I looking for NAS solution with would be able to stream 4K content i already did some research and found following NAS: QNAP TVS-471, Synology DiskStation DS916+, QNAP TS-453A. Planning to use PLEX. Most of my fims using H.264 or H.265 video codec and MKW or MP4 container. Just get a little bit confused what container PLEX support, one side says MP4 only, other MKW aswell if device supports it. So mostly there wont be need for video transcoding as PLEX should support 80mbs bitrate. But i think i will need audio transcoding as for most of my films i have 5.1 or 7.1 audio with wide codec range from various Dolby codecs to DTS.
So what i want from the NAS:
I have no knowledge about NAS’s per se, but something to watch out for is that [AFAIK] when Plex transcodes audio in a H265 situation it can’t keep the H265 codec but will have to transcode both audio and video. So do some testing before taking the plunge, please, and see if that statement from me still is true. Finding a NAS that can handle 80Mbit H265 transcoding will be a hard task, I’d imagine, so I think it would be best you make sure that you actually can send H265 and transcode the audio only.
@Peter_W said:
I have no knowledge about NAS’s per se, but something to watch out for is that [AFAIK] when Plex transcodes audio in a H265 situation it can’t keep the H265 codec but will have to transcode both audio and video. So do some testing before taking the plunge, please, and see if that statement from me still is true. Finding a NAS that can handle 80Mbit H265 transcoding will be a hard task, I’d imagine, so I think it would be best you make sure that you actually can send H265 and transcode the audio only.
I am all new to PLEX so maybe i will ask a stupid question. On support.plex.tv/hc/en-us/articles/203810286-What-media-formats-are-supported- for 1080p and lower resolutions supported audio codec is AAC which is almost never used for surround sound. And for 4K (H265) there isnt specified supported audio codecs at all. As my audio system and even a TV supports all Dolby and DTS formats my video content contain will PLEX anyways transcode audio to AAC or AC3 becouse somehow they forget to add support for most common audio formats?
@Scahari3l said:
I am all new to PLEX so maybe i will ask a stupid question. On support.plex.tv/hc/en-us/articles/203810286-What-media-formats-are-supported- for 1080p and lower resolutions supported audio codec is AAC which is almost never used for surround sound. And for 4K (H265) there isnt specified supported audio codecs at all. As my audio system and even a TV supports all Dolby and DTS formats my video content contain will PLEX anyways transcode audio to AAC or AC3 becouse somehow they forget to add support for most common audio formats?
The client is what determines what can be direct played. For me, my primary clients are a Shield TV connected to an Onkyo receiver, and an Intel NUC running embedded PMP connected to an Onkyo receiver. Both can direct play everything (there’s a bug in the Shield Plex app that chokes on DTS 6.1, but other than that…) because they natively support everything. I have a Shield TV that’s connected to a TV that only supports Dolby Digital (up to 5.1), so it can direct play all video + audio DD, but has to transcode other audio codecs to PCM.
@Scahari3l said:
I am all new to PLEX so maybe i will ask a stupid question. On support.plex.tv/hc/en-us/articles/203810286-What-media-formats-are-supported- for 1080p and lower resolutions supported audio codec is AAC which is almost never used for surround sound. And for 4K (H265) there isnt specified supported audio codecs at all. As my audio system and even a TV supports all Dolby and DTS formats my video content contain will PLEX anyways transcode audio to AAC or AC3 becouse somehow they forget to add support for most common audio formats?
Yeah, as Keego said, Plex will serve up what it thinks your client can handle. It is still very much a client-centric eco-system (though some tools has been added recently to aid in this). It has profiles stored for each client as to what it is supposed to handle (on some you can force direct play too and see if that works). Essentially, if a client says it can handle “everything” then Plex is merely a file server sending your file as a copy as-is to the client. It doesn’t touch it at all, and the only limitation [from the server perspective] is the bandwidth thus it is always best to keep the server and connected clients on a wired network (especially if serving 80Mbit files).
@Scahari3l said:
I am all new to PLEX so maybe i will ask a stupid question. On support.plex.tv/hc/en-us/articles/203810286-What-media-formats-are-supported- for 1080p and lower resolutions supported audio codec is AAC which is almost never used for surround sound. And for 4K (H265) there isnt specified supported audio codecs at all. As my audio system and even a TV supports all Dolby and DTS formats my video content contain will PLEX anyways transcode audio to AAC or AC3 becouse somehow they forget to add support for most common audio formats?
Yeah, as Keego said, Plex will serve up what it thinks your client can handle. It is still very much a client-centric eco-system (though some tools has been added recently to aid in this). It has profiles stored for each client as to what it is supposed to handle (on some you can force direct play too and see if that works). Essentially, if a client says it can handle “everything” then Plex is merely a file server sending your file as a copy as-is to the client. It doesn’t touch it at all, and the only limitation [from the server perspective] is the bandwidth thus it is always best to keep the server and connected clients on a wired network (especially if serving 80Mbit files).
So simply any of NAS i wrote in my first topic can handle 80 mbs 4K direct play/stream without any problem?
Direct Play, I would without having deep knowledge about those NAS’s say that they would certainly be able to send a file to your client of such magnitude. Be vary though as I stated earlier in regards of partial transcoded / direct stream situations where the original file is in H265 and you try and transcode just the audio. I’m still not certain Plex allows to send such stream to the clients (without also touching the video too) and that most NAS’s I know of would not be able to handle very well (not that many CPU’s in any PC of today handles that transcode very well, still early days for H265).
