Hi,
Currently I am considering to switch from my own built server (with Ubuntu) towards a Synology NAS. However I see that there are a lot of options with Synology.
My question is; which Synology NAS units (minimum 5 bays) are recommended to use with Plex Media Server and have the good amount of hardware to play full-hd and 4k content without any issue.
Some advice and experiences would be welcome. Thanks in advance.
If you have a Ubuntu machine, Intel i3, i5, or i7, then there is nothing Synology has which will outperform it.
If you need space then get a Syno or even a QNAP.
The problem you face is subtitle burning.
None of the NAS vendors have CPUs (except those with I5/i7 CPU offerings) which will work as a converged appliance.
QNAP has good really CPUs but you will pay $$$ for them
Recommend starting with our NAS Compatibility Guide
Thanks for the clear overview; really helps. So far I have been reading really positive things about Synology DS920+, which seems to also stand out in the list.
The J4125 CPU is one of the better CPUs you’ll find except for those vendors which now offer the even better N5xxx CPUs.
The J4125+ will crank through the video without issue. Even it’s younger sibling, J3455+ will do that.
Subtitle burning is the bane of EVERYTHING video. (PGS, VOBSUB, or DVDRIP)
Having a player which can do this for you (Amazon FireTV Max or Nvidia Shield Pro , etc) takes that load off the server CPU and makes putting PMS on these smaller boxes more reasonable.
Hence – Split the load. Let the server serve the data & let the player do the last stage of playing it (which includes handling the subtitles)
It makes upgrading easier (way cheaper) because you don’t have it all hyperconverged into one box.
Question about subtitle burning and why it is a bane of everything… When I’m on Plex and I ask for subtitles there is a delay before it starts working. I’ve been told that this is because Plex needs to “burn” the subtitles into the video (probably only when sending it to the client).
Now when I’m on YouTube and I hit “c” for Closed Captioning the subtitles appear almost immediately. At least the video itself does not pause or stutter at all.
Why is it that YouTube seems to do this more seamlessly than Plex? I know there’s probably some technical reason and I’m pretty sure that Chuck knows the answer.
Enterprise grade hardware and which will burn subtitles (merge video streams) in hardware.
They have the tools, we don’t.
Look for Brightcove Zenencoder. One company offering as a service.
Ah, thought it might be that. So you’re saying my poor little Synology can’t compete. Thanks for the info!
Your little Synology , or even my big xeon with a bank of GPU cards CAN’T compete.
Consumer grade vs Enterprise grade. 
Will you pay $150,000+ for a graphics card?
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