QNAP TVS-471-i3 vs TVS-473?

Plex Media Server NAS & Devices
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Hi, I am the proud owner of a new TVS-471-i3 and I just loaded all 4 bays with 6 GB 7200 RPM SATA Toshiba X300 drives and maxed the RAM out to 16 GB with the 2 x 8 SODIMM kit before I realized that the TVS-473 may have been the device I should have purchased. The fact that paid more than $100 more than I should have from Amazon means I could still return it and get the TVS-473 if I wanted to. The thing is, do I want to?

I realize that this is a Plex forum and not a QNAP forum, but since I really want my media library to use Plex as its backbone, and since I know a lot of of people here have had experience with both I have read the pros and cons of either. Yes, I know the TVS-473 has 4 x SODIMM slots rather than 2 for the 471. Also, while the 471 has the Intel i3 dual core chipset, it would appear that reports have the ARM quad core chipset of the 473 performing better. The 471 is over two years older, while the 473 is just out, but newer isn’t always better. For instance, the lack of locks on the 473 is a bit worrysome.

Still, the feature list of the 473 seems to make it the most conducive choice if I want the make VMs on my QNAS to not only have a VM for PMS, but to have one or more VMs to be the media player running either PLEX Media Center or even Kodi if I wanted to have that option. While QNAS doesn’t really market the video chipset of the 471 at all, the pushes how the 473 sports a Radeon GPU among other things, leading a buyer to believe it makes the better all-around media center. That may be the case out of the sheer fact that it is newer and will be supported with newer software rather than the hardware, but honestly it’s hard to distinguish marketing hype from real stats.

Finally, I did have a NVidia Shield (the Standard, not the Pro) but I sent it back because the device actually lacked an IR receiver, unlike the pro which has one. Since I want to have universal remote solution (which will either support IP controls or IR via a signal blaster) and unless I make some sacrifices the Standard Shield simply can’t do it unless I make it boot right into Kodi or something. The idea of spending another $100 for the Pro version just to have an IR receiver seems offensive since I clearly do not need the storage space. It’s sad because the Shield is otherwise a great device that is hobbled by not having a basic IR receiver, and from what I read, none of the USB IR receivers worked particularly well with the shield. This is why I am trying to just make the QNAS be the one device to rule them all, which is why I am leaning towards the 473 and since I got gouged on the 471 and still can return it under Amazon’s price guarantee, I am leaning towards doing so if I plan on making it my all-in-one device. It would seem that the amount of work needed to get there is less. Also, I have a a Pioneer SC-99 and I really would like to get Atmos going and getting a 4K TV is imminent as well.

So while this may not be the best place for this question, if you have experience with either device and have advice to offer someone who is looking to make either the TVS-471 or TVS-473 both their storage solution as well as their set-top solution, I would be grateful to hear your story. (I am going to take some of my post and start a thread in the QNAP forum even though the information there literally flies over my head at Mach 3, and I thought I was on top of my stuff w/r/t both server and A/V tech.)

Thanks in advance.

PS: For TVS-473 owners who have the 8GB version, does the RAM come with all 4 slots full with 2 GB SODIMMS or does it just have 2 of the 4 slots loaded with 4 GB SODIMMS? I think I know the answer, but I wanted to check first. Thanks.

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The question regarding CPU choice is: Will PMS run on the box?

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The TVS-471 i3-4150 has a passmark of 4901, while the TVS-473 has 4857. So SW transcoding speed should be the same between these two models.

If your concern is speed, the TVS-471 can be upgraded (although voiding warranty). You can use google to find how to’s.

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I have an i7 (4790S) upgraded 471 that works great. I upgraded it to make it future-proof as much as possible. However, the original i3 processor was able to handle anything I threw at it while I had it in there. Seeing that it’s an Intel chip I feel a bit better that, if needed, I could use the HW transcoding beta build. But I think Plex will extend that ability to different chips in the future.

If you want to upgrade the main issue with the x71 series is getting the processor. Since the supply is starting to dry up a bit the prices have been rising.

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The TVS-473 does not have a ARM Chip.
It uses the AMD Chip.
The 8G Version comes with 2x4G pieces.
I upgraded it with 2x8G to 24G complete.
So the 473 has 2 m2 SSD slots beside the 4 bays it is really a “673”.
I used the SSD for my VM and its runnig perfekt.
Also Plex Runs without Problems.
Only HW transcoding in plex is not supported at the moment, but we hope it will be in future.
While streaming a fullHD Software transcoded movie i ran Handbrake in the VM at same time and no problems.
I am very happy choosing my TVS-473.
The only thing that matters is the soon coming Ryzen driven 477.

