First of all if this is the wrong forum or if the answer is somewhere else, I apologize.
I have 2 old Buffalo NAS with many TB of movies series etc.
I would love to move onto Plex server and I have experimented with it on my PC. I am looking into getting a Synology NAS for the Plex server so I don’t have to have my PC on all the time. I would like to be able to use the PMS on the Synology to access my media on the old Buffalo servers. I read a lot and I tried to find guides or videos about if this is possible. I think that maybe this is doable with something called “remote mount” but since I don’t have NAS yet I cant test it myself and I cant find that much info about others who does this.
So my question is this. Can I do it? Can I use a Synology NAS as the “hub” for my servers? Maybe with remote mount?
I hope someone can help me out or point me in the right direction for an answer
Thank you so much! So it seems im good to go for using Synology as a “Hub” for my NAS
Are there any differences in CIFS and NFS? When restarting etc? I currently have some USB drives connected to the buffalo and they cant be made into NFS only the internal drives. Though its not a HUGE problem because one of the reasons for a new NAS would be to get rid of the USB drives
Depending on the Synology model, you can have up to 4 USB 3.0 devices plugged-in. This is an option for aiding transfer.
Synology does offer CIFS as well. I use NFS in a Linux-Linux environment because of the performance. CIFS is slower (the CIFS server & clients are not the newer, faster, versions)
Supplemental,
Depending on budget, all of us who use Synology will recommend going with their bigger CPU boxes (J3455 CPU). It has enough CPU to run the box; can do the audio transcoding just fine, and HEVC hardware transcoding capability.
The only thing lacking will be subtitle burning. These little CPUs can’t really handle it.
If subtitle burning / multi-language support is needed, consider something in the QNAP side. They offer i3. i5, and i7 based models.
IMHO, If I could have the Syno GUI on QNAP hardware… it would perfect for PMS.
Its my Buffalos that has USB drives connected. I currently have something like 18tb worth of USB drives connected :O. I doubt that I can just move them to a Synology?
I am looking into the ds1019+. I read it should be quite good for plex?
again thank you so much for your help its is so very useful for me!
Edit:
Subtitles are needed since Im English is my second language.
But as far as I can figure out the i3, i4 and i7 on Qnaps are quite expensive.
Depending on budget, and details of your need, the 8, 10, or 12 bay models might also be beneficial to future growth. (transfer in a USB then add the now-unused drive to the main array)
Let me quick look at the options for you in the other bay counts.
It’s better and cheaper to get an appropriate chassis up front than to add on or fully replace again later.
Here’s where Synology starts being “less than intelligent”… DS1819+
If they had used the Intel J3455 CPU, this would have been the perfect box.
Instead they charge $900 USD for a crappy Atom CPU which will not provide HW transcoding.
Where is this all taking you: What are the priorities in the new NAS? Plex? (w/ or w/o transcoding) ? Other things?
Plex is a priority.
I have a quite big Media collection like 1100-1200 movies and 200 or so tv shows. Most of it is 1080p or 720p. I only have something like 10-15 4k movies. Which I have made a 1080p version of for when transcoding. I am currently using “Infuse” for all media consumption but without plex that only works at home.
My thought was to utilize hardware transcoding but i have not gotten myself a plexpass just yet as i am still “just” playing around with the server on my pc.
I would also love to be able to use the NAS for other “server” things where my buffalo (again) is very locked down, but exactly what and how etc is not fully thought out yet (maybe play with virtual machines?)
My players are apple tvs ipads and some iphones. I have 2 old Buffalo NAS but they are very inflexible and I would like more flexibility but without losing those 2 NAS since they have been and still are very reliable
In the house, the TVs are connected to AppleTV 4K with Infuse which connects to Plex for the structure and metadata.
The Onkyo RZ sits between the ATV and the big TV in the living room.
I have very limited upload speed so music is my only external.
The guiding principle which should be applied to 4K is pretty simple:
If you’re going to have 4K, you better have something which can actually display it in native 4K resolution.
Translating that to Plex terms: Direct Play is your goal. Play the file just as you’ve curated it without alteration. This is where Infuse + smaller NAS platforms work VERY well. Infuse is a thick (powerful) client. The new Plex iOS app also has a new player engine in it. It doesn’t do HDR yet but apply what I said about “Native 4K” … HDR (UHD) vs “Non-Native” SDR (8-bit) display panels. Infuse does the better job right now with converting UHD → SDR but that’s changing. Infuse and Plex both are limited with audio due to Apple. Apple and Dolby haven’t worked out the licensing to put passthrough on box. Infuse will convert and output LPCM 7.1. Plex will convert the audio then send it. This is the fundamental difference between a thick player (infuse) and a thin player (Plex) – where’s the work done. Weaker NAS boxes do better with the stronger (thicker) clients.
I think so yes My plan was to use (at home) Infuse with plex since it seems to work quite well in my initial tests. Also im a bit of a sound nerd so the better sound i can get the more happy i get
The extra thing is to get access from outside my home or to let a friend stream a movie from me I have a 50/50 fiber connection. Its not the fastest but it seems to get the job done.
And yes I dont have a 4k tv…yet (which is why i have a 1080p version of the few 4k i have)
I am a bit worried about the subtitles when transcoding plex if i do get a 1019+
Polk Audio Signature series mains, HT 10" sub (5.1 in use)
Took my Kenwood KD-4100 completely apart, cleaned, lubricated, and fully calibrated it (including a tracking protractor and scale). AT-433E cartridge in the head
I can take any of my old LPs, Put it on and, with a quick pass of the anti-stat brush, zero crackles.
If you use SRT, ASS, or SSA (text based) subs, those can be sent along with the A/V streams. They’re the easiest to deal with. Every player in existence can handle overlaying text on video .
If the subtitle streams are image based (PGS, VOBSUB, or DVDRIP) then you have problems. They need to be burned.
I’ve never tried Infuse with PGS. ( I could grab and re-rip one of my discs as a test).
I do have SRT subs in some video and it does that flawlessly.
So it seems im good to go for using Synology as a “Hub” for my NAS
