters is the content you have, the clients capabilities, and how powerful the server is.
don’t forget, you can have an old/cheap/low powered nas just for storage, and run the plex server on something more powerful too.
Thanks to all responders! I think I have a pretty good grasp of things now. My original suspicion that I need not strictly heed to the NAS Compatibility List has been confirmed.
Playing with pre- transcode settings and testing for compatibility with my particular setup is now my fun task. I appreciate the reference to the helpful article and will surely read it…
