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Can't decide which NAS to buy


LiquidAurum

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LiquidAurum

Hi Guys.

I'm hoping to buy a NAS to house all my media. The only issue is that I'm still new to storage, so I've been trying to research. I've narrowed it down to Synology and QNAP as those seem to have a direct package to download and setup. Which of the two brands do you recommend? Which model would be the best? I don't want something that breaks the bank. I've been looking at the QNAP TS-451, and haven't been able to pin down one for synology. 

 

Thanks

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dcook

I would not run Emby directly on a NAS, you won't get updates as often, and it will never work as well as it does on its own server.

 

Get a NAS and use it for what it is designed for: Storage  (note NAS stands for Network Attached Storage)

 

And setup Emby on a VM or even a standalone computer, such as the Intel NUC's

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LiquidAurum

I had thought of that, the only issue is I don't like keeping my computer on running at all times, which is why I liked the idea of a NAS being always on 

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Spaceboy

I'm still favouring Emby on Windows over my synology nas but it needs to be said that all betas are available on synology as the same time pattern as Windows. There's not much that's not fully functional either. Apart from no cpu power for transcoding there is not much difference

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I'm still favouring Emby on Windows over my synology nas but it needs to be said that all betas are available on synology as the same time pattern as Windows. There's not much that's not fully functional either. Apart from no cpu power for transcoding there is not much difference

 

None at all really, just your preference.

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LiquidAurum

I'm still favouring Emby on Windows over my synology nas but it needs to be said that all betas are available on synology as the same time pattern as Windows. There's not much that's not fully functional either. Apart from no cpu power for transcoding there is not much difference

Is their a reason for this? How good is the streaming? 

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dcook

The reason is the hardware in the NAS is very limited compared to what you would find in a computer.  Your asking the NAS to be a storage server and also be a media server, most of these are ARM processors, or very low end Intel processors with 1 or 2GB of RAM.

 

Take a look at the Intel NUC, uses very little power and is virtually silent:

http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/nuc/overview.html

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Spaceboy

again in the interest of balance i have to note that in my testing with the synology server and my client of choice (kodi or the emby app on android tv  shield) 95% or more of the media direct plays so it doesnt matter that there's no horsepower. yes tasks are a little slower, but i can see that i could live with it

 

you don't say where you have your media located at the moment but if you need the storage from a nas anyway then i would say try a nas and then consider adding a nuc as the windows server if you dont find it snappy enough. also my nuc is anything but silent. they may have got better but i'm deeply disappointed in mine in that regard

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chattojimnow

LiquidAurum I have a different setup. currently our main tv is moinitor to our  "server" I use an old laptop with 2 external hdd plugged in uses windows  with local profile. has our cloud backup to it aswell, watch media as its able to run kodi and emby theatre. got an all in one mini keyboard for $20 ebay works well. I have lots of movies tv shows and devices and doesn't seem to effect it at all

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AdrianW

I have a Qnap which houses all my media but I have Emby server installed on a NUC. The NUC also runs Emby Theatre as a client. When I'm not using ET I put the NUC to sleep, which uses next to no power.

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Koleckai Silvestri

I built my own server that also houses my media. Can put up to 80 terabytes worth of storage in the box. If i need additional storage in the future, I can add more storage boxes to the network. Don't even have it go to sleep. All my clients are currently powered by Roku devices, smartphones or Google Cast.

 

 

Though I am not too worried about the electric bill as I am on solar.

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legallink

I am similar to Koeckai, in that I built a server that houses all of my media as well (although only around 25TB currently).  If I need more storage, I can add a few more drives (as I have about 3 slots open) or increase drive size.  Mine runs 24/7 and my clients range from Apple TVs and Rokus to smartphones, chrome casts and laptops.

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robgfaulkner

I bought a QNAP TS-453Pro with 12TB storage in RAID 5, 8 TB usable.  It runs great, and servers files across my network really good.  Has some great features, and for what it does it is really good.  I have even run Emby on it, in an emergency when my PC server power supply failed.  It ran fine as long as I was directstreaming around the house, which is mostly what I do.  But when it comes to transcoding, it just cant cut it.  

 

I would recommend going with a PC for the transcoding, you have more control and get some good hardware.  If you know for sure you wont have to transcode, then a NAS will probably run fine.

 

Good luck.

Rob

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LiquidAurum

I bought a QNAP TS-453Pro with 12TB storage in RAID 5, 8 TB usable.  It runs great, and servers files across my network really good.  Has some great features, and for what it does it is really good.  I have even run Emby on it, in an emergency when my PC server power supply failed.  It ran fine as long as I was directstreaming around the house, which is mostly what I do.  But when it comes to transcoding, it just cant cut it.  

 

I would recommend going with a PC for the transcoding, you have more control and get some good hardware.  If you know for sure you wont have to transcode, then a NAS will probably run fine.

 

Good luck.

Rob

 

So what if I wasn't using emby and just using regular file share or media server capibilities on the NAS, how well would that work? 

 

Question how do I know if I am directscreaming or transcoding? 

