What do you need for 4K streaming...?

[atomicus]

Is there a NAS that's best for 4K streaming? Ideally I don't want to spend too much, and single drive will do. Have a load of Blu Rays I want to put on a drive, plus some 4K content, so I can stream to my TV. Being new to all this, I'm not sure what would be the best NAS to go for (I keep seeing Synology recommended), and any software required. I see some people talk about Plex server, but not sure if that's relevant to my needs. Any suggestions/advice welcome.

[NTDaws]

A good router and a good computer

[Sir Asvald]

5 minutes ago, Dawson Wehage said:

A good router and a good computer

Also good internet speeds.

[NTDaws]

1 minute ago, Abdul201588 said:

Also good internet speeds.

Hes meaning streaming locally. You need a good router not a good internet connection.

[SCHISCHKA]

Plex is very popular; it streams to multiple platforms. I do not have any 4k to say for certain but I would expect gigabit ethernet would be required. I can't say I have seen a pre-built NAS advertise itself as being 4k capable.

[AshleyAshes]

So by 'Streaming' you mean 'Real time playback of 4K files located on a NAS elsewhere on the LAN'.

 

Uhh... You require NOTHING special what so ever.  This isn't even a stressful task for any NAS and network setup.  '4K' sounds big and scary and heavy but if you're just delivering 4K content for consumption elsewhere in a LAN, the average bitrates.  Even if you were running an entire decrypted UHD Blu-Ray disc over a LAN, the maximum bitrate of UHD BD is only 128mbit.  It's basically a piece of cake for any 1gbit router and NAS.  Even the people saying 'You need a good router' ate wrong.  You need -a- router.  That's it.  Most copy or move tasks over two computers over LAN would be more stressful.

[atomicus]

19 minutes ago, AshleyAshes said:

So by 'Streaming' you mean 'Real time playback of 4K files located on a NAS elsewhere on the LAN'.

 

Uhh... You require NOTHING special what so ever.  This isn't even a stressful task for any NAS and network setup.  '4K' sounds big and scary and heavy but if you're just delivering 4K content for consumption elsewhere in a LAN, the average bitrates.  Even if you were running an entire decrypted UHD Blu-Ray disc over a LAN, the maximum bitrate of UHD BD is only 128mbit.  It's basically a piece of cake for any 1gbit router and NAS.  Even the people saying 'You need a good router' ate wrong.  You need -a- router.  That's it.  Most copy or move tasks over two computers over LAN would be more stressful.

 

OK, thanks... that's good to know in that case. Yes, I mean 4K files located on the NAS. So would I need any additional software or anything, or is that all included with the likes of Synology? The DS115j caught my eye, seems to be a decent one and gets great reviews. The WD My Cloud range also seemed pretty foolproof.

 

On a side note, I think my router is good anyway... I am in the UK and Virgin Media are my ISP. Router was new earlier this year, so it's one of their newer models. My internet connection itself is fast at 200mb/s.

 

[AshleyAshes]

Just now, atomicus said:

 

OK, thanks... that's good to know in that case. So would I need any additional software or anything, or is that all included with the likes of Synology?

 

On a side note, I think my router is good anyway... I am in the UK and Virgin Media are my ISP. Router was new earlier this year, so it's one of their newer models. My internet connection itself is fast at 200mb/s.

 

Well, that would entirely depend on what's playing it back. For example, Plex usually prefers a Plex Server though it can also just play files off SMB Shares.  I use Kodi and it's just accessing SMB Shares on my server in the other room.  The same shares that I would browse through the media with Windows Explorer.  You say 'Streaming' but it's really just a piece of software accessing a file across the network.  There's no specialized streaming features and protocols needed on a LAN.  Now, if you're using a specific software suite, it may need certain types of network shares, NFS or something, I dunno.  but I imagine most scenarios involve SMB or setting up a Plex server if you're using Plex.

[atomicus]

2 minutes ago, AshleyAshes said:

Well, that would entirely depend on what's playing it back. For example, Plex usually prefers a Plex Server though it can also just play files off SMB Shares.  I use Kodi and it's just accessing SMB Shares on my server in the other room.  The same shares that I would browse through the media with Windows Explorer.  You say 'Streaming' but it's really just a piece of software accessing a file across the network.  There's no specialized streaming features and protocols needed on a LAN.  Now, if you're using a specific software suite, it may need certain types of network shares, NFS or something, I dunno.  but I imagine most scenarios involve SMB or setting up a Plex server if you're using Plex.

 

OK thanks. Looks like I'll need to do a bit of reading up on the software side, as I'm new to all this, but my initial concern was if a certain NAS is better/worse suited to the task than others, but from what you're saying it doesn't matter so much? The Synology DS115j and WD My Cloud are the ones I'm looking at currently.

[tt2468]

16 hours ago, atomicus said:

 

OK, thanks... that's good to know in that case. Yes, I mean 4K files located on the NAS. So would I need any additional software or anything, or is that all included with the likes of Synology? The DS115j caught my eye, seems to be a decent one and gets great reviews. The WD My Cloud range also seemed pretty foolproof.

 

On a side note, I think my router is good anyway... I am in the UK and Virgin Media are my ISP. Router was new earlier this year, so it's one of their newer models. My internet connection itself is fast at 200mb/s.

 

Try getting a 'play' version of a synology. They have hardware encoding, and are designed for media streaming.

[atomicus]

7 minutes ago, tt2468 said:

Try getting a 'play' version of a synology. They have hardware encoding, and are designed for media streaming.

 

Thanks. It seems the 'Play' versions only come in 2-bay and above though, which does push it somewhat out of my budget, annoyingly. Is there a big difference between these and the regular versions like the DS115j?

[tt2468]

2 minutes ago, atomicus said:

 

Thanks. It seems the 'Play' versions only come in 2-bay and above though, which does push it somewhat out of my budget, annoyingly. Is there a big difference between these and the regular versions like the DS115j?

CPU power is the difference. If you are streaming 4k video with a minimal power Plex server, encoding/decoding will be pushed to the client. Just keep this in mind.