I need a suggestion on what NAS to buy. I want to use 4x 8 TB HDD in it. Preferably in a raid configuration to prevent data loss.
All the HDDs will be encrypted and the NAS has to be powerful enough to play files like this:
on my TV:
Unfortunately my desktop computer can not stream it to the TV without buffering issues. But I have no idea if it’s a computer related issue or just a TV issue.
In the NAS spec list I haven’t seen any NAS that can encode H265 only H264. Are there newer devices available that support this ?
Plex doesn’t support encoding to h.265 at all right now, so you probably want to bake that into your expectations. The NAS company may have different non-Plex apps that can do that, but I’m not sure.
Beyond that, most current models with Intel hardware can accelerate decoding of nearly everything (h264, h265, MPEG2, even VC-1 now). Older models may not handle 10-bit h265, you’ll want to review the specs on the chip they’re using. However, there are still limitations if subtitles are enabled. You may want to search the forums about that.
Some ARM models also work with Plex acceleration but I don’t have experience with those.
QNAP and Synology are the Big Two right now. Both are generally fine, I own both and don’t really have a recommendation.
QNAP is currently hurting a bit because malware hit some NAS boxes.
Thank you for the fast reply. So Synology seems to be the right choice. Intel NAS is bestter than an ARM NAS ? Is a Celeron NAS enough or is it too weak ?
I recommend the Synology DS918+ or DS1019+ depending on where your budget is.
The DS1019+ is a good value compared to the 918+ considering you get an extra drive bay and 8GB of RAM out of the box, I had to upgrade my 918+ to 8GB since it only ships with 4GB.
Though to set expectations as @Cafe_Diem said, what TV do you have? Because if your TV is not capable of direct playing the audio or video stream, you will have issues with transcoding of a 4K stream. I run a Synology and use the Infuse app on Apple TV to direct play everything. The new experimental player Plex is developing is getting better and better, but it’s not there (yet!)
Good point on 4K, I completely forgot to mention that. I have a current Roku and a 4K HDR TV, and it direct-plays video as well. Audio still transcodes to Dolby Digital.
I have Samsung UE55JU7090T and I think he can’t direct play it. Not sure though.
But I’m planning to give this TV to my mom and buy a Sony or Philips TV with Android TV
To be honest I’m not a fan of Smart TV’s. Back when they were first coming out I preferred the option of the “dumb” TV, which most manufacturers produced the same TV in a smart and dumb variant.
I understand the convenience, but I prefer my TV just focus on processing the image on the screen and use a separate player and audio solution (separation of concerns)
That said, don’t fret too much if your TV will not direct play your content… if you are also willing to buy a streaming box (ATV, Shield, etc.) that is more capable than (dare I say most) smart TVs. Yes it involves spending more money (enter the convenience factor of a Smart TV), but that’s the never ending spiral of finding a Plex solution “That Just Works”
Their Malware scanner already has the update in it.
They know a great deal more about what is happening than is published.
Worst-case corrective action is:
a. Save configruation
b. Reinstall firmware
c. Run Malware scan to purge
d. Reinstall firmware again in now-clean status.
