@ChuckPA said:
If you do use Docker, hw transcoding will not work unless you know precisely what you’re doing. Synology controls permission with udev. udev is not used in Plex’s Docker image and, as a direct result, there is no /dev/dri directory which HW transcoding needs.
You’re far better off using the Synology native package. The metadata is just as, if not more, portable because it’s a plain ZIP file and not wrapped in a container with obfuscated object ID directory names
Is this something that Synology could address, or is it a big thing for them to resolve?
Synology will tell you it’s for you or Plex to resolve.
Docker was never intended to be used with Hardware Transcoding.
Adding udev to Docker would take a lot of effort and complexity which, frankly, I don’t see happening because if you add a udev-Docker container it still buys you nothing with the the host it’s running on
yes and noticed the DS418Play also has a intel cpu as well so trying work out which model go for really as the ds918+ seems more for business use than home use
Be careful of Synology’s wording. “Home” use == Occasional, light, usage for general storage. “Business” == Something more than storing ''stuff" on it.
Synology doesn’t make any “Business class” NAS models. Compare this with the QNAP TVS-1282 i7 which is business class.
@ChuckPA said:
Be careful of Synology’s wording. “Home” use == Occasional, light, usage for general storage. “Business” == Something more than storing ''stuff" on it.
Synology doesn’t make any “Business class” NAS models. Compare this with the QNAP TVS-1282 i7 which is business class.
do many devices to choose lol, which be the best as all i want it for is plex nothing else
there the DS418Play or the DS918+ both with intel cpu…
or should i go for something different / brand if you know better for plex please
as nearly got the nighthawk x10 router as that seems do plex now to lol
Look at the GPU. The HD Graphics number. The higher the better.
I switched to QNAP. A little more ‘technie’ on the UI but a lot stronger. You can select which CPU you want for most models
I maxed out the DS1815 three months after I got it. (CPU load running PMS – NO transcoding).
When I got the QNAP, I decided “Go Big or Go Home”. Remember, this is a “Pay to Play” game/hobby.
I ordered the TVS-1282-i7 w/32 GB. Dropped in 8x 6TB HGST/WD Red Pro, 1TB M.2 for the system volume, 512 GB 2.5" SSD as main array cache. Setup LACP to an HPE-1820-24G managed switch (trunking)
I can stream 4K/UHD to everything simultaneously without issue.
Wow, that’s an expensive rig! Wondering if I should have went for QNAP now but I’m very familiar with the Synology OS. I only wanted a 2 bay too so that limits the spec a hell of a lot.
I plan to setup an LACP LAG between my DS718+ and TP-Link switch. TBH the bottle neck is not likely to be the NIC but I’ve spare ports on the switch so why not!
Yes, it’s an expensive rig but there is nothing in the Synology product line which compares. Synology has one Xeon-based product and it’s an OLD non-GPU xeon Everything new uses low ‘tray cost’ (they buy processors by the tray (X cpus per tray)). They seem to be leaving the multimedia market and moving to NAS-only.
Well this definitely changes my plans alot, and wow that is an amazing looking system to… One I can only dream of “drewls”
Looking at the fact it has a i7 would I be better off then just using my computer as the Plex server “i7 7700”? and get something like a drobo or some type cheap NAS / HDD enclosure that at least offers some form of RAID setup?
Maybe you can recommend a good external unit as have 4 10tb Seagate skyhawk surveillance HDDs “got at cheap price” but may go back to wd reds as these Seagate’s are " very clicky noisy" in idle
If use pc i can use the WOL function if it in standby so that won’t be an issue
Always open to ideas as heard few others say Synology seem to be not so much into the multimedia scene so happy to hear lots of advice since there new units seem to of disappointed alot of users with there new hardware specs
Rule #1: Nothing about high res video is cheap. “Pay to play”
Rule #2: If it’s cheap, there’s a reason for that so what are you not getting?
Rule #3, If you don’t want your ‘honking’ computer to do the work, something else has to.
But looking at the specs of the DS418play and DS918+, is there any obvious reason why the DS418Play shouldn’t be able to handle Plex transcoding almost as well as the DS918+?
I was at a Synology conference recently, and moaned about them not allowing in certain models (DS3018xs), a gfx card option, to allow you to swap in/out gfx cards to better support transcoding, so as newer cards came out, with better support, swapping one for another.
And yes, their hardware is slipping behind the curve.
@ChuckPA said:
… System memory is your first limiter. If too little, there won’t be enough for the video buffers (processing areas). Second, the H.264 input bit rate versus the output specification (resolution and bitrate) determines how much of the GPU will be utilized. You must remember, on some GPUs, hardware transcoding odd input/output configs is actually slower than software. This is because of the difference between GPU clock frequency and CPU clock frequency…
Agreed, but hopefully we’ll get some folks here to post some real results.
@jcwacky said:
But looking at the specs of the DS418play and DS918+, is there any obvious reason why the DS418Play shouldn’t be able to handle Plex transcoding almost as well as the DS918+?
this is what im trying to work out between them two, going by what @ChuckPA has said about the higher the GPU number the better i see the DS418play and DS918+ both have the Intel® HD Graphics 500
but the cpu itself one is Dual Core 2.0ghz burst up to 2.5ghz and other is Quad Core 1.5ghz burst up to 2.3ghz… with the dual core having a higher clock rate would this change things if being used JUST for plex only
will there be a huge difference between a higher clocked dual core or lower clock quad core when comes to transcoding / direct play as i dont know how many cores are used exactly for this… NOOBY
wish had the money like @ChuckPA to get a NAS like he has since that is just a beast of a media machine! :o
You can’t neglect the extra work being done by the CPU to retrieve the data, put it into memory, and build the streaming packets to send out.
4 simultaneous threads buys you a lot of time to get work done.
Doesn’t it also depend on what you are transcoding? I thought VC-1 codec could only make use of 1 core, so 2 core @ 2Ghz would be better than 4 at 1.5?
Yes, VC-1 is the singular exception. It does require the highest thread speed possible. At some point, maybe, we will see VC-1 in hardware. I know engineering wants to do it. The gating question will be if and how (universally) stable it will be for all platforms.
I have a DS918+ and it works great (8GB ram, 3 x ironwolf, 2 x SSD cache). Last night I had 3 concurrent streams going to various clients.
Transcoding is marked as throttled (Good) and looks like each user has 8minutes of transcoded data buffered.
CPU doesn’t get over loaded and I am indexing my entirely library at the same time in to plex.
Plex is installed within DSM through manual packages (download from Plex) and the rest of the apps I use are in docker (such as Plexpy)
Let me know if you want me to perform any tests.
PS anyone know how to update this package? Do I stop the plex service, then simply apply the new package through the DSM interface? Does it overwrite the old package? or what should I expect?
