Best Plex NAS to Buy in 2022

Last updated on 01 Apr 2022 📧 Subscribe
Contents hide
1 A Guide to the Best Plex NAS Drives to Buy Right Now
2 What Have All the Best Plex NAS Drives Have in Common?
2.1 Best Value 1080p 4K Plex NAS Drive – The Synology DS920+ NAS
2.2 Best Powerful 1080p & 4K Plex NAS Drive – QNAP TVS-872X
2.3 Ultimate Plex Media Server NAS – The QNAP TVS-h1288X
3 Need Advice on Data Storage from an Expert?

A Guide to the Best Plex NAS Drives to Buy Right Now

If you have been looking at buying a Synology or QNAP NAS drive in 2022 for use as a Plex Media Server, then chances are you are doing this because you are sick of paying for a bunch of online streaming services OR you have an enormous physical library of discs that you own in your home that you want to watch conveniently on an Amazon FireTV, Roku Box or home Console, disc free! It’s not a big ask, is it! Do you remember when watching movies and boxsets from your sofa was easy? You owned a few hundred DVDs or Blurays, you popped in the disc for what you wanted to watch, then you watched it. It had a few extra steps that Netflix, Hulu, Prime Video and Disney+, BUT you owned what you watched and you were in control of what you wanted to see. The dominance of subscription streaming services was unquestionable and for a while, it genuinely felt like it was the best option for ease of access to a huge library of multimedia that you only really wanted to watch once or twice anyway – all for just $5-10 per service. However, it got complicated. We went from 3-5 media streaming services, to suddenly HUNDREDS, with Films/Boxsets appairing on exclusive platforms (in some cases actual tv seasons being divided across different services too). This also led to TV shows being available/featured on a streaming service considerably shorter, due to the show-owner realising that timed exclusivity and switching streamingly platforms is much more lucrative in the long run. So, the streaming services STOPPED being so convenient, stopped being such good value – with most households now having/needing 3-4 different subscription services (so, in most cases Netflix, Prime Video, Disney+ and the cable TV/Sky provider service) and spending $400-500 a year, and not owning a single piece of media or having control of when things are not available. Add to that the rather bias search abilities of these platforms pushing ‘suggested’ content and you cannot help but pine for those simple days of sitting on the sofa and watching that DVD. It is for this reason that many have made the jump over to Plex Media Server. To find out more about what Plex, a Plex Media Server NAS are and what they do, watch the video below:

A free service that allows you to stream the media YOU own, but still features slick graphics, user-friendly GUI, descriptions, trailers, thumbnails, reviews and more. Today I want to discuss the best three NAS drives for use as a Plex Media Server. There are literally thousands of different NAS devices on the market that can be used for Plex (it is a fairly low resource demanding tool in its smallest form) but the extent to how much you will use it, the number of users you want to share with, the volume of media and the quality of the content (e.g 4K, 1080p, etc) make a HUGE difference to which NAS you should choose for your Plex Media server. So my three PLEX NAS recommendations for 2022 are based on the best Budget 1080p Plex NAS, the best 4K Plex NAS and finally, the Best EVERYTHING Plex NAS for 2022. Let’s begin.

What Have All the Best Plex NAS Drives Have in Common?

It is worth remembering that although there are ALOT of different Plex NAS drives available to buy, they are by no means created equal! With numerous super budget brands popping up online, it can be tempting to consider these alongside the premium NAS brands. However, all too often they offer solutions righty seem ‘too good to be true’ and then are gone from the web before your warranty even gets cold! So, whether you are looking at the three best Plex solutions that I am recommending below OR are looking at another Plex NAS you saw on offer/recommended elsewhere – the best NAS system ALWAYS include the following software and services:

  • Combined Hardware & Software Solution – That means that you are buying the hardware, but it ALSO includes a web browser GUI, mobile apps and desktop client apps (including backup, media, streaming, surveillance and file management software)
  • All NAS systems in this guide are compatible with (and can be accessed by) Windows, Mac, Android and Linux operating systems
  • All NAS Solutions arrive with between 2-3 years Warranty (with the option to extend to 5 years)
  • All NAS drives can be accessed locally over the network, as well as secure remote access is possible with brand supported services (at no additional cost)
  • The most modern and regularly updated NAS systems will support the very latest 20TB NAS hard drives (such as the Seagate Ironwofl 20TB and WD Red 20TB)
  • All the recommended solutions support multiple drive configurations (RAID) for drive failure protection and performance enhancements
  • All solutions receive regular updates to their security, features and services
  • All recommended NAS drives can connect and synchronize with cloud services (Google Drive, DropBox, OneDrive, etc), as well as Business/Enterprise services such as AWS, Azure, Backblaze and more
  • All NAS solutions (regardless of brand) feature the ability to host a shared drive on your PC/Mobile/Laptop systems that are synchronized with the NAS via the network/internet, but is shown in your native operating system file manager (i.e Mac Finder or Windows Explorer)
  • All the NAS solutions listed can be accessed DIRECTLY via an ethernet/network cable being connected from your PC/Mac system, to the NAS RJ45 port for 100MB/s and higher connectivity
  • All the best NAS solutions (regardless of brand) feature backup and sync tools that can be installed on your local client computer and allow regular backups of your files and system data

So, make sure that if you are looking at a NAS solution that is NOT recommended below, that it includes all of the above. As these are some of the clearest areas that brands all too often cut orders to produce cheaper by ultimately inferior NAS servers for home and business. So, let’s discuss the very best Plex NAS to buy now in 2022.

