Transcoding on Synology DS218+

Plex Media Server NAS & Devices
1

Hi,

I am new to using plex and I am looking at getting either a Synology DS218+ or a WD My Cloud Ex2 Ultra NAS for my house. I seeing some mixed reports on different forums and websites. I want to use my NAS for a media sharing with my nvidia sheild tv. I see that the DS218+ supports transcoding while the My Cloud does not. However I have heard that in order for the Synology DS218+ to support transcoding I need to purcahse the Plex Pass service and not the free version. Is this correct and can someone explain it to me why? I understand from friends that have the My Cloud EX2 Ultra and a nvidia sheild that that they do not need the paid version of plex.

2

You need a Plex Pass to enable hardware transcoding. There are a few special PMS installs that hardware transcoding is provided as a free option.

  • NVIDIA SHIELD
  • WD My Cloud Pro PR2100
  • WD My Cloud Pro PR4100

The EX2 is not free.

3

Also, since you already have a Shield, you can just use that and use the NAS, whatever you get, as a pure file storage. Your shield can still access those for their content.

5

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