Edited by LiquidAurum
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Rasputin

If you want an "all-in-one" solution, you will need an NAS with enough guts for transcoding. The best available right now will be the QNAP TVS-x82 series, which has ridiculous specs with the option for a discrete GPU. Since these came out in July, I have been debating getting one, but just cannot justify throwing down $2000+ (this is without drives) when my current system serves the purpose and more. I have been using a Synology 1513+ with 8 4TB WD Red's for my NAS and a NUC i5 w/16GB of RAM and a 500GB m.2 SSD for my Emby box...It's been a flawless setup and much, much cheaper than what the loaded QNAP would cost. 

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AdrianW

If you want an "all-in-one" solution, you will need an NAS with enough guts for transcoding. 

 

But, if you can direct play everything (and that is always the best way to go) then you don't need a beefy CPU in the server.

 

IMO using ET (or EMC) as the client on a local network will give the best results and will direct play everything.

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dcook

Even if you direct play only, you are asking the NAS to do much more than its designed to do.

 

The purpose of a NAS is data storage, not media server.

 

Its never ever going to be as good as having a separate media server

 

 

But, if you can direct play everything (and that is always the best way to go) then you don't need a beefy CPU in the server.

 

IMO using ET (or EMC) as the client on a local network will give the best results and will direct play everything.

Edited by dcook
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Spaceboy

no-one is claiming that solely using a nas is going to be as good as having a separate server. but for some people it may be good enough.

 

the synology package has only recently been released, so hopefully some further improvements to come. if i play a movie in the web browser from my synology it direct streams and ffmpeg is using between 19-24% of CPU.

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  • 2 weeks later...
noremacyug

The features and price of the qnap would have me going with them over synology....at least from what I gleaned during my brief flirtation with getting a nas. But I need more power than what a $400 nas can provide. Some time ago I picked up a optiplex 790 off eBay for $200. It came with a i7 2600 and then I slapped 8gb of ram. This computer will be my nas, emby or plex server, blue iris server, sonarr, Sab, etc. plenty of power for half the price of a qnap.

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JBDragon

I have a ReadyNAS 516 I really like,  It can handle a couple 1080P transcoding jobs at once.  Most of my content is in 1080P or 480.  So in general I guess I don't have to transcode so much, but friends connecting to me, I have limited Upload bandwidth and I don't want to use it all up with a big 1080P stream at a high setting, so I limit it down to like 720P 3Mbps streaming which still looks great.  

 

I am changing processors to the one used in their 716, which is a 4 core Intel chip, not a 2 core.  I also plan to up the EEC memory that it uses from 4 gig's to 16 gig's.  I'm also running besides PLEX, PlexPL, Sonarr, NZBGet and CouchPotato.  Sometimes I turn on Headphones.  EMBY I'm playing around with on my Windows PC for now.  There's things I like about it.  The problem is, there's no real support for Netgear ReadyNAS units.   By the way, every new Update PLEX releases includes updates for everything, from Windows and MacOS to all the different NAS systems.  There's no waiting around.  It's a simple thing to install with a .deb file.  Why not with EMBY?  Sonarr was a hassle enough.   I would have paid for a lifetime license already!!!  I would have jumped on the sale price.  I'm not a Linux expert.  I have to figure things out.  Sonarr was time consuming enough to get running.  

 

It is nice to offload all that garbage from my PC.  Why tie my power hungry pc up?   I wouldn't recommend a Netgear ReadyNAS for EMBY use at this time.  Get one that they already support.   The question is do you want to Home NAS with a Arm processor which is much cheaper, then a Business Class NAS which will have a Intel Processor with real power!!!  Do you want a all in one solution or a NAS for just Data, and use your PC or Mac.  There is also the possibility of using a older computer with Linux to run EMBY on.   Now I see beta trascoding using the GPU.  That's a interesting way to go if you have a GPU in your NAS.   

 

Research, Research, Research,...  What would you like.  What software do you plan to use, what's your budget!!!  Figure those things out first.  I was using my WindowsPC and a cheap ReadyNAS NV+ V2.  I did that for a few years!!!   One thing is for sure, you can never have enough HDD space!!!  Don't waste your time with a 2 bay NAS!!!  Get at least 4 bays!!!  Start out with 2 drives and grow as you need to.  That's what i did.  

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JBDragon

The features and price of the qnap would have me going with them over synology....at least from what I gleaned during my brief flirtation with getting a nas. But I need more power than what a $400 nas can provide. Some time ago I picked up a optiplex 790 off eBay for $200. It came with a i7 2600 and then I slapped 8gb of ram. This computer will be my nas, emby or plex server, blue iris server, sonarr, Sab, etc. plenty of power for half the price of a qnap.

 

Ok, you have your cheap Desktop computer which is fine.  Now what?  Do you plan to run LINUX on it or stick with Windows?  Are you going to do some type of software RAID, or Hardware RAID?    If you do RAID, which I wold assume so, you need at least 2 HDD to start.  Far as I know in General, normal RAID won't allow you to just easily expand like I can on my ReadyNAS with it's XRAID.  Though I know I was looking at software to use with LINUX to do that, which costs money.  Kind of sucks to have to back up, add a 3rd drive and restore everything and do that every time. Changing from RAID1 to RAID5.  I assume you have this all figured out?   Let everyone know how it's going.  How many HDD do you have room to fit into the case?   Building your own NAS like this can be a great way to go.  You can have a lot more flexibility.

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