#Plex media server qnap is plex app mp4#

You can avoid a lot of transcoding by converting videos to the “universal” MP4 format and only streaming within your own home, but if you hope to beam 4K video to a ton of devices at once, you have to decide whether to buy an expensive NAS unit like the QNAP TVS-872N-i3-8G or go with a cheaper alternative. That said, NAS units that are powerful enough to transcode multiple high-res files are a bit expensive.

Generally speaking, any popular NAS unit like the Synology DS220+ or the TerraMaster F2-221 will be able to stream 4K video or transcode multiple video streams simultaneously ( transcoding happens when your server needs to change a video’s file type or resolution, or add subtitles to the stream). Picking a NAS unit for home streaming is fairly easy thanks to the bustling Plex community. They’re power efficient, they don’t take up any more room than they should, and they help you breeze through things like Plex installation and the RAID setup process. The thing that’s important to understand right now is that, unlike the alternatives, dedicated NAS devices are actually intended for server applications. That’s not to say that dedicated NAS units are the only solution for network-attached storage and home streaming-there are several alternatives, and we’ll get to them in a minute. (File redundancy is always a tradeoff for usable storage space, and some people may opt for less redundancy to avoid spending a ton of money on hard drives.)Īll of these features make NAS devices an ideal candidate for Plex, especially if you’re inexperienced with drive arrays, servers, and home streaming. Adding new drives to your NAS device is incredibly easy, and depending on how you set up your raid array RAID, you might never need to worry about losing data if a drive needs to be replaced. They also use RAID to “combine” hard drives for increased performance and file redundancy, a form of real-time data backup. And much like the Dropbox and OneDrive cloud services, you can even access your NAS unit when you’re away from home.īecause NAS devices are intended for everyday consumers, they make the server setup process as straightforward as possible and feature multiple easy-to-access drive bays.

#Plex media server qnap is plex app download#

You can use your NAS unit to wirelessly back up files from your computer, phone, or tablet, or even download the files from your NAS without plugging a hard drive into your device. In other words, they’re like cloud servers for your home.

Whatever You Do, Don’t Forget the Hard Drives!ĭedicated NAS Devices Are Purpose-Built for Home Streaming TerraMasterĭedicated NAS devices connect several hard drives to your home internet, allowing you to remotely access their contents from any device.

Affordable and Powerful: Use an NVIDIA Shield Streaming Stick.

Fully Featured: Repurpose a Desktop or Laptop.

Alternatives Exist, and You Can Combine Them with a NAS Unit.

Dedicated NAS Devices Are Purpose-Built for Home Streaming.