NAS buying advice

[Zangetsu]

streaming is fine (maybe not for 55gb + files), transcoding is not.

it will not be as smooth as Quad Core NAS setup. Expect a PowerPoint slide in between 4K streaming. Every review told about the 4K streaming issue in dual core NAS. This is the only reason I am not looking for Dual Core NAS

 

[TheSloth]

Found this spreadsheet on official Plex guide that Synology supports Software encoding upto 720p. I have 2 questions regarding this:
1. Does it mean I can stream a 4k source video file to phone at 720p?
2. Streaming 4k video to a 4k device such as TV should not be a problem(called direct play) for Synology NAS device right?

Or if Plex and other docker based application is part of use case then a PC is better choice?

 

[Nerevarine]

What you are doing is transcoding. i.e. convert 4k to 720p in real time. It requires good cpu support as Zangetsu said.

But if you are playing a 4k video directly as 4k, from file system, it would not be a problem regardless of what device you use. I use vlc player to play on phone, even if its 4k it plays fine on a 100 mbit network. On PC, I have Kodi installed and the exact file location to browse and play.

 

[Zangetsu]

Found this spreadsheet on official Plex guide that Synology supports Software encoding upto 720p. I have 2 questions regarding this:
1. Does it mean I can stream a 4k source video file to phone at 720p?
2. Streaming 4k video to a 4k device such as TV should not be a problem(called direct play) for Synology NAS device right?

Or if Plex and other docker based application is part of use case then a PC is better choice?

Playing 4K directly on a Dual Core NAS is a hit or miss. Imagine watching your favorite video on 4K and getting a buffer screen all of a sudden in between. Would you like it ? It will spoil your 4K watching experience right. So, you will have to manage your content viewing cautiously, and what I mean by that is you will have to tell your family/friends...."Don't stream anything right now....as I am watchin 4K. And if you do that would stress my Dual core NAS CPU" and that could also include your relatives connecting to your NAS from remote.

So, would you blame your decision of not buying a Quad Core CPU for 4K ? just like we say in hindi "Isse accha toh mai Quad Core le leta..."

The 4K content you will watch will not just include mkv/mp4 files of Movies/Series, it might also include your handycam/camera videos in 4K (if you shoot it now or in future)

 

[RumbaMon19]

Playing 4K directly on a Dual Core NAS is a hit or miss. Imagine watching your favorite video on 4K and getting a buffer screen all of a sudden in between. Would you like it ? It will spoil your 4K watching experience right. So, you will have to manage your content viewing cautiously, and what I mean by that is you will have to tell your family/friends...."Don't stream anything right now....as I am watchin 4K. And if you do that would stress my Dual core NAS CPU" and that could also include your relatives connecting to your NAS from remote.

So, would you blame your decision of not buying a Quad Core CPU for 4K ? just like we say in hindi "Isse accha toh mai Quad Core le leta..."

The 4K content you will watch will not just include mkv/mp4 files of Movies/Series, it might also include your handycam/camera videos in 4K (if you shoot it now or in future)

I am not getting any issue playing 4k directly on dual core ARM Nas with 512MB ram. Tbh, it just requires to copy paste which even a rpi excells.

I was able to run one datastream with a 4K stream on tv successfully.

 

[Nerevarine]

Yes, actual BR Rips with 55GB + Size will definitely stutter when playing directly on a dual core NAS. Better get quadcore I agree.

Regardless, my original point was to highlight the difference between just streaming a native file vs transcoding + streaming, which requires a much much powerful CPU (potentially with iGPU like Intel iGPU which can utilize quicksync).

Definitely go for a quadcore if budget permits.