Best Value 1080p 4K Plex NAS Drive – The Synology DS920+ NAS

0-80TB, 4-Bays, Intel J4125 4x 2.0-2.7Ghz CPU, 4/8GB 2666Mhz Memory, 2x 1Gbe Port, 2x NVMe SSD Cache Bays, 3-5yr Warranty

Current Price/Availability on Amazon – $550+

Hardware Review – HERE

YouTube Video Review – Watch

The DS920+ NAS is something that Synology should be proud of. It is a great entry into their already impressive range of Diskstation NAS devices. If you are looking for a brand new NAS to consolidate your home media, to support your relative as the ‘IT whizz’ of the family, or move your business away from Google Drives and DropBox’ onto something safer, more scalable and dependable – then the DS920+ has alot to offer you. It gives you a great base to start using the DSM platform, as well as a good means to upgrade your storage internally at a later date (expansions in memory, expansions in storage, expansion in NVMe). If you are an existing DS918+ or DS916+ owner, this might not seem like the jump you were waiting for.

There are always areas of improvement, the USB ports, the 1Gbe, that 1 memory slot – but these are things that Synology no doubt feel should be pushed into a higher price/hardware bracket – Allowing the DS920+ Price to be as close to its predecessors it can be. Whether you agree or disagree, I think that we can agree that this NAS is still giving you alot of bang for your buck in 2020. Thank you once again to ‘Takeo from Tokyo‘ for all his assistance on this hardware review

SOFTWARE - 9/10
HARDWARE - 8/10
PERFORMANCE - 10/10
PRICE - 9/10
VALUE - 10/10


9.2
PROS
👍🏻Dual NVMe M.2 cache
👍🏻Great RAID Options
👍🏻Excellent choice of Apps
👍🏻Snapshot Replication
👍🏻BTRFS and SHR
👍🏻Support Plex
👍🏻Virtualization
👍🏻4K Video transcoding
👍🏻Full Plex Transcoding
👍🏻Hot-Swap trays
👍🏻DLNA Compliant
👍🏻Expandable
CONS
👎🏻No Copy button
👎🏻Only 1Gbe Ethernet ports
👎🏻No PCIe slots
👎🏻Only a single accessible Memory Bay

 

Best Powerful 1080p & 4K Plex NAS Drive – QNAP TVS-872X

0-160TB, 8-Bays, 2x M.2 NVMe SSD Bays, 2/4/6 Core Intel Pentium/i3/i5 CPU, 8-64GB DDR4 Memory, 1x 10Gbe Port, 2x 1GbE, 2x PCIe Slot, 1x HDMI 2.0 4K 60FPS, USB 3.2 Gen 2, ZFS Option 2yr Warranty

Current Price/Availability on Amazon – $1799

Hardware Review – LINK

YouTube Video Review – Watch

If this was the first time I was seeing the hardware featured on the QNAP TVS-872X, with its Intel Core CPU, 64GB of potential memory, 10Gbe on-board, NVMe equipped slots and USB 10G throughout – I would have been reasonably impressed. Likewise, the scalability in PCIe, storage expansions and network connectivity down the line is also a very valid and positive aspect of this system. But for me, it will always live slighting in the shadow of its Thunderbolt 3 equipped older big brother in the TV-872XT. The software on either ZFS or EXT4 file system is still doing what it does well, finding the line between 1st party apps, 3rd party support, customization and (mostly) getting it right – if occasionally trying to be too big for its boots.

The QNAP TVS-872X is undeniably still a great example of the wide-ranging features available to prosumers who want a storage system heavily geared towards high-performance transmission via high-performance media with higher tier hardware at their disposal. It would be misleading to think of this NAS as any kind of significant upgrades over the XT, and the price tag that the TVS-872X currently arrives at (£1700+ / $2400) is perhaps a tad closer to that of the thunderbolt version than can be justified, but with an increasing over-reliance by brands on Xeon based systems, the TVS-872X is one of the most graphically well-equipped systems in the market today. If you are looking for a NAS for video editing, Plex media server, AI-assisted surveillance or virtualisation in a more compact form, the TVS-872X and its hardware has a heck of a lot to offer you.

