Cheapest option for Plex transcoding

krooton · 16 Jul 2018 at 15:59

I currently have a Synology DS215j as my NAS, originally using DS Video and the associated app on my Samsung TV to stream video, and have since moved to the much superior Plex.

The Synology can Direct Stream fine, but the pitiful cpu is no good for transcoding, which is often needed due to the Samsung's limited codec library.

So what would be my cheapest option for transcoding nothing higher than 1080p, with the Synology still being used as the storage part of the set-up?

Getting one of the newer Synologys that can transcode is pricey at £400, is there anything in the sub-£200 space that would work?

krooton · 16 Jul 2018 at 22:15

It's a 2014 model Samsung, not sure if that is the problem, but it struggles to play some mkvs (usually with AC3 audio)

krooton · 17 Jul 2018 at 10:58

Picked up a Fire TV 4k Box on the Prime Day deal, if it can handle the problem files, job done, thanks

krooton · 18 Jul 2018 at 21:45

Lol, my old tv can handle more files than the Fire TV 4k, back to Amazon it goes!

krooton · 19 Jul 2018 at 09:22

Yep, I installed Plex on the Fire TV, connected to my Plex server (which is on my Synology) hoping that the Fire TV would have better codec support and therefore not need transcoding, but it still could not play the files I was having issues with within the Samsung TV Plex app.

It also couldn't play files that my Samsung TV could when choosing Direct Stream.

As an example:
Samsung TV Plex App: Direct Play = video but no sound. Direct Stream = video and sound.
Fire TV Plex app: Direct Play or Direct Stream = nothing at all and a message saying it isn't powerful enough to play the file. I even tried reducing the stream/bandwidth in settings to something low but the same problem.

It's not urget, but looks like I will end up building a NUC from second hand components to host the Plex Server on, demoting my Synology back to just being storage.

krooton · 19 Jul 2018 at 13:27

TheMightyTen said:
If you haven't sent it back yet get MrMC from the amazon store (£2.43) it's the Python/Plugin disabled Kodi branch that now also includes the developer of the now defunct SPMC branch as well. It includes the official Plex for kodi plugin and is far superior to the Fire's Plex client. It plays pretty much all files without the need for transcoding as it makes far better use of the underlying Android codecs of FireOS.

Cheers, I'll give that a go

krooton · 19 Jul 2018 at 20:20

Thanks guys, this seems to work a treat!