I am new to Plex Media Server and want to understand about transcoding. I currently have Plex Server installed on my Windows 11 PC but would like to use my Synology NAS. My current NAS is not good enough but I understand that Synology DS220j 2 Bay Desktop NAS is capable of doing so. However, I read that it is not able to transcode.
Now I do not watch live stuff but I have many films and TV shows I store on my PC but I do not run this 24/7 like I do my NAS. So if I upgrade to the Synology DS220j NAS with all my stuff stored on it will the fact that it is not able to transcode affect my ability to watch my stuff if I use the NAS as my server?
One final thing, I am going to get the Nvidia Shield TV Pro 4K HDR Ready Media Streamer; would that be better to use if I hook up a 1tb USB3 SSD for storage.
Hope you can enlighten me and TIA for any advice on this matter.
Based on my experience and observations with users in the forum, I’ll share my thoughts.
First, the NAS –
Here is the list of all the NAS devices Plex supports.
You also mention Nvidia Shield. so there is no misunderstanding, Here’s the one I will be talking about.
To answer your question:
You need either a strong server or strong player(s).
A strong server lets you play to more players of varying capabilities (The server picks up the transcoding work load)
A strong player can do most of the work itself which means the server only needs to send it the data.
You will find Synology NAS products aren’t the strongest CPUs but they are the easiest to use.
We tend to use strong players (like the Nvidia Shield Pro 2019) as a player because it will do all the work (so the Synology doesn’t have to)
You mentioned using the Shield as a server. Yes, it can be a server but why?
You have a good NAS right there. It can’t transcode much but it’s a VERY good server CPU with the storage right there. Paired with the Nvidia Shield Pro, it won’t need to transcode because the Shield Pro will do everything itself.
My recommendation:
Keep the Synology you have (unless you need a bigger one for more media storage)
Get the Shield Pro 2019 and use it as your player. (that’w what it was designed to be)
Run PMS on the Synology.
Run the Plex player app (Not the server app) on the shield.
You end up with a Server and a Player.
It’s a very nice clean architecture.
You can change either without upsetting the balanvce you now have.
If you add more Nvidia Shield players, you’ll be fine until you run out of ethernet network speed
What model do you currently have?
(had to ask since you mentioned upgrading to the DS220j 2 Bay Desktop NAS. And it appears as though ChuckPa assumed that’s the one you currently have).
Aside from asking for clarification on the above, the only thing I would mention is to make sure that ANY brand of NAS you look into buying in the future is Intel chip-based.
If the NAS you currently own is Intel based, then even though it may not be able to do HW transcoding… (from the factory), if you have the skills, are comfortable in Linux/Docker, you may be able to enable HW transcoding.
I run a TerraMaster pos (220 model), that does HW transcoding through Docker. (But you have to go through extra steps to make it possible.)
Granted, it’s only 2gb of onboard ram, and will only do one transcoded stream on the fly while two others direct play simultaneously. But it works for a very small household.
As I understand it, Realtek based silicon don’t have such a workaround (no hw transcode).
And most reputable NAS (Intel) allow hw transcoding without a kludge workaround. All depends on the OS though.
First of all please accept my thanks and gratitude to you and getbent for the excellent replies you have given.
Regarding my current Synology model it is the DS215j and I had previously noted from that link supplied, it is not good for PMS. I have 2x2tb WD drives in that and have reasonable amount of spare capacity and could make more. I did try to use it as the server by downloading the PMS to the NAS but it could not cope.
Although I have my wife connected via a Firestick 4K (not the max) she rarely uses it as her main source is Sky Q, which I dumped 18 months ago for myself. I use a UK IPTV supplier who are excellent and download films and TV shows from The Crew via Kodi.
No the DS215j is ARMv7 (Armada 375) 0.8GHz but I do have an old spare PC box (circa 2010) running Linux and wonder if I can use that in any way; I am quite adept at working on computers and adapting them.
I hope with this additional information you can suggest some ideas to a solution to my request. BTW, as finance is a bit stretched for me at the moment, I am holding on to Black Friday when I am hoping to pick up the NVS pro at a cheaper price, currently available from Amazon UK for ÂŁ178. Many TIA, Jim.
Wanting to use a 2010 era machine is risky as heck.
If it’s an i7 then you can probably get it to work as a DirectPlay / DirectStream box, with media on the NAS, fairly well but forget any appreciable video transcoding.
I have a DS1815+, which is a lowly Atom C2538 CPU. It can’t transcode anything! lol
That said, with the Shield Pro, it actually works because it can shovel the data out to it at full speed and that’s all that matters.
I have the FireTV Ultra Max (whatever that name is – haha) for testing purposes. It works well. It can direct play more than I thought it ever could.
The NAS (as storage) -
The older machine as the PMS server , media from the NAS -
The players as the stronger elements –
Thanks for this advice Chuck. As I said I am using my PC you refer to as my PMS with my firestick 4K max. I have a lot of storage on my PC and currently using a spare internal Samsung SSD in the PC; this is only 250gb but my son can get me a 500gb SSD that I can swap it with, so maybe do that. As I said I do have that external Crucial 1tb SSD but that is not as quick as that internal one and use it as backup storage and then when I want to watch something that I do not have on the internal one, I could copy it over.
I have to say I have never really understood what streaming really means so just googled it and now realise what streaming data is.
A method of transmitting or receiving data (especially video and audio material) over a computer network as a steady, continuous flow, allowing playback to start while the rest of the data is still being received.
So what seems logical to me is when I get the NSP is to do as you suggested. Maybe when I have a bit more dosh to spare I’ll get a replacement NAS that is stronger than what I currently have, as it is slow. Thanks for all your help and advice, plus your patience for a young minded 81 year old.
I have now purchased the Nvidea Shield Pro (2022) and things have improved plus on my DS215j Synology NAS at long last been able to install the PMS but it is beta. Have got in a bit of muddle trying to share my video folders to PMS and wondered if there is a link to help me out. One other query is do I have to have the NVS switched on all the the time? Got all my apps installed on it, including PMS and Plex but getting a bit confused between what is on my PC where I have Plex library and also on the NVS where I have a Crucial 1TB External Drive hooked up to it with media on it. When I open plex on my NAS it tells me my Shield Android TV is unavailable but all I did was turn off my TV, not my Shield but notice when I turn of the TV the Shield shuts down.