SOFTWARE - 8/10
HARDWARE - 9/10
PERFORMANCE - 9/10
PRICE - 7/10
VALUE - 8/10


8.2
PROS
👍🏻One of the few Intel Core NAS Systems Released in 2020/2021
👍🏻High Virtualisation Use
👍🏻10Gbe Enabled and still has 2x 1Gbe
👍🏻SSD Optimized with NVMe Support
👍🏻Very Expandable (File System & config dependant)
👍🏻Optimized for Post Production and Broadcasting
👍🏻Can be upgraded to 10/25/40Gbe
👍🏻10G alternative to the TVS-872XT for those that didn’t want TB3
👍🏻Surveillance including multiple camera licences – 8 Licences FREE
👍🏻Download server (FTP, HTTP, BT,NZB)
👍🏻CMS and CRM systems included
👍🏻Media Center support across numerous apps
CONS
👎🏻GPU Card Support is not clear
👎🏻8G Default Module is a little restrictive for ZFS
👎🏻PCIe Card Installation is a lot more complicated than you expect

 

Ultimate Plex Media Server NAS – The QNAP TVS-h1288X

0-160TB, 8x HDD Bays, 4x SATA SSD Bays, 2x M.2 NVMe SSD Bays, 6 Core Intel Xeon W (Embedded Graphics) CPU, 16-128GB DDR4 Memory, 2x 10Gbe Port, 4x 2.5GbE, 3x PCIe Slot, 1x HDMI 2.0 4K 60FPS, USB 3.2 Gen 2, ZFS Option 3yr Warranty

Current Price/Availability on Amazon – $2899

Hardware Review – LINK

YouTube Video Review – Watch

When reviewing a business class piece of kit, it is important to stay RELATIVE! You cannot compare a Ferrari with a Ford Focus as equals, as they have a very different audience in mind and a very different price tag – therefore Value and ROI are always relative. That said, the TVS-h1288X is, hands down, the most impressive desktop NAS drive I have ever handled – and I do not say that lightly! QNAP has been working overtime these last 2 years to not only introduce their ZFS series to the SMB and Enterprise marketing, with gradual but compelling results – but it is only now in the TVS–h1288X system that they have successfully merged it into another core area of their business – content creators. Whether you are on board with the ‘optional thunderbolt card’ nature behind this device, you cannot fault the sheer weight of hardware on offer here and how it is perfectly tuned and appropriate for the storage, performance and safety benefits of ZFS in QuTS Hero included with this device.

Yes, it is a hungry beast of a device in terms of power, but right now THIS is the NAS system to beat in the market right now in desktop form. There are still the odd hurdle for surveillance users to jump and the fact this range starts at 8/12-Bay is an odd choice – but with a 6-core Xeon processor that features high grade embedded graphics, upto 128GB of DR4 ECC memory, 3 storage tiers of scaling speeds, a combined external bandwidth of 30 Gigabits per second (so 3,000MB/s) and that is without even the inclusion of a Thunderbolt update that can allow upto 4 more Thunderbolt users to enjoy simultaneous access for photo/video editing – You simply cannot fault the ambition behind the TVS-h1288X and it leaves most of its 8-Bay competitors in its dust – just maybe raid the piggy bank before you buy it though

SOFTWARE - 8/10
HARDWARE - 10/10
PERFORMANCE - 10/10
PRICE - 8/10
VALUE - 9/10


9.0
PROS
👍🏻10Gb/TB3 Support
👍🏻2.5Gbe LAN Ports
👍🏻6 Core GPU enabled Xeon with over 15,000 CPUBenchmark Score
👍🏻3 Tier Storage System
👍🏻ZFS File System
👍🏻PCIe Gen3 x8 and 3×4
👍🏻Virtualization
👍🏻Thunderbolt is Optional – many will appreciate the choice (upto 4 ports)
👍🏻Larger 22110 NVMe Gen3 x4 Support
👍🏻Upto 128GB ECC DDR4 Memory
👍🏻5x USB 3.2 Gen 2 10Gb/s
👍🏻10 min Windows and/or Ubuntu VM install (included)
👍🏻Expandable (TR-106T and TR-1082T soon)
CONS
👎🏻Quite expensive
👎🏻HDMI is 1.4b (30FPS 4K)
👎🏻Shame we haven’t got 4/6 Bay options as found in TVS-682/882
👎🏻Surveillance Software versions and licenses are a bit confusing
👎🏻Noise/power levels are comparable to a small rackmount

 

And there you have it. Those are the three best Plex NAS drives available right now at the end of 2021 and going into 2022. thought it is always worth remembering that these systems typically have a refresh (i.e manufacturers release a new version/follow-up) every 2-3 years on average. Therefore although these systems are all still great Plex NAS drives, they might have been upgraded in a newer released version, or recently released alternative Plex’s may have arrived on the scene that provides better pricing, value or features. If you are in doubt about whether to buy a Plex solution from my recommendations, want to check if a newer system has been released recently OR are simply looking for some free expert advice, then use the free advice section below over. Just enter in a few details of your setup, storage requirements and (in the case of buying a new solution) your budget – then me and Eddie the Web guy can help you with your question. This is a completely free service, is NOT provided with profit in mind and is manned by two humans (no bots, no automated replies, etc). Assistance might take an extra day or two (the service gets a lot of visitors) but we do try to answer every message. If you want to support this service, you can find out how to donate HERE. Otherwise, you can still jsut message us for free advice anyway!

