NAS or Mac M1?

Plex Media Server NAS & Devices
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Hello everyone,

I would like to invest in a Plex server.

So I did some research and was able to draw up a table of comparisons.

My series, movies, anime and dramas are mostly in 1080p but my favorite content is in 4K (20 TB in total but it will only increase). So I want the server to know how to transcode (4K > 1080p). I would like to share my content with a dozen people.

According to my comparison, two configurations stand out:

. Server 1: QNAP TVS-h1288X + 12 x Western Digital 20TB WD Red Pro NAS Internal Hard Drive HDD - 7200 RPM, SATA 6 Gb/s, CMR, 512 MB Cache, 3.5 » - WD201KFGX

Advantages: A lot of storage, transcoding,…

Disadvantages: Most expensive configuration

. Server 2: Mac Studio M1 Max (10 CPU, 32 GPU, 64 GB RAM, 512 SSD) + QNAP TR-004 + 4 x Western Digital 20TB WD Red Pro NAS Internal Hard Drive HDD - 7200 RPM, SATA 6 Gb/s, CMR, 512 MB Cache, 3.5 » - WD201KFGX

Advantages: A lot of storage, made of transcoding (I think), can use it as a computer for work,…

Disadvantages: Apple and restrictions

. What would you advise me to buy?

. Is the QNAP TVS-h1288X the best NAS for transcoding?

. The new version of Plex for M1 chips shows very promising results for Macs Studio (in terms of transcoding??

Thank you in advance for your answers!

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If you want a plex server, get a NAS. The whole HTPC setup sounds nice but doesn’t make sense having a NAS attached to a desktop.

The DS1520+ or DS1620+ with transcode cache m.2 drive works great and you can LAN to your tv for 4k direct play and most likely 8k with proper setup and has room for 6 drives (or 3 sets of 20tb in backup raid).

Just remember you want to use separate drives to run 4k content and have 4kn supported drives for optimal performance.

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I’m curious to hear what @ChuckPa would recommend.

I’d probably get a Mini with 2TB internal SSD and load test it using an NVME or two.
I’d pair a Mini with a Ryzen based QNAP NAS if the Mini passed the test.
I’d be trying to minimize my power draw with a large yet basic 10GBE NAS.

If the Mini didn’t have enough grunt, I’d return it and get a TVS like you.
I’d avoid a Mac Studio because I’d want the M2 chip they already put in the Air
and because 1st gen Apple products aren’t their best. The fact I had to return
my Studio because of high pitched coil whine is an example.

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Thank you for your reply !

Do you think that DS1520+ or DS1620+ is better than the QNAP h1288x ?

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Oh so the Mac mini or Mac Studio isn’t a good setup for Plex ? :frowning:

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You can always wait for the next best/shiniest product releases from Apple. Though the new M2 is only the entry level chip of that generation… based on what I’ve been reading, it’s no match for the performance of the M1 max in a Studio… similarly to the i3 of a new generation of Intel chips probably not beating last generation‘s top i7 CPU.

General rule: know your use case, find the adequate model and buy it when you need it… there’s little use to keep waiting or you’ll keep waiting forever (I’m sure Apple’s M3 and M4 will be even more powerful than the M2…)

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So far it runs great, but can a large library be trusted connected to a Mac via Thunderbolt as a USB-C JBOD? A lot of people including @BigSlimVdub trust a NAS to be the file server, probably with a RAID 5 array, SMB, and a nice UPS. I’m going to put a PMS server on my Studio when it arrives, but won’t leave it on that machine which will be doing time sensitive tasks that PMS would interrupt. I’m hoping a Mini will be more than enough as a PMS for my 4 users. I ordered a 10GbE one loaded.

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I use a 2012 MacMini 16GB RAM, 256GB SSD. I don’t have a huge library, but about 8TB on 1 HD backed to another 8TB drive. It runs Plex, Sonarr, Radarr, sabNZBd and Transmission. It is also a time machine server, a file server, a backup server and a general server for my household. It’s been running 24/7 since 2017. Not a hiccup. I have a total of 9 drives attached via USB 3. macOS Catalina.

A new M1/M2 based server should no problems at all. After all a NAS is just a computer with a bunch of drives inside and server software. All can be done with any computer. macOS has server software built in.

I have had 5 streams playing at once and all of them 4K HDR, three of which were remote. Again not a hiccup. I do have a 1Gb download and 110 Mb upload, so that helps.

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nice thanks for the info!

My concern about an external drive USB drive array was corruption it can get without a clean shutdown. Are you using a UPS that will cleanly shut down the Mini and the 9 drives?

I read about that vulnerability on the QNAP website years ago. Maybe it’s old news.

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A few things,

There is no Synology DS1620+. there is however a 1621+, which I would not recommend if you were wanting to run a Plex server on the Synology hardware itself since it does not support hardware video transcoding. Both the DS920+ and DS1520+ support hardware transcoding and would be a great fit for a Plex server if you do not have major transcoding requirements. I am currently running a DS918+ (predecessor to the 920+) and have had no issues with it.

If you want to have a separate machine that the Plex server runs on (like a Mac that you are mentioning) then there would be no issue in getting a DS1621+ (or DS1821+ if you want two more drive bays) since it will just handle storage.

I agree with the others that you should get a NAS as opposed to plugging hard drives into a machine via external enclosures.

