Amazon "Gold Box" deal on QNAP TS-251A ($249 limited offer)

Playground Hardware
#1

If you're in the market for a NAS to run Channels DVR, this is a great deal!

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01JHHGJJ2/ref=as_li_ss_tl?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-1&pf_rd_r=A68FW8TWAS92DXDHV3EJ&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=0&pf_rd_i=283155&th=1&linkCode=sl1&tag=channels04-20&linkId=d592baf9b87d64efcdbb4da46ddb801b

Best Economy Setup NAS vs NUC?
#2

How’s transcoding on this with Plex and Blu-Ray rips? My old Synology can’t do it, but has a lot more space, so I’m thinking of grabbing one of these just for the hardware transcoding and running Channels and Plex.

#3

I don’t think Plex offers hardware transcoding on Synology yet, but Channels will be able to use it since this model has an Intel Celeron processor.

#4

Plex does hardware transcoding if you use a preview Server (http://forums.plex.tv/categories/plex-media-server-preview-releases). My old Intel NUC can use, but still not very good with Blu-Ray rips since it’s an old CPU.

#5

Last I checked their Synology builds did not yet work with the HW transcoder, but my Plex Pass expired a few months ago so I have not kept up with it.

#6

I’m asking about this QNAP cuz my Synology can’t do it…

#7

Ooops, getting my vendors all mixed up. I would imagine that Plex’s preview builds would be able to use hardware transcoding, since Channels DVR has no problem with these Intel QNAP models.

#8

251A vs. qnap ts-251+ at $294 ?

https://www.amazon.com/QNAP-TS-251-Personal-Quad-Core-Transcoding/dp/B015VNLEOQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1491007990&sr=8-1&keywords=qnap%2Bts-251%2B&th=1

Still kicking myself for not picking up the + at $250 last fall!

#9

I don’t understand who picks the model numbers at these NAS vendors, because they never make any sense.

The TS-251+ has quad-core, but it’s a much older processor. So I would recommend the TS-251A, which has an updated processor from 2016 and will perform better even though it has fewer cores.

TS-251A
14nm Intel® Celeron® N3060 dual-core 1.6GHz (up to 2.48GHz) [Q1’16]

TS-251+
22nm Intel® Celeron® J1900 Quad-Core 2.0GHz (burst up to 2.42GHz) [Q4’13]

TS-251
22nm Intel® Celeron® J1800 2.41GHz dual-core processor (burst up to 2.58GHz) [Q4’13]

#10

Good info…

I’m almost ready to pull the trigger…wondering about ability for transcoding 1 recording (remote access) with 3 simultaneous recording sessions.

Any idea?

#11

Recording itself takes very little CPU, and hardware transcoding will allow for remote streaming no problem.

#12

Alright, thanks so much. Poor old mac mini is headed for 2nd retirement.

#13

Follow up:

Only have done limited testing, but so far it’s working great for my purposes.

Have to downgrade transcoding to 720p @6mbps when simultaneously recording 3 shows.

Full 1080p HW when just transcoding for single recording playback. Still have to test Airplay to ATV when traveling.

Thrilled with this device. Truly appreciate your suggestion and guidance.

Thanks again.

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