 

📧 SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER 🔔


    🔒 Join Inner Circle

    Get an alert every time something gets added to this specific article!


    Want to follow specific category? 📧 Subscribe

    This description contains links to Amazon. These links will take you to some of the products mentioned in today's content. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. Visit the NASCompares Deal Finder to find the best place to buy this device in your region, based on Service, Support and Reputation - Just Search for your NAS Drive in the Box Below

    Need Advice on Data Storage from an Expert?

    Finally, for free advice about your setup, just leave a message in the comments below here at NASCompares.com and we will get back to you. Need Help? Where possible (and where appropriate) please provide as much information about your requirements, as then I can arrange the best answer and solution to your needs. Do not worry about your e-mail address being required, it will NOT be used in a mailing list and will NOT be used in any way other than to respond to your enquiry.

      By clicking SEND you accept this Privacy Policy
      Question will be added on Q&A forum. You will receive an email from us when someone replies to it.
      🔒Private Fast Track Message (1-24Hours)

      TRY CHAT Terms and Conditions
      If you like this service, please consider supporting us. We use affiliate links on the blog allowing NAScompares information and advice service to be free of charge to you.Anything you purchase on the day you click on our links will generate a small commission which isused to run the website. Here is a link for Amazon and B&H.You can also get me a ☕ Ko-fi or old school Paypal. Thanks!To find out more about how to support this advice service check HEREIf you need to fix or configure a NAS, check Fiver Have you thought about helping others with your knowledge? Find Instructions Here  
       
      Or support us by using our affiliate links on Amazon UK and Amazon US
          
       
      Alternatively, why not ask me on the ASK NASCompares forum, by clicking the button below. This is a community hub that serves as a place that I can answer your question, chew the fat, share new release information and even get corrections posted. I will always get around to answering ALL queries, but as a one-man operation, I cannot promise speed! So by sharing your query in the ASK NASCompares section below, you can get a better range of solutions and suggestions, alongside my own.

      ☕ WE LOVE COFFEE ☕
       

       

      locked content ko-fi subscribe
      Summary
      Review Date
      Reviewed Item
      Recommended Plex NAS to Buy in 2022
      Author Rating
      51star1star1star1star1star

      DISCUSS with others your opinion about this subject.
      ASK questions to NAS community
      SHARE more details what you have found on this subject
      CONTRIBUTE with your own article or review. Click HERE
      IMPROVE this niche ecosystem, let us know what to change/fix on this site
      EARN KO-FI Share your knowledge with others and get paid for it! Click HERE

      ASK YOUR QUESTIONS HERE!

      156 thoughts on “Best Plex NAS to Buy in 2022”

      4. Been using this NAS for over 3 years now, bought it after watching this very review. Still runs like a dream, and I couldn’t be happier with what it does for my family.
        REPLY ON YOUTUBE

        Reply

      10. I bought a 920+ thinking it would be enough and I had to buy a new one within 2 years. This time I bought a chassis which can hold 24 bays and put an i9 and 192GB of RAM…just in case 😉
        REPLY ON YOUTUBE

        Reply

      15. I have a question my Naz is a 1520+ with two expansion units. Give me a total of 15 drives. I currently have 15 6 TB drives in each when that time comes that I have to upgrade my drives. What is the best way to update the 6 TB drives to a higher drive .
        REPLY ON YOUTUBE

        Reply

      17. I recently swapped from an Nvidia Shield to a NAS to run Plex and it’s fantastic.

        One good thing the Shield does by default is to run the Plex database from its internal flash storage which makes things like loading cover art and metadata super fast.

        If you go the NAS route, I’d add to make sure to install the server onto an SSD or NVMe drive.

        Media can be located on slower mechanical hard drives to save money but the server must be on some kind of flash storage otherwise it will be insufferably slow loading the database.
        REPLY ON YOUTUBE

        Reply

      18. 1:58 yep. I learned this the hard way with an old Piledriver AMD CPU. It’s hot and inefficient. It costs me ALOT to keep it running hence why I am transitions to a NAS.
        REPLY ON YOUTUBE

        Reply

      19. If you use a paid subscription Plex services do you need to have port forwarding available? I use T-Mobile and get 300-500 Mb/s but port forwarding is not available!
        REPLY ON YOUTUBE

        Reply

      20. I found that I end up just streaming the file as is, rather than using Plex, because I don’t want an extra layer of possible degradation. The file “as is”, is as original as it can be
        REPLY ON YOUTUBE

        Reply

      28. Hopefully, someone can help!
        With the news now that the DS923+ has AMD dual core without integrated graphics – from what Robbie has said about Plex Media Server transcoding for you on their side which they then send to the system (NAS/Pc etc – (providing you are premium), would it really matter that the 923+ doesn’t have integrated graphics. Am I right in thinking that the 923+ would run into difficulty with Plex if using a standard account – if I’ve understood it right, would mean the NAS receiving the data to then have to convert it (which because of AMD would cause an issue), whereas the same system would be okay if it’s already transcoded … I have to say I’m really struggling to know what one to get 920+ or 923+ … I want a NAS that simply stores my media – is good at indexing photos and is able to play movies as and when, and be a good machine for backup … which makes me lean toward 920+ – but as this is old now, and with the new 923+ being expandable in a few areas, whether or not to get that — I’ve seen so many mixed reviews about the lack of integrated graphics in the 923+ i looked at QNAP which have Intel, but people have said their photo app is troublesome and their AI isn’t as good … which is what I want. Something where my phone will sync photos too … ahhhhhh
        REPLY ON YOUTUBE

