Hello, I’m sure my questions have been answered in pieces in this forum, but I would greatly appreciate any feedback and suggestions. Sorry in advance for the long message, but I have read conflicting information on how I should set it up.
Current HW:
LG 5C OLED 77" TV & Sonos Arc Ultra soundbar
Verizon CR1000A Router (Both support WiFi 6E)
Plan: Use Synology DS225+ NAS for Plex server., connected to router via ethernet supporting 10GB. Use WiFi 6 for stream to TV.
WD 6TB Red plus drive - More than enough for my current DVD/BluRay collection, and I can add a 2nd drive if ever needed.
Questions:
Will the WD drive work on the Synology NAS? Some say yes, others say no
Can I rip the DVD’s/BRays without compression (MakeMKV) and use Direct Play with an external .srt file? Some opinions are that the LG upscaling will work better with uncompressed files, especially the BluRays. Other are that it doesn’t matter as long as the correct compression is used with Handbrake.
If I rip only the Dolby Digital audio files, will this be sufficient since I read DTS is not supported by my HW?
This is what Synology themselves say on this topic. You might find conflicting statements in the internet — either because certain drives are simply missing or Syno‘s recommendations are too restrictive (drive isn’t listed / officially supported, but working).
As long as capacity isn’t an issue, go with the raw videos.
As for LG upscaling… that’ll depend on what you’re shooting for. Probably worth checking with LG support articles what formats their platform supports and if there’s restrictions or prerequisites.
If a format isn’t natively supported by your client platform, your server should transcode it to meet the platform’s capabilities.
Thank you very much for your replies. Since the playback hw doesn’t support DTS, would it be best to convert just the audio using something like X Media Recode if the only audio available on the disc is DTS, so no transcoding needs to be done on the NAS?
When the 2025 models were introduced, Synology restricted hard drives to only those on their approved list. They backed off that requirement due to customer backlash (and probably lost sales).
Someone on the Syno forum or reddit should be able to give you a definitive answer. Someone here may be able to give a definitive answer as well.
I have a DS918+ and DS414 with multiple WD drives. They are very reliable and have never given me any compatibility issues.
2 x WD Red Pro with 24000 hours each.
3 x WD “white label” (shucked backup drive) with 55000 hours each.
Yes, you should consider converting DTS & TrueHD audio to EAC3. ***
The NAS can handle transcoding audio.
However, due to limitations with the Plex LG app, if the audio is transcoding, enabling any type of subtitle results in a video transcode. *
The NAS will struggle to transcode 1080p video and cannot transcode 4K video. The Celeron CPU is simply not strong enough to perform the task.
A Plex Pass will not help. Synology disabled hardware accelerated transcoding on their 2025 models. They did not include the necessary drivers in the operating system. **
* Technically, it is due to a limitation in the streaming protocol between the LG and the server. If the audio is transcoding, Plex has to burn the subtitles into the video (add them to each video frame) to keep the audio, video, and subtitles synchronized. The Celeron CPU simply is not strong enough to handle the task.
** The ability to use hardware accelerated transcoding can be added to the NAS by hacking the NAS and adding the drivers. However, if you had to reach out to Synology for support and they found you added the drivers, they could possibly void the warranty on your NAS.
*** EAC3 (Dolby Digital Plus) is supported by your TV. It is the successor to AC3, providing better sound quality at the same bitrate. Suggest you limit the bitrate to no more than 768 kbps. That is the rate used by streaming services (Netflix: 640 kbps for 5.1 & 768 kbps for Atmos). Also, Plex has sometimes had issues with EAC3 at bitrates in the 1 Mbps range.
