Finally someone speaks about the details of hardware transcoding as part of Plex pass, with the details I was looking for, after flipping through 10s of YT vids, Thank You Sir!!
@@santrader1707 it's logically understandable. You need transcoding only when you away from home network (inside your network you can watch your 4k on 7inch mobile without problems usually) and Plex pass needed to watch films from your library over cellular network while you away from home. That's the place/moment where you may need transcoding due to internet traffic price/speed. If you sitting at home, you can easily make a copy of film needed especially for mobiles, no need transcoding at all here.
@@nosurname9652 Yes. So if you just watch within your home notwork I start to wonder why I need Plex at all? Today I have my movies on the NAS each in folders like "Cool-Movie (1995, 1080p)" and stream that file. Even from my phone using "BS Player Pro" I can stream it. So where gives me Plex additional benefit? I suppose with Meta-Data/Movie Covers. Anything else?
I am assuming that's the predecessor to the DS920+ which is the one I am considering now. I've read that it doesn't handle 4K terribly well, but it can do it. Most of my library is 1080p, but I want to future proof as much as possible since I'll be spending $1900 on the NAS and 16tb drives. I plan to max out the ram and add 2gb cache to give it a boost.
Lumberjack look = Complete! This completed a few unanswered questions for me. My 920+ is going great for plex and I am amazed how often I finish a show either on public transport or in bed now that it is available 24/7. I am now deciding on security and reading up on containers
Great video! Only thing I would add for next vid would be if you go the NAS route for Plex, make sure to install the server/appdata onto an SSD or NVMe drive. Media can be located on slower mechanical hard drives to save money but the server must be on some kind of flash storage. Otherwise the database will be insufferably slow to load.
I've got plex and it's truly brilliant. It's got stuff i keep finding which makes it even better like go to movies choose country and go to say Korea and the films are truly A1 !!! Try series there's everything!!!! My plex is great and I've got it on my firestick!!
I have a synology 411+ its old but with 4 x4TB drives it has no problem running and using Plex. It does a good job and has never let me down. I dont transcode things and dont use 4K to my projector and 2 tvs on the network.
With you on Rise of Skywalker, bro. The whole sequel trilogy, actually. Kathleen Kennedy really mucked up the handling of those movies. So glad to see her out of the picture and Dave Filoni taking over.
1:58 yep. I learned this the hard way with an old Piledriver AMD CPU. It’s hot and inefficient. It costs me ALOT to keep it running hence why I am transitions to a NAS.
Old 6700k with unRaid and Plex with Plex pass for hardware decoding. My favorite so far. 27w idle to 110w with all 10 hdd spinup and cpu 100%. 35w while streaming a single video.
I am sorry, but this is NOT possible. Only the CPU should consume at least 95W on 100%... and you are mentioning 10 HDD's working constantly AND CPU on 100% = 100W. Not possible.
Awesome video great explanation of a NAS. Is there a certain make and or model number of a NAS you suggest for using with a Plex I’m in the process of setting a server up . Thank you
I bought a 920+ thinking it would be enough and I had to buy a new one within 2 years. This time I bought a chassis which can hold 24 bays and put an i9 and 192GB of RAM...just in case ;-)
I made my own NAS 2 years ago with a Rock64 single board computer and screwed it to the top of a 8TB external drive running OMV. Hosts 4k HDR via DLNA perfectly even to multiple TV's, 112 MBps transfers via SMB/windows file sharing which is Pegging Gigabit ethernet. Tried the same files running Plex on the same SBC and it fell on its face with 'direct play' aka no trancoding. SBC never hit 100% on anything. Gave up on Plex for this reason.
I have a 1700x with a x370 board running 24/7 as my main NAS (TrueNAS), as you said the only time it reboots is when there is an update..... (the only server grade stuff in there is the LSI card in IT mode) No instability, hang-up, or any odd behavior. It eats about 60W at idle without the HDDs. IDK about the consumption with HDDs installed (5 10TB drive). Its running like this for 3 years now i think. As for the main topic i run minidlna in a jail and grant read only access to the relevant folders on the NAS.
DS video is crap. Synology is notorious with codec problems, where some videos are played without audio and some cannot be played at all. Nearly all videos now use AC3 codec which it doesn't have. Additionally, CPUs of Synology nas until 2019 were to weak to play any videos if you want to play with subtitles. Performance issues apply to plex on synology as well.
I've tried PLEX server a few times and always found it hard to set up and maintain. I much prefer Emby and even though it's not a direct install on QNAP, it's easy enough to install as a third party. Then I use Kodi on the TV with the Emby plugin to access the server directly. Yes I could use the Emby app (and it does work), but I find shows look better in Kodi's media player. The only downside is if/when you update your QTS version - mostly I have to reinstall Emby and set the server up again. After using Emby for years, I basically split everything out on the server directories into watched/unwatched. That way it's easy to set up again as even with the .nfo files in the directory (which store the status of the played file), Emby doesn't always look at it when re-installing. And BTW - It does hardware trans-coding for free.
Was just skimming through to find this because yes, plex transcodes for free. However its very taxing on the CPU and I've done eveything to make sure it never transcodes. Most internet speeds are fine to send full 4k bluray rips nowadays as long as you have your wifi set up properly and your tv or device is getting a solid 100-150mbps(depending on the file bitrate, audio etc). Thats all that's needed.
@@michaelmcintosh9378 If plex floats your boat go for it. I just found it too cumbersome to setup compared to Emby. And while Emby can transcode as well, it doesn't have to if you're using a dumb receiver or TV. Also the last couple of times I had to put a new version of Emby on the server, I just installed it before uninstalling the old one and everything transferred over fine. No need to rebuild libraries.