        Reply

      32. Great roundup. I wonder if your recommendations would change for users, like myself, who don’t care about streaming outside the home network, but rather just want a single repository for our movie and media collection. This also includes ease of loading/adding new media.
        REPLY ON YOUTUBE

        Reply

      33. QNAPs history of poor security removes it as an option for me. What other 4k options, prosumer or higher, would you suggest that compares to the QNAPs mentioned. All my media is 4k
        REPLY ON YOUTUBE

        Reply

      34. Nahhhh……. For those who are rich and money is no object, sure get some fancy NAS boxes and go nuts. However for those where money matters I recommend what I do which is Nvidia Shield, a couple of very reliable SSD drives connected. You can expand this by connecting a USB hub and adding more ssds over time if you want, as you accumulate them through Black Friday sales or Cyber Monday or whatever.

        Don’t be a complete and utter tool thinking you want to save every media file ever. Be realistic, consider whether you actually want to rewatch something again and again or if you are done after watching it once and delete most of the content that funnels through your Plex server only saving your absolute favorites and things you know you want to revisit again and again. Bigly BT app, Send Files to TV app, FX File Explorer with SMB fileshare to my windows PC with many drives available, both internal and external, you can easily move content between any device in the house as needed, temporarily hold something on the PC if you run out of space on your SSD drives connected to the shield. Easily manage and move things wherever needed as space needs managed. Those apps I mentioned are all free from the Google Store on the shield with no side loading needed. You’d be amazed how nice of a setup you can get going on the Nvidia Shield with a few SSD drives connected and taking advantage of shared folders from drives connected to a PC, other tablets and phones extra storage, etc.

        It might not be quite as elegant or convenient as a giant Nas box full of large capacity drives but for a lot of us who have various 500 GB or 1 TB or 2 TB drives from over the years etc that are still functioning just fine, this is the best way to make the most of the storage you have available for all of your Plex needs.

        PLEX and Emby are both running simultaneously like champs on my Nvidia Shield with the ability to easily handle 10 bit color HDR files etc. H265 compression has actually been a fun project I’ve been doing lately, replacing all of my media with h265 encoded files to save space versus the old much larger h.264 compressed files. It’s been a lot of fun recovering a lot of drive space allowing me to add more files in the same space fewer files sat before.

        For those who are not aware lower bit rate compressed h265 encoded files look just as good as higher bit rate h264 compression. This means you can encode the same video quality at lower bit rates which means a smaller file with equal quality. Assuming you have somewhat modern hardware you shouldn’t have any problems with playback, or no significant playback issues at least. Favor h265 compression over h264 to maximize how many files you can get on the same amount of storage. Be smart about it. Figure out what works well with the stuff you already have.
        REPLY ON YOUTUBE

        Reply

      38. Thanks for the video. I’m actually looking for the best Nas to stream plex with my family. I want that TVS-H1288x but dang it’s pricy! How well does the TVS-872x stream 4k to people outside of the network?
        REPLY ON YOUTUBE

        Reply

      42. QNAP hardware have a bad quality. tech support cant help even if it under warranty. They do not have phone to call only sales!! We have 5 same model NAS and 2 of them stops work after 2 year of use. It was defective chipset inside. Now it fixed and will be sold for somewhere. We replaced all ours to Synology.
        REPLY ON YOUTUBE

        Reply

      44. Excellent Video. I upgraded from a DS220J based on your reviews of the DS920+ … I LOVE this 920. the 220j just fell on it’s face when asked to do anything beyond the basics.
        REPLY ON YOUTUBE

        Reply

      46. No mention of the Asustor AS4004T which does support link aggregation and does have a 10Gbe connect. Not surporising it was ignored here since this presenter is owned by QNAP and usaes every opportunity to hawk their gear
        REPLY ON YOUTUBE

        Reply

      48. Hello, sir. You seem to be very up on the game here. Can you please reply to this: what’s the thickest 2.5″ drive the bay will hold on this device? Thank you.
        REPLY ON YOUTUBE

        Reply

      57. I’ve got plex and it’s truly brilliant. It’s got stuff i keep finding which makes it even better like go to movies choose country and go to say Korea and the films are truly A1 !!! Try series there’s everything!!!! My plex is great and I’ve got it on my firestick!!
        REPLY ON YOUTUBE

