Ok I've recently moved all my media onto a Synology DS214 Play, previously I was running my i7 quad core 8 gb ram ubuntu pc as my server but i wanted something with more HDD space and something to last me many more years (my current ubuntu machine is a converted alienware x51, used mainly for project work / network engineering now)
For my thin client I've always used chromecast and casted either from android phone/tablet.
I was unable to tell if it was the synology or the chromecast that was truggling with particular codecs, but it seemed anything with ac3 5.1 or dt 5.1 audio failed to play via chromecast!! It would take ages to load and then freze every 5 seconds.
I then installed Plex Home Theater on Ubuntu, ticked all the available audio codec boxes under settings as well as transcode and wow! It plays everything perfect, even includes subtitles from SRT files in a much neater way than the chromecast did.
My question is, can I expect the same level of performance from an Raspi2 running Rasplex?? it's my understanding that Rasplex is a direct port of PHT so will it support everything PHT on my linux pc currently does?
It sounds like your issues may be stemming from the Synology. Although it appears the product is able to transcode 1080p video, I've never had much luck transcoding with an Atom processor (heck, even my old Core2 Duo Mac mini couldn't transcode 1080p with DTS audio without major, constant stuttering). So, anything to minimize or eliminate transcoding will be a benefit to your experience. Even when you tried Plex HT on your Ubuntu machine forcing it to transcode, it was probably still handling the audio decoding on its own (not on the server/NAS).
So far--and I will say so far--I have not had a need to transcode anything on my RPi2 with Rasplex. In this particular case its hooked up directly to the TV--no receiver to decode audio tracks. So, if I was trying to play something on a Chromecast or Fire TV with DTS sound, it would have to transcode the audio on the server-side first. No issue on my end since I have a beefy server, but with your NAS, this may be where you're running into problems. With the RPi2 and Rasplex, the decoding of the audio track would take place on the device itself, so no transcode. Or, even better if you have a receiver, it should just pass through the audio, and again, no transcoding.
Obviously YMMV, and having an ethernet connection will be more reliable than any sort of wifi you're going to have on the RPi2. But I must say I'm pretty impressed with the improvements of the RPi2 over the RPi, and have even been using it over my reliable Fire TV Stick that I've also been pleased with.
I’ve had same worries as You…RPi ver 1 was almost good but struggling preformance.
RPi2 does direct play almost everything and with subs and 5.1 sound.
synology’s lack of power matters only when You wanna watch from outside your network and video must be transcoded due slow internet connection ( the no1 problem for synology/plex combination)
there is one more wish…,to play BluRay Rips (BDMV). but RPi2 does it also without problem on XBMC …its Plex fault common for all platforms
Although there is an issue with some 1080P BD rips with specific Audio Formats in the current release, we are told it is fixed in the very next update. It plays everything else I want and is quite snappy. Even my older RPi 1B overclocked wasn't bad. RPi2 is great, even with a heavyweight skin loaded like Night. My main machine is a i7 Mac Mini and I'm quite happy with RasPlex in comparison to it for for the other rooms. Much preferred over Roku
for $40 with MPEG2 and WVC1 licenses, its a bargain!