I run my Plex on my old mac pro 2010 5'1 Intel Xeon X5690 6-Core 3.46GHz 12 core 64 gigs of RAM it has 60 TB of space has been running for the last five years rock solid I have family that lives in Japan they use my Plex the rest of my family all of them got rid of all Subscriptions to all of the streaming services and just watch my Plex don't care about electricity that's not a concern of mine I just needed it to be rock solid as it is I put western digital red pro drives in it i use OWC SOFTRAID PRO in it with plenty of room to add a swappable 14 bay or more attachment storage right to the computer if needed and the beauty of it the computer was just laying in my closet all of my music pictures movies videos and even my music in iTunes all streams right through Plex to all of the mobile devices iPads Apple TV fire stick Roku it really gets a work out and it is rock solid I love it and wouldn't change a thing about it and i run it right on top of the operating system and we're not gonna talk about the extra benefit of being able to access files outside of media
Alas just missed the April release of the Apple TV 4K 2021 which has a decent remote again. I agree that touch surface was a neat idea, but in reality did not work well.
This is the best explanation of nas for plex I’ve come across. Going a step further, I only have about 30 dvds I want to have have access to in my network (and have already mk4’d them), what nas would you recommend for my limited use? I’m trying to plan ahead thus the question. 😀
Probably too late but convert your files to a type that your NAS won't need to transcode. It will run faster with less problems in the long run. I have a TerraMaster 4 bay and it struggles with some file types when transcoding especially if you have multiple streams going.
Most nases that I am looking at, the DIY equivalent (still more powerful) is less than half the price. I have no problem paying a nice healthy premium, but paying more than $1000 for $500 hardware makes it really difficult to buy. It's even worse if you can reuse older hardware even if it's just a case. If the NAS was equivalent to $600 or even $700 it get behind it.
Use Both, an old dual core i5 3320m Thinkpad for transcoding, and a DS214 to serve up my 4TB of content, would love to have just one unit like a DS920+ but at over £500 just cant justify it at the moment.
Thanks for the content - really useful videos. Keep it up! A question if I may, if my storage needs are fairly modest, am I better off going for a 2 bay NAS with 2 x 8TB (for example) and then in a few years upgrading to a new 4 bay NAS (with several years of hardware performance bumps), or does it make more sense to buy a 4 bay NAS now and then add disks as I need them (but then be ‘stuck’ with a NAS with hardware dated by a few years)?
Buy a 2-bay Qnap. When you start to fill the hardrives and feel you need more Space, buy a 4-bay and just move the hardrives from you old Nas over to your new 4-bay Qnap. I’ve had mine ts-251 (2-bay )for some time now and plan on getting the ts-453d, moving over the drives.
Just buy a a cheap intel NUC, best to go for an i3. Connect an external HDD and then you have not only a very strong server, it has lots of ram, it's designed for 24/7 and doesn't use that much power only when needed! Mine is for example an old NUC BEH2i3-8109U. mine has 32GB ram which is overkill. Later on you could always switch to use the NUC for other things like a general windows pc, home theater, smart tv, projects since it's soo small yet powerful and efficient.
Tough to argue with! I would add though that you would need to have at least 2 drives or a connected RAID enclosure to ensure redundancy (and a backup on USB/Cloud). Also that the NUC still needs an OS to place Plex within and depending on your skill set, it would need to be windows at retail or Ubuntu/FreeNAS-etc with tech knowledge. Finally that a NAS is more than just for Plex and people shouldn't buy a NAS that's JUST for plex. People should way up a number of different software/services they plan on running THEN see if a NAS is the answer to all of them. That said, overall, your plex server will certainly outperform likely NAS at the same pricepoint in terms of 4K/1080p, but the costs and skillset needed are not quite as clear as people think. Some people just want convenience (the old PC Gamer vs Console Gamer argument). Appreciate the input dude
My plan is to add a NAS onto my current server PC running plex. I can do that right? Just using the NAS as storage and continue running the server portion on the PC? Map the drives in the nas to the server and add it to my collection?
Good video, thinking of buying a new nas to handle my plex as i am running out of space for my movie library. What do you think of this one QNAP TVS-h1688X-W1250-32G? Will I need to add a video card to do the transcoding although not really thinking of streaming to smaller devices. What's important to me is that it can stream 4K files without effort, I use a couple of nividia sheilds to play on my 4k TVs and have a pretty good network.
Arrrgh I bought a TS-230 why did I not find you earlier. Is there an update to this list or is the TS-451D2 still you best budget option? Thank you so much for all your amazing knowledge you share.
If you use a paid subscription Plex services do you need to have port forwarding available? I use T-Mobile and get 300-500 Mb/s but port forwarding is not available!
10:10 answering you question: i have 24 tabs and it seems like im using 1.3 gb ... aka really low memory usage i always hear about chrome being a memory hog but i never experienced that and i have be a pc user for 10+ years
what would you recommend for a plex server thats accessed locally by one or two streams (max) as well as maybe between two to four more simultaneous steams remotely? Can a NAS handle this or is it better to go another route?
You need some sort of hardware transcoding to do the remote streams. Anything with at least Intel Quick Sync will work. I would use a simple NUC and use a NAS or big HDD for storage.
Good video 👍. I’ve got the qnap 251d but can’t get plex to work through a port I’ve opened on my router 🤯. Plex settings says can’t open a route through it so it ends up showing a Red Cross rather than a tick 🙈🤯🤦♂️🤷♂️
Video Station keeps transcoding movies into 720p even on devices that should be able to handle the original 1080p for those files, and I don't know why.
I have a question my Naz is a 1520+ with two expansion units. Give me a total of 15 drives. I currently have 15 6 TB drives in each when that time comes that I have to upgrade my drives. What is the best way to update the 6 TB drives to a higher drive .
I've a rack cabinet at home, and a little Pi 4 running Plex on a single USB 3.0 HDD. I'd like to add in a NAS, but considering a rack mounted NAS for Plex. Admittedly I believe these are underpowered for transcoding, however the only viewing I really do is on my TVs and Apple TV over Ethernet at home. Would a rack NAS be up for the challenge? And if not, could I use the NAS for storage only and let the Pi do the heavy lifting in terms of transcoding instead do you think?
Can't argue with your reasoning. Only that you will need to leave your PC on for media and it will be less power efficient than a NAS - but it will certainly provide great performance. Make sure you set your network identity to static (power on/off periodically and DCHP will just be a pain)
I run Emby on a beefy home server but need to uograde. Why NAS in place of DAS? DAS offers RAID options and my server is currently handling it with ease AND MUCH MORE AFFORDABLE.
