Hoping to get some guidance. I am running a Synology DS718+. I love my device but the CPU is bit old and it only supports 8 gig of RAM. Has anyone looked at QNAP as a potential replacement or should I stand pat with the Synology? Would like a beefier CPU, as well as 16 gig of RAM.
The Synology DS718+ contains the same CPU as the DS918+ and 1019+ which are all very capable units for a Plex server as far as a NAS is concerned. And 8GB of RAM is more than enough for Plex.
What are your reasons for wanting/needing a beefier CPU and 16GB of RAM?
Until such time as subtitles are doable in hardware (Intel is working on albeit slowly), Synology CPUs are problematic when subtitles are involved.
Also, Synology CPUs are only capable of handling one or two ‘heavy’ audio transcodes (e.g. 5.1 -> 2.0 )
I opted for QNAP because they do offer models with i3, i5, and i7 CPUs. The bigger CPUs allow for both subtitle burning and audo conversion for more than 1 concurrent video stream safely.
As a datapoint, I can transcode 6 concurrent streams on the TVS-1282 i7-7700, burning subtitles and handling audio with some room for another DirectStream (audio only) stream. I’m not sure how much because I ran out of devices in the house to test on.
Valid
And they come at quite the premium.
I don’t have many cases where subtitles need to be transcoded, so I had not considered that. I’m curious what @SteveFP’s needs are that would justify the price jump.
@SteveFP what is your use case?
So the use case is multiple…
At present I am using my Synology for PMS and the media for the PMS. This seems to work well. I have added a Tautulli Docker container to the mix and still going well. This is where it starts to explode.
First off I want to begin to use the NAS for backups of my home PCs. Not sure the load that will be added to the Synology. After that I would like to see if the Synology can handle several Linux vms, as I am playing around with an ELK(Elasticsearch) stack for data analytics of my home firewall and other system devices. This is where the additional memory will come in handy.
I can move the vms to another system but am trying to use the power the Synology gives me. Its like a swiss army knife. If I can keep feeding it and it does not hurt the PMS then I am good to go.
Have you considered maybe building a server? That way you can upgrade slowly over time to increase productivity and performance?
I have considered this but the cost to do so might outweigh how much I can get out of the NAS.
Can you explain what format of media you are streaming with Plex (Subtitles, Lossless Audio, 4K, number of streams, Plex clients etc.) Weighing everything you want to do, those are important factors to consider on the Plex side.
I currently use my Synology (DS918+) as a Plex Server (where I primarily direct play with some small transcoding), host pictures through Moments, have the WebDAV server configured for integration with apps on my phone, and have several backup processes running (including Hyper Backup to an offsite location) All without breaking a sweat.
I think you can accomplish all that you are trying to do with your Synology. Though the Synology can handle VM’s I think that might be the load that breaks the axle if you have too many running.
Since you already own the DS718+, the best thing you can do is just try it. It sounds like you are weighing hypotheticals, which is valuable when shopping around, but you already have one device. See how far you can push it, and if it meets your needs before replacing it.
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Thanks for that…yes I think pushing it and then deciding is prolly the best way to go. I was also curious about options, if I need to make a change.
If you do hit the limits of your NAS, one other option to consider is moving PMS to a separate computer and using the NAS as a file server (at least for Plex purposes).
This avoids the cost of completely replacing the NAS just to get a more powerful CPU for PMS.
You could buy a SFF computer such as a NUC or build a small system with an ITX motherboard. Use a Intel 7th or 8th gen processor, as their HD graphics support HEVC 10-bit decoding.
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Funny should say that bc I have a Nvidia Shield and wondering if it could be my PMS.
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