Looking for Nas network storage recommendation

[DGMurdockIII]

Looking for a recommendation on a low cost nas device that can do plex and connect to eathernet i was looking at few qnap ones not sure what to get

 

[Cmustang87]

Synology DS416J - https://www.synology.com/en-us/products/DS416j

 

[Vengance_01]

That's kinda a loaded question. They key is do you need the plex server to transcode?

 

[DGMurdockIII]

Only when I cast to chromecast

 

[Vengance_01]

Only when I cast to chromecast

If most of your video's are in MKV and are at the profile level for the chromecast to handle, your only going to be needing audio to be transcoded.

 

[DGMurdockIII]

They are mostly mkv or mp4

 

[DGMurdockIII]

Right now I'm using a computer with Linux on it and plex installed just wanted something that is easier to maintain

 

[Vengance_01]

Right now I'm using a computer with Linux on it and plex installed just wanted something that is easier to maintain

How much storage do you need?

 

[DGMurdockIII]

2 tb is ok but diskless is ok i'll put my own drives in

 

[ND40oz]

QNAP typically has the best hardware for the the price compared to Synology. Any of their Celeron J3455 systems should handle a single 1080p transcode for you.

https://smile.amazon.com/QNAP-TS-453Bmini-4G-Vertical-Celeron-Transcoding/dp/B01MSWNY3M/

 

[DGMurdockIII]

What about under $300 will I find anything I'm looking for

 

[bds1904]

I like my WD PR4100. Hardware Plex transcoding and it's been really stable. The PR2100 is the 2-bay version.

They aren't cheap but it'll transcode 4 streams at a time with ease.

 

[geekebox]

I have a Thecus. Never heard of the brand before purchasing it. Cant run plex but otherwise has great specs and software.

 

[Vengance_01]

I think your better on building your own. Itx plus a cheap apu amd or intel Celeron and run freenas. Run freenas off of flash drive.

 

[ND40oz]

What about under $300 will I find anything I'm looking for

You could swing a 2 bay for that price, but you're pretty limited on disk space at that point. You're better spending another ~$100 and getting a 4 bay if you want any type of expandability.

https://smile.amazon.com/QNAP-TS-251-Personal-Quad-Core-Transcoding/dp/B015VNLEOQ?th=1

https://smile.amazon.com/TS-251A-personal-direct-display-TS-251A-2G-US/dp/B01JHHGJJ2/

 

[DGMurdockIII]

Ok but what about Synology
2-Bay DiskStation NAS
DS216play what do think about this

 

[ND40oz]

Ok but what about Synology
2-Bay DiskStation NAS
DS216play what do think about this

Synology has good software, but it's extremely underpowered hardware wise. Plex cannot leverage the STiH412 in it to do anything other than direct play, it's not capable of any transcoding.

https://forums.plex.tv/discussion/205673/the-server-is-not-powerful-enough-to-convert-video

 

[Vengance_01]

I would just build your own and run freenas. Without drives I built the following system the blow the water out of those pre configured systems

On newegg for 265$ before tax and shipping

Mini-ITX Case(fits 4 3.5 inch drives)
Asrock H110 ITX board with 4 SATA 6.0 ports
Celeron G3930
8GB Ram DDR4 Kit
Seasonic 520 watt Fully Modular PSU

You can also add internal card plus an external drive bay to add more storage in the future.

 

[ND40oz]

Honestly the Celeron G3930 isn't much better at transcoding than the Celeron's in the Qnap's, it'll still only handle one 1080p transcode at a time. A decent hotswap Mini-ITX case is going to be in the $100+ range depending on features. The whole point of this exercise was the OP was looking for something easier to maintain than his current pc running Linux, something building your own freenas box is not going to be.