Bingie 99 Posted July 1, 2021 Share Posted July 1, 2021 Hi all, I've been running Emby on an old laptop, using external USB drive for storing movies, and now after a few weeks, I think I'm ready for our first NAS. The Synology DS-220+ looks like a fine starter choice. The DS-220j would probably suffice, since I pre-transcode all files to H.264 before moving to NAS, but the 220+ is better future proof with more RAM and faster CPU, even though it will stream at most: 1080P 30fps movies to max 2 local tv's, so should remain fairly idle over the years. I read somewhere we can backup our NAS to the Emby cloud? Is that true? If so, I don't really need to mirror drives. I'll buy one drive, and when it gets full, simply add a 2nd drive. If/when the drive dies some day, just buy a new drive, and restore from cloud??? What am I missing here? If this is wrong, then yes, I'll get 2 drives and turn on mirroring. https://www.amazon.com/Synology-Bay-DiskStation-DS220-Diskless/dp/B087ZCBWFH/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=synology+220%2B&qid=1625167843&sr=8-1 Also, I see no reason to buy the more expensive 7200rpm HD's. A 5400rpm drive can serve 6Gb/s, which is a gazillion times faster than needed to stream 2x 28Mbps streams. https://www.amazon.com/Red-6TB-Internal-Hard-Drive/dp/B07MYL7KVK/ref=pd_di_sccai_5/134-3816542-7232957?pd_rd_w=fDZGE&pf_rd_p=c9443270-b914-4430-a90b-72e3e7e784e0&pf_rd_r=J244QS6D2E2W3X8V1NXS&pd_rd_r=90d67685-a29a-44b7-a49c-ae2a4fa5fba1&pd_rd_wg=mI3g3&pd_rd_i=B07MYL7KVK&psc=1# We're on a tight budget, so keeping cost down overrides pretty much everything else. Thanks for reading, and I welcome any suggestions and feedback! Cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carlo 4330 Posted July 1, 2021 Share Posted July 1, 2021 Hi, Emby doesn't run a cloud service. But there are other ways to backup to other cloud services with Synology plugins. If you can make it fit your budget I'd try and save up to get the Synology 920+ instead of the DS 200+ as it would offer you twice the storage, is more expandable and would be able to do transcoding as well as tone-mapping for HDR to SDR content. It will cost you about $250 more but it's a much better investment IMHO. 5400 RPM drives will work but IMHO aren't really fit for use in a NAS. To really get the best use from a NAS generally speaking you would populate it with drives and one drive is your parity drive (more or less) and also protects you from a single drive failure. With Synology this can be done on the fly so you could start with a single drive, then drop in another and either double the storage or have one as the parity drive, then add a 3rd or 4th drive which are pure storage as you already have the parity drive. The thing is when you start "ganging" drives in the box and they work together the slowest drive can bring down the overall speed of the box so the faster the drives the better. 7200 RPM drives don't really cost much more but are worth it. So I know you said you were on a budget and I just basically doubled what you were planning to spend but you would be much happier in the end. If funds are tight I'd try to put the $300 aside you were going to spend and keep using what you have now and put aside $50/week or month until you have enough to get the better NAS box as well as 1 7200 RPM drive made for NAS use. BTW, you can plug external USB3 drives into the Synology box like my 920+ and use them via Synology as well which is nice. If this just won't work for you then get the DS220+ between the two you mentioned and call it a day without buyer remorse as it's a nice little NAS but without much expandability. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bingie 99 Posted July 1, 2021 Author Share Posted July 1, 2021 Thanks, great feedback, I agree a bigger NAS is better future proof, but old people have limited income. Maybe I will keep using the laptop as a NAS and just save up. My external drive is only half full so I still have time. What is tone-mapping? You mentioned from HDR to SDR content, i'm guess that's when people want to watch remotely on a phone, which to me is just silly. If I want to watch a movie, that's what the tv is for Phones are for talking. Tv's for watching. I guess I'm just set in my old ways. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carlo 4330 Posted July 1, 2021 Share Posted July 1, 2021 Tone Mapping is what Emby Server 4.6 and later versions can do to take HDR (High dynamic range) 4K content and convert it on the fly to SDR (standard dynamic range) for use on HD TV, laptops, tablet, phones that can't play HDR content. Typically without tone mapping the colors get flat and the picture doesn't look good. The DS220+ can do this as well. The main difference from DS220+ to 920+ are: double the internal drive bays 2 slots for 2 M.2 SSD drives used for caching eSATA port for connecting expansion drives or expansion box for making the 920+ like a much bigger NAS. More exhaustive software features as you have more options to use The DS220+ has a 2.0GHz dual-core Intel Celeron J4025 chipset while the DS920+ has a 2.0GHz quad-core Intel Celeron J4125 chipset so it has twice as many cores. The DS220+ comes with 2GB of memory while the 920+ comes with 4GB of memory, both can be upgrade to more memory. I just added an additional 4 GB chip I purchased off Amazon for $30. With all that said, if your laptop/USB3 drive is working for you now keep using in and save the pennies till you need the upgrade. Who knows, another NAS could come out in a few months even better (not likely) or you may even find a used or refurbished model that is better priced. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ng4ever 39 Posted July 1, 2021 Share Posted July 1, 2021 (edited) 14 minutes ago, cayars said: Tone Mapping is what Emby Server 4.6 and later versions can do to take HDR (High dynamic range) 4K content and convert it on the fly to SDR (standard dynamic range) for use on HD TV, laptops, tablet, phones that can't play HDR content. Typically without tone mapping the colors get flat and the picture doesn't look good. The DS220+ can do this as well. The main difference from DS220+ to 920+ are: double the internal drive bays 2 slots for 2 M.2 SSD drives used for caching eSATA port for connecting expansion drives or expansion box for making the 920+ like a much bigger NAS. More exhaustive software features as you have more options to use The DS220+ has a 2.0GHz dual-core Intel Celeron J4025 chipset while the DS920+ has a 2.0GHz quad-core Intel Celeron J4125 chipset so it has twice as many cores. The DS220+ comes with 2GB of memory while the 920+ comes with 4GB of memory, both can be upgrade to more memory. I just added an additional 4 GB chip I purchased off Amazon for $30. With all that said, if your laptop/USB3 drive is working for you now keep using in and save the pennies till you need the upgrade. Who knows, another NAS could come out in a few months even better (not likely) or you may even find a used or refurbished model that is better priced. Sorry to change topic a little but are you sure the DS220+ can do tone mapping? I tried it on mine and it would never work Yes this is with Emby Premiere. Playback would always error out and use my max cpu power Even with tone mapping set to hardware. I will create a separate or second topic about this if you all want me to. Edited July 1, 2021 by ng4ever Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bingie 99 Posted July 1, 2021 Author Share Posted July 1, 2021 (edited) Thanks, I'm reading up on the 920 now, and I saw the 420 too, but it's basically the same price, so 920 better bang for bucks. Our collection just isn't very big, not sure I'll ever fill a 6TB drive, and if I ever do, drives always getting cheaper and bigger, just replace. Now that I think about it, I can just get an external USB 3.0 6TB drive and connect it to this Thinkpad T430. We're streaming to 2 tv's already, and using an external USB has been working fine so far. Might buy me another year if need be. I would like my laptop back though... Edited July 1, 2021 by Bingyyyy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ng4ever 39 Posted July 1, 2021 Share Posted July 1, 2021 Just now, Bingyyyy said: Thanks, I'm reading up on the 920 now, and I saw the 420 too, but it's basically the same price, so 920 better bang for bucks. Our collection just isn't very big, not sure I'll ever fill a 6TB drive, and if I ever do, drives always getting cheaper and bigger, just replace. Now that I think about it, I can just get an external USB 3.0 6TB drive and connect it to this Thinkpad T430. We're streaming to 2 tv's already, and using an external USB has been working fine so far. Might buy me another year if need be. Yeah that why I only got a 220+ but I only got two 4 TB drives. The crazy part about it I am running it in raid 0 lol. I know I am crazy. Only so we have 7 TB of space instead of only 3.5 TB about. Yes I know how risky raid 0 is. Though I have all the video data, movies and tv shows, backed up on my main pc mostly. Even then it is not like it will be the end of the world if we lose just content. Now important data is a different story. That is backed up though for sure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carlo 4330 Posted July 1, 2021 Share Posted July 1, 2021 25 minutes ago, ng4ever said: Sorry to change topic a little but are you sure the DS220+ can do tone mapping? I tried it on mine and it would never work Yes this is with Emby Premiere. Playback would always error out and use my max cpu power Even with tone mapping set to hardware. I will create a separate or second topic about this if you all want me to. Yes please do and we can investigate. It could be with only 2 cores there isn't enough muscle to handle everything. I know the 920+ can do it as I've got that NAS. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bingie 99 Posted July 2, 2021 Author Share Posted July 2, 2021 Okay I decided. For anyone that's interested in this thread, I decided that since I already have Emby server running just fine on a laptop, and funds are limited, I decided to buy the first NAS HDD and install it in an external HDD case that connects via USB 3.0: Western Digital 10TB WD Red Plus NAS Internal Hard Drive HDD - 7200 RPM, SATA 6 Gb/s, CMR, 256 MB Cache, 3.5" - WD101EFBX https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08TZPS4QQ/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 Inateck 3.5 Hard Drive Enclosure, Aluminum USB 3.0 Sata HDD Enclosure https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00UAA4J6G/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 If I fill that drive up, then I know I need at least a 4 bay NAS. If the drive stays far less than full, then a 2 bay NAS will probably be more than sufficient. Cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carlo 4330 Posted July 2, 2021 Share Posted July 2, 2021 Good call and kind of a smart move! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bingie 99 Posted July 2, 2021 Author Share Posted July 2, 2021 16 minutes ago, cayars said: Good call and kind of a smart move! Thanks, I was hoping that was a good move, it's more than I wanted to pay, but does satisfy my frugal and pragmatic requirements, so I'm okay with it. Will be drinking diet water for a while 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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