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FWIW, I ended up with the TVS-473 and after adding 32 GB RAM (Aftermarket Kingston), 2 x 512 GB m2.SSD (RAID 1), and with 4 x 6TB 7200RPM Toshiba Drives (RAID 5 - forget model, but it was off the approved drive list) it performs like a champ- not just handling Plex, but also doing some other tasks like running an Ubuntu 16 and Windows 10 VM on Virtualization Station for misc stuff. It’s nice having those platforms and the linux VM is super useful for me as an OpenVPN endpoint vs trying to get VyperVPN to work natively. (It’s much more stable with excellent performance, and with some iptables rules allowing local access and blocking remote access when the tunnel gets terminated, it works so well I don’t even have to think about it.) I love the fact that with the 4K HDMI output I can use it as a “head” for Plex or whatever. Along with being a my central backup server (for my desktop, laptop, and mobile devices), and also a few other niceties that QNAP offers that I am still working out, I have a nice one-stop-shop that is fault-tolerant. Finally, I am using all of the old USB drives that I used to have stacked next to me desktop, to make local backups of the NAS. I am still deciding if I should get a cheap NAS to put offisite to be a secondary backup or not, or put them on B2 or something- need to weigh cost/benefit and risk/reward.

In any event I appreciate the feedback and while QNAP is far from perfect, it is the best solution I have had yet by a long shot!

@“Barry Ricoh” said:
The TVS-473 does not have a ARM Chip.
It uses the AMD Chip.

Yes, I realized my mistake soon after I had posted. Not sure why I said that.

The 8G Version comes with 2x4G pieces.
I upgraded it with 2x8G to 24G complete.

For some reason I could not get the factory 2x4 GB RAM work with the 2x16 Kingston RAM that I bought which was allegedly the exactly same speed spec, even following the QNAP guide for RAM installation. It would NOT boot with both pairs in which was disappointing.

So the 473 has 2 m2 SSD slots beside the 4 bays it is really a “673”.
I used the SSD for my VM and its runnig perfekt.

Are you running it using QTier or do you have it explicitly partitioned out so that only Virtualization Station uses that storage? I found that with using QTier it managed the storage very well so VS seemed to have priority since it was the “busiest” thing on the NAS. This way also there was some space left over for Plex transcoding so both things are super fast. I disabled QTier for other things were speed is not so important like backup tasks, so really just VS and Plex make use of the SSDs which is really nice. If you have the space on your SSDs, I recommend it.

I did end up mirroring the 512GB sticks since unlike caching, there is no copy on disk. It hurt the wallet at first, but I would be very sad if I lost an m2.SSD and the data on it as it is my most important stuff. Then again, snapshots should make recovery easy were that to happen, so maybe this level of paranoia is unwarranted. What do you think? Keep as-is or break the mirror and double my space, relying on both snapshots and streaming backups?

Also Plex Runs without Problems.

I have had some glitchiness at first, but mostly I was able to resolve them from logs. It seems that whenever I upgrade I introduce some new issues for some reason. The first thing was to NOT use the QNAP-provided package and use the one from Plex which is much more stable and current. That was a time waster initially but after seeing the Plex forums I quickly found the error of my ways.

Only HW transcoding in plex is not supported at the moment, but we hope it will be in future.

Actually, it looks like they have this now, or at least it thinks it is doing that. After seeing that you are trading off speed for quality (at least that is what the Plexperts say) I realized that I could live with slower transcoding (as long as it kept up with playing, and since I play natively after optimizing my files, things work much more smoothly with the best possible quality for the device in use. It uses more space, obviously, but when I have 18 TB to play with that has thus far not been too big of a deal.

While streaming a fullHD Software transcoded movie i ran Handbrake in the VM at same time and no problems.

Do you mean that is what you use to decode and demux your phyiscal media? I have had mixed results. If you have a blog on how to make the most of that, specifically with doing things like adding audio commentary tracks and stuff, I’d love to have the help.

I am very happy choosing my TVS-473.

Me too! It was a good choice and I am glad I took your advice.

The only thing that matters is the soon coming Ryzen driven 477.

No matter what you buy, there is always something better coming out around the corner. :slight_smile: It’s just a fact of life!