Search the Community

Hey guys I have been using Emby / Media Browser since way back when it was a mere WMC plugin (probably 8 years... just guessing). Never really bothered to look into or comment in the forums but did pay for premiere Recently I took down my Windows based Emby server which worked great and decided to move everything to a NAS I have noticed there is not much Asustor info so hopefully my setup can help other people. Recently I setup an Asustor 6104T with 4 x 10TB IronWolf drives and 8GB DDR3L 1600. It was slow going at first with not much Asustor info in the Emby forums, however after about a week I ended up with a rock solid system, some of my experiences might be able to help people using Asustor or trying to set one up. Home layout for NAS Internet - Fibre 100/40 Router - ASUS N55U LAN - NAS - Asustor AS6104T (4 x 10TB IronWolf drives and 8GB DDR3L 1600) - I tried 1333 RAM and it seemed to have a massive impact on system performance, so I recommend sticking with 1600 The NAS is in a server room with other household equipment, so it is effectively running headless and no content is played directly on the NAS to a monitor Emby Setup Installation I initially installed Emby from App Central, then using WinSCP, I FTP into the NAS and update the Emby version with the most current from the Emby website (currently 3.1.2.0) This process takes around 20 seconds to do and it should be noted that you must shutdown the Emby server, go to App Central and disable the app before updating. Once updated go back into App Central and reenable the app. Users I currently have 9 users, 6 of those are usually on the internal network (sometimes external) and 3 are external all the time Library My library is around 8TB ranging from TV, SD - HD - 4K, with most of the HD content having DTS 5.1 Playback I have external streams limited to 2Mps, this limits the pressure on transcoding as well as the network Transcoding I spent hours and hours in transcoding, testing multiple devices, configurations etc. Below is the best outcome I can get out of the system thus far, please note I cannot get 4K with DTS 5.1 to play reliably yet although I can get some 4K to work with 2.0 sound. If transcoding continues to be an issue or I can't get Intel Quick Sync working, I will most likely move to something like an Intel NUC i5/i7 to run the Emby server and use the NAS for content only Hardware Acceleration - Video Acceleration API (VA API) (experimental) VA API Device - /dev/dri/card0 Transcoding thread count - Max Enable throttling - unticked FFmpeg version - Use a custom version - I use the version found in App Central (I find it works better with the Asustor than the version shipped with Emby) FFmpeg path - /volume1/.@plugins/AppCentral/ffmpeg/bin/ffmpeg Transcoding temporary path - Set it to whatever you want. In the event of problems I made mine a location that is easily accessible so it can be flushed Audio boost when downmixing - 2 H.264 encoding preset - Auto H.264 encoding CRF - 20 Live TV Using a HDHomeRun HDHR4-2DT but not setup as yet Plugins I have Auto Box Sets and Server Configuration Backup Scheduled Tasks - Chapter image extraction can take anywhere from 20 seconds to 2 hours depending on how much content I add at a time, note that this is quite heavy on the CPU so if you have added new content and the chapters are extracting, you may have playback issues if transcoding while this process is running. This will run the CPU up to around 95% of both cores (my system is a dual core, quad core should be better) - Refresh people takes around 10 mins and loads the CPU to around 5% - Scan media library takes around 10 - 20 mins and can bump your CPU usage up to between 30 and 60%. Similar to Chapter image extraction, while this process is running transcoded playback may be affected The biggest bottle necks of this system are the CPU and RAM, CPU is something you can't change once you buy it (only talking about my Asustor NAS here) therefore you have to manage it appropriately, the memory I highly recommend bumping up to as much as your Asustor can handle (mine is 2 x 4GB, total 8GB) I found that using 1333 DDR3 had an adverse effect on the system, I moved to 1600 DDR3L and everything was much better. I'm not sure if the memory problem was with the clocking speed (1333 vs 1600) or the voltage being used (DDR3 1.5V vs DDR3L 1.35V), limited info on the hardware makes it near impossible for me to know. I can tell you the original sticks that came installed in the system were 2 x 1GB DDR3L 1600 Network Devices LAN - Xbox One using Emby Theater or DLNA when remote playing content from my phone (Emby Theater is the main setup and used 99% of the time) LAN - Xbox 360 using DLNA I think... (havent used it in a while), have done tests on it but don't use it very often LAN - Yamaha 5.1 Reciever using DLNA for audio (Tested only, not used very often) LAN - Panasonic TV using DLNA (Tested only, will not normally use) LAN - HDHomeRun HDHR4-2DT - in the process of setting up so not currently online 5GHz Wifi - S6 Edge 5GHz Wifi - Another S6 Edge 5GHz Wifi - Tab S2 8" 5GHz Wifi - Note 3 5GHz Wifi - Note 5 5GHz Wifi - Windows 10 laptop 5GHz Wifi - another Windows 10 laptop 5GHz Wifi- Android TV (Emby App with MX Player mainly, have tested DLNA, VLC and Chromecast...) 2.4GHz Wifi - Chromecast version 1 2.4GHz Wifi - iPad mini Most of the time I use the Xbox One and the Tab S2" without any dramas at all, the other devices play content sporadically but have not been as thoroughly tested. I have also not had any problems with the Chromecast or Android TV Playback Experience I have tested all 6 internal users playing content as a direct stream along with 3 external users playing direct content as a direct stream, so with no transcoding present all 9 users were able to play content without interruption (they were all HD movies) With transcoding it is a different story, I have tested running 4 internal users with 1 external user. 3 of the internal users were direct streaming with 1 internal user transcoding, the external user was also transcoding but with external streaming set to 1Mbps. This is the max I could get out of the system, adding another user brought the system to a near holt... As soon as I removed one of the users transcoding everything kicked back in again, but note doing this test kept the CPU at 99% constantly. Throughout all tests I had my laptop (not playing any content at all) logged in the NAS VIA browser and the Emby server VIA browser, this allows you to be able to watch the CPU / RAM allocation of the NAS as well as check which users are streaming what content, and if its direct streaming or transcoding. The best everyday experience I have used and tested is the Xbox One App and the Emby for Android TV app using MX Player (codecs for MX Player are floating around and can greatly enhance playback). I always default back to the Emby App on the Tab S2 8" for testing when there is a problem as I haven't had a single issue with it yet... luck i guess. Hopefully this helps anyone currently using an Asustor NAS and is having issues or helps people thinking about setting one up.