About a 1GB network, (Does that mean the ethernet connections between router, nas, and clients?) That the speed of Nas drive function wont matter as much with higher speed drives if the ethernet is maxed out at 1GB (Router?)? I heard a 6e cat might be over kill. Not sure if that is true . . .And does that mean a better router would avoid a bottleneck?
I have a Synology NAS and I'm interested in a QNAP because of the many things it can do. I watch a lot of your videos and was wanting to know what NAS do you use as your main device and does QNAP have a lot of issues with their device? I haven't had any issues with my Synology DS218j.
I have my Plex server running on my desktop PC but was thinking about moving it to my Synology DS718+ with 16GB. Will be using this for home use and remote use when I travel. What are your thoughts about this NAS.
A couple of questions: Regarding expandability -- what's involved with adding extra drives to a NAS? Would I have to back up existing data, reformat the whole NAS, then reload existing data? Or can the system just see extra drives and somehow just use them? I notice that my Roku device can not only access a Plex server but also a Roku server. What are the relative advantages to each?
Depends on your file system. Something like Synology SHR or SHR-2 (effectively RAID5 and RAID6, respectively) gives you the ability to swap drives of different sizes without rebuilding the array as SHR has some tricks to handle those traditional RAID limitations ie. Rebuilding the array. Just use a non-xs synology device to use SHR. Or - just get an old dell t7600, install CentOS 7/8 and install plex and run 4 12tb drives and have fun learning Linux and have fun playing around with LVM
I think there is a misconception . The gpu has nothing to do with mp4 encoding quicksync is a dedicated asic and not part of the gpu. Might be wrong but I dont think so.
Actually, your partly right. There are currently allot of GPU's being sold that have dedicated encoders for multiple formats. Quicksync however is part of the iGPU of the CPU. and will only be found on intel processors that have an iGPU.
What is a good resource to explore whether software transcoding is good enough for one's purposes. Take for instance myself: I mostly keep very old movies on my QNAP NAS, such as Japanese movies from the 50s. Most of them are about 1 GB large. My memory is 2 GB on a 2 GHz CPU...
Tbh I always rely on the jellyfish test files. They are short (30secs in some cases) bit arrive in some incredibly dense formats (in the Gigabytes in some cases) so give a decent microscopic view of playback Vs encoding/transcoding live.
It will work fine, there are hybrid drives that spin up higher and go lower when unused a bit. However the throughput is lower and the random read speeds are slower. If possible you can offset this by adding an small SSD cache, that will make a lot of difference for small files. I tested this in my Plex library, first scrolling trough all thumbnails slowly loaded 1 for 1, but after the SSD cache and it learned this behaviour they now load all at once instantly. So the delay is way less.
Hopefully, someone can help! With the news now that the DS923+ has AMD dual core without integrated graphics - from what Robbie has said about Plex Media Server transcoding for you on their side which they then send to the system (NAS/Pc etc - (providing you are premium), would it really matter that the 923+ doesn't have integrated graphics. Am I right in thinking that the 923+ would run into difficulty with Plex if using a standard account - if I've understood it right, would mean the NAS receiving the data to then have to convert it (which because of AMD would cause an issue), whereas the same system would be okay if it's already transcoded ... I have to say I'm really struggling to know what one to get 920+ or 923+ ... I want a NAS that simply stores my media - is good at indexing photos and is able to play movies as and when, and be a good machine for backup ... which makes me lean toward 920+ - but as this is old now, and with the new 923+ being expandable in a few areas, whether or not to get that -- I've seen so many mixed reviews about the lack of integrated graphics in the 923+ i looked at QNAP which have Intel, but people have said their photo app is troublesome and their AI isn't as good ... which is what I want. Something where my phone will sync photos too ... ahhhhhh
Hello mate, I am looking to set plex through a nas in my house, but I am worried the nas won't be able to handle it. I will be using it only on my local network (gigabit) to watch movies and connect my cameras too. I want to be able to stream to movies to my Samsung tv in 4k and I am wondering if there is a nas that is up to the task. So far I have tested it with an old pc that I watch my 4k moves on and the plex is killing it. Not sure what is happening, coz I have a dedicated gpu in the pc which can literally display any video, but if I run it with plex pc is maxed constantly even with hardware accelaration enabled, so I am looking for alternative assuming my pc us to old. Which nas can perform based on my usage. Thanks in advanced!
Can someone with a bit of knowledge help me please I was looking at getting a Synology DS418 for a Plex server. 1) would this be a good Nas to run Plex and 2) how many users could I have connect to the server. Many thanks
Every PC I have owned in the last 45 years has run 24/7/365 so sorry this does not make sense. A properly constructed PC will run without issue 24/7/365. Nas and File Hosts have always been ripped off with this logic. Most companies Intel, AMD, Nvidia all make the biggest profit from selling components to File Hosts. I can understand arguing that the components Like Xeon and its competitors from AMD and Nvidia with their error correcting have commercial value, but it can't be proved that their MTBF rate justifies the price differential or use case. Components in small business and home user are a rip-off, plain and simple. Sadly because most people don't want the hassle of building their own or don't have the knowledge. So this could be argued that the service provided meets a need, but it does so at a completely unreasonable value. You could easily build a NAS for a quarter of the price any of these companies provide one, and they have the saving of scale purchasing. I like your website, though I am sorry I disagree with the logic that people spout that components used in commercial NAS's are justifiable based on reliability they are not they are basic cheap lowest spec parts. IF you start with a low spec CPU, you are going to carry this low spec part selection right through the build, as nothing else would make sense. Having a top end CPU with a low- end graphics card would illustrate this, it would be point less. If the CPU in these Nas's is so pathetic, then all the other components will be too. In one of your other videos, you correctly point out that these low end CPU's cant properly take advantage of PCI 4.0 now 5.0 and lose all the benefits of technology available now. Cost is important but TBH anyone serious about NAS should consider their own build all these pre-built NAS's are appalling
Great video! I was wondering doing you have a video showing how to swap hard drives? Because my 4TBs is getting full and I want to upgrade to a 8TB hard drive.
