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4k transcoding
I just got the ReadyNAS 212 and i was wondering that is it capable to transcode in 4k? There are a couple of nas s out there that do offer 4k transcoding. I was wondering if netgear is the right choi...
The RN212 can transcode HD to SD for streaming, but it's arm processor simply isn't fast enough to transcode 4K. Generally speaking 4K needs 4x the peformance of 1080p. You have 2x the pixels to process, and the compression algorithms used are more compllex as well. To do that in a low-power device you'd need hardware acceleration, and none of the ReadyNAS use that. Even the RN516 only has an I3 processor.
Overall, one option is to use the NAS for storage, but to do the streaming and perhaps other applications from a different device (setting up an application server). That could be built on an Intel Nuc or some other small form factor PC if desired. It gives you a more modular upgrade path (in practice allowing you to use the NAS for a longer period of time). And it allows you to use any apps you want.
I've been thinking about switching to this concept myself, since I'm already running some applications on a desktop PC (plex being one of them), with a mapped drive to the NAS.
Don't want to be annoyingly picky... but doesn't 4k have 4 times the pixels 1080p has? :D
jak0lantash wrote:
Don't want to be annoyingly picky... but doesn't 4k have 4 times the pixels 1080p has? :D
It does (I typed the wrong thing).
I researched the codec complexity (e.g required processing) a bit more. Complexity depends on the use case - decoding H.265 isn't that different from decoding H.264, the higher complexity is in the encoder. So if you are transcoding 4K H.265 to 480p H.264, it is still about 4x over transcoding 1080p H.264 to 480p H.264. If you are encoding H.265, that would be much higher complexity than encoding H.264 (or VP9).
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