ReadyNAS 214 "Server not powerful enough" streaming HD 1080p

I have tons of movies myself from over the years.  From DVD's to HD DVD's and Blu-Ray's.

I haven't gotten into much 4K yet as I just don't have a 4k TV or really care about 4K too much.  Really going 4K means an even larger TV.   I love my Panasonic Plasmas.  To me, 4K is pointless without at least a 100" screen.  To see that better resolution you're paying more.  The biggest thing most people notice is HDR.  (High Dynamic Range).  4K is what you're watching on a huge screen in a movie theater.  It's really a way to get people to buy a new TV.  So many people didn't get a larger enough HDTV for the distance they sit, and with 4K it needs to be even larger.

Having all your movies in a central location is clearly the way to go.  It won't be as good as on a disc, and 4K even more so, but it's good enough for most.  The program I use to rip my discs and it'll rip pretty much any type of Disc and movie is called MakeMKV.  

http://www.makemkv.com

Then there's Handbrake which will shrink the file down even more.  Tons of options on that program.  It's in a good format for use with PLEX.

On the fly Transcoding requires horsepower.  ARM really doesn't have that power.  You need a NAS with an Intel processor.  I use a ReadyNAS 516.  Which works fine for a few 1080P transcoding jobs.  I upgraded it, turning it basically into a 716, by upgrading the processor to that of the 716 and jumping the ram from 4 to 16 gig's.  That's enough to handle 1 4K transcoding job in my testing.  My 1080P TV has ZERO clue about 4K, and so PLEX has to transcode from 4K to 1080P on the fly.  On the other hand, a 4K TV would know what 1080P content was and convert on its own to be displayed on its 4K screen.  So PLEX shouldn't have to transcode the Video for a 4K TV.  Or 4K content onto a 4K TV.  

I'm looking on PLEX on the Apple TV, and I don't see a Direct Play option.  They may have done away with that.  There is a Video Quality option you can set like Auto which will auto adjust.  You may want to try Orignal Quality.  I think that would basically be Direct Play.  If you're doing Orginal Quality, then it shouldn't be doing any transcoding.     You can start a stream, then use your computer and log into your PLEX server, click on activity as there should be activity now with something streaming, and you can look and see is it shows Transcoding for either the Video or Audio or Both and get a better idea what's happening.

One thing your NAS should be able to handle is Transcoding movies down a good format for your Smartphone or Tablet, and copy it onto your device.  Which is nice when you don't have a good Internet connection or NO internet connection.  You can still run the Plex app and run a movie you have copied onto your device.  I do this all the time on my iPad.  I sync the content I want right onto my iPad when I'm home.   So you're just converting the content and copying to your device.  No need for On the Fly Transcoding.    I do have 1 person who can watch my content, and so my Online streaming is reduced to 3Mbps (720p) which she is perfectly happy with.  Still looks good and doesn't hog a bunch of my Upload bandwidth.  3Mbps out of about 12 Mbps I get from Comcast.  Really, I could have a couple people streaming from me if I wanted at the same time.  My NAS would have no problem transcoding 2 1080P movies down to 720P while streaming a couple more for me here at my house.  

That's one of the differences from a cheap Home NAS, and a much more expensive Buisness Class NAS, which is what I have.  I got mine used at the time for about half what a new one would have cost.  I had a cheapo ARM ReadyNAS in the past and used my Windows Desktop for the PLEX server to run on.  At the time I was also using Windows Media Center to Record all my TV content from the Antenna, and Xbox 360's as Media Extenders.  With Windows 10, Media Center went away.  I switched to a Tivo Roamio and a few Tivo Mini's.   I offloaded my Weather station software to a Mini NAS, and how the Desktop is not running 24/7 as it is power hungry.

The NAS is in Sleep mode a lot of the time, and late night, it powers down.  I also a couple weeks ago Upgraded my Home wired Network.  From what I did 5 years ago when I got my house, to what it is now, which looks professional.   Something I had been planning to do for the last 6 months.  I had a few wiring issues and decided to fix and upgrade the whole thing.  I also ran another 9 Ethernet cables under my house.  2 to the Garage for my future IP POE Security Camera's I have planned.  All the work I did myself with ZERO help.  What you can't see if the Hole I had to cut out in the door header where there's a dual fan setup that is temp controlled.  The fans are attached to this wood grill that's painted to match the hallway.  So blends in,  It's also pretty quiet.  If it gets to warm in that small closet, the fans come on, on their own blowing air out.  There's about a 1" or so gap under the door for the cooler fresh air to go in.  Heat rises after all.    The fan setup has worked well for my needs for the last 5 years.

Running new cables also allows me to toss a couple small switches that I now no longer need.  My used Fluke Networks MS2-100 Cable Tester allowed me to test everything from point A to point B.  Which I did do a couple booboo's and then corrected.  

This is my before Home Network. You can see my ReadyNAS 516 up top in the middle. There's also a ASUS Router I want to upgrade soon, a cable modem, a HD Homerun, a APC UPS, and a Zyxel 24 port Managed Switch, and next to the switch on the right you can't see a Tivo Stream.This is what it looks now NOW. My ReadyNAS 516 on the top left. My ASUS Wifi Router next to it. Under that my cable modem, HD Homerun and the Tivo Stream. Then there are a couple Cat6 Patch panels. A new Zyxel 48 port Managed Switch. I like these because they work great. The price is reasonable and best of all, they are not DEEP. It's a little less deep that that Cyber Power UPS pm the bottom, which the NAS is plugged into by USB. If the power goes out, the NAS will auto power down on it's own safely. I'm using a 8U Wall Rack that has 1 side hinged on the front, and the sides are adjustable. I have them all the way out to the max of 13.5" in depth.