Synology Nas Questions

[Struxxffs]

I would try using something like Kodi, VLC, or MX Player to play the shared files without transcoding. If the device can't play the file without transcoding, it probably can't support HDR effectively anyway... so you're back to using Plex to play with transcoding and going to SDR is probably fine.

I have always loved vlc player. iina did not seem to have as good quality playback, elmedia player (which recently have been using) is pretty good, and unfortunately, I did not set up and configure mpc-hc before it became discontinued.

Yeah not all my devices support HDR. Do devices that support HDR, normally able to transcode files?

Thank you for suggestions, I will look into kodi and some of the other alternatives.

You have to avoid transcoding to keep HDR, which means whatever device you play must support direct playback of the file and your network must support the bandwidth needs. For example, trying to place a remuxed 4K HDR file from a BluRay disc is going to require a lot more bandwidth than a 4K HDR file from a streaming service.

If you have a mix of devices that can and can't play 4K HDR, then you can either maintain multiple copies of the same content or have the 4K HDR content transcoded using hardware acceleration. On Windows, this usually means having a NVIDIA GPU. On Linux, you can get by with a recent Intel iGPU.

Thank you. Lately I have been considering using jelly fin. The majority of my devices support 4k HDR. I will be hosting the server transcoding with a intel cpu. Thank you for letting me know about the option to use the cpu for hardware accleration. I think this is the option to use as it will make sure there is more hard drive space and ensures media playback is more comptabile with devices that do not support 4k HDR.

 

[papadage]

PSA....

Either the Synology has weirdly laid out expansion slot geometry or the Intel 10GBE card I bought has a badly spaced bracket, but with the bracket on, the card would not go into the slot. It was pushed to far in from the back to get into the slot. I removed the bracket and slotted it to try it, but would never keep it like that for fear of it slipping out when trying to add or remove a patch cable.

I ordered a single port Synology card instead since I decided to buy a 10GB switch and need only one uplink. I'll patch it into my other switch and then add additional patch cables to the 10GB switch for my desktop and the mini-PC Proxmox/Plex host.

 

[y2k_se]

That's odd; I used an Intel X520-DA2 in my old Synology and don't recall any fit challenges.

 

[papadage]

The card I got was advertised as that, but I wonder if it was a repackaged OEM card for a manufacturer with proprietary dimensions.

 

[Paladin]

They're usually very standard half or full height PCIe cards unless it is a very different form factor like some kind of MLOM daughter board or internal mount card or something. If it was close at all, it was probably a normal card but maybe with a bent mount bracket or something.

 

[y2k_se]

I've had to realign the brackets on random expansion cards over my years playing with hardware, so I suppose it's not unreasonable to think it was just bent enough to be a PITA.

 

[Paladin]

Hardware gets rough treatment over the years, surprisingly so in some cases. Just this morning, I had to do some percussive maintenance to get a face plate to go on to a Dell server because the chassis is just slightly tweaked from shipping bangs and bumps and the rear corner of the lid was just bent enough to not want to go back on after I took it off to check the insides before testing it all. A little gentle encouragement with some big vise grips and the lid is more or less square again and went back on properly. Server is working fine for now.

 

[papadage]

Yeah, I’m not gonna do that with an 8-bay NAS I just bought

 

[y2k_se]

To be clear, I restrict my persuasion to the interface cards, not the system.

 

[papadage]

The issue with this card was that the edge connectors were too far back from the back end of the card. The back of the bracket was flush, and the ports were all the way through it, so it wasn't that.

I didn't want to mess with the card and screw up the slot in the NAS, so back it went. The official card was not that much more expensive.

My patience for jimmying hardware went away after I had kids. Being 55 and having a seven- and a five-year-old wears you down.

 

[Paladin]

Oh yeah, if you can just return it for a refund, that is always best.

From your description, assuming I understand it right, I bet somehow it had the wrong bracket attached to it. Some kind of mistake at some point, or maybe a manufacturing mistake. I'm imagining the problem was that the card could be installed but you couldn't actually get the transceivers/cables to be fully inserted?

 

[papadage]

The card could not be installed at all. The backplate was butting against the back of the Synology's case, but the connector was about 2mm too far back from there to slide down into the slot.

It may have been a weird OEM card that was sold as the claimed X520-DA2.

 

[Paladin]

Yeah that sounds pretty weird. Sending it back was the right move, that is way beyond a bit of a tweaked mount plate or something.

 

[papadage]

With that said, I just installed the Synology card into the NAS and have it and my PC patched into the 10 GB switch. I just tested the transfer rate, and it was stunning to copy a 4 GB movie rip to my desktop in a few seconds.

Welcome to the future.

Next is setting up the miniPC with Proxmox and the Plex container.

 

[Paladin]

Nice. If you are looking for a nice little (and cheap) switch to build out the network a bit, I just got one of these the other day and so far it seems decent. The interface is not the most intuitive (had to get the login and default IP from a review comment on amazon because the manual is completely worthless) but it works with the basic VLAN config I needed and the ports all work so far.
View: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CN6H5JWW


For under $50 after coupon, it seems fine considering you get 2 x 10 Gbit SFP+ and 4 x 2.5 Gbit and no cooling fans.

 

[papadage]

Interesting. Not needed yet, but may be an option once if I ever decide to have a storage network.

 

[Paladin]

For me it is going to serve as a little lab/portable troubleshooting device. Basically it makes a better media converter than a media converter so I can easily use a laptop to fiddle with 10 gigabit networks, verify links, etc. Much cheaper than a real 10 Gig capable tester or one of those crazy USB to SFP+ adapters and it has use as a VLAN capable switch for lab use when I don't need it for testing stuff. It's obviously not as capable as a real fiber tester but I don't really need all that. I just need to make sure links work and send/receive data properly and setup equipment and stuff.

 

[papadage]

I just bought 2TB of Google Drive Storage for backups. It's an expansion of my personal account, which was half full at 50 out of 100GB used. It;s not a bad deal for $85 per year when paying annually.

I set up Hyper Backup to backup my personal files, such as photos, documents, personal videos, etc., which will take up about 700GB. I used the suggested Smart Rotation, which deletes the hourly and daily jobs as they age out of usefulness.

Now to add backup jobs to all our PCs and then the iPhone photos and video.

 

[TriosMelad]

Hey folks,

I'm thinking of snagging a Synology 2-Bay DiskStation DS224+ with two 12tb WD Red drives. Gonna use it for Mac, Windows, and Linux.

RAID1 or SHR?
Can I use security cameras like Amcrest or Reolink with the NAS without internet? Like, if I hook them up to a switch and then to the second Ethernet port on the NAS?
Cheers!

 

[hal_incandenza]

For just two drives not really much difference between RAID1 and SHR, they will just be duplicates