        Reply

      59. Every PC I have owned in the last 45 years has run 24/7/365 so sorry this does not make sense. A properly constructed PC will run without issue 24/7/365. Nas and File Hosts have always been ripped off with this logic. Most companies Intel, AMD, Nvidia all make the biggest profit from selling components to File Hosts. I can understand arguing that the components Like Xeon and its competitors from AMD and Nvidia with their error correcting have commercial value, but it can’t be proved that their MTBF rate justifies the price differential or use case. Components in small business and home user are a rip-off, plain and simple. Sadly because most people don’t want the hassle of building their own or don’t have the knowledge. So this could be argued that the service provided meets a need, but it does so at a completely unreasonable value. You could easily build a NAS for a quarter of the price any of these companies provide one, and they have the saving of scale purchasing. I like your website, though I am sorry I disagree with the logic that people spout that components used in commercial NAS’s are justifiable based on reliability they are not they are basic cheap lowest spec parts. IF you start with a low spec CPU, you are going to carry this low spec part selection right through the build, as nothing else would make sense. Having a top end CPU with a low- end graphics card would illustrate this, it would be point less. If the CPU in these Nas’s is so pathetic, then all the other components will be too. In one of your other videos, you correctly point out that these low end CPU’s cant properly take advantage of PCI 4.0 now 5.0 and lose all the benefits of technology available now. Cost is important but TBH anyone serious about NAS should consider their own build all these pre-built NAS’s are appalling
        REPLY ON YOUTUBE

        Reply

      65. Good video, thinking of buying a new nas to handle my plex as i am running out of space for my movie library. What do you think of this one QNAP TVS-h1688X-W1250-32G? Will I need to add a video card to do the transcoding although not really thinking of streaming to smaller devices. What’s important to me is that it can stream 4K files without effort, I use a couple of nividia sheilds to play on my 4k TVs and have a pretty good network.
        REPLY ON YOUTUBE

        Reply

      72. Been watching your channel since 2018. “(I hate Seagulls)” moments. Hysterical. Always enjoy you informative & well explained NAS content. Now if only the QNAP site was as easy to understand as your videos. I couldn’t get my hands on the QNAP TVS-872X NAS, so I eneded up with the purchase of a QNAP TS-673A with 16GB. I’m trying to figure out if sending this one back and kicking up another $700-$900USD would be a better choice in obtaining the QNAP TVS-872x (with an i5) and minimum RAM of 16GB. All for the sake of PLEX Media Server + 4K, h.265 and storing our family videos and photos. Thanks?
        REPLY ON YOUTUBE

        Reply

      75. Hi, there is something I struggle to understand – Do I still need the trans-coding features of the NAS device in case I’m only going to play the 4K videos on my 4K TV which is supporting them? In that case is the trans coding handled on the TV side instead of the NAS side? Moreover, does it means in that case I’m fine to go with Plex standard/free version in combination with good entry NAS like Synology 920+?

        Thanks in advance for the answer!
        REPLY ON YOUTUBE

        Reply

      76. About a 1GB network, (Does that mean the ethernet connections between router, nas, and clients?) That the speed of Nas drive function wont matter as much with higher speed drives if the ethernet is maxed out at 1GB (Router?)? I heard a 6e cat might be over kill. Not sure if that is true . . .And does that mean a better router would avoid a bottleneck?
        REPLY ON YOUTUBE

        Reply

      79. Thanks for this, I am in the market to replace my DS1513+ which can’t play 4k content across my network only 1080. I was looking at the DS920+ but possibly put off now if it won’t play any 4k I throw at it. But then when looking at the QNAPS at that price I just think sod it I’ll just run plex of my monster PC, am I missing the point somewhere?
        REPLY ON YOUTUBE

        Reply

      81. IF I want to transcode 4k HDR to 1080 or 720 to give my friend phone or iPad watching ， can I buy a 920+ and Mac mini M1 connect smb3.0 to run the plex server doing transcode ，becasue 1288x is to expensive ，I think M1 will be better than qnap high model .
        REPLY ON YOUTUBE

        Reply

      82. I’ve tried PLEX server a few times and always found it hard to set up and maintain. I much prefer Emby and even though it’s not a direct install on QNAP, it’s easy enough to install as a third party. Then I use Kodi on the TV with the Emby plugin to access the server directly. Yes I could use the Emby app (and it does work), but I find shows look better in Kodi’s media player.

        The only downside is if/when you update your QTS version – mostly I have to reinstall Emby and set the server up again. After using Emby for years, I basically split everything out on the server directories into watched/unwatched. That way it’s easy to set up again as even with the .nfo files in the directory (which store the status of the played file), Emby doesn’t always look at it when re-installing.

