Media Server

ArcticWolf710

I was in a situation not dissimilar to yours a while back & I eventually went the NAS route, (Synology's).

I have multiple devices that stream my local media (all with Kodi, I've never used Plex) & my main desktop rig also originally acted as a media server with multiple internal & external HDD's.  Not the tidiest, most convenient or the ideal option but it all worked well enough at the time.  In addition, I had countless DVDs & Blu-rays everywhere further adding to all of the clutter. I digitised everything in the end & I just ripped the movies themselves from the discs to save the extra space for future additions, (although I still ended up purchasing additional NAS too lol .)

The NAS's are so much tidier than my previous setup & they can be tucked away pretty much anywhere you like, (within reason of course lol).  As @mickevh has pointed out, they are incredibly convenient & they're simply controlled remotely using a WebUI or SSH, whichever you prefer.  The Synology's are definitely a pricier option compared to the alternatives (such as a micro-server running Free-NAS or Linux).  However, it's also peace of mind that the software is simple to configure/use for beginners & it's frequently updated for security, features, etc., by the manufacturer.  (Many advanced features are also available if required.)

I use SHR (Synology's in-house hybrid RAID) which has some great features & advantages.  I use 4 x equal sized HDD's in each of my NAS's & one quarter of the total storage space is essentially used for parity.  (However, with SHR you can use different sized HDD's which some no doubt find incredibly useful.)  As has also been pointed out, RAID isn't an outright backup but with Synology's DSM OS you can also assign "recycle bins" to any folders you create on the NAS which is at least an extra layer of protection in case of accidental deletion etc. before having to resort to backups .  They can be emptied on a schedule or manually too.

I've also setup one of the NAS boxes as a MySQL (MariaDB) server too so my Kodi database is fully centralised which has been another excellent feature.  MySQL keeps track of all of my Kodi resume points, watched status & personal user ratings, amongst other benefits.  I can stop media in Kodi on one device & immediately pick it up from where I left off on another.  Synology also make that whole process very simple too.

There are pros & cons whichever way you go as @mickevh has made clear .  Not to mention, we all have our individual preferences as well.  I've built countless PC's in the past & in an ideal world I would have preferred to have built my own NAS's as well, (not just because it would have been considerably cheaper, I enjoyed building the systems too).  However, I'm now badly disabled & convenience had to come above all other considerations for me, this obviously made the pre-built NAS systems the ideal option for my circumstances.

Works great, no problems at all & it's not rocket science for beginners.  I would happily recommend a Synology NAS but expect to pay the extra for the extras .

kavie87

Lol no.... check yourself

kavie87

I would like to use Plex but I hate when I can’t get metadata stuff to work properly. My OCD... I like Kodi. I can add the folder and just the file name is listed. I’ve backed up the movie I know what it’s about as I bought the movie for a reason. When you backed up your movies which process did you use. I liked MakeMKV but the file is too big. So I use handbrake. What are the ideal settings for high quality without losing much quality? I also hear H264 is good if I’m going to possibly go down the the Plex path for playback. Lastly I’m concerned with TV shows with Plex. It for the life of me bugs up Seinfeld when I backed up the DVDs. I have episode that’s are 2 episodes back to back but obviously are played combined on DVD. Any suggestions on how to fix that? Anyone comment if Plex is worth upgrading to lifetime?

mickevh

That's a bit of a "how long is a piece of string" question. For example, the results are highly subjective and what may be OK for me might be terrible for some videophile - what's OK on a 2 inch smartphone would look terrible on 108 inch LCD, etc. etc.  IIRC most BluRay is already H264 and most DVD is Mpeg 2, so transcoding DVD to H264 might avail some saving but BD may not until you pull the PQ settings way down. Unfortunately, you'll just have to try it a few times and see if you like the results. H265 is reputed to yield smaller files for little subjective PQ loss - but it's possibly not so widely supported in playback devices (yet.)

As a side note - it always amuses me when people buy Blu-Ray then want to trancode it to smaller files. I argue, why buy the BD then crunch it down to something worse, buy the titles on DVD instead - it'll be cheaper, the movie company will have done the transcoding for you (saving one the time) and probably have much better kit and QA for doing it. But that's a whole other discussion all of it's own!

ArcticWolf710

Again @mickevh has already summed everything up nicely .

Additionally, we're now getting closer to a discussion that I'm not entirely sure is permitted on these forums as well!!?????!!??  (Google is your friend .)

