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Forum Discussion
526X Streaming performance
The RN526X is a great NAS - performs very well in my testing so far. I plan a more complete report later on - but as far as file transfer speeds go, I'll probably need a 10 gbit upgrade to my deskt...
Plex can make good use of the quad-core CPU in the RN626X as discussed in e.g. 626 Plex performance
mdgm wrote:
Plex can make good use of the quad-core CPU in the RN626X as discussed in e.g. 626 Plex performance
Yes - NASguru ran some useful streaming tests. The 626X can handle multiple 1080p transcodes. It handled some 4K->1080p transcoding, but stuttered on a couple of clips.
Though if you have the disk space for 4K, you probably can also keep a 1080p or 720p version...
So that makes me feel good. My Upgraded 516 can now handle trancoding 1 4K video to 1080P. I only have the 1 right now I was doing for testing. It was buffering like crazy on my non-modified 516. It doesn't sound like performace wise with the CPU is all that much better. You do have the advantage of the 10Gbit ports.
Not sure how many jobs PLEX can handle at once. Is it a direct plat 1080P, or is it a transcoding job. Which if it's a friend at their house, it's getting transcoded down to 720P at 3Mbps. Still looks good and not hogging my Limited upload speed bandwith. It's FREE for them, so can't complain!!! Are you playing on a iPad, or whatever, so how do you really compair fairly?
You're NOT going to get the same performace building your old NAS with a PC Case and using a i7 processor and whatnot. It's also going to be more power hungrey and more work. Some people like that. There's a lot of flexability in what you can do. On the other hand I like the nice smaller size of a ReadyNAS. A 6 disc version is still kind of large and heavy, but it fits into my small closet nice. It's easy to use for the most part. XRAID works well. Plugging in a UPS is as simple as plugging a USB plug into the NAS. Thw power saving features are easy to set. The hardware seems built pretty well. I'm a fan.
JBDragon1 wrote:
So that makes me feel good. My Upgraded 516 can now handle trancoding 1 4K video to 1080P. I only have the 1 right now I was doing for testing. It was buffering like crazy on my non-modified 516.
Cool.
FWIW, the trend in transcoding (like rendering) is to use GPU acceleration to off-load the CPU. I don't think the server chipsets in the new ReadyNAS include any GPU capability, but if transcoding becomes a must-have feature for home NAS owners, then Netgear will likely have to add that in future models.
Yes, using the GPU would be a good idea. Don't some NAS's out there have that ability currantly? That is one direction to go. That's bascially what a GPU does. ARM processors are getting more and more powerfull every year also. At some point good enough to do 1080P transcoding. Not transcoding down to 480P.
For me, transcoding is very important. Most everything I'm streaming is getting transcoded. I have friends streaming my content at their own house, and so I have to reduce quality down to 720P at 3Mbps speeds because of my Limited Upload bandwith of around 6Mbps or so. Even though my Download bandwidth is around 100Mbps. It still looks great for them and besides, it would be dumb to complain!!! Not with access to over 700 movies, most in HD quality.
If my NAS wasn't fast enough like it used to be with the older ReadyNAS I had, I'd be using my Windows PC once again to run PLEX on. It's rare when something is actually Direct playing for me. Even right now, a friend is watching one of my movies at her home. PLEX is showing Transcoing, with Video Transcode (h264) and Audio Transcode (aac). A 1080P Video with 3 audio tracks, TrueHD 7.1, AC3 5.1 and AC3 Sterio. Transcoding is top priority for me. I do have to have limits of who connects because the NAS Intel processor can only handle so much. I still want to be able to watch my own content without hickups.
4K is a big jump in fize size and transcoding needs. I still don't see much point in it unless you have a 100" plus screen or sit almost point blank in front of the screen. I'm not worrying about it anytime soon. But it's good to know what a NAS can do.
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