Ok so process is easy but time consuming. First, it is always advisable to have a backup in case of technical difficulty. I've never had an issue but who's to say. Check the system in the software to be sure both drives are healthy. Swap one of the drives for new drive. You will probably get a beeping. Once new drive is installed, you need to rebuild the raid. Should be as simple as going into software to storage manager, then storage pool, then the action tab then rebuild. You should see it initialize the drive and start rebuilding. Check manual first, it's been a bit since I've used synology software. Once it starts, it will take quite a while, maybe overnight, depending on how much data. Once complete, go through and check drives again, make sure all the data is all still there, both drives are showing up and healthy, raid is intact etc. Once u are sure it's good, follow same process for 2nd drive. Will take another long period to rebuild raid again for 2nd drive. Once it's done and it all shows good, data is all there, you are good to go.
10GbE is useless if you don't have hardware that can utilise it, especially a tv won't ever use that. only comes in handy for large file transfers between a computer that can handle those speeds. as the speed of 10GbE is about 1 Gb/s so to utilise that your computer needs to theoretically support those speeds as well and so does the nas. (and both need to have a 10GbE connection and the cabling of course) the 4K streams differ allot on the codec used and the file size in my experience, if you have large uncompressed 4K files (20-80Gb file) it's quite hard for some devices. It will play fine if the client supports the file format and decodes this by itself. but the bandwidth needed will be around 40mb/s or higher. if you have compressed H264/H265 files it's a different thing, allot of client devices do support that so no transcoding is needed. if transcoding is needed because client does not support codec or resolution needs to downscale) a nas with Intel Quicksync is faster depending on the codec and does not use allot of CPU. In my experience most Nasses transcode Ok if the files are compressed, but If it's one of those uncompressed 20-80Gb files they will suffer and could probably stop playing.
Great video! Like others have said, you explained it really well. BTW, there's a sequel fan edit called "First Order, Last Jedi" from Triggered Puppy that does a great job on creating an improved narrative of the trilogy into one movie. Here is a link to their video explaining it, they've done a few other movies as well. ua-cam.com/video/NkLiYY3pvt4/v-deo.html
I think the thing with plex pass and transcoding is just for hardware transcoding, mainly an external or pci GPU if the cpu has imbedded graphics it should still encode the same with or without plex pass.
Plex won't use it if it's A not supported by Plex (check it) and B if you do not have Plex Pass, if both A&B are Ok then it will work, if they are not it will use the raw CPU power and most Nasses are quite weak in that department.
I dont think that's the case with the pr2100/4100. I believe those 1 units have built in hardware transcoding. I'm curious if that negates the same option in plex pass
Hi, I need some help, Im looking at buying a NAS and I would like to buy a Synology because of SHR Raid. I want to have all my photos and movies both the once I shoot and a Plex library. I was thinking of a DS1621+ and add one or two NVME.2 and run six seagate Exos 6TB I have a Samsung tv 4k so want to stream 4k to the tv, but I do not really understand if that would work or do I need to buy something else because it does not have a GPU. I have it on standard home network. Also is a NVME.2 memory good upgrade for my use? With one should I buy and do I need to buy 2 or is one enough and what sizes?
Finally someone speaks about the details of hardware transcoding as part of Plex pass, with the details I was looking for, after flipping through 10s of YT vids, Thank You Sir!!
this is the first time Im hearing this lol
@@santrader1707 it's logically understandable. You need transcoding only when you away from home network (inside your network you can watch your 4k on 7inch mobile without problems usually) and Plex pass needed to watch films from your library over cellular network while you away from home. That's the place/moment where you may need transcoding due to internet traffic price/speed. If you sitting at home, you can easily make a copy of film needed especially for mobiles, no need transcoding at all here.
@@nosurname9652 Yes. So if you just watch within your home notwork I start to wonder why I need Plex at all? Today I have my movies on the NAS each in folders like "Cool-Movie (1995, 1080p)" and stream that file. Even from my phone using "BS Player Pro" I can stream it. So where gives me Plex additional benefit? I suppose with Meta-Data/Movie Covers. Anything else?
@@skystink Yup, using kodi in local network. Find it more interesting then plex.
yeah i find the xbox one s direct plays almost anything except live dvb-t streams which are transcoded quite easily @@nosurname9652
This dude has been amazing for getting started with NAS and plex. Thank you so much.
I run Plex on a Synology DS918+ with 24 TB of storage and 4 GB of SD cache. I've been incredibly happy with it.
I am assuming that's the predecessor to the DS920+ which is the one I am considering now. I've read that it doesn't handle 4K terribly well, but it can do it. Most of my library is 1080p, but I want to future proof as much as possible since I'll be spending $1900 on the NAS and 16tb drives. I plan to max out the ram and add 2gb cache to give it a boost.
Lumberjack look = Complete! This completed a few unanswered questions for me. My 920+ is going great for plex and I am amazed how often I finish a show either on public transport or in bed now that it is available 24/7. I am now deciding on security and reading up on containers
Great video! Only thing I would add for next vid would be if you go the NAS route for Plex, make sure to install the server/appdata onto an SSD or NVMe drive.
Media can be located on slower mechanical hard drives to save money but the server must be on some kind of flash storage. Otherwise the database will be insufferably slow to load.
10:00 had me laughing haha, checked memory chrome was eating it up and when you told be to be ashamed of how many tabs i had open, had like 20 open xD
Literally
I've got plex and it's truly brilliant. It's got stuff i keep finding which makes it even better like go to movies choose country and go to say Korea and the films are truly A1 !!! Try series there's everything!!!! My plex is great and I've got it on my firestick!!
I got a recycled Synology 415+ from work and set it up at home as my Plex server. It's working a treat right now.
Hahahaha! You got me on the number of browser tabs opened... Shame on me :D
I have a synology 411+ its old but with 4 x4TB drives it has no problem running and using Plex. It does a good job and has never let me down. I dont transcode things and dont use 4K to my projector and 2 tvs on the network.
