Streaming vs downloading videos in Plex on Synology DS1520+

Plex Media Server NAS & Devices
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Server Version#: PlexMediaServer-1.28.2.6151-914ddd2b3-x86_64_DSM7
Player Version#:

The DS1520+ has only 8GB of ram (the max), and I turn off all unnecessary services when I’m transcoding in Plex.

I’ve been downloading videos from the server on the DS1520 to my ipad using a 5G wifi link, in order to watch when I’m away from home.

I’ve noticed that transcoding+ and downloading videos now takes much longer than just watching the 45 minute episodes. I’m even using the Make My CPU Hurt setting, (which made no noticeable difference from the slower settings).

As I understand the DS1520+ doesn’t support hardware transcoding. It just seems that transcoding in Plex has gotten much slower within the last year or so. At least in my environment.

Is there anything I can do to improve the transcode + download time?

Are others seeing similar performance issues?

thanks

Thanks

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The DS1520+ uses a Celeron J4125 which is capable to use hw-accelerated transcoding – to some degree. According to the NAS compatibility list, it seems the CPU’s iGPU can deal with up to h264 encoded 4K material (SDR only).
Its software transcoding capabilities are quite limited, supporting up to 720p and lower-bitrate 1080p content.

So you might actually want to try activating the hw-accelerated transcoding.
If you can, try to download media in original quality and without “high compatibility” enabled. The iPad player should be able to deal with a lot of what’s out there… in any way this should prevent any transcoding during downloads.

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It’s already enabled, but you know how weak celerons are.
I don’t have any 4K vids, not even UHD videos. BR is the highest quality that I have.

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Those other options seemed to have made a big difference, I just need to remember not to change them.

Thanks @tom80H !

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