Top NAS?

What is the optimal NAS configuration for running Channels with the best performance in terms of load times and support for multiple streams? Additionally, I plan to use it as a standard NAS simultaneously. Is the DS920+ 4-bay model truly the recommended solution?

multiple streams in or away from home?

ds920+ is the best solution for plug-and-play

if you want to go more DIY then you can get more bang for your buck and newer gen processors

You can also build a NAS system. I built an Unraid system 1.5 years ago and have Channels-DVR running as a Docker container along with many other containers.

Same, I made my Unraid about 12 years ago and have been upgrading it with my main PC Parts when I upgrade that. And swap out drives as they fail or If I want more space. I feel unraid is better for more bang for your buck...

Same here, unRAID since 2010.. Start small, easy to upgrade and replace drives..
i3 12th gen or up with a igpu for transcoding to mobile devices.. I think the i5 is the sweet spot..
16 gigs RAM... I was even running an i3-3240 but couldn't get the igpu to work with the MB that I had since 2014 so I upgraded the whole system, which I hope will last me another 10 years.

I use Windows using windows Storage Spaces....as my Channels DVR NAS

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I was using a Synology 220+, but recently upgraded to a 923+ for more bays. I miss the hardware transcoding on the 220. I don’t need it often, as the small amount of media I have usually direct plays, but occasionally the channels client complains and gives me a transcoding error when I use the app on my phone remote. It could be an issue with the source, but I never had a problem before my HW change, so who knows.

I’m thinking about moving the server installation from my main drives to a NVMe drive I have installed, to see if that helps reduce drive noise on my setup. I’d still use the main drives for any DVR storage, but I don’t do a ton of DVR saving. Does anyone know how much space is really needed for the server portion and would caching requirements kill the NVMe too quickly?

I use a 1TB, 7200RPM Cache Drive to record up to 6 1080P TV shows at a time without issue, approx. 48 gigs per hour, it's plenty fast, at least on unRAID. Then at 1:30 am those files get moved to the array. So far I have not had the need to go to NVMe for the Cache. If I were moving a lot of large files or even small files then maybe I would need the NVMe for speed. Hard Drives are cheap, reliable and fast enough for now. Channels is also writing a lot of small files to the Cache, if you are using a Cache to write new files to, as well as the shows so I'd worry about longevity with NVMe..