A few Synology questions

[V4NT0M]

I'm looking to replace my current HP Microserver with a Synology but have a few questions about features/adding drives.

First off I understand some models have '4k transcoding' does anyone have experience with this? The microserver is far to weak for anything similar but was hoping with the synology I could use plex and stream media from the NAS to wherever I am, Is this possible?

Secondly I currently have 4 drives in my HP server and wouldn't mind re-using some of those drives but I'm not sure how the Synology OS handles adding new drives and pooling:

If I bought a 4 bay model and put in two of the disk I already have can I mirror those for redundancy? At a later date can I add another pool by adding more drives?

The scenario would be:
1. have two drives mirrored.
2. Add a third drive with a non mirrored second pool.
3. Add a fourth drive to increase the second pool size.

I am not too bothered about redundancy as most of my critical data is in 2 or 3 cloud services so I could just go for a two drive enclosure. Am I able to start out with one drive and then upgrade the storage with two drives without mirroring?

 

[Rainmaker]

I can't give you masses of experience here, but I have had a Synology DS218+ for a couple of years now. I'm pretty sure your drive query is a 'yes'. You can either mirror drives or have them run individually, and you can set up different pools (so 2 pools of 2 drives each, one could be mirrored the other separate etc). I only have a 2 bay so I have them running separately in SHR (Synology Hybrid Raid), because one drive is a 4TB 'Purple' surveillance drive and the other is a 6TB fast storage drive. The Storage Manager app gives me the option to add or remove pools, change the drive, RAID and pool types and so on. It's just Linux underneath, so...

I tend to stream 1080p direct play. Do you really needed to transcode 4k? Why not just download or convert to the format you'll play on the end devices to start with? That said, as long as you buy a Plus model with Intel CPU (and corresponding iGPU) then it'll work. To test his for you, I just grabbed a 15GB 4k HEVC video file and streamed it to a mid-2012 MacBook Pro in 1080p via Plex. The stream was hw transcoded from 4k to 1080p, and the HEVC was also swapped for x264. Worst case scenario really, as it's downscaling the resolution as well as converting from HEVC/x265 to x264 at the same time.

The CPU usage was averaging between 35% and 40%, and there was no buffering, stuttering or other. That's simultaneous with 3x 4K h264 CCTV cameras recording to Synology Surveillance Station, and background file transfer activity on the NAS at the same time.

I wouldn't want more than one stream at a time, but it is clearly possible. With a very high bitrate and file size (eg BluRay remux in 4k at around 50GB) I wouldn't hold my breath...I hope that was somewhat useful for you.

 

[HungryHippos]

Synology NAS is great overall, but will not be very good at transcoding.

Best solution is to try and avoid transcoding as much as possible.

Example in post above is probably transcoding because of the subtitles. You can avoid transcoding by using a better player like KODI.

I am currently using Emby server, with KODI + Embuary plugin for the client. This allows me to direct play basically everything. It's not perfect but is preferable to transcoding everything with subs in.

 

[Rainmaker]

Example in post above is probably transcoding because of the subtitles.

Que? The subs are standalone and the only thing *not* being transcoded. The client is not 4k, HEVC *or* EAC capable, and as you can see the video file itself is being hardware transcoded. Nothing to do with the subs, and I've transcoded several other similar files without any subs at all. The unit is specifically listed as HEVC/4k transcode capable in the Synology specs.

 

[HungryHippos]

Hmm fair enough, sounds like you are correct.

Although I still stand by what I said, best to avoid the need to transcode where possible.

There usually exists a client/device that can direct play without transcoding.

Are you a Plex pass subscriber? I read somewhere that some of the hw transcoding stuff using that was locked behind plex pass.

 

[V4NT0M]

Thanks @Rainmaker that is really helpful

Hmm fair enough, sounds like you are correct.

Although I still stand by what I said, best to avoid the need to transcode where possible.

There usually exists a client/device that can direct play without transcoding.

Are you a Plex pass subscriber? I read somewhere that some of the hw transcoding stuff using that was locked behind plex pass.

I definitely try to avoid transcoding, tried emby and plex but always ended up with some things that would not directly play.

I do not have plex pass and I did read somewhere else that the pass was required too, not sure I would use it enough to justify the cost. Most of the time I am currently playing directly via SMB locally. I'll probably give emby a go again.

 

[HungryHippos]

Thanks @Rainmaker that is really helpful

I definitely try to avoid transcoding, tried emby and plex but always ended up with some things that would not directly play.

I do not have plex pass and I did read somewhere else that the pass was required too, not sure I would use it enough to justify the cost. Most of the time I am currently playing directly via SMB locally. I'll probably give emby a go again.

The trick seems be to use Emby as just the server part, don't use the Emby clients.

Then for clients use KODI with the Embuary plugin.

https://emby.media/community/index.php?/topic/21888-emby-for-kodi/

It's not totally simple to configure, but makes sense once you try it. Mostly got to get your head around how it works with KODI.

My clients for my TVs are Nvidia Shield TV boxes, so they can support most things with the right player. KODI seems decent so far, the in-app library stuff isn't as good, but playback is better.

 

[Rainmaker]

Are you a Plex pass subscriber? I read somewhere that some of the hw transcoding stuff using that was locked behind plex pass.

Thanks @Rainmaker that is really helpful

I definitely try to avoid transcoding, tried emby and plex but always ended up with some things that would not directly play.

I do not have plex pass and I did read somewhere else that the pass was required too, not sure I would use it enough to justify the cost. Most of the time I am currently playing directly via SMB locally. I'll probably give emby a go again.

Yes, hardware transcoding does require a Plex Pass. I have a lifetime Pass I got on offer some years ago. Emby does also offer transcoding, and on more platforms than Plex. It does not require Emby Premier to do so (though I have that too).

 

[Armageus]

Emby does also offer transcoding, and on more platforms than Plex. It does not require Emby Premier to do so (though I have that too).

It does require Premier as of recent versions
https://support.emby.media/support/solutions/articles/44001173099-emby-premiere-feature-matrix

 

[Rainmaker]

It does require Premier as of recent versions
https://support.emby.media/support/solutions/articles/44001173099-emby-premiere-feature-matrix

I stand corrected. That's a bit of a low move on both companies' parts imo, considering it's just VAAPI (a free Linux library). There's always Jellyfin (provided the client status suits the situation). For those who may not know, Jellyfin is a fork of Emby from a few versions ago before they started closing off and charging. It supports various types of HWE.

 

[HungryHippos]

Jellyfin is similar to Emby and I hope they continue to improve it.

The Android TV player though leaves a lot to be desired, especially when it won't play HDR unless you disable transcoding, then you can't play anything that requires transcoding.

Emby client for me plays stuff OK but it removes formatting from SSA subtitles, so it's a bit of a non starter in that respect. Otherwise seems pretty good.

Plex client has generally caused me some headaches over the years with bugs and stuff.

I wouldn't mind paying for premium on Plex or Emby if they did everything OK, but so far there is usually a shortcoming somewhere. KODI isn't perfect but it does seem to play stuff the most faithfully.