I’ve run Plex for years on a Windows machine, but recently upgraded to a new Synology (the 1019+) and with the hardware transcoding on the CPU and Plex’s awesome support for it, it’s stunning how well it works at streaming transcoded content. This is truly a great combo!
However, this is only available with the 64-bit package of Plex, and it requires a manual install. Then a manual update of the package…every…single…time. This is painful.
I asked Synology’s support team why they didn’t have the 64-bit version of Plex, assuming it was their fault for not providing it, but I was told it was the Plex team that hadn’t given them the 64-bit package for hosting within the Synology package center.
Is that true? If so, why? I for one would really appreciate the time-savings of one-click updates.
Thanks for the response. I had a hunch this would boil down to finger-pointing, but I can’t think of any reason why Plex would withhold the 64-bit package, but I can think of reasons why Synology doesn’t want to go through the effort to post/host it (none of them good ones mind you). I will bug them on social media and file a support ticket; seems like if they had a few hundred people doing this it would add up to some decent pressure.
You’re right, I bet their rationale for not supporting Plex is they somehow think their own solutions will meet the needs of their customers. I can’t speak for anyone else, but I found their movie/video solution to be laughably bad and can’t compete with even 10% of what Plex offers.
To add,
Their initial UI was their own creation. After PMS became available for Synology, they magically copied it (poorly but clearly a copy) without providing licensing for the codecs which Plex has by default. Their only benefit was access to their proprietary hardware transcoding engine for the DSxx15 series and any before the advent of the Intel J series processors which have Quick Sync Video.
Shortly thereafter, Synology announced Video Station was being obsoleted.
The only rationale I have for them only offering 32 bit packages is:
32 bit packages work with their proprietary hardware
DSM changes prohibit 32 bit packages from being installed on 64 bit systems, with exception of two, which further tightens control.
In spite of offering both 32 and 64 bit packages, It appears the Package Center cannot differentiate between 32 and 64 bit applications but it can differentiate by NAS architecture. This means they can differentiate between 32 and 64 bit if they so desired.
Hey ChuckPA, thanks for chiming in here with your thoughts. I hadn’t heard Video Station was obsolete. Good riddance I say, it wasn’t a compelling product in any way. I did reach out to tech support, and a fellow named Jacob said “Thanks for reaching out to us about this. I will submit a request to add this package to our systems to the developers.”.
You bring up some excellent points, though you’d think that if their system can’t differentiate between 32/64 bit they’d just have two listings in the package center.
Jason,
Their system differentiates by the ARCH= line in the package definition file.
That, coupled with the Architecture name in the Syno device (proprietary device on the motherboard used to configure the hardware) is how they determine what to ask for from Package Center.
