I have been running my trusty ReadyNAS Ultra 4 bay for some time and it has been working great for Plex. I have been a Plex plus member for some years now and with the decision by Plex to stop support my NAS I am now on the lookout for a new NAS.
I have looked at the compatibility Matrix on the FAQ to find a suitable NAS but that can only go so far, I was wondering if anyone can give me a recommendation based on personal experience for a new NAS in the £500 - £1000 price rage. This is what I will be wanting my server to handle (But not all at the same time)
Streaming 1080p content to TV’s on the same network
Streaming 1080p Content to a TV on another Network (So my child can watch his Scooby Doo DVD’s at my parents house)
Streaming 1080p content to a mobile device.
I was originally looking at the QNAP TS-563-2G but looking at the matrix it seems to imply that it would struggle with 1080p playback. So the other option I saw was the QNAP TVS-671-i3, howver this is a huge price jump.
To aid in your search, I’ve retagged your post to include the most popular NAS vendors in use.
I also recommend a simple search and you find many discussions, many in great depth, about the the pros & cons of each and limits of their respective capabilities.
For Plex playback, in the QNAP line a good base model is the x53Be family. These are a lower cost version of the x53B line. It keeps the same processor, but strips out some features not everyone used to lower the price point.
The CPU by itself isn’t beefy enough for plex, but since you have plexpass it works very well for HW transcoding. An upgrade above the x53Be line would be the newer TVS-951x.
I would probably not recommend the x71 line at this time as it is 2+ years old so getting pretty long in the tooth for QNAP lines.
I have the QNAP TS-453Bmini and love it. Its got a small footprint so is easily stashed and quiet enough. It’s not the most powerful on the list but does play 1080p, can transcode and perform multiple streams (also to my dad’s house and my sister across the pond). It is ~15 months old now so there might be a newer version out.
Thanks for the input so far. As this will be stored in the attic and the house is all connected with Cat 6 cable size is not an issue. I have been looking that the TVS-951X. Initially I was put off by the CPU being Celeron. I had it in my head i needed a i3 at last in the NAS but i need to stop thinking in terms of PC when it comes to the CPU in the NAS.
The price of the TVS-951X is very inciting and that fact I can use SSD to boost performance for other tasks is a bonus. At the moment I am looking at the 8Gb Ram model.
That is a good model. In case you haven’t already seen this, QNAP has a nice video (and slide deck) about the new 951x here: QuTube | QNAP (US)
For Plex usage, especially for the lower celeron class processors, the integrated GPU has the biggest impact with Plex for hw transcoding. When you switch over to say VM usage, then the CPU comes back into focus.
As for SSD, there are many ways you can use SSD in QNAP. Some of them are more beneficial than others at times.
A good rule of them to keep in mind is “what is my slowest/weakest link”? In many cases on the newer/beefier NAS, it tends to be the 1Gb NW connection. SSD won’t help that, but if you are running say a VM on the NAS, or move your transcoding directory to the NAS, those kinds of uses SSD does help a lot.
Just make sure you don’t get an ASUSTOR! While the hardware is OK, the Plex media server has constant problems with those in my experience. Additionally, not many people running Plex on these; hence the community support is virtually absent…
Just an update on this. I have my NAS up and running now and it is amazing. It’s handled everything I have asked if it so far without stuttering. I have 3 WD Red 6TB drives in at the moment and will be adding some SSD drives soon.
I know the different codec, bitrate will have the different result. I would like to know what the basics codec and bitrate will work on this machine. I want to install the Plex into TVS-951X (I got the Pass so, the hw transcoding will be applied). Also, I am the iMac 2017 user. I will use 10Gbe to connect it and do you have any ideas the transfer rate on it (If it has have 300 - 500mB/sec is good enough for me).
Thanks for your input since I have to make my decision shortly.!!
Bandwith you are requesting would have no bottleneck by the 10Gbits networkinterface.
However there is also Speed of the harddisk. Since the 951x is a Model that supports ssd, you shouldn’t forget about implementing it, if you want up to 500 Mbit. (If I remember right normal Hard disks got about 300MB write? We are talking MByte, not Mbit…)
Edit: Here you have some information regarding the write/read speed. https://www.geeklingo.net/qnap-tvs-951x-54-bay-nas-reviewed/
Regarding what basic codec and bitrate will work.
From their Webpage:
" Real-time 4K video transcoding
Featuring advanced Intel® HD Graphics 610, the TVS-951X supports dual-channel 4K H.264/H.265** hardware decoding and real-time transcoding, allowing you to convert videos to universal file formats that can be smoothly played on multiple devices*
"
The Qnap should be enough powerful to handle almost all requests. All besides the one meant to break your NAS into his knees.
Alternatives, if you need more Power.
qnap HS-453DX - But, you need additional storage devices.
qnap TVS-872XT - if you find a shop that already has one. New. Expensive as ■■■■. But specs are too much… Careful though TVS-X672XT and the 4 er Model are not the same besides storage spaces. an entirely different CPU (Don’t go lower than 6)
I really appreciate your detail input. When I asked the TVS-672XT, It scared me since the price different (it costS US$1,500 in U.S. and Taiwan but US$2,150 in H.K.) that is too much and unreasonable. I hope QNAP should address it.
I forgot one thing. When I use Apple TV 4K to play the Plex on my 4K smart TV, do I have to set anything on the Apple TV to watch the 4K movie or anything I have to do to achieve my goal?
Different resolution you can just activate in the normal settings. (Or individually while playing a file)
However, if you have enough network, enough power, the file is 4k and everything, it should automatically use 4k. Else manually is done within a minute