I feel lucky that I purchased a plex pass when they had a lifetime purchase option. Best $199 ever spent.😊
Good info and you explained my question at the very beginning and expanded on the Plex side as well. Thanks
Glad to hear it! Hope the rest of my vids help in some small way too
With you on Rise of Skywalker, bro. The whole sequel trilogy, actually. Kathleen Kennedy really mucked up the handling of those movies. So glad to see her out of the picture and Dave Filoni taking over.
lmfao posted 7 hrs ago...
"Kathleen Kennedy Will Remain Lucasfilm President Through 2024"
Very informative and detailed expert advice. Enjoyed it.
Thanks for the feedback mate
Isn't there a setting in plex to allow local devices to bypass the need to communicate with plex servers in the cloud? I'm pretty sure there is.
1:58 yep. I learned this the hard way with an old Piledriver AMD CPU. It’s hot and inefficient. It costs me ALOT to keep it running hence why I am transitions to a NAS.
This video was so helpful! Thanks so much for the insight!
Thanks for this! Some good info and I guess I will be purchasing a plex pass on Black Friday.
Makes PERFECT sense. Thank you Sir.
Old 6700k with unRaid and Plex with Plex pass for hardware decoding.
My favorite so far. 27w idle to 110w with all 10 hdd spinup and cpu 100%.
35w while streaming a single video.
I am sorry, but this is NOT possible. Only the CPU should consume at least 95W on 100%... and you are mentioning 10 HDD's working constantly AND CPU on 100% = 100W. Not possible.
Keep up the good work ..... it is well appreciated!
Awesome video great explanation of a NAS. Is there a certain make and or model number of a NAS you suggest for using with a Plex I’m in the process of setting a server up .
Thank you
I’m using an m1 Mac mini running arch. The thing is a transcoding beast.
I'm still rocking my NVIDIA shield for plex with that lifetime sub.
I got a QNAP 453D and upgraded to 16gb of RAM and literally all I do is run Plex. It owns.
Is it good for 4k and h.265? And with the base memory?
I bought a 920+ thinking it would be enough and I had to buy a new one within 2 years. This time I bought a chassis which can hold 24 bays and put an i9 and 192GB of RAM...just in case ;-)
I made my own NAS 2 years ago with a Rock64 single board computer and screwed it to the top of a 8TB external drive running OMV. Hosts 4k HDR via DLNA perfectly even to multiple TV's, 112 MBps transfers via SMB/windows file sharing which is Pegging Gigabit ethernet. Tried the same files running Plex on the same SBC and it fell on its face with 'direct play' aka no trancoding. SBC never hit 100% on anything. Gave up on Plex for this reason.
Love the passion re Star Wars
I have a 1700x with a x370 board running 24/7 as my main NAS (TrueNAS), as you said the only time it reboots is when there is an update..... (the only server grade stuff in there is the LSI card in IT mode) No instability, hang-up, or any odd behavior. It eats about 60W at idle without the HDDs. IDK about the consumption with HDDs installed (5 10TB drive). Its running like this for 3 years now i think. As for the main topic i run minidlna in a jail and grant read only access to the relevant folders on the NAS.
I didn’t watch the video yet, but DS video is doing everything that I needed. I never bothered to install Plex server.
DS video is crap. Synology is notorious with codec problems, where some videos are played without audio and some cannot be played at all. Nearly all videos now use AC3 codec which it doesn't have. Additionally, CPUs of Synology nas until 2019 were to weak to play any videos if you want to play with subtitles. Performance issues apply to plex on synology as well.
@@NikolaR0 Weird. I didn't have much problems. One problem I have is that it doesn't download subtitles anymore.
I've tried PLEX server a few times and always found it hard to set up and maintain. I much prefer Emby and even though it's not a direct install on QNAP, it's easy enough to install as a third party. Then I use Kodi on the TV with the Emby plugin to access the server directly. Yes I could use the Emby app (and it does work), but I find shows look better in Kodi's media player.
The only downside is if/when you update your QTS version - mostly I have to reinstall Emby and set the server up again. After using Emby for years, I basically split everything out on the server directories into watched/unwatched. That way it's easy to set up again as even with the .nfo files in the directory (which store the status of the played file), Emby doesn't always look at it when re-installing.
And BTW - It does hardware trans-coding for free.
Was just skimming through to find this because yes, plex transcodes for free. However its very taxing on the CPU and I've done eveything to make sure it never transcodes. Most internet speeds are fine to send full 4k bluray rips nowadays as long as you have your wifi set up properly and your tv or device is getting a solid 100-150mbps(depending on the file bitrate, audio etc). Thats all that's needed.
@@michaelmcintosh9378 If plex floats your boat go for it. I just found it too cumbersome to setup compared to Emby. And while Emby can transcode as well, it doesn't have to if you're using a dumb receiver or TV.
Also the last couple of times I had to put a new version of Emby on the server, I just installed it before uninstalling the old one and everything transferred over fine. No need to rebuild libraries.
Very useful, thanks for this!
just a tip: add references to other videos (like extend pools) will help people to find them easier
I use EMBY instead of Plex, just wonder what your views are on using EMBY or other Media server.
Running Jellyfin (Emby FREE)
@RAM BAS I am using Synology ds918+
I run my Plex on my old mac pro 2010 5'1 Intel Xeon X5690 6-Core 3.46GHz 12 core 64 gigs of RAM it has 60 TB of space has been running for the last five years rock solid I have family that lives in Japan they use my Plex the rest of my family all of them got rid of all Subscriptions to all of the streaming services and just watch my Plex don't care about electricity that's not a concern of mine I just needed it to be rock solid as it is I put western digital red pro drives in it i use OWC SOFTRAID PRO in it with plenty of room to add a swappable 14 bay or more attachment storage right to the computer if needed and the beauty of it the computer was just laying in my closet all of my music pictures movies videos and even my music in iTunes all streams right through Plex to all of the mobile devices iPads Apple TV fire stick Roku it really gets a work out and it is rock solid I love it and wouldn't change a thing about it and i run it right on top of the operating system and we're not gonna talk about the extra benefit of being able to access files outside of media
Alas just missed the April release of the Apple TV 4K 2021 which has a decent remote again. I agree that touch surface was a neat idea, but in reality did not work well.