This is silly. A 4Kn drive has nothing to do with whether or not you can stream 4K media. 4Kn is in reference to the block size of the drive, not the resolution of a video file. Sure there is a general benefit to a 4Kn drive in certain situations, but to say you need to isolate your media to only a 4Kn drive is not accurate. I have run WD Red (CMR) drives and Seagate Exos Drives in various NAS’s, neither of which are 4Kn native and I have had zero issues storing/streaming 4K blu-ray rips.
4Kn pertains to the technology of the storage media and does not have any correlation with storing 4K movies.

4Kn pertains to block sectors of a storage medium.
4K Video pertains to video resolution.

Here’s an article with further explanation of 4Kn drives
https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/2091600

In summary, buy whatever NAS rated hard drives you want to get.
If you want to just run off a NAS, I personally recommend Synology DS1520+ as it can do hardware transcoding and I am not too familiar with QNAP other than their most recent ransomware attack :speak_no_evil:
If you want to run the Plex server on a dedicated machine (Like a M1 Mac), get a NAS that fits your budget that you can grow into for storage (DS1621+ or DS1821+).

PS: If you get a Mac Studio, be really sure about the M1 Ultra. From the most recent LTT review of it, the Ultra did not perform that much better than the M1 Max for H264/265 transcoding. So unless you are going to benefit from the edge case of the Ultra in other areas (like work), you might be better off saving some $$ with the M1 Max.
I’m a fellow Mac lover/user, but if your only use is for a Plex server I think you are better served building something for that kind of money. But as I think you mentioned I can understand if you have more work related benefit for it as well.

Edit: Corrected my earlier statement that I used SMR WD Red drives. I meant to type CMR. For the love, do not use SMR drives in a NAS.

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I use a QNAP TS-453Be - I’m going to move to an M1 Mac Mini with a Thunderbolt DAS set of drives because frankly - the transcoding ability and performance on the M1 Mac is far superior than on the QNAP. Could I probably buy a NAS with better hardware transcoding ability? Sure… But the Mac Mini would also give me the ability to use mac-specific apps and features as needed. And I can still run Docker containers on it (and probably more effectively and easily) than on the QNAP.

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For those looking to a Mac for the single purpose of a Plex Server, I don’t recommend it (for now).
If Plex get’s native Apple Silicon support and can fully utilize the hardware encoding engine I will agree and recommend if you can do in on the cheaper end of the Mac range.

Otherwise with today’s offerings (if you still want small form factor) I would lean more towards an 11th (or soon to be released 12th) gen Intel NUC which has integrated graphics for hardware transcoding. Of course I would still pair this with a NAS of some sort to store your media on.

But if you just want a Mac because you like Macs, I get it. Just try to keep an open mind. I have my preference of Apple devices as well, but I default to other gear if I know other hardware with Linux or Windows loaded can do it better (and for a lower cost/performance ratio). It’s all for the love of technology and using the right tool for the job.

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I get wanting a separate machine for the server, but why not continue to use the QNAP as storage? Unless you are running out and need to upgrade drives or get more drive bays.

For streaming, you do not need more than a 1Gb connection, even with streaming 4K media to your server/clients. And if you want 10Gb for file transfer to the TS-453Be you can get a PCIe expansion card.

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Oh I’d probably still use it for storage… probably not media storage. The biggest problem I’ve had in that configuration was keeping the network mounts online (or getting them to re-mount automatically).

Still… that is a workable option… and as you said… it’s a 1GB connection (and I don’t need 10GB - nothing in my house is that fast).

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Yeah that’s understandable. I am moving towards a separate storage/server solution (an incremental step to maybe a 45 drives setup in the distant future :crossed_fingers:) so the network mounts have been a critical point in my research. Seems fairly reliable in a linux environment though.

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Actually I take back what I said… using the NAS as the storage for media and streaming off to a Mac Mini has abysmal performance on my QNAP…Better to use a direct connection solution… even with 1GB using SMB3 I’m only seeing 90mbit - I mean yea that will work… for A movie… but 3 or 4 at once?

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So far, no corruption. In fact over the 30 or so years of using macOS as far as I remember I have only 1-2 occurrences. I’m in the UK and powercuts are extremely rare so a UPS is not generally required for home use.

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Are you sure about that? If you are only seeing 90 Megabit/sec (which is only 11.25 Megabytes/sec) then you have some serious issues in your network or SMB configuration that should be fixable.

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I am glad you have not experienced data corruption yet, but that is still a risk for any RAID configuration that has a sudden loss of power. And considering people use different solutions/configurations for RAID, someone who has an SSD write cache will most definitely experience corruption if the system experiences a sudden power loss in the middle of a file write.

There are only benefits to having a UPS, but the risks of not having one could be severe to some. For anyone looking to use drives in a RAID configuration I will always recommend a UPS that is plugged up to their system to initiate an automatic shut down when there is a power loss.

Our community has users with technology knowledge of all ranges, and I think in general it would do a disservice to suggest directly (or indirectly) to a user who is new to RAID that they do not need a UPS. Especially if they do not have an additional backup of their data.

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Thanks. True I have been lucky (touches wood, four leaf clover etc). In my case and being in the UK, last power cut we had was a few months ago and before that was decades ago. Besides, also in my situation, if the plex media drive gets corrupted, I have a backup, but if both get corrupted, not big loss just a pain to get it all running again.

I think people to rely on a NAS is also a big mistake. NAS can fail. Happened to me before I became wiser and lost content (again I had a backup). Most people I know think a NAS is a be all and end all. I keep telling they need to backup their NAS as well. They respond with ‘but it’s a NAS’ etc. Their loss when it happens. Lead a horse to water etc.