Synology NAS question

[BillybobBilly 14]

I'm in the process of migrating my windows server to a Synology NAS and I'm torn between the DS1821+ and the DS920+

Anyone use either of these devices who is able to give me some advice?

My media is all 1080p or lower (90% is 720p for movies and 480p for TV).

From what I've been reading the DS1821+ serves my purposes better as far as storage goes, but the DS920+ has better transcoding capabilities.

 

I have around 10 users that I allow onto my server at any given time, so given the size format of my media do you think the transcoding capability of the DS920+ offsets the extra storage from the DS1821+? I'm starting with 4x 16TB drives either way, but the DS920+ would require an expansion unit to get at/above the storage capability of the base DS1821+.

 

Also, the DS1821+ has higher ram expansion and the potential for 10Gbe (not even sure if my home network would benefit from 10Gbe TBH). At this point I'm leaning more towards the DS1821+ but that's because I only recently learned about the transcoding difference. I've been trying to find some useful comparative videos/analyses of the two units but the best I've found is the tool on Synology's website which is a little confusing for a noob like me.

 

Edit: Also, is there anything I need to know about filename limitations with a Synology NAS that is really different from Windows 10 filename limitations?

Edited January 23, 2022 by BillybobBilly

[Luke 37067]

@FrostByte what do you think?

[BillybobBilly 14]

Just an update, I ordered the DS1821+ because near as I can tell the transcoding issue is likely not a major problem considering the files I am using are fairly small and I don't have lots of concurrent users. On occasion people may have issues transcoding 1080p but since most everything I do is 720p the transcoding stress is probably less significant.

You guys agree or am I wrong and made a big mistake?

Edited January 24, 2022 by BillybobBilly

[FrostByte 5049]

I never do any transcoding other than testing but haven't noticed any issues transcoding 1080p on my 1821+.  Transcoding 4K can be a challenge.  I do not share my NAS so I can't speak to multiple people transcoding.  For things other than transcoding the 1821+ has higher benchmarks than the 920+.

Overall, I'm very pleased with my 1821+.  Very easy to manage, and the extra space is very nice.  You would be very surprised how quickly space gets used up though even with that many bays.  So, get larger drives especially if you're thinking of using 4K movies.  There's also the expansion cabinet though if you need it.

Mine is used mainly for Emby and Surveillance Center which feeds video from my IP cameras to Emby.

Speed is no issue.  I did stick the extra memory in before starting to use Emby, so can't really speak to any benefits of it.  I'm also using LAG so basically, it's like having two 2GB ports instead of four 1GB ports.  Everything is then hardwired into the same switch as my Shield, TV, Xbox, etc.

Edited January 24, 2022 by FrostByte

[BillybobBilly 14]

So I got my hardware and I'm trying to figure this thing out. I've never worked with a system like this before so this is going to be a learning experience.

I've found some tutorials on how to set Emby up and have my backup stored for when I get to that stage, but I'm curious of a few things.

1: I use Emby to manually download art for some of my media but not all. Most of my media I already have art for by the time I put it into Emby. Question is, can I take the cached images that I've downloaded to my windows server directly into the NAS environment?

2: I use TinyMediaManager to manage the metadata for movies/tv on my windows server. Is it possible to use this program remotely to access the media on the NAS? I am thinking if I connect the application to the remote folder location of the movies etc. it may work like I'd hope but I'm not sure...