This is great content.. Thank you!
I use a athlon 5150 with some cheap usb tuners works well 15 watt idle i want to get n100 mini itx motherboard still a bit pricey at £120
This is the best explanation of nas for plex I’ve come across. Going a step further, I only have about 30 dvds I want to have have access to in my network (and have already mk4’d them), what nas would you recommend for my limited use? I’m trying to plan ahead thus the question. 😀
Probably too late but convert your files to a type that your NAS won't need to transcode. It will run faster with less problems in the long run. I have a TerraMaster 4 bay and it struggles with some file types when transcoding especially if you have multiple streams going.
What 30 DVD 👀
Most nases that I am looking at, the DIY equivalent (still more powerful) is less than half the price. I have no problem paying a nice healthy premium, but paying more than $1000 for $500 hardware makes it really difficult to buy. It's even worse if you can reuse older hardware even if it's just a case. If the NAS was equivalent to $600 or even $700 it get behind it.
Use Both, an old dual core i5 3320m Thinkpad for transcoding, and a DS214 to serve up my 4TB of content, would love to have just one unit like a DS920+ but at over £500 just cant justify it at the moment.
Gotta make a drinking game when ya say rooter, lol.
Really good I found your channel.
Thanks for the content - really useful videos. Keep it up!
A question if I may, if my storage needs are fairly modest, am I better off going for a 2 bay NAS with 2 x 8TB (for example) and then in a few years upgrading to a new 4 bay NAS (with several years of hardware performance bumps), or does it make more sense to buy a 4 bay NAS now and then add disks as I need them (but then be ‘stuck’ with a NAS with hardware dated by a few years)?
Buy a 2-bay Qnap. When you start to fill the hardrives and feel you need more Space, buy a 4-bay and just move the hardrives from you old Nas over to your new 4-bay Qnap. I’ve had mine ts-251 (2-bay )for some time now and plan on getting the ts-453d, moving over the drives.
The answer is in the video and starts 12:58
Just buy a a cheap intel NUC, best to go for an i3. Connect an external HDD and then you have not only a very strong server, it has lots of ram, it's designed for 24/7 and doesn't use that much power only when needed! Mine is for example an old NUC BEH2i3-8109U. mine has 32GB ram which is overkill. Later on you could always switch to use the NUC for other things like a general windows pc, home theater, smart tv, projects since it's soo small yet powerful and efficient.
Tough to argue with! I would add though that you would need to have at least 2 drives or a connected RAID enclosure to ensure redundancy (and a backup on USB/Cloud). Also that the NUC still needs an OS to place Plex within and depending on your skill set, it would need to be windows at retail or Ubuntu/FreeNAS-etc with tech knowledge. Finally that a NAS is more than just for Plex and people shouldn't buy a NAS that's JUST for plex. People should way up a number of different software/services they plan on running THEN see if a NAS is the answer to all of them. That said, overall, your plex server will certainly outperform likely NAS at the same pricepoint in terms of 4K/1080p, but the costs and skillset needed are not quite as clear as people think. Some people just want convenience (the old PC Gamer vs Console Gamer argument). Appreciate the input dude
My plan is to add a NAS onto my current server PC running plex. I can do that right? Just using the NAS as storage and continue running the server portion on the PC? Map the drives in the nas to the server and add it to my collection?
How do you turn off transcoding. Synology 1821+, Nvidia Shield Pro, 4K TV. 1080P is Direct Play and plays fine, 4K is transcoding and does not play.
Good video, thinking of buying a new nas to handle my plex as i am running out of space for my movie library. What do you think of this one QNAP TVS-h1688X-W1250-32G? Will I need to add a video card to do the transcoding although not really thinking of streaming to smaller devices. What's important to me is that it can stream 4K files without effort, I use a couple of nividia sheilds to play on my 4k TVs and have a pretty good network.
Arrrgh I bought a TS-230 why did I not find you earlier. Is there an update to this list or is the TS-451D2 still you best budget option? Thank you so much for all your amazing knowledge you share.
Thanks excellent NAS content 🤓
Cheers Ziah, appreciated
If you use a paid subscription Plex services do you need to have port forwarding available? I use T-Mobile and get 300-500 Mb/s but port forwarding is not available!
Could you do a video on Jellyfin install on QNAP?
10:10 answering you question: i have 24 tabs and it seems like im using 1.3 gb ... aka really low memory usage
i always hear about chrome being a memory hog but i never experienced that and i have be a pc user for 10+ years
what would you recommend for a plex server thats accessed locally by one or two streams (max) as well as maybe between two to four more simultaneous steams remotely? Can a NAS handle this or is it better to go another route?
You need some sort of hardware transcoding to do the remote streams. Anything with at least Intel Quick Sync will work. I would use a simple NUC and use a NAS or big HDD for storage.
Great video!
Good video 👍. I’ve got the qnap 251d but can’t get plex to work through a port I’ve opened on my router 🤯. Plex settings says can’t open a route through it so it ends up showing a Red Cross rather than a tick 🙈🤯🤦♂️🤷♂️
Open the standard plex port I believe its 32400
Video Station keeps transcoding movies into 720p even on devices that should be able to handle the original 1080p for those files, and I don't know why.
I have a question my Naz is a 1520+ with two expansion units. Give me a total of 15 drives. I currently have 15 6 TB drives in each when that time comes that I have to upgrade my drives. What is the best way to update the 6 TB drives to a higher drive .
I've a rack cabinet at home, and a little Pi 4 running Plex on a single USB 3.0 HDD. I'd like to add in a NAS, but considering a rack mounted NAS for Plex. Admittedly I believe these are underpowered for transcoding, however the only viewing I really do is on my TVs and Apple TV over Ethernet at home. Would a rack NAS be up for the challenge? And if not, could I use the NAS for storage only and let the Pi do the heavy lifting in terms of transcoding instead do you think?
I think I just might use a vm on my Threadripper PC for the Plex server, especially if it can access the files directly from the NAS.
