I just bought the RN42200 (model name shown on the back of the device) and I am trying to find out if it supports media streaming and at what resolution (1080p or 4k)?
I wasn't able to find out, and I am considering to return it and buy the Synology DiskStation DS218+ (which claims to support 4K streaming) which I don't want to do if 422 support streaming. Appreciate some the guidance.
Model: RN422|ReadyNAS 422 2-Bay with up to 20 TB total storage
It can stream 4K, but it is not able to transcode 4K in real time. ReadyDLNA doesn't transcode anyway, so that constraint only applies to Plex.
So if your Plex player isn't 4K capable (or the network path doesn't have the capacity to carry the 4K stream), then you would need to do off-line transcoding.
Stephen, one more question and sorry for my ignorance on the topic. Is transcoding 4k a Plex limitation or HW limitation?
Also Mark mentioned that it do media streaming using DLNA, Plex, itunes, Tivo, ... - does this mean that I can use any of these applications to stream?
Stephen, one more question and sorry for my ignorance on the topic. Is transcoding 4k a Plex limitation or HW limitation?
HW (or perhaps software optimization). The CPU isn't fast enough to transcode 4K in real time. Plex supports hardware (GPU) acceleration, but the server chips used in ReadyNAS don't do that. My 526x can't transcode 4K in real time either - a 620 series might be able to do one stream.
Also Mark mentioned that it do media streaming using DLNA, Plex, itunes, Tivo, ... - does this mean that I can use any of these applications to stream?
There are multiple options. I recommend starting with Plex (note it has a DLNA server built in), though ReadyDLNA is also a reasonable starting point. If you want to use plex on mobile devices, there are two options:
one-time payment of $5 per device to unlock the full features
subscription to plex-pass
iTunes support has some limitations - Apple doesn't have a linux version, so the ReadyNAS uses a freeware server that is reverse-engineered. I don't recommend using it, as those limitations are pretty severe. For instance, you can't use the NAS itunes server to stream to iphones, ipads, or Apple TV.
I've never used Tivo, so I have no advice on that.
Ya, Native 4K Streaming to a 4K TV should generally not be an issue. Same goes for 1080P. There is any number of ways to directly stream the content. For Example, there's VLC Media Player. You can get it on the Apple TV and directly stream content from your NAS. VLC is everywhere, so my guess it's on ROKU and other devices also, but you would have to check. If I wasn't using PLEX, I'd use Infuse 5. You can find it here. Again for Apple TV. https://firecore.com/infuse
What I like about it is it gives you a really nice Interface, kind of like PLEX or Netflix, etc. But you don't need to have a server running like PLEX.
Why I use is PLEX. It's great with tons of features. It's not too hard to set up. It has a Server which you would run on a NAS or Windows PC or Mac, etc, and then a Client which they have for just about everything. So long as you only use Direct Play, as in No Transcoding, you should be OK on a Home NAS with an ARM CPU. You can find the requirements for a Plex Server here!
So I have a ReadyNAS 516, which has an Intel Processor and I basically upgraded the CPU to that of the 716 which make it faster and double the cores if I remember correctly. It's still an older CPU. I have no 4K TV's. I have a few 4K Video's though to test with. My NAS can transcode 1 4K Video to 1080P ok without buffering, after upgrading the CPU. In real time. Before I upgraded the CPU, it was buffering all the time , basically making it not worth watching. Now most of your content you have is going to be 1080P or 720P, etc. PLEX shouldn't need to Transcode to 4K, You should be able to Directly play and your 4K TV will do any conversion that needs to be done to see the picture on the screen. Your 4K Content will be Direct Play to a 4K TV. But if you try to play 4K content on one of your older 1080P TV's, it would have to transcode. Your 1080P TV has no idea what 4K is. So you wouldn't get any picture. Or you can make a version of that 4K movie to a lower resolution to play on your lower res TV. The program HandBrake works really well for things like this and it's FREE and works on Windows, Mac, etc.
