I questioned the HEVC comment and got this response today…
I apologize for any confusion caused. My previous response referenced issues not only related to H.265 (HEVC) but also H.264 (AVC). As you have observed, we have disabled hardware transcoding via the kernel graphic driver, so any applications relying on hardware transcoding, such as Jellyfin and Emby, will not function properly.
As Plex mentioned, enabling this feature requires integration with the kernel graphic driver. This decision is left to third-party application teams, and we will not enable this functionality ourselves. Please follow Plex’s future updates for further information.
We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience and appreciate your understanding and cooperation.
Hope this helps and please let us know if further assistance is needed.
Synology said they disable the function. Then they expect 3rd party companies like Plex to do the necessary to ‘enable’ it?
Pardon my very little knowledge of programming but why ask 3rd parties to do the dirty work of ‘enabling it’ when they admitted they are the ones who ‘disabled’ it?
Secondly, why disable the function in the first place?
Given BeeStation, with the same J4125 CPU can do HW transcoding and the DS425+ cannot, both also with the same 5.10 kernel but different firmware, seems to indicate this is a Synology product/marketing driven decision.
Regarding your concern about the removal of hardware transcoding support for HEVC (H.265) and AVC (H.264) on the 25-series models, we would like to provide some clarification.
HEVC/AVC technology involves licensing requirements. We have previously negotiated with the licensors, and enabling hardware transcoding on new models would result in additional royalty fees. To avoid passing these costs on to our users, we decided to disable hardware transcoding functionality through the kernel graphic driver on the latest models.
Although the hardware itself is technically capable of transcoding, this functionality will not be available on new devices. We understand that this change may affect certain use cases, and we sincerely apologize for the inconvenience caused.
We have also previously stated that transcoding support for HEVC and AVC is no longer available.
The notice regarding the discontinuation of HEVC, AVC, and VC-1 support dates back over a year and concerned Synology applications (notably Videostation). Moreover, on Plex, hardware transcoding still works perfectly on “older” models (DS920+, DS423+, etc.).
The excuse of the HEVC licensing cost is laughable: according to my research, this cost is minimal: https://www.via-la.com/licensing-2/hevc-vvc/hevc-vvc-license-fees/
Furthermore, we are not asking us to provide an HEVC license, but simply an unrestricted J4125.
I don’t know if Dino Hsu has a complete grasp of the issue we’re dealing with. Either way, installing a CPU with an IGPU and not being able to use it is probably the dumbest thing Synology has done to date.
As part of our roadmap, starting with products released in 2025 and beyond, even if the CPU supports hardware transcoding, we will no longer provide the driver required to enable it. An exception is the BeeStation Plus, where we specifically obtained the appropriate licenses and paid the required fees, which is why hardware transcoding is available on that model.
We hope this explanation helps you gain a clearer understanding of the situation, and we sincerely appreciate your feedback, as it helps us better address the concerns of our users.
Best Regards,
Technical Support
Dino Hsu
Wish i was more familure with Linux… surely it isn’t impossible to implement this driver manually.
Synology created our problem ! I have read several reviews (in French - I am French) of the DS225+ and DS425+ where the testers (including one who works in partnership with Synology) say that hardware transcoding works on these two new models. Synology will have to explain itself… I will continue to support my case on the problem for the next message I will send them.
Earlier in my conversation with them they said this…
Thank you for your response.
We have never indicated that the 25 series NAS supports hardware transcoding. Could you please let us know through which channel you received this information or response?
and when i replied with some messages i’d been sent from another support agent explictly saying the 425+ could HW transcode, they just glossed over it…. I think i’m done with Synology.
They are annoying to contradict themselves… one day we are told about a paid codec, the next day we are led to believe that it is the driver that is paid for… I am going to summarize all that and write to them, I am not giving up, I have nothing to lose.
One more observation: after doing a quick search, it seems Synology is right - they never explicitly say their latest models can support hardware transcoding, even when the NAS have the hardware capability.
And based on the many inputs from members here (thank you!), Synology uses excuses of
decreasing the stress on the NAS
Licensing fees
Some other hidden/undisclosed reasons which can be anything from the clouds
…to disable the hardware transcoding feature.
Allow me to ‘deflect’ from this battle for a while: besides waiting for Synology to give in, is there other ways to get the same performance of hardware transcoding, or play 4K videos? Like adding additional hardware like AppleTV box running PMS linked to a DS425+? Suggestions, anyone?
I’ve tried the workaround, but the poster isn’t too clear on where the i915.ko file came from, I can’t seem to find the ‘beestation project’ they mention.
I managed to get a copy of the i915.ko from a Beestation Plus but I get Unknown Symbol in Module errors. (Also tried driver from a 423+, but this gives a miss matched kernel version error).
I followed the procedure and got the same “Unknown symbol” error message.
I noticed that the i915.ko file already existed on the DS425+, in the usr/lib/modules directory. Its size is different from the i915.ko file used for the Beestation Plus. There’s also an i915 directory in usr/lib/firmware; it contains two files that appear to be the same for both the Beestation Plus and the DS425+ (same names and same size). I’m not sure what to make of mmplayer’s post claiming to have fixed the problem. I almost think it’s a joke.
There are plenty of solutions, but the most economical would have been for hardware transcoding to work on the DS425+! Otherwise, you can use a mini PC, based on an Intel N100 CPU for example. Intel offers plenty of small CPUs that are much more powerful than the Celeron J4125 in our DS425+, and which perform even better for hardware transcoding.
