Current setup is PMS running on a Synology 5-bay, and another PMS running on a Shield Pro. The NAS server is primarily used for remote streaming, while the Shield serves to my home LAN (AppleTVs mainly).

I’ve been seeing stuttering on larger files, either using the Plex app or Infuse, and I’m fairly certain the Synology is the weak link. Network performance in the house has pretty solid, though admittedly I could stand to test it more thoroughly. I’ve been looking at moving my library to a standalone system. I’ve been looking at the Beelink ME Mini (which happens to be on sale!). What I don’t know is the best way to build this out.

I don’t want to have to buy all 6 SSDs (ar at least 6x4TB ones!) at once, so I’d be looking at either a stock Linux (Ubuntu or Rocky) install w/ I guess a BTRFS pool for the SSDs (I’m guessing I can use the eMMC for OS depending on how big the install is - that or use the SSD in slot 4). Alternatively, i could possibly set up TruNAS w/ the Plex pp to manage the storage.

As for populating the media, I plan to keep the Synology as the central repo of my data. I have it replicating to another NAS at my dad’s house, with movies/music/tv replicating using Syncthing. I plan to also use Syncthing to populate the Beelink.

Anyway, please poke holes in this plan and/or suggest a better one. My main goals are to get the media I’m streaming off spinning disk w/ minimal power draw (didn’t mention that above) in a way that I can expand storage as necessary to accommodate the media library. Nothing’s purchased yet, so I’m not married to the hardware. I would ideally like to convert the library to h.265 or even AV1 if I can make it work.

ETA: For clarity: I’m not transcoding AFAIK. My Shield mounts the Synology over SMB and mostly works fine, until I try to play anything 4k - then I get stuttering. On the surface, this sounded like a network issue, but I can’t find a problem w/ the LAN. My thought was to move the PMS to a single location w/ local storage, and use the Synology just as an archive.

ETA2: FWIW, I have not expanded the memory on the Synology or installed any cache drives.

  • just_another_person@lemmy.worldEnglish
    31·
    2 days ago

    If you went from “everything works”, to “now it stutters”, then you either have a networking issue, or a resource issue on the source.

    Did you update something recently?

    Do you have network stats from your router?

    Do some devices work fine, and others don’t?

    • d00phy@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
      2·
      2 days ago

      I see no other issues from the network. The thing that “changed” is me trying to watch 4k stuff on my plex server. Up until recently, I didn’t bother with 4k. No real reason for trying it now, TBH. I’ve never felt that 4k was necessary for home viewing on anything smaller than a 100” screen (my largest if 75”).

      • just_another_person@lemmy.worldEnglish
        3·
        2 days ago

        Okay, so what’s your network look like?

        Specs on your router, is this wired or wireless to the Shield, how much other traffic are the other network clients pulling, and is this a constant, or just happens intermittently?

        • d00phy@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
          2·
          2 days ago

          Everything’s wired. Router is a TP-Link BE63, 2 APs w/ wired backhaul. Shield is on the same switch as the synology. STBs are throughout the house, but generally max 3-hops to the Shield/Synology. All Netgear bluebox 1Gb dumbswitches. At some point in the near future, I plan on getting this stuff to a central switch, so everything is a leaf switch away from it.

          ETA: if I’m watching something, the network is generally pretty quiet. I have most data-intensive things (downloads, backups, off-site replications) set to happen in the wee-hours.