Newbie - just purchased DS418Play w/ 4 x 4TB WD RED - Questions

[gsr519]

Hello All,

I am just getting into the NAS scene and had a few questions to the Synology/NAS vets over here

1. When I first set up this NAS it defaulted me to using Synology's SHR method (it did not give me an option to choose) for storing my files, should i be deleting this volume and choosing RAID 6? I would love to have the 12 TB of space but not sure what the most reliable method is. I will eventually buy 1 or 2 large external 8TB + drives but likely not until black friday.

2. I tried streaming a 4K movie to my TV via Plex and after a few seconds it stopped and said the NAS performance is too slow and even when I tried to switch to a lower quality (1080) it still had some issues. I thought this could transcode up to 2 4k movies at the same time. I did purchase the 4gb ram upgrade to get the unit up to 6 gb (should deliver today) will that help fix this issue? Or is 1080 the best this NAS can do?

3. Is there a software or way for me to backup my Download folder on my Samsung Note 8 and it sync daily on the DS418play? As far as i can tell, photos and movies there's a way but I constantly download music and would love for this to automatically be stored on the NAS as well.

I have many more questions but these are the ones I am most curious in solving.

Your help is appreciated.

Thank you in advance.

 

[ColinTaylor]

2. I tried streaming a 4K movie to my TV via Plex and after a few seconds it stopped and said the NAS performance is too slow and even when I tried to switch to a lower quality (1080) it still had some issues. I thought this could transcode up to 2 4k movies at the same time. I did purchase the 4gb ram upgrade to get the unit up to 6 gb (should deliver today) will that help fix this issue? Or is 1080 the best this NAS can do?

I have no personal experience with your devices but the Synology site for the DS418Play only refers to transcoding 4k source material to a maximum of 1024p.

https://www.synology.com/en-uk/know...ynology_NAS_transcode_4K_videos_for_my_device

 

[System Error Message]

Hello All,

I am just getting into the NAS scene and had a few questions to the Synology/NAS vets over here

1. When I first set up this NAS it defaulted me to using Synology's SHR method (it did not give me an option to choose) for storing my files, should i be deleting this volume and choosing RAID 6? I would love to have the 12 TB of space but not sure what the most reliable method is. I will eventually buy 1 or 2 large external 8TB + drives but likely not until black friday.

2. I tried streaming a 4K movie to my TV via Plex and after a few seconds it stopped and said the NAS performance is too slow and even when I tried to switch to a lower quality (1080) it still had some issues. I thought this could transcode up to 2 4k movies at the same time. I did purchase the 4gb ram upgrade to get the unit up to 6 gb (should deliver today) will that help fix this issue? Or is 1080 the best this NAS can do?

3. Is there a software or way for me to backup my Download folder on my Samsung Note 8 and it sync daily on the DS418play? As far as i can tell, photos and movies there's a way but I constantly download music and would love for this to automatically be stored on the NAS as well.

I have many more questions but these are the ones I am most curious in solving.

Your help is appreciated.

Thank you in advance.

either side must be powerful enough. For example your NAS CPU isnt powerful enough to transcode 4K, i know because my overclocked phenom ii x4 can stream 3 1080p streams or even a non standard stream that is bigger than 4K for live transcoding. Because the NAS CPU isnt strong enough it sends the video file to the client instead. If the client or the network cannot support the video it will not work. This is why it cuts out.

Minimum 4K transcoded requires 20Mb/s, but some have much better quality. Ensure that the network (in your case probably wifi) has at least 100Mb/s of practical bandwidth minimum as wifi can get interference and busy.

Your TV, like any portable device like your phone relies on the hardware encoding or pre encoded streams. Make sure your TV supports encoding such streams as if your NAS cant do it, your TV certainly cant. It may be able to display 4K but it doesnt mean it has the CPU power to transcode it.

 

[sfx2000]

as @System Error Message suggests - working with 4K is a bit complex...

transcoding is always going to take a hit performance wise, so it's really dependent on the codec in play, and what's available.

 

[claykin]

Hello All,

I am just getting into the NAS scene and had a few questions to the Synology/NAS vets over here

1. When I first set up this NAS it defaulted me to using Synology's SHR method (it did not give me an option to choose) for storing my files, should i be deleting this volume and choosing RAID 6? I would love to have the 12 TB of space but not sure what the most reliable method is. I will eventually buy 1 or 2 large external 8TB + drives but likely not until black friday.

Do you currently have 4 drives installed? If not, you cannot do RAID 6. During SHR setup, if 4 like sized disks are installed, the NAS will ask if you want single or dual disk redundancy. Dual disk is Raid 6. SHR is basically Raid with a few added features. One is you can use different sized disks and SHR will attempt to maximize space. Conventional Raid 6 will create the Raid based on size of smallest disk.

2. I tried streaming a 4K movie to my TV via Plex and after a few seconds it stopped and said the NAS performance is too slow and even when I tried to switch to a lower quality (1080) it still had some issues. I thought this could transcode up to 2 4k movies at the same time. I did purchase the 4gb ram upgrade to get the unit up to 6 gb (should deliver today) will that help fix this issue? Or is 1080 the best this NAS can do?

You need a Plex Pass. Your NAS is compatible with 4K transcoding (decoding only) if you use hardware decoding which is included with plex pass.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet...Ac4oOLPRtCkgUxU0jdj3tmMPc/edit#gid=1274624273

3. Is there a software or way for me to backup my Download folder on my Samsung Note 8 and it sync daily on the DS418play? As far as i can tell, photos and movies there's a way but I constantly download music and would love for this to automatically be stored on the NAS as well.

There's several ways to do this. Try Synology DSCloud. https://www.synology.com/en-us/knowledgebase/Mobile/help/DScloud/Android

I have many more questions but these are the ones I am most curious in solving.

Your help is appreciated.

Thank you in advance.[/QUOTE]