        And BTW – It does hardware trans-coding for free.
        REPLY ON YOUTUBE

        Reply

      84. Hi, thanks for you videos. I want to upgrade my server from my cloud pr4100 to what you advice the qnap tvs but the 4 bay. Do you have a video on how to move everything from one server to another without loosing what you have on your hdds? Thanks
        REPLY ON YOUTUBE

        Reply

      88. Hey, I just found your channel. I’m happy I did. I personally own a WD EX4 and use a Mac Mini as my Plex Server. This setup has worked well for the last 3 years but I think its time for an upgrade as most of my family members are seeing buffering issues with newer movies. This advise has definitely helped me in my purchase making. Thanks for everything and keep the videos coming.
        REPLY ON YOUTUBE

        Reply

      89. Jesus the entry level NAS for plex recommended is 700 dollars. Are you fucking kidding me, I can build a mini itx pc with that kinda price and do whatever I want with it. Poor recommendations in my opinion. Also the Synology DS220+ is pretty good for users with small families. Its only 2 bay but can handle plex pretty well.
        REPLY ON YOUTUBE

        Reply

      90. Can someone with a bit of knowledge help me please I was looking at getting a Synology DS418 for a Plex server. 1) would this be a good Nas to run Plex and 2) how many users could I have connect to the server. Many thanks
        REPLY ON YOUTUBE

        Reply

      100. great information as always. i would never advise anyone to buy qnap, they will shaft you and then say you shuold buy a newer model. they love to take the big bucks for thier equipment. while it is good gear they will not look after you in the long run. go put your hard earned with anyone but qnap.
        REPLY ON YOUTUBE

        Reply

      108. What is your recommendation for the prosumer plex server nas option as well as the top of the line nas but in a rack mount? Trying to decide on which synology rack mount to get.
        REPLY ON YOUTUBE

        Reply

      109. Had nothing but frustrating problems trying to get plex to work with my brand new 920 from the no soup for you screen etc. After trying to fix am finding there is a load of plex problems with the dsm 7 apparently. Ready to toss this synology & go back to my crappy w&d my cloud which was losing support & prompted me to change
        REPLY ON YOUTUBE

        Reply

      110. A NAS should be used as a NAS. Using it’s half assed hardware as a PC is just that….half assed. Watched all your videos before upgrading my ancient Seagate 220 to an Asustor Lockerstore2 and had the delusional expectations of getting rid of my Blue Iris PC for surveillance and my i9 PC for Plex. Epic fail on both ends. Surveillance software is very basic and falls short on features, Plex struggles even with 4 cores on the low end Celeron. Even if you accept all these compromises, the NAS drives spin 24/7 and never powers down. Just loading any one of the Mickey Mouse apps will hit the drives, preventing it from powering off the drives when not used.

        The NAS alone works fantastic, but when people try to turn it into something, it’s a failure. It’s a great NAS, and only gets worse when you try to make it do something else.
        REPLY ON YOUTUBE

        Reply

      112. Why is synology ds920+ better then qnap 453d for plex? Anyone can help answer this? Does not really discuss why this level Nas is better in the video. Wish there was more info or details.
        REPLY ON YOUTUBE

        Reply

      118. Hello, I have a TVS-1282T3 with bay 1 that is failing. Whatever drive i put in Bay 1, when I reboot, goes missing, until i pull the drive and put it back in, at which point it gets detected again and rebuild, UNTIL I reboot the system and bay 1 goes missing again. I thought this was the hard drive but I’ve replaced the drive several times and it does appear to be the bay drive.

        My TVS-1282T3 is out of warranty for hardware

        Since the TVS-H1288X is a 2020 model, is this still the upgrade to the TVS-1282T3 STILL the upgrade or is there another one I should be looking for?

        I am using my QNAP for PLEX

        Thank you
        REPLY ON YOUTUBE

        Reply

      123. A couple of questions:

        Regarding expandability — what’s involved with adding extra drives to a NAS? Would I have to back up existing data, reformat the whole NAS, then reload existing data? Or can the system just see extra drives and somehow just use them?

        I notice that my Roku device can not only access a Plex server but also a Roku server. What are the relative advantages to each?
        REPLY ON YOUTUBE

        Reply

      124. My plan is to add a NAS onto my current server PC running plex. I can do that right? Just using the NAS as storage and continue running the server portion on the PC? Map the drives in the nas to the server and add it to my collection?
        REPLY ON YOUTUBE

        Reply

      126. I am going through all the videos learning about NAS, particularly from Synology before I dip my toes to get one (preferably the DS920+) to replace an ageing Drobo 4 bay. I am getting more confident by the day and by the videos. watched. Thank you for the great videos.
        REPLY ON YOUTUBE

        Reply

      127. With you on Rise of Skywalker, bro. The whole sequel trilogy, actually. Kathleen Kennedy really mucked up the handling of those movies. So glad to see her out of the picture and Dave Filoni taking over.
        REPLY ON YOUTUBE

        Reply

      133. Alas just missed the April release of the Apple TV 4K 2021 which has a decent remote again. I agree that touch surface was a neat idea, but in reality did not work well.
        REPLY ON YOUTUBE

        Reply

      134. Hi, I need some help, Im looking at buying a NAS and I would like to buy a Synology because of SHR Raid. I want to have all my photos and movies both the once I shoot and a Plex library. I was thinking of a DS1621+ and add one or two NVME.2 and run six seagate Exos 6TB I have a Samsung tv 4k so want to stream 4k to the tv, but I do not really understand if that would work or do I need to buy something else because it does not have a GPU. I have it on standard home network. Also is a NVME.2 memory good upgrade for my use? With one should I buy and do I need to buy 2 or is one enough and what sizes?
        REPLY ON YOUTUBE