I used MakeMKV (or adjusted with MKVToolNIX) without all of the on disc extras.  MakeMKV rips at 1:1 as is from the source which is my preference.  I don't use Handbrake for transcoding or compression etc.  As @mickevh has also pointed out , I too see little point in spending the extra on Blu-ray's to then transcode or compress them right down for use with in home media devices.  Spend a little extra on the larger HDD's for your media server/NAS & retain 1:1 copies .  Plex can always be used to transcode on the fly if streaming to a device that can't handle the full sized originals etc. .  Again as an example, Synology NAS's can also transcode your media too (if required) should you go that route.

Happy hunting .

kavie87

I actually like that response. I’d rather have 1:1 or at least .98:1 for example. I’m not someone who wanted it 3gb as opposed to 20gb... if I could get it a little smaller with out PQ loss but appreciate that comment.
thanks guys : )

mickevh

For Information -

MakeMKV rips bit-for-bit, it simply lifts the track off the disc and repackages it inside an MKV container, so what you get is exactly as it would be if you played the original disc (though of course, different players achieve different things with the same data!)

Things like Handbrake are full fat transcoders - they render out the original data to an image, then recompress it according to whatever settings you've chosen - hence it can yield smaller files (sometimes that can even get bigger) with attendant PQ changes.

kavie87

Any recommendation between 418play or 918 ? Is it worth upgrading ram? Lastly Seagate or WD...

ArcticWolf710

I'm using the standard DS418's.  Obviously that's completely subjective as I'm using them purely as media servers & one just runs a MySQL server too so I'm not pushing them hard for resources at all.  They're virtually identical to the 418 Plus version which has some small upgrades & the different CPU.

It's another "how long is a piece of string" question though lol .  It really does depend on how you intend to use the NAS & any extras you may want to use that are resource intensive.

A 918 , however, may actually be overkill (& overprice) for what you need.  If you need to cater for a small family with a plethora of different devices accessing or transcoding shares, you want a Plex server, or other bells & whistles then yes consider the 918 .  Otherwise, a 418 Play will probably cover your needs if it's just you &/or your partner.  (Having said that, if it's a reasonable expectation that your NAS really is going to fill up quickly & you will need the additional space in the near future;  at least with a 918  you can very easily add a Synology DX517 5 bay expansion bay onto it.  That way you can simply expand the existing volume(s) without faffing around with q second seperate NAS.  It's the one limitation of my DS418's that I wish I'd gone with something like a 918  as I've had to purchase additional 418's & each one obviously needs complete configuration from scratch etc., etc. .)

As @mickevh mentioned in an earlier post, make a list of all of the requirements you know you'll definitely need from a new NAS now, then allow some headroom should you want more from the NAS in the future.  Add any possibles to your list too, (such as may you want to add a surveillance station or run other servers from the NAS?).  (Post your list up if you wish .)

RE: HDD's - Personally, I use 8 TB or 10 TB WD Reds, but as ever this is subjective too.  (I still have 2 x 8TB Seagate Backup Plus HDD's I purchased long before I upgraded to dedicated NAS & they're seriously noisy buggers compared to the WD Reds which really put me off the Seagate's.). The Ironwolf's are faster but again, personally, the vast majority of data/media written to my NAS stays there for good so I'm not bothered about the WD Reds being slightly slower for constant writes as all they're really doing is serving media.  The WD Reds would be expected to & do invariably last longer as well, (on paper at least ).

Word of advice ....  Populate the NAS with the absolute largest HDD's you can possibly afford, (they fill up an awful lot quicker than is often allowed for up front especially when you're losslessly digitising a Blu-ray or any other collection).  If you use Synology's SHR, you can start off with just 2 HDD's & add more when funds allow.  4 bay NAS's aren't exactly cheap so use its maximum potential for capacity to get the biggest bang for your buck.

Use the money on the best HDD's up front too.  You can always add upgrades such as RAM or SSD's (if applicable) later on as well on an as required basis .

Hope that's of continuing help .

Sloppy Bob

WD Reds can be purchased often for a cheaper price by buying one the WD MyBook Duo's or MyCloud EX2's and then removing the drives, no skill required.

They're regularly discounted on Amazon and can be bought for a significant reduction. Inside them are 2 x WD Reds. Last time I bought 2 of them it worked out almost half price compared to buying the drives separately and once opened i could register them with WD for the warranty.