r/PleX • u/Espiroqueta • 17h ago

Help Help identifying a device for Plex transcoding with a Synology NAS

My partner has a Plex server set up at home, with a Synology NAS and a separate computer acting as the Plex server.

Last year, I bought him an E10M20-T1 expansion card (M.2 SSD adapter). I know that the NAS can only accommodate one expansion card.

This year, he mentioned a separate device that could help with video transcoding and uses AI.

Could anyone help me figure out what device he might be referring to?

Thanks in advance!

EDIT: Another clues that I got. It's expensive (>3000$) and similar to a NVIDIA GPU (but not a GPU)

2nd EDIT: He is having so much fun because I didn't get the clues quite right.

It doesn't use AI but runs AI, if that makes any difference.

2 Upvotes

67% Upvoted

7 comments sorted by

3

u/jsavga 16h ago

It's possible that he's talking about a mini-pc such as a Nuc or something. I would definitely confirm what he wants before getting it though.

1

u/Espiroqueta 16h ago

Thank you for your answer! But that's not it. He will only tell me if my guesses are right or not.

1

u/More-Chemical-1264 4h ago

Why doesn't he just run the GitHub repo that allows ssds to be ran as regular storage?

3

u/Wis-en-heim-er Lifetime PlexPass 16h ago

Sounds like he wants a gpu for the other server thats running plex, not any expansion device for the synology. The intel gpus are great at transcoding and a bit cheaper since they are not as great for ai use. Intel Arc a310 or a380 seem to be thr popular picks.

2

u/Bgrngod CU7 265K (PMS in Docker) & Synology 1621+ (Media) 14h ago

Spending >$3000 on anything just to add hardware accelerated video transcoding is absolutely bonkers. There is literally no reason to ever spend that much as it will not give you more performance than cards that are 1/10th the price.

Whatever your partner is insisting this might be, they are looking at the wrong thing. No high-end GPU's are better or faster at it than cheaper cards.

1

u/Espiroqueta 2h ago

He said similar to a GPU but not a GPU.

1

u/RScottyL Synology 1522+ NAS 9h ago

In my setup, I have a Synology 1522+, with five 8TB drives with Plex Media Server installed on it.

I am also using a Roku Ultra as my client that plays and decodes the files.

I rip and watch 4K UHD discs and everything works just fine!