Hello everyone. I’ve been loving and using Plex for ages and finally I’m thinking about buying my first NAS.
Even though I’m far from a tech newbie, I’m really not sure what to do when it comes to a NAS.
What i want to do is basically this:
Dump all of my downloaded movie/comics/etc on a NAS and have it do a few things:
Primarily, i want it to work as a NAS Server for Plex able to stream 4K video
Be able to access my files away from home from my Mac/iPhone/Android
Be able to share folders/files with my family so they can get the stuff stored on the NAS
Does anyone have experiences with Synology 918+? I was even thinking about converting an old Mac mini into a server but it doesn’t even have USB 3 and isn’t choking even playing back 4K content.
According to the compatibility spreadsheet, you made a good choice.
I went with QNAP which was cheaper, but probably not any better.
Your questions,
the NAS will have limitations on what it can HW transcode for your smaller devices. Very high bitrate would be a limit.
Remote access is easier with a registered domain name.
Is easy
One issue with a NAS these days is that they run a whole *nix operating system. You’ll end up wanting a couple M.2 for cache and an SSD in the raid. I can’t remember if the 918+ supports those.
The RAID will never sleep. Consider how much power it will use.
If you use it as a RAID for redundancy and speed:
it takes one extra drive for that.
make sure all RAID drives are the exact same size.
buy an extra one you never use for the spare circuit board.
I run Plex on a DS918+. My primary client is an Nvidia Shield. Occasional clients include a FireTV Cube and a Fire HD 10 tablet.
It will work great. Don’t expect it to transcode video unless you have a Plex Pass and enable hardware accelerated transcoding. Even then, don’t expect it to transcode 4K without the occasional hiccup.
a) The info on Synology’s datasheet about transcoding video does not apply to Plex. That info refers to a specialized chip on the NAS, which Synology will not allow Plex to access.
b) Peruse the NAS Compatibility List and the NAS Compatibility Guide spreadsheet linked in the document. This will give you a good idea of the transcode capability of various NAS.
If you mean stream remotely to Plex clients, yes you can do this. You’ll want a Plex Pass if transcoding is required.
If you mean simply access files on the NAS (not involving Plex), you can do this as well. Synology has a web client you can use to access the NAS, download files, etc. There are also options for syncing with Google Drive, Dropbox, etc for shared directories.
The DS918+ supports up to two M.2 SSDs for caching. On Synology, they do not help with Plex.
The DS918+ supports using SATA SSDs. You cannot mix them with hard drives in the same volume (The OS might let you, but it is not recommended).
You could make a separate volume out of one or two SSDs and put the Plex data (metadata, db, etc) on that volume. However, it will eat one or two of the four slots in the NAS.
Personal Opinion: For low volume use, don’t worry about an SSD to hold Plex data. I’ve ~800 movies in my library and stream blu-ray rips to my Shield TV (some files run at 80 Mbps). I’ve no problem with slow response when perusing my library with a Plex client nor any issues on lack of I/O bandwidth from the drives themselves (4 x 7200 rpm drives).
For example, both large sequential read or write operations (e.g., HD video streaming) and entirely random data reading patterns lack re-reading patterns, and thus will not benefit significantly from SSD caching.
The cache is not selective on my QNAP. Anything that’s read gets put in the cache. Anything that’s about to be written is also cached. Does the Synology work differently?
Too bad about mixing an SSD into the raid volume like I can do on my QNAP.
It automatically migrates the most used data from the slower drives to the SSD.
I know the feeling about running out of slots. I wish I got the 1019+ sometimes
Your experience shows how well the 918+ works, but I still like an SSD cache regardless.
That quotation is like a spherical cow, kind of simple, but I find real life has more boobs.
I agree. I have two 256GB NVMe SSDs in my 918+ and it’s impact on Plex is not noticeable. However, I only use my NAS for Plex, and the SSD cache is being filled (about 20%) so the cache IS doing something. So at most I would put 1 SSD in the 918+ for it to cache application files.
Yeah that’s one thing I like about QNAPs is the flexibility you have with the NVMe drives. Hopefully Synology can open this up to us in a future software release.
For write caching on Synology it does write directly to the cache first (I think that is standard amongst all write cache implementations) Read cache is slightly different in that it caches frequently accessed files (system files, configs, application files, etc.) I would imagine the Plex movie posters are getting cached since they are loaded everytime the library is opened (though I reserve the right to be completely wrong )
Now is the wrong time to spend big money to facilitate 4K transcoding. There is no way to make it work acceptably right now. It is impossible . The simple fact is even if you have the CPU and hw transcoding working for a smooth experience (like I do) the missing HDR>SDR tone remapping results in a garbage experience. Till working options exist, who knows what pieces you buy may need to be replaced. instead, my advice is to concentrate on players that will handle your media avoiding trancoding completely. The app in my LG TV, and my Roku Ultra, so far, have provided really good quality direct play experiences. when I direct play 4k streams, the load on my server is MUCH easier than any trancoding-on situation.
I was excited to read on the forums that HDR to SDR tone mapping is in development by Plex, but wasn’t in the latest transcode preview release quite yet.
Anyone looked at the new QNAP TVS-872n on their website? It seems to have a lot of nice features. The 672n is available too.
@unbeliever You might get some insight from the Synology FAQ or the QNAP FAQ that are here on the forums, see what you’ll be facing.
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