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    NAS queries, PLEX and HEVC formats

    Hi all,

    I have a shiny new Synology 920+ arriving in the near future and having not had a dedicated NAS setup in a while had a query for those in the know.

    My current setup is LG OLED48CX and Shield TV Pro 2019. My plan was primarily to use the 920+ as a media server; a Plex server and use my Shield as a client in order to stream 4K content, primarily remuxes. However, I'm aware that the new 20+ series don't support HEVC 10bit files (which quite a few of my 4K files are). I wanted to avoid transcoding as much as possible, so am I right in thinking I have these options:

    1. Use Shield TV Pro as a Plex media server and point it to the Synology? If so would this cause playback issues as while the Shield supports a massive range of formats I'm assuming it won't be as efficient as the 920+ and I may get playback issues?
    2. Convert the 10bit losslessly into 8bit format
    3. Have I misunderstood completely, as even though the Synology doesn't support 10bit natively the Shield would take care of it without the need to transcode?

    Many thanks!
    3DS FC (updated 2015): 0447-8108-3129

    #2
    Your Plex server does the transcoding, if the Shield TV Pro has the grunt for it, it'll be fine. You can set the source within Plex to point to the NAS and the content will be indexed on the Shield from that and served via the Shield.

    Comment


      #3
      Originally posted by MartyG View Post
      Your Plex server does the transcoding, if the Shield TV Pro has the grunt for it, it'll be fine. You can set the source within Plex to point to the NAS and the content will be indexed on the Shield from that and served via the Shield.
      Thanks Marty, I guess part of my question is, does the Shield have the grunt for it? And in this instance would I be using the Shield as the server? I'm slightly confused since the NAS will be serving the files, even with the Shield as server. If I point my Shield to the NAS does that mean that is the server and the Shield is the client? Or is the Sheild then doing both. To clarify - as I'm sure is obvious - my files will be on my NAS, which cable connects to my router, and my whole network is wired. I want to avoid transcoding all together if possible and fear I've tied myself up in knots as think I have misunderstood some networking basics!
      3DS FC (updated 2015): 0447-8108-3129

      Comment


        #4
        Re-reading, I'm not quite clear what you're planning on using for your playback device - are you planning on using the Shield as the server and the consumer?

        There are two parts to Plex, the Server, which does the indexing and the transcoding, and the consumer which connects to the server for the stream. The files can be on the same server or another machine, the Plex Server will index those and serve them out, so whatever Plex Server is running on is the server that does the work.

        I don't know if a Shield Pro has the grunt for it as I don't own one - I know it does hardware decode, but not sure if it has hardware encode.

        Plex will serve out media native format if the consumer itself can support the format and try to transcode when it needs to - you can limit the number of simultaneous transcodes and connections.

        Comment


          #5
          Originally posted by MartyG View Post
          Re-reading, I'm not quite clear what you're planning on using for your playback device - are you planning on using the Shield as the server and the consumer?

          There are two parts to Plex, the Server, which does the indexing and the transcoding, and the consumer which connects to the server for the stream. The files can be on the same server or another machine, the Plex Server will index those and serve them out, so whatever Plex Server is running on is the server that does the work.

          I don't know if a Shield Pro has the grunt for it as I don't own one - I know it does hardware decode, but not sure if it has hardware encode.

          Plex will serve out media native format if the consumer itself can support the format and try to transcode when it needs to - you can limit the number of simultaneous transcodes and connections.
          I'm using the Shield as the player. With regard to using it as both the server and the client, that's sort of what I was asking. I'm aware it can be used for both. Basically, if I setup my media on my NAS should I have that as the Plex server delivering files to my Shield which is my plex player or should I have Plex media server running on my Shield pointing to the NAS media? I'm aware I can do either, unless I've misunderstood? I just want to make sure I'm able to play the 10bit files with as little transcoding as possible and am aware the 920+ does not natively support it. Again, I may have got muddled here!
          3DS FC (updated 2015): 0447-8108-3129

          Comment


            #6
            If you have Plex running on your NAS, the NAS will do the work of transcoding (where needed).

            If you have Plex running on your Shield, the Shield will do the work of transcoding (where needed).

            Transcoding is the high workload, so you want the server running on the box with the most grunt, which won't be the NAS.

            It looks like the Shield Plex app is an all-in-one thing with full server integration, you just have to enable the server within the app on the shield and setup your media sources, so do that on your shield and point your library to the NAS files.

            As I said before, the Plex Server will only transcode if it has to (or if it's specifically told to transcode everything, you can also turn off transcoding entirely) - if the Shield can natively play 4K 10-bit HEVC, it won't transcode the files at all (it will be an intensive process if this is purely CPU work, rather than built-in hardware decode - this is why a lot of devices struggle to play 10 bit HEVC). From this point of view it won't make much difference whether the server is running on your NAS or Shield, if it can't playback the files on the Shield, it won't be able to transcode either - if you're serving out to other devices from the Server (like to mobile phone playback), this is where you'll see a difference with the extra grunt of the Shield.

            Really if you're using the Shield as a Server and Player and nothing else is consuming, all you're really doing is indexing your media, it's essentially doing the same job as KODI would.

            If the Shield is struggling to play the files after you've set this all up, then I'd look at converting them to a lower resolution or lesser bit rate (there's a bit of trade off here, the lower the bit rate the more detail you lose, so higher bit rate, lower res can often produce better results than lower bit rate, higher res).
            Last edited by MartyG; 18-01-2021, 10:55.

            Comment


              #7
              Originally posted by MartyG View Post
              If you have Plex running on your NAS, the NAS will do the work of transcoding (where needed).

              If you have Plex running on your Shield, the Shield will do the work of transcoding (where needed).

              Transcoding is the high workload, so you want the server running on the box with the most grunt, which won't be the NAS.

              It looks like the Shield Plex app is an all-in-one thing with full server integration, you just have to enable the server within the app on the shield and setup your media sources, so do that on your shield and point your library to the NAS files.

              As I said before, the Plex Server will only transcode if it has to (or if it's specifically told to transcode everything, you can also turn off transcoding entirely) - if the Shield can natively play 4K 10-bit HEVC, it won't transcode the files at all (it will be an intensive process if this is purely CPU work, rather than built-in hardware decode - this is why a lot of devices struggle to play 10 bit HEVC). From this point of view it won't make much difference whether it's on your NAS or Shield, if it can't playback the files on the Shield, it won't be able to transcode either - if you're serving out to other devices from the Server (like to mobile phone playback), this is where you'll see a difference with the extra grunt of the Shield.

              Really if you're using the Shield as a Server and Player and nothing else is consuming, all you're really doing is indexing your media, it's essentially doing the same job as KODI would.

              If the Shield is struggling to play the files after you've set this all up, then I'd look at converting them to a lower resolution or lesser bit rate (there's a bit of trade off here, the lower the bit rate the more detail you lose, so higher bit rate, lower res can often produce better results than lower bit rate, higher res).
              Thank you mate, and the in-depth explanation is highly appreciated. I've got it now! Will report back with successes and failures, hopefully the former!
              3DS FC (updated 2015): 0447-8108-3129

              Comment

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