        Reply

      135. Recently bought this as my first NAS.. Attached a Seagate Exos 16TB, configured as SHR.. Later will expand with other bays. The only negative I can call out is that it came with a 16 amp plug which is very difficult to attach to a socket used for low power devices.. only refrigerators, water heaters etc need that. So I replaced the cable with a 10 amp one and its working fine
        REPLY ON YOUTUBE

        Reply

      137. Hello
        After having watched your videos about this NAS and videos about RAM-upgrades, i have a question about the TVS-872X-i3-8G.
        With the i3 CPU, the supported RAM-speed is 2400MHz according to Intel’s own product spec. How does it work if i put an 2666MHz module or two, into the NAS? PC’s will for the most downgrade the speed, but does a NAS do that? Anyone tested?
        Its more to choose from in the 2666MHz category, rather than 2400, thats why i wonder.

        Also, any recommendations on M.2’s to use in this? Lots on combability-list, but any experiences appreciated 🙂
        REPLY ON YOUTUBE

        Reply

      140. HI, I just bought DS920+ learning from your channel. Thankyou very much for Providing Inside out understanding. I just have one question can i setup my NAS with one Drive and then Later i can populate other slots.
        REPLY ON YOUTUBE

        Reply

      143. I think the thing with plex pass and transcoding is just for hardware transcoding, mainly an external or pci GPU if the cpu has imbedded graphics it should still encode the same with or without plex pass.
        REPLY ON YOUTUBE

        Reply

      145. Trying to decide what to buy for Plex streaming I want to stream atleast 2x4k movies at the sametime. local. its between qnas or synology. but I hear many bad things about qnap with discounts software issues. Either QNAP TS-653D-8G or DS1621+
        I could always buy m1 mac mini to stream more movies and for transcoding. can someone help me decide?
        REPLY ON YOUTUBE

        Reply

      146. I heard so many issues with qnap I considering the qnap but I’M hearing so many bad things disconnected alot hardware and software issuess I dont know which direction synology with there locked hardrives? so I’m not what diection to go with
        REPLY ON YOUTUBE

        Reply

      149. If you look at Qnap’s switch offerings, they seem to favor SFP over 10baseT connections for 10Gbe. Why then is this NAS equipped with 10BaseT copper 10Gbe and not SFP? Why not at least offer the option since the 10Gbe is obviously an add-in card?
        REPLY ON YOUTUBE

        Reply

      150. I can’t believe I watched 50 minutes of this. Very very informative. I’m a new nas user and this 920+ is my first nas so thank you for the overview!! I didn’t know it could do much more than I already thought it could!
        REPLY ON YOUTUBE

        Reply

      151. I run my Plex on my old mac pro 2010 5’1 Intel Xeon X5690 6-Core 3.46GHz 12 core 64 gigs of RAM it has 60 TB of space has been running for the last five years rock solid I have family that lives in Japan they use my Plex the rest of my family all of them got rid of all Subscriptions to all of the streaming services and just watch my Plex don’t care about electricity that’s not a concern of mine I just needed it to be rock solid as it is I put western digital red pro drives in it i use OWC SOFTRAID PRO in it with plenty of room to add a swappable 14 bay or more attachment storage right to the computer if needed and the beauty of it the computer was just laying in my closet all of my music pictures movies videos and even my music in iTunes all streams right through Plex to all of the mobile devices iPads Apple TV fire stick Roku it really gets a work out and it is rock solid I love it and wouldn’t change a thing about it and i run it right on top of the operating system and we’re not gonna talk about the extra benefit of being able to access files outside of media
        REPLY ON YOUTUBE

        Reply

      153. bought this exact NAS on prime day sale today. $473 USD, 16GB crucial 2666 memory upgrade $82 (20GB ram total), 2x noctua nf-a9 fans to get rid of the stock synology loud fans $34, 2x250GB western digital blue nvme for caching. Reusing 4x8TB ironwolf drives. it’s main purpose for me is going to be 4k uncompressed plex server
        REPLY ON YOUTUBE

        Reply

      155. Last weekend my Synology DS2415+ mainboard gave up (out of warranty) and considering the high price for repair, I was looking for QNAP and came accros your video. Great explanation. I saw a TVS-872XT-i5-16G online for about €2200. I mainly use it as storage, backup, download and media station, also for streaming 4K UHD with Plex Pass and I understood this device can handle the transcoding pretty well. Is the TVS-872XT-i5-16G still a smart buy, or are there already any newer versions out there for around that price?
        REPLY ON YOUTUBE

        Reply

      156. I know it’s an old post, but all that pretty packaging you’re so impressed by you’re paying for. Protective packaging is a must, but why does is have to be so impressive? A measly dollar/quid increases drastically by the time it gets to the consumer. Simply put, in business, if you spend money you have to make money .
        Other than that a fair video.
        REPLY ON YOUTUBE

        Reply