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Popolini

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Popolini

Hi guys,

 

I just started to use Emby 2 months ago on my Pc and it's running well.

I now wanted to start running emby on a NAS and try to estimated the best hardware to buy depending on my use.

 

The goal is to run an emby server on a NAS in order to share a media library with movies in 1080p or less with 3-4 user simultaneously.

I really enjoy QNAP interface and will rather choose a QNAP NAS but i'm not really use to hardware configuration and don't know what are the minimum settings needed for my use.

 

If you have any recommandations to help in my choice I will really appreciate.

 

Example of NAS I consider to buy : QNAP TS-251-D :

 

Dual-core Intel® Celeron® J4005 2,0 GHz (up to 2,7 GHz) x86 64 bits

Intel® HD Graphics 600

4 Go DDR4 SO-DIMM

 

(Sorry for my English)

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Hi, this is an extremely popular QNAP model, although it's a couple years old now and there are newer options available. But still a great choice.

@@PenkethBoy may have some insight on his QNAP experience.

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PenkethBoy

the thing i would be mindful of is if the 3-4 users need their video transcoded then a NAS will struggle - 1 or 2 might be ok but more than that then things could slow down for everybody

 

will also depend on the video properties

 

Having said that emby will run fine on the NAS - things will be slower to update etc as the NAS is i would guess lower powered than your pc - if this is noticeable to you will only be once you have it installed and running

 

An alternative would be to keep emby on your pc and use the NAS for what its designed for - file server - just point your libraries to the nas rather than local

 

Also i would get the best NAS you can afford - intel cpu and more than 2 drive bays and go for a new model not a 2 year old one - to take advantage of newer cpu/hardware

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Popolini

the thing i would be mindful of is if the 3-4 users need their video transcoded then a NAS will struggle - 1 or 2 might be ok but more than that then things could slow down for everybody

 

will also depend on the video properties

 

Having said that emby will run fine on the NAS - things will be slower to update etc as the NAS is i would guess lower powered than your pc - if this is noticeable to you will only be once you have it installed and running

 

An alternative would be to keep emby on your pc and use the NAS for what its designed for - file server - just point your libraries to the nas rather than local

 

Also i would get the best NAS you can afford - intel cpu and more than 2 drive bays and go for a new model not a 2 year old one - to take advantage of newer cpu/hardware

 

Thanks for your return about the NAS.

 

I'm a bit confused about how Emby works and use the different hardware (PC/NAS), let me explain :

 

If I am running my Emby server on my NAS, and connect to this server with a PC by WAN adress and start playing a video, the NAS will assure the transcode of the video  ? And if other users do the same thing, the NAS will transcode for all of them until it struggle ?

 

And if I am running Emby server with my PC and point my library to my NAS, will the PC assure the transcode of the video in that case ? So, if I want to share my libraries I have to create one Emby server/user and point all of them to my NAS ?

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rbjtech

The NAS is simply replacing the storage where the media is stored but you have multiple options on how to use it.

 

1) Use it as storage only - access it from a PC/emby server directly using UNC shares - such as \\mynas\sharename\files

 

Advantages - Leaves the non-storage tasks (such as transcoding) to more suitable devices.

Disadvantages - You  need a second 'server' on to run Emby Server.

 

2) Use it as storage and also run Emby serveraccess it directly from the PC/client via http/https (or directly via UNC shares as you would any network drive share)

 

Advantages - Always available 24x7 and no need to run a separate emby server on your PC.

Disadvantages - The NAS hardware may not be powerful enough for heavy transcoding - this depends on many factors (1080p/4K etc) so difficult to judge if it would be an issue or not.

 

Re the users question - no you can create as many emby users as you like in either option.

Edited by rbjtech
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Popolini

The NAS is simply replacing the storage where the media is stored but you have multiple options on how to use it.

 

1) Use it as storage only - access it from a PC/emby server directly using UNC shares - such as \\mynas\sharename\files

 

Advantages - Leaves the non-storage tasks (such as transcoding) to more suitable devices.

Disadvantages - You  need a second 'server' on to run Emby Server.

 

 

 

Thanks for your answer, the "storage only use" seems to be the most efficient for my use.

The only problem remaining with that use is the 24/7 availability, is there a way I can have a setup like :

 

- Library storage on a NAS

- Emby server running on PC1 point to the NAS library 

- Emby server running on PC2 point to the NAS library simulatenously as PC1 and from a different location.

 

Perfect setup for my use will be :

 

- Storage on NAS running 24/7

- Each users connected to the NAS (from different location) and using their own PC, running emby server and assure the transcode part with 24/7 access.

 

I'm almost sure UNC shares can be use in a LAN but I have never tried to use it from a different location.

Is it working ? or do i need to use http/https ?

 

With http/https I'm not sure that I will be able to point to my librarie (can be wrong).

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rbjtech

For your scenerio with remote users, I would go for option 2 - and just use the PC's as clients.

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BAlGaInTl

Perfect setup for my use will be :

 

- Storage on NAS running 24/7

- Each users connected to the NAS (from different location) and using their own PC, running emby server and assure the transcode part with 24/7 access.

 

I'm almost sure UNC shares can be use in a LAN but I have never tried to use it from a different location.

Is it working ? or do i need to use http/https ?

 

With http/https I'm not sure that I will be able to point to my librarie (can be wrong).

 

I wouldn't recommend that setup.

 

Managing multiple server installs across different locations would be a PITA.

 

I personally run option 2 using Unraid, but that's because I run a lot of different applications in addition to Emby.  Keep in mind you can get a less expensive NAS if you run option 1, since it's only acting as a network share.

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