Which NAS CPU is capable of HDR streaming?

Plex Media Server NAS & Devices
1

My current Synology DS418j has rising issues with 4k streaming and more content is available every day. I have seen in the compatibility list, that no NAS is currently capable of streaming 4k HDR content.
I am thinking about getting a new NAS, maybe a UGreen with a N100/N150 CPU and 16GB RAM or a self-built NAS with Unraid or TrueNAS. The latter could use dedicated GPUs, which can handle everything. If i want true 4K HDR streaming, which CPU or CPU/GPU combination is at least necessary to achieve this?

2

I have my doubts that you will find a NAS with the necessary hardware for 4K streaming - NAS’s are better for storage IMO.

I believe you’d be best to build your own “NAS” with Unraid or TrueNAS then using the NAS you have now as storage for sed server.

This video may give you some insight as to the hardware you may wish to build a server with.

I haven’t watched this video myself, nor am I pushing Jellyfin on you.

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3

@padrak

I have a DS418j for development. It won’t do 4K “anything”. :slight_smile:

There are several NAS vendors who have products capable of 4K HW transcoding

I maintain the NAS Compatibility Guide for Plex.
This list shows you which commercial products are HW capable

https://support.plex.tv/articles/201373803-nas-compatibility-list/

Building your own solution is a viable option if you’re willing to do all the support yourself.

I have both a QNAP TVS-1282 (i7 model) and a NAS I built myself with Nvidia GPU .

I’ll help you with the technical aspects. ( I have several little 4x4" mini-pc boxes which run PMS as well . They pull the media over the network. Cheap and Solid performing solutions.

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@kazz3r24

I have removed the video you linked due to advertisement content in that video.

5

Not sure I understand why…. but okay…

6

A potato is able to stream 4K HDR. Transcode, that’s a different question. But if your clients are direct play capable (as they should be!), it doesn’t really matter, it’s more of a bandwidth question at that point.

1 Like
7

I’m sorry? I’m not understanding. “Potato” ?

8

it means very low-end.

9

Thanks for explaining.

If we use Plex terminology -

  1. DirectPlay == Send the file As-Is, with no modifications then YES, anything capable of running PMS can do the job. (aka. “Potato”)
  2. DirectStream == Convert either audio or remux the video then NO. There are some which cannot do both concurrently even for one stream.

I am the maintainer of the NAS Compatibility Guide.

If anything is missing or anything is incorrect, PLEASE let me know ASAP so I can fix it.