Can't argue with your reasoning. Only that you will need to leave your PC on for media and it will be less power efficient than a NAS - but it will certainly provide great performance. Make sure you set your network identity to static (power on/off periodically and DCHP will just be a pain)
I run Emby on a beefy home server but need to uograde. Why NAS in place of DAS? DAS offers RAID options and my server is currently handling it with ease AND MUCH MORE AFFORDABLE.
About a 1GB network, (Does that mean the ethernet connections between router, nas, and clients?) That the speed of Nas drive function wont matter as much with higher speed drives if the ethernet is maxed out at 1GB (Router?)? I heard a 6e cat might be over kill. Not sure if that is true . . .And does that mean a better router would avoid a bottleneck?
I have a Synology NAS and I'm interested in a QNAP because of the many things it can do. I watch a lot of your videos and was wanting to know what NAS do you use as your main device and does QNAP have a lot of issues with their device? I haven't had any issues with my Synology DS218j.
I have my Plex server running on my desktop PC but was thinking about moving it to my Synology DS718+ with 16GB. Will be using this for home use and remote use when I travel. What are your thoughts about this NAS.
Hi, I'm considering this against Qnap TS-451DeU-2G. Price is not a problem, which one should I choose?
Just switch to Jellyfin and donate to project if you can
It makes me so mad that Plex charges a subscription fee to use your own hardware encoder. That seems unbearably scummy to me.
Ive been looking into building a rackmounted NAS server but its so confusing and this didnt help much xD
A couple of questions:
Regarding expandability -- what's involved with adding extra drives to a NAS? Would I have to back up existing data, reformat the whole NAS, then reload existing data? Or can the system just see extra drives and somehow just use them?
I notice that my Roku device can not only access a Plex server but also a Roku server. What are the relative advantages to each?
Depends on your file system. Something like Synology SHR or SHR-2 (effectively RAID5 and RAID6, respectively) gives you the ability to swap drives of different sizes without rebuilding the array as SHR has some tricks to handle those traditional RAID limitations ie. Rebuilding the array. Just use a non-xs synology device to use SHR. Or - just get an old dell t7600, install CentOS 7/8 and install plex and run 4 12tb drives and have fun learning Linux and have fun playing around with LVM
10:02 I'm offended! LOL XD I laughed way too hard at that.
I had 22 tabs open when I was editing this one... I remember the white hot feeling of HYPOCRISY!!!!!!!
Wouldnt build a NAS PC is better and cheaper than a pre build nas?
I think there is a misconception . The gpu has nothing to do with mp4 encoding quicksync is a dedicated asic and not part of the gpu. Might be wrong but I dont think so.
Actually, your partly right. There are currently allot of GPU's being sold that have dedicated encoders for multiple formats. Quicksync however is part of the iGPU of the CPU. and will only be found on intel processors that have an iGPU.
What's a rooter?
My drobo 5D is acting up on my M1 Mac mini, any suggestions for a direct attach storage enclosure similar to a drobo ?
Cheers
What is a good resource to explore whether software transcoding is good enough for one's purposes. Take for instance myself: I mostly keep very old movies on my QNAP NAS, such as Japanese movies from the 50s. Most of them are about 1 GB large. My memory is 2 GB on a 2 GHz CPU...
Tbh I always rely on the jellyfish test files. They are short (30secs in some cases) bit arrive in some incredibly dense formats (in the Gigabytes in some cases) so give a decent microscopic view of playback Vs encoding/transcoding live.
Will Plex work well on 5400rpm NAS drive, or should I consider 7200? Thank you. This video was very helpful as I plan to buy my first NAS.
Plex will work fine on 5400 but make sure you have a few in a raid setup or transferring files will be a chore.
It will work fine, there are hybrid drives that spin up higher and go lower when unused a bit. However the throughput is lower and the random read speeds are slower. If possible you can offset this by adding an small SSD cache, that will make a lot of difference for small files. I tested this in my Plex library, first scrolling trough all thumbnails slowly loaded 1 for 1, but after the SSD cache and it learned this behaviour they now load all at once instantly. So the delay is way less.
Thank you both. This helps a lot.
Hopefully, someone can help!
With the news now that the DS923+ has AMD dual core without integrated graphics - from what Robbie has said about Plex Media Server transcoding for you on their side which they then send to the system (NAS/Pc etc - (providing you are premium), would it really matter that the 923+ doesn't have integrated graphics. Am I right in thinking that the 923+ would run into difficulty with Plex if using a standard account - if I've understood it right, would mean the NAS receiving the data to then have to convert it (which because of AMD would cause an issue), whereas the same system would be okay if it's already transcoded ... I have to say I'm really struggling to know what one to get 920+ or 923+ ... I want a NAS that simply stores my media - is good at indexing photos and is able to play movies as and when, and be a good machine for backup ... which makes me lean toward 920+ - but as this is old now, and with the new 923+ being expandable in a few areas, whether or not to get that -- I've seen so many mixed reviews about the lack of integrated graphics in the 923+ i looked at QNAP which have Intel, but people have said their photo app is troublesome and their AI isn't as good ... which is what I want. Something where my phone will sync photos too ... ahhhhhh
Will freenas be able to tell me if hardrive fails?
Are there plex like apps that allow transcoding for free (on nas)?
11 tabs, 200MB.. Lots of memory LOL?
Hello mate, I am looking to set plex through a nas in my house, but I am worried the nas won't be able to handle it. I will be using it only on my local network (gigabit) to watch movies and connect my cameras too. I want to be able to stream to movies to my Samsung tv in 4k and I am wondering if there is a nas that is up to the task. So far I have tested it with an old pc that I watch my 4k moves on and the plex is killing it. Not sure what is happening, coz I have a dedicated gpu in the pc which can literally display any video, but if I run it with plex pc is maxed constantly even with hardware accelaration enabled, so I am looking for alternative assuming my pc us to old. Which nas can perform based on my usage. Thanks in advanced!
