Well I finally did it and I have videos that my NAS will no longer play since it transcodes these and beats my CPU with extreme prejudice.    I only had 1080p videos before but now hit a 4k wall.  The CPU on my NAS will run at 99% for about a minute before it errors out and Plex ask me to retry.  

I would like to have an option it doesn't matter what the file properties are for resolution, file type, and device I would like to display it on.  From looking around I have not found a NAS that could support this without a GPU on board.  I currently run several Roku's but my main one is a Roku Ultra (model 4640x) for my home theater setup.  I also have a couple of firesticks and all my portable devices (but being honest don't run any of them that much).  This seems to limit me to building my own "NAS" plex server.  I would prefer to stay away from windows on this but plan on sticking at least 8 hard drives so will be running my own RAID array internally.  I am not sure what Linux has to offer and if I can secure it better than any other option.  I do have a plex access account but think that would only help me if I went the GPU route.

I would love for this setup to be 8k capable but honestly doubt I would have any 8k media in the next 5 years.  I would have to upgrade many items and it would be a significant investment from what I can tell with not a lot of gain.  

Open to suggestions or links to research.

I use a Synology NAS

All I ever did was put VLC on the computer playing the vids
Plays near everything for me

Keep a dedicated NAS to store the content.  Build a separate PC or server to run Plex or Emby and use it to encode/transcode the video.  

You will need a dedicated GPU or a CPU with integrated graphics card capable of handling 4K content in the PC/server. Maybe something like the Intel i5/i7 processors with the UHD 750 integrated GPU or an AMD 4600G/4700G.

This is my plan, basically build my own NAS in some ways but also have the CPU to handle the transcoding part.  This will be a dedicated unit.  Didn't know if anyone had a good starting point for what they use or not.

ETA....it seems at this moment AMD is not selling these chips retail, you have to hit up Ebay or purchase a machine from HP, Dell or a few others....

I agree: keep NAS and Plex Server on separate devices.  You can keep your current NAS, and just get something like this Prodesk 400 G4 and host Plex on that.  Guide for setting up the Plex server here.

I have this exact setup and it works great.

ETA: It CAN transcode 4k without any issues, but really: don't.  Keep a separate 1080p copy for clients that can't direct play 4k content.

Building a NAS is pretty easy if you are a little tech savvy.  Also You should look at a streaming device that handles most codecs so that transcoding is not needed.  Look at a nvidia shield.  That's what I'm using.   I ripped my BD and 4K BDs with zero compression.  They don't need to be transcoded at all.  The major limitation is having plenty of disc space.

This is probably what I will do for now.  I really like the fact I have 4 roku's and pretty much set them up all the same.  Probably can do something similar for the Nvidia but just not wanting to get sucked into another learning curve......insert: refusetotrain.jpg

We have a Synology 920 running Plex server (and other stuff)to a mix of fire sticks, smart tvs, phones, tablets and finally nvidia shield for my surround setup. It has been utterly fantastic shit and I will.never go back. Mobile streaming has been great too.

The shield really brings it all together if you have a surround setup. Great piece of kit.

Synology 918+ running Plex.  Transcodes fine.

I got a Nivada Shield Pro this past week, so far everything now is smooth.  I will eventually build my own media server but for now this will work fine.  I will wait for computer chips to exist in a year so.
Either that or it won't matter what is available, I won't be able to afford it because it will cost 87 million.

unraid with dockers.

/thread

Agreed. I've got a retired QNAP TS-879 Pro that was retired from worked. Popped out the Core i3 and put in a Sandy Bridge Xeon. It will transcode 3-4 1080p streams at the same time and not max the CPU.

I also have most of my stuff ripped at it's original resolution so transcoding is rarely needed anyway.

NAS plus Nvidia Shield Pro.

I usually prefer Emby server with Kodi on the front end. I use Plex sometimes too.

I have two plex servers, a one that sits as a container ("Docker") on my UnRaid server that uses CPU transcoding (Intel E5-2680 V4 - 14 Cores/28 Threads) and a separate server running on Ubuntu on a cheap little $100 8th gen intel dual core pentium gold box with Quicksync. The Quicksync box runs circles around the Xeon CPU transcoding box. Quicksync is amazing for plex transcodes. Cheap and powerful.

Running a 9 bay QNAP NAS and Plex. have never had an issue with performance.

I'm upgrading my unraid/plex server with a 10th gen i5 this week -- wtf is quicksync?

Part of many Intel CPU cores.

Oops