PLEX does have the ability to copy content from Plex onto your iPad or iPhone in a format good for that device. So it will Transcode to shrink it down and fit the screen being played on. This wouldn't have to be done in real time and so should work OK on an ARM type NAS, just slower.
Plex and another not as well known called EMBY, and both support the ReadyNAS, though I think EMBY is only for Intel ReadyNAS currently?!?! I have both on my NAS to play around with. They have many of the same features and some differences. They both. and EMBY started doing this first, is allowing a GPU (The Graphics Card) to help do the transcoding. The problem is most NAS units don't have a Graphics Card built in or added to allow it to work. So it's mainly used if you're using a Desktop computer as the PLEX server.
That's another way to go. You can have the PLEX server on your much faster Intel CPU on your Desktop, while having all your content on your NAS. I used to do this on my much, much, slower ARM NAS. PLEX barely would even run on that thing. Some people buy lower cost Mac Mini's to use as the PLEX Server as it's pretty fast depending on which one, with a Intel CPU and PLEX runs on the Mac. It's small and low power.
Netflix, on the other hand, doesn't really do Transcoding in the same way as PLEX. They have many different resolutions for every movie. So no need to transcode. But that, of course, takes up a ton of more space.
There are a lot of options. Watch out, read carefully when they say it can play 4K or whatever. You may be disappointed. Some do have capabilities to do it with hardware acceleration so long as you use their software which may not be all that great. Do you have a need to Transcode? I have someone on my PLEX Freinds list. So she can stream my content. So I limit her to 4Mbps (720P). That's generally quite a bit less than most of my content and so gets transcoded down from say 20Mbps 1080P Local down to that 4Mbps 720P in real time to her house. More than good enough for her. No complaints!!! My 250Mbps Download and about 11 Mbps Upload, it's the Upload she would be using. So if she's taking 4 Mbps, that leave 7Mbps for me. If I had 2 people streaming from me, that would leave me 3Mbps Upload. So Do you even need Transcoding? Do you even need something as complex as PLEX. It's not HARD, but you know, Server/Client. Or just something Basic. VLC for example. Any need for on the fly transcoding from 4K to 1080P or lower? I don't know what your needs are or what your future plans are?
I know what my future plans are. I changing things up in my small Closet where I have everything Network related on a couple Shelves and Pulling the shelves to mount up a 8U Wall Mount Rack. I ran a test on my 24 Port Managed switch, testing the cables and it's telling me I have a number of issues with my cables, which explains a few issues I've been having for quite some time. So I have to go through and check all my Cat6 Ethernet wiring throughout my house. Fun, Fun!! I did swap ports on one of my devices I was having issues, and it's mostly cured. That was was the cable with the worst issues.
I'm running out of space on my NAS, Almost 13TB's now. I backup to another NAS. The only practical way to backup a NAS. A NAS alone is not a backup! The NAS you have, not bad. It's Intel, though only Duel Core and 1.5Ghz, but better than ARM. The price is not bad at all. It would run PLEX just fine and Direct Play your Video's. Personally, I think why waste your time with a 2 bay NAS. I always say, get at least a 4 Bay NAS. You're in RAID 1. Mirror. ( I hope) What you do on 1 HDD is mirrored to the second HDD. I'm looking at the ad and it says 20TB Capacity. Oh sure, if you buy 2 10TB drives and use RAID 0. ZERO Redundancy. If 1 HDD fails, you lose everything!!! You really need a Backup!! This is what I use on my 4 Bay NAS, using 2 8TB HDD. It's only running 2 days a week late at night to backup any changes. Rest of the time it's off, and besides, it's a backup. When you get a NAS you think, I'm never going to fill it up, and then you do!!! I have to start replacing my 6 3TB HDD's in my NAS soon. I'm down to just over 1TB of space left. I could double my space just swapping in 6, 6TB drives. Let alone jumping to 10TB which are still pretty costly. With at least a 4 bay, you can use RAID 5 and have 3 HDD worth of Data with 1 drive being able to fail and yet still be running and being able to swap the bad drive and rebuilt the system It's nice being able to rip your movies and putting them on your NAS and being able to watch them anywhere in your house, at work, or really anywhere in the world so long as you have an Internet Connection. I can stream my Music that's on PLEX in my Car as I'm driving around. I remember back years ago where you could buy a 100 Disc DVD changer. You could have 100 DVD's loaded up, and switch them from your sofa. Having PLEX, it's like my own personal Netflix service. But the content is all stuff I like and it's always there. It's not up one day, and gone the next. 20 years ago I would have said, no way, that's crazy that I can have 1000's of Movies and TV shows on demand from anywhere at any time. Even from this small device called a iPhone!!! No way,.... WAY!!! So you put more and more of your stuff on your NAS and before you know it, Ops, I need a new bigger NAS and larger HDD's. It never seems to be enough.