Can someone with a bit of knowledge help me please I was looking at getting a Synology DS418 for a Plex server. 1) would this be a good Nas to run Plex and 2) how many users could I have connect to the server. Many thanks
Every PC I have owned in the last 45 years has run 24/7/365 so sorry this does not make sense. A properly constructed PC will run without issue 24/7/365. Nas and File Hosts have always been ripped off with this logic. Most companies Intel, AMD, Nvidia all make the biggest profit from selling components to File Hosts. I can understand arguing that the components Like Xeon and its competitors from AMD and Nvidia with their error correcting have commercial value, but it can't be proved that their MTBF rate justifies the price differential or use case. Components in small business and home user are a rip-off, plain and simple. Sadly because most people don't want the hassle of building their own or don't have the knowledge. So this could be argued that the service provided meets a need, but it does so at a completely unreasonable value. You could easily build a NAS for a quarter of the price any of these companies provide one, and they have the saving of scale purchasing. I like your website, though I am sorry I disagree with the logic that people spout that components used in commercial NAS's are justifiable based on reliability they are not they are basic cheap lowest spec parts. IF you start with a low spec CPU, you are going to carry this low spec part selection right through the build, as nothing else would make sense. Having a top end CPU with a low- end graphics card would illustrate this, it would be point less. If the CPU in these Nas's is so pathetic, then all the other components will be too. In one of your other videos, you correctly point out that these low end CPU's cant properly take advantage of PCI 4.0 now 5.0 and lose all the benefits of technology available now. Cost is important but TBH anyone serious about NAS should consider their own build all these pre-built NAS's are appalling
I leave my PC on 24-7 and it lasts for years.
Nice channel
Great video! I was wondering doing you have a video showing how to swap hard drives? Because my 4TBs is getting full and I want to upgrade to a 8TB hard drive.
The process could be different depending if you have a hot swappable unit and what, if any, raid you are running.
@@danny51577 Yes,I have a two drive DS 218 +. I'm not sure if I can hot swap though.
The 218+ is hot swappable. Are you running it in raid 1?
@@danny51577 Yes,raid 1
Ok so process is easy but time consuming. First, it is always advisable to have a backup in case of technical difficulty. I've never had an issue but who's to say.
Check the system in the software to be sure both drives are healthy. Swap one of the drives for new drive. You will probably get a beeping. Once new drive is installed, you need to rebuild the raid. Should be as simple as going into software to storage manager, then storage pool, then the action tab then rebuild. You should see it initialize the drive and start rebuilding. Check manual first, it's been a bit since I've used synology software. Once it starts, it will take quite a while, maybe overnight, depending on how much data.
Once complete, go through and check drives again, make sure all the data is all still there, both drives are showing up and healthy, raid is intact etc. Once u are sure it's good, follow same process for 2nd drive. Will take another long period to rebuild raid again for 2nd drive. Once it's done and it all shows good, data is all there, you are good to go.
1. What's the best nas for plex 4k transcoding (4 streams Max)
2. Is it worthwhile to get 10gbe if my tv is still 1gbe.
10GbE is useless if you don't have hardware that can utilise it, especially a tv won't ever use that. only comes in handy for large file transfers between a computer that can handle those speeds. as the speed of 10GbE is about 1 Gb/s so to utilise that your computer needs to theoretically support those speeds as well and so does the nas. (and both need to have a 10GbE connection and the cabling of course)
the 4K streams differ allot on the codec used and the file size in my experience, if you have large uncompressed 4K files (20-80Gb file) it's quite hard for some devices. It will play fine if the client supports the file format and decodes this by itself. but the bandwidth needed will be around 40mb/s or higher.
if you have compressed H264/H265 files it's a different thing, allot of client devices do support that so no transcoding is needed.
if transcoding is needed because client does not support codec or resolution needs to downscale) a nas with Intel Quicksync is faster depending on the codec and does not use allot of CPU.
In my experience most Nasses transcode Ok if the files are compressed, but If it's one of those uncompressed 20-80Gb files they will suffer and could probably stop playing.
Great video! Like others have said, you explained it really well. BTW, there's a sequel fan edit called "First Order, Last Jedi" from Triggered Puppy that does a great job on creating an improved narrative of the trilogy into one movie. Here is a link to their video explaining it, they've done a few other movies as well. ua-cam.com/video/NkLiYY3pvt4/v-deo.html
You sir, are a gentleman and a scholar! Genuine thanks buddy!
I wont 2+4 gig memory
Stremio with realdebrid and torrentio is heaps better than a plex server IMO
is it possible to use a Drobo 5D directly with an Nvidia shield transcoding directly.?
Um.. yeah. But it would be tremendous overkill in terms of storage for plex tbh
I think the thing with plex pass and transcoding is just for hardware transcoding, mainly an external or pci GPU if the cpu has imbedded graphics it should still encode the same with or without plex pass.
lol I did have a bunch of tabs up there
2714 MB RAM used only for Chrome^^
Chrome for Windows, Vampire Web Browser Extraordinar'!
hahaha 400tabs or so at least. out of memory on 32gb pc happens, using chrome, brave & vivaldi :)
Am I correct in saying the wd pr2100/4100 have built in hardware transcoding already? Regardless of plex pass?
Plex won't use it if it's A not supported by Plex (check it) and B if you do not have Plex Pass, if both A&B are Ok then it will work, if they are not it will use the raw CPU power and most Nasses are quite weak in that department.
I dont think that's the case with the pr2100/4100. I believe those 1 units have built in hardware transcoding. I'm curious if that negates the same option in plex pass
Edge 1.600 memmory )
👏👏👏
Hi, I need some help, Im looking at buying a NAS and I would like to buy a Synology because of SHR Raid. I want to have all my photos and movies both the once I shoot and a Plex library. I was thinking of a DS1621+ and add one or two NVME.2 and run six seagate Exos 6TB I have a Samsung tv 4k so want to stream 4k to the tv, but I do not really understand if that would work or do I need to buy something else because it does not have a GPU. I have it on standard home network. Also is a NVME.2 memory good upgrade for my use? With one should I buy and do I need to buy 2 or is one enough and what sizes?
Please don't use the plural of NAS on videos. The automatic subtitles really understand it totally different in a very BAD way 🤣