Asustor AS5304T - 10-bit hevc 4K transcode on-the fly capable?

[Ravenik]

Is this NAS capable of transcoding 4K hevc 10-bit into Full HD - for display on my Full-HD TV? My current NAS, Qnap TS-453B-8G can't do this (CPU J3455) despite official announcements. It makes a pause after every several seconds (sort of stutters). I tried Qnap's DLNA and also Emby, Plex with hardware acceleration but no success. The video plays a few seconds the pause (perhaps to transcode further) and so on.

My TV is Full HD and I have some 4k HEVC 10-bit footage which I want to play. Unfortunately I don't have space for larger TV in bedroom (4K TV perhaps wouldn't need transcoding).
The TV is exactly LG 32LM6300 with DLNA Client and Emby, Plex clients.

Wait for Qnap TS-453D or give this Asustor AS5304T a try?

P.S.
It is really great that such forum for Asustors exists.

[orion]

Did you mean transcoding or decoding only? If you display video through HDMI, NAS should only need to decode video. According to asustor official description, HEVC 10-bit 4K decoding should be all right on AS5304T. However I think you can contact to asustor support to make sure of it.

[Ravenik]

Thanks for the reply. I prefer to manage playback using TV's magic remote. Emby client is my preferable way of playback. Also I want to stream to my mobile phone which does not have HDMI input. The same with tablet. These devices cant natively play 4K hevc 10-bit. So I need transcoding for 4K hevc 10 bit. However Full HD videos work fine now (i think it does not require transcoding)

[orion]

Transcoding is more complex. Asustor only announces playback capability: https://support.asustor.com/index.php?/Default/Knowledgebase/Article/View/246/0/can-my-asustor-nas-support-1080p-or-4k-h264h265-video-playback. However this CPU should be capable on encoding, but not all formats. And I believe you don't know what's the format your devices expect. A feasible way is to describe your detailed environment to asustor. They might be able to try the condition.

[Ravenik]

Finally I bought this Asustor AS5304T and it smoothly transcodes from HEVC 4K 10bit to FULL HD using Emby server on the NAS and Emby client on TV. The video is rescaled/resized from 4K to Full HD on the fly. CPU Usage is 20-30% (previously 99-100%). It works Ok in my environment however I had to install Emby server BETA, because the current stable version was taking 99%CPU and video was with some pauses/stutter. On Emby BETA video is being played smoothly. I am very happy about this purchase. Later I will try to find out what format are my 4K videos transcoded to (hope it is written in some Emby logs). Now I am transfering all data from Qnap to Asustor

[orion]

Wow! Thanks for sharing the very useful result.

[Thor76]

I'm having the opposite experience. I'm using Plex server with the AS5304T and hardware acceleration isn't working. Whenever I turn it on, the videos pause, decode incorrectly with big blocks and is basically unwatchable. This is even with 1080 material (for instance 1080 18 MBps to 1080 12 MBps). I was planning on retiring my old Nvidia Shield, but not until this is resolved. I've tried reinstalling Plex, and I'm now on the Beta Channel to see if that helped. It didn't. I'm starting to wonder if this is a HW issue.
Asustor support hasn't been any help as of yet.

[Ravenik]

I am not an expert but I can tell that so far I haven't found a 1080 video that Emby server and my LG FHD TV can't play smoothly. I bought premiere option for Emby for 1 month for testing, as non-premiere may not transcode with hardware support. Have you checkeded Plex pass paid option? Do you try to play using Plex client on TV or via DLNA? Is your TV 4K or FHD?
In my case, with "1080" TV I believe transcoding is not need for video content. I play using Emby client app on the TV.
Also I assume you mean 12...18 Mbps content not 12...18 MBps (18 MBps would be heavy duty). I have just tested Emby up to 19Mbps 1080p - playback Ok.
Another consideration: wired network connection to TV might be needed, because WiFi is often less efficient.