Synology 416 (I think) Won't play 4k from my iPhone even without Transcoding

Plex Media Server NAS & Devices
1

I recently made the move to recording my home videos in 4K. When I record (4K 24 fps) it uploads to my Photos account and I’m able to stream it from Apple Photos OK.

I took some of that video into FCPX and made a little video of my family’s latest vacation. It’s about 6 minutes. I output from FCPX at the same bit rate - 4k 24p.

When I moved the FCPX output to my Synology Plex server, The play back was terrible and I would occasionally get the message that my server was too slow.

My Internet is 300/10, so it’s pretty fast. I have mesh wifi that always tests well, over 200 mbps. I’m playing on an apple 4K tv.

I understand that my Synology NAS isn’t fast enough to Transcode, but it’s surprising to me that it won’t play something I’ve already transcoded, at least I think I have.

So several questions:

  1. Isn’t the video already transcoded? I don’t think I really have a need to transcode on the fly.
  2. What speed does the processor need to be in order to play already transcoded video at 4k over a local wifi network?
  3. I am open to getting other Plex servers if need be. What type of device should I look for?

Thanks in advance!

2

If the player isn’t 100% compatible with your video source (meaning it cannot DirectPlay) it will transcode some portion whether audio and/or video.
The DS416 series (DS416 or DS416J) do not have real-time video transcoding ability of any kind because they are ARMv7 CPUs.

For reference. https://support.plex.tv/articles/201373803-nas-compatibility-list/

If you’re going to upgrade, the DSx18 series with the Intel J3455 processor (not the ARMv8/RealTek) is an excellent, and well proven choice as reported by many here in the forums. The DS918+ can decode and transcode HEVC SDR to H.264 in hardware and is effectively ‘trivial’ to do.

Feel free to search threads for the reference to it and see what others have to say