making a NAS/Plex server, need opinions

[sactoking]

Thanks for the info. I haven't quite got Plex set up yet (didn't have a lot of time yesterday to mess with it) so that's helpful... I'll go the docker route. Since I'll really only need to use the Plex UI for the initial setup, the slow UI shouldn't be a problem.

I had to change a lot of the sort tags on my movies, so the slow UI through Docker was a frustration then. I wanted the eight harry potter movies to sort sequentially and not by title, I like grouping movies by relationship even if they're not direct sequels (The Amazing Spider-man 1 and 2 sorted with Spider-Man 1-3) and some movie series don't group properly by title (The Fast and the Furious, 2 Fast 2 Furious, Fast Five, Fast and Furious, etc.).

 

[gorcorps]

I had to change a lot of the sort tags on my movies, so the slow UI through Docker was a frustration then. I wanted the eight harry potter movies to sort sequentially and not by title, I like grouping movies by relationship even if they're not direct sequels (The Amazing Spider-man 1 and 2 sorted with Spider-Man 1-3) and some movie series don't group properly by title (The Fast and the Furious, 2 Fast 2 Furious, Fast Five, Fast and Furious, etc.).

Ah, that makes sense. My collection isn't too big yet to deal with that stuff.

I have Plex running successfully and I just started copying everything again. I haven't had to deal with too much yet, but the docker UI for Plex doesn't seem that slow. Works pretty well.

Thanks everyone for their tips and recommendations.

 

[JoeMcJoe]

Look at the price of something like a QNAP TS-451 with its built in Plex server, might end up being cheaper, and it does RAID well.

 

[ControlD]

Look at the price of something like a QNAP TS-451 with its built in Plex server, might end up being cheaper, and it does RAID well.

The problem with those types of devices is that the Plex implementation tends to be somewhat limited. I played around a little bit with a Synology and it couldn't do any transcoding at all. The CPU in that thing was just not powerful enough. With my low budget unRAID server built around a G530, I can simply store all of my movies as mkv's and transcode as needed to whatever device I want to watch with.

I also have not noticed the Plex docker being slow to work with. Maybe it depends on how large the library is though.

 

[gorcorps]

Look at the price of something like a QNAP TS-451 with its built in Plex server, might end up being cheaper, and it does RAID well.

The problem with those types of devices is that the Plex implementation tends to be somewhat limited. I played around a little bit with a Synology and it couldn't do any transcoding at all. The CPU in that thing was just not powerful enough. With my low budget unRAID server built around a G530, I can simply store all of my movies as mkv's and transcode as needed to whatever device I want to watch with.

I also have not noticed the Plex docker being slow to work with. Maybe it depends on how large the library is though.

Also, those prebuilt NAS devices are expensive. They are rarely the cheapest option if you have the knowhow to build it yourself. In my case, I didn't even need to build it myself. The Lenovo TS140 tower I ordered was pre-built with a Xeon E3-1225 processor, 4gig of ram, a 500GB HDD and DVD drive. It was only $285, and the case it's in is quite nice to work with. Mostly toolless with extra fans to keep the drives cool.

Compare that to the TS-451 which is going for ~$450. Don't get me wrong, the QNAP devices are a lot more compact and very good devices for getting a NAS running without problems. I have a QNAP TS-212 right now which is what I'm replacing and I've had no problems with it. They just aren't the best choice if you're looking for low cost.

 

[rchunter]

The problem with those types of devices is that the Plex implementation tends to be somewhat limited. I played around a little bit with a Synology and it couldn't do any transcoding at all. The CPU in that thing was just not powerful enough. With my low budget unRAID server built around a G530, I can simply store all of my movies as mkv's and transcode as needed to whatever device I want to watch with.

I also have not noticed the Plex docker being slow to work with. Maybe it depends on how large the library is though.

I've got a synology 1513+ but I mainly use it for streaming flac/dsd files via minimserver with my auralic aries<parasound gear. For any kind of video transcoding the synology is useless. I built a unraid haswell e3 xeon rig for all my video files bluray rips, etc.

 

[Aikouka]

I don't believe any of the NAS devices support transcoding in Plex because of Plex's use of a custom FFMPEG library. It's a bit confusing because there are a few sort of newer ones using Intel's Evansport CPU, which features QuickSync; however, Plex cannot use it.

 

[poofyhairguy]

Yeah Plex needs CPU power for transcoding, it can't use fixed function hardware. Any Core 2 Duo or better dual core with 2.6 GHz or better can do the job.

 

[smitbret]

Agreed, if you are going to use Plex, you are better off with a DIY unRAID system. Even if it takes a little work to learn what you are doing, you will be happier in the long run.

 

[ControlD]

Yeah Plex needs CPU power for transcoding, it can't use fixed function hardware. Any Core 2 Duo or better dual core with 2.6 GHz or better can do the job.

It depends how many concurrent transcoding jobs you want and what quality they are at. Now that my wife has started to watch stuff on the Plex server I am sort of thinking it might be time to upgrade the CPU a little bit. I know my G530 can handle one 1080p job, but I think two at the same time is pushing it.

 

[poofyhairguy]

It depends how many concurrent transcoding jobs you want and what quality they are at. Now that my wife has started to watch stuff on the Plex server I am sort of thinking it might be time to upgrade the CPU a little bit. I know my G530 can handle one 1080p job, but I think two at the same time is pushing it.

Good point, I should have clarified that is enough for a single stream.

 

[JoeMcJoe]

Compare that to the TS-451 which is going for ~$450. Don't get me wrong, the QNAP devices are a lot more compact and very good devices for getting a NAS running without problems. I have a QNAP TS-212 right now which is what I'm replacing and I've had no problems with it. They just aren't the best choice if you're looking for low cost.

I got my TS-451 for about $350 then I added 16GB Ram. Not the cheapest, but I think it is really nice for the price. It runs a few VMs too.

The Plex does have the transcoding, but it might be always a few versions behind the most current release.