Intel Atom D2700: has no integrated GPU and will not be able to assist in hardware-transcode
Intel Celeron J3455 Quad core does have a integrated GPU ( Intel® HD Graphics 500 ). It’s from the Apollo Lake gen, please look up it’s exact encoding/transcoding capabilities here
regarding actual performance: Still depends on the media in question, support by Plex and the current state of the VA-API drivers, but I believe that is still a work in progress.
Long story short: DS718+ should be able to encode/decode most 1080p H264/H265 content, with your CPU usage dropping significantly. But I wouldn’t count on transcoding many multiple streams at once.
not at home, but I just remote-played a 8bit HVEC (Bitrate 1736 kbps, 1080p, AAC audio) file with ext. SRT subs through Plex Web from my DS916+.
CPU hovers around 10% to 20% (but it is also running some scans in the background at the moment). PMS indicated that its doing a HW decode and a HW transcode.
The CPU in the DS1512+ isn’t going to do much of anything beyond audio. Do not expect it to do ANY video transcoding, period. I have the DS1813+ with the same CPU.
The CPU in the DS1815+ in the C2538 isn’t much better. It cannot do video.
The Intel J3355 and J3455 processors are the ApolloLake series and are the first capable of any appreciable transcoding because the 500 series gpu provides hardware transcoding
Does anyone know if are there any other nas currently available (synology or other) with better (than the above discussed) gpu transcoding performance/support in plex ?
@ChuckPA said:
The Intel J3355 and J3455 processors are the ApolloLake series and are the first capable of any appreciable transcoding because the 500 series gpu provides hardware transcoding
Brasswell-era chips with Intel HD 400 integrated graphics also work (my DS916+ for example). But the more modern version, the better. For me it’s good enough for the next year or two (no 4K content planned for my library), my next box will probably get a chip that is fully VP9 compliant to be futureproof.
@TeknoJunky said:
Does anyone know if are there any other nas currently available (synology or other) with better (than the above discussed) gpu transcoding performance/support in plex ?
Look for units with kaby lake / gemini lake / coffee lake ‘era’ chips, they use the most recent Intel Intergrated HD Graphics (but it’s easy to look that up on ark.intel.com)
To add. Synology’s “ApolloLake” (the current J3355 and (stronger) J3455 ) CPUs. While not strong in general because they’re Celerons they do have the requisite GPU needed for HW transcoding.
I should probably qualify my remarks regarding the 500 series.
The 500 series GPU will give you 4K 8-bit (not HDR) capability. For full HEVC HDR capability, you will need the 600 series found in the KabyLake and GeminiLake Intel desktop processors. You will not find those in any reasonably priced NAS units.
I should probably qualify my remarks regarding the 500 series.
The 500 series GPU will give you 4K 8-bit (not HDR) capability. For full HEVC HDR capability, you will need the 600 series found in the KabyLake and GeminiLake Intel desktop processors. You will not find those in any reasonably priced NAS units.
Thanks for the clarification. Most of my media is in max. 1080P without HDR but still my 1512+ is struggles with subtitles hence this thread. But still sounds like the DS718+ will give me plenty of power for my need.
Yes, the DS1512+ (Atom D2700) will struggle terribly with it.
When using an Atom CPU (D2700 or C2538) the key for subtitles is to use text-based (SRT, ASS, or SSA) and make certain the player/TV can handle them natively. In those situations, PMS will not need to invoke the transcoder and max out the CPU.
I can play 4K 8 bit on the D2700 (DS1813+) as DirectPlay over Wifi. It will actually stream 3 concurrently. The Syno is good at shoveling data because it’s a NAS and that’s what they do best.
Fully agree. I have been running PMS on a DS1813+ for the past few years, but as usage in house grew, so did the load on the NAS CPU to the extent that it started becoming an issue. I moved the PMS function to a cheap laptop (old Acer V3 with i3-4005u CPU) and the improvement was substantial. It even transcodes HEVC (admittedly I’ve only tried 1x client) and does HW transcoding without breaking a sweat where the Synology would simply grind to a halt or refuse. With a value of less than $150 it simply didn’t make sense for me to upgrade my Synology
@rjblake said:
Fully agree. I have been running PMS on a DS1813+ for the past few years, but as usage in house grew, so did the load on the NAS CPU to the extent that it started becoming an issue. I moved the PMS function to a cheap laptop (old Acer V3 with i3-4005u CPU) and the improvement was substantial. It even transcodes HEVC (admittedly I’ve only tried 1x client) and does HW transcoding without breaking a sweat where the Synology would simply grind to a halt or refuse. With a value of less than $150 it simply didn’t make sense for me to upgrade my Synology
That’s a valid input. I guess I could consider using another piece of hardware for the Plex server. But the question is how long synology will keep updates coming for the 12-series. It’s properly not that far away from this. And then it would make more sense to upgrade to Synology now.
I guess it always boils down to convencience (amount of systems you will need to maange) vs flexibility (upgradeability).
Having PMS run on a different machine (like a NUC or whatever other computer) will probably be already more capable than what you will get if you run it on a NAS. Downside is that you`ll have to manage (and troubleshoot) an extra system. But a NAS with a decent CPU can get costly quick. Also, most consumer-NAS ( < $ 1000) systems will rarely ship with a ‘high end’ CPU because they simply aren’t designed for such use.
In my case, if there isnt a ‘capable’ and affordable Synology in a few year for my PMS needs I`ll probably just buy an Intel NUC with the latest i3 and let PMS run on that machine.
@sunebuhl I went from a DS1512+ to a DS918+, hw-transcoding and CPU improvements were a big reason. Hardware transcoding has worked well for me on the DS918+ with the exception of MPEG2VIDEO to h264 which isn’t supported in hardware. MPEG2VIDEO to h264 is most often used by people recording from over the air (OTA) using products like HDHomeRun Dual. The 918+ will transcode MPEG2VIDEO to h264 realtime in software but it uses 90% of the CPU.
The DS917+ has the same CPU as the DS918+ so I think my statements above would be valid for you as well.
@rjblake said:
Fully agree. I have been running PMS on a DS1813+ for the past few years, but as usage in house grew, so did the load on the NAS CPU to the extent that it started becoming an issue. I moved the PMS function to a cheap laptop (old Acer V3 with i3-4005u CPU) and the improvement was substantial. It even transcodes HEVC (admittedly I’ve only tried 1x client) and does HW transcoding without breaking a sweat where the Synology would simply grind to a halt or refuse. With a value of less than $150 it simply didn’t make sense for me to upgrade my Synology
That’s a valid input. I guess I could consider using another piece of hardware for the Plex server. But the question is how long synology will keep updates coming for the 12-series. It’s properly not that far away from this. And then it would make more sense to upgrade to Synology now.
I think you’re on your last year. There is 3 year limited warranty plus 3 year update support. Some machines, e.g. 2010, 2011, lost support 2 years go. Perhaps popularity weighs into the equation
To round the thread up I can tell that I just invested in the DS-918+. It means that I can just move my 4 disk SHR raid to the new box. Cpu is the same as DS-718+, but the 918+ has more ram as well.
Thank you guys for the assistance, suggestions and feedback.
