DS1525+ or DS1825+ for Plex

[mwdilday]

Hi all. I purchased an Asustor AS6706T to replace my DS420+ anticipating no upgrade path with Synology and needing more drives. Not very happy with the Asustor compared to Synology and considering going back to my DS420+. I did a test on my DS420+ with hardware transcoding disabled with 1080p HD 2.7 Mbps videos and was able to get 3 transcoding to 480p simultaneously with no problem. It pegged the system and plex media server utilization but it plays fine. I wanted to get some opinions of whether stay with the Asustor or move back to the DS420+ and whether the DS1825+ and DS1525+ could handle a few streams without hardware transcoding. I am gambling that Synology will at least keep the current processor or upgrade it in the next few years. All of my videos are 1080p 2.7Mbps or less and we will never have more than 3 streaming and normally 1 or none transcoding. Thanks for your help.

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[Rusty]

whether the DS1825+ and DS1525+ could handle a few streams without hardware transcoding

It will be more than fine as long as there is no transcoding involved.

 

[mwdilday]

It will be more than fine as long as there is no transcoding involved.

Thank you Rusty.

 

[Telos]

was able to get 3 transcoding to 480p simultaneously

Of course that is quite the light test, and two years from now, you'll need to transcode toe 1080p when 480p is no longer attractive. Synology is not a media server in any substantive sense. Invest in no what you need today, but what you are likely to need down the road.

 

[mwdilday]

Of course that is quite the light test, and two years from now, you'll need to transcode toe 1080p when 480p is no longer attractive. Synology is not a media server in any substantive sense. Invest in no what you need today, but what you are likely to need down the road.

Haven't been able to find a NAS that transcodes that compares to the Synology. Just trying to get a Synology that will meet my needs.

 

[Telos]

Haven't been able to find a NAS that transcodes that compares to the Synology

A NAS is not a great transcoding device. Media storage, fine.

 

[capitanharlock]

A NAS is not a great transcoding device. Media storage, fine.

I'd say a SYNOLOGY nas is not a great transcoding device, others are fine.

 

[mwdilday]

I'd say a SYNOLOGY nas is not a great transcoding device, others are fine.

The Synology's that don't have HW transcoding may not be great but I have a DS920+ and it is a great transcoding device.

 

[dimfil]

All of my videos are 1080p 2.7Mbps or less and we will never have more than 3 streaming and normally 1 or none transcoding.

These formats just need software transcoding and x25+ models have more than enough cpu power to meet that challenge.
Problems arrive only when you need hardware transcoding. Plex needs a Plex pass to utilize hardware transcoding, if you have such a license then you are fine, else you better look for Jellyfin.
In any case, in local network most probable you will have no issues as most modern devices support all formats and no transcoding will be involved. If you need to stream externally, then 420+ is already enough to hardware transcode. You can keep that.
There is also another and inexpensive option you can consider: keep whatever NAS you want and add a cheap mini pc with Intel cpu 6th Gen+. Install linux and jellyfin/plex on it and use it as media server with NAS shared folders mounted as NFS on mini pc. Quite easy to do, inexpensive and you never have to think about hardware transcoding anymore. I use this solution now with my DS923+ and a Thinkcentre m902q tiny and I am more than happy!

 

[capitanharlock]

The Synology's that don't have HW transcoding may not be great but I have a DS920+ and it is a great transcoding device.

It depends on what you consider great; for 4k videos the Celeron J4125 is far from great.

 

[Rusty]

It depends on what you consider great; for 4k videos the Celeron J4125 is far from great.

Both mine x18 with that CPU transcode just fine... but the difference is noticeable compared to N150, for example.