Me too. I'm already on the path of using a Windows desktop as an application server. The Windows PC runs the applications, and the NAS is used only for storage. The NAS data volume is mapped to a drive letter on the Windows PC (and I am using 10 gigabit ethernet to connect the PC with the NAS). Backup is done to other ReadyNAS. I also use Crashplan (installed on the application server) for disaster recovery.
When/if I decide I care about transcoding 4K, then I'll upgrade the PC. If a new app comes along that I want to use, I'll just install the windows version on the application server. If I outgrow the RN526x, then I'll upgrade the NAS - nothing changes on the PC.
Though getting back to the original question - I suggest enabling both Plex and ReadyDLNA, and then decide what works best. And do off-line conversion for 4K content where that is needed (creating a lower quality/lower resolution version for streaming to devices that can't play 4K, or over the internet where network congestion gets in the way).
Ya, you have to spend a whole lot of money to get a NAS with lots of power. They are normally a business Class NAS. Much lower cost Home NAS units just don't generally have a ton of power. So you have flexibility on a NAS for your files and a high-performance Desktop as your application server. You can swap out one or the other as your needs change and grow.
I've never really used ReadyDLNA, but yet I've been able to access my content on my NAS using DLNA. Ummm. I'll have to check and see if that works these days. I haven't tried in quite some time as I only use PLEX, and I have DLNA turned off in PLEX. I didn't want anyone to gain access through PLEX using DLNA because they could gain access to ALL of the files, not the specific access I give them by Logging into their account. My accounts are password protected. I do not want people to have access to all on my NAS and so DLNA is off.
Oh darn, I just looked in System/Settings and ReadyDLNA was turned On. Ops,... It's now turned off. No need for it as I use PLEX.
But I would turn it ON if I was NOT using PLEX and was using something else to stream on the Xbox, or whatever. Like I said, if you have a Apple TV, there's a great app called "Infuse 5" which is the newest version. The great thing is you can get a similar type of Interface as PLEX, and yet be running no server. It's just the app on the Apple TV doing it all. So if you want that kind of look, without having to run a PLEX server on anything, I think it's a nice Option. It's not free. I think I own a copy of Infuse 4, I just never use it as I have PLEX.
There's also EMBY which is like PLEX. Similar but different. They have Clients for many devices like PLEX. I'm actually running BOTH and I have Lifetime service on both. Plex for far, far longer and is the main one used. I'm currently only using EMBY for testing and playing around with. It is another option. They have a ReadyNAS Intel version you can install easily!!! No Arm support I think, so out of luck there. They do support a number of Platforms. The list continues to grow. https://emby.media/
If you want more Basic, but run just about every file type and is FREE, VLC Media Player is a great option. I have this on my Windows Desktop to play videos. I even have it on my Apple TV but never need to use it. VLC is on everything!!! https://www.videolan.org/vlc/index.html
So you may not even need a high-performance NAS, or have a power hungry PC running all the time. There are just a lot of options. That's a good thing.
