Which Synology NAS as media streamer: DS213 family

Just want to consolidate all my media files (mostly MTS from my Sony camera and FLV from Youtube all with H264 encoding, some AVI movie added) in a single place, and play them on my Samsung D7000 smart tv.

My doubts are what product of the 213 family will be enough:

DS213Air: 1.6 Ghz ARM cpu, 256MB RAM, 370 USD
DS213: 2 Ghz ARM, 512MB, 370 USD
DS213+: 1Ghz dual-core PPC, 512MB, 420 USD

With 213Air I will also gain a wifi n hotspot, with 213+ a x2 in cpu performance and a SD card slot.

The use as media backup will be not so intense, will be only in 2 using it.

So better to have more CPU/RAM or still 1.6Ghz/256RAM will be more than enough?

Thanks ljiminez,

I finally bought a DS213 with Seagate SV35 HDD.

The reason was mostly what you explain: more RAM is better for AV. I also read the wifi implementation on 213Air its really limited so was no good to have cpu/ram limitations AND a suboptimal wifi (better upgrade my wifi router in the future).

DS213+ was a long long evaluation. Main reason to go for 213 is that 213+ has a PPC based CPU that its not supported from almost all 3-parthy DMS packages such as Plex. And since I was not sure Synology Media Video package is supporting FLV streaming (I receive a official response from Synology only last week: it does and Synology website will be updated) I wanted to have an alternative for DLNA media server, such as Plex. That work only on ARM or Intel CPU. So the only choice was for DS213.

213 vs 112 family since we value our media, coming from personal events or countless search and discovery on YouTube (my wife teach classic ballet and character dance so its really interested to international styles and traditions), so a RAID1 option its a value for us.

As you can confirm this will be anyway more than enough for my needs, so pay the same as for 213Air but with better future compatibility and present performance.

I have problems streaming m2t FullHD videos coming from my Sony CX130 camera, but the problem it's not the DS it's the wifi g connection I use from NAS to my TV. The video and audio is perfect but is stopping and loading every few seconds.

I have no problems at all playing any other movie with lower bitrate, encoded in 720 or 1080.

As many other state the Synology NAS will be never your problem, the main thing is you need to be sure all your chain (NAS media player, media controller ie a iPad if you use one, media render ie my TV) support exactly the same video and audio codec used in the movies you want to play.

Otherwise you need transcoding and neither Ds213 or ds213+ support that. If you need transcoding you need to go for a high end Synology NAS such as ds412+ or using a external media server such as WD Live.

And if you need to transcode a 1080p FullHD video such as BD-quality movie the Ds412+ poor Atom cpu will be not enough, you need a external media server with a good DSP (I think WD Live or Popcorn Hours will be good, but I never tried it).

Personally I checked my videos before to be sure doesn't need transcoding, I found just a single case I reencoded.

The second thing for high bitrate movies such as FullHD BD quality you need a fast connection btw the media server and your TV, most people find also wifi n too slow and go for a powerline if not for a giga Ethernet.

Need to say with all standard movies you find on the net I haven't had any problem (but I often download 720p encoding since I don't care so much about perfect details and my Samsung D7000 has a really good integrated upscaler).
Edited by davide445 - 1/16/13 at 12:52am

Do you have any other mkv to try and that is working using the same configuration (Tversity or PS3, without Plex)? If so try to compare the audio codecs using some sw such as MediaInfo.

My D7000 for MKV container support MP3 / AC3/ LPCM /ADPCM /DTS Core audio codecs. If your problematic MKV has the audio with a different encoding try to re-encode it into the supported codecs.

Btw you don't need DS412+ to use Plex (it work also on my DS213), but you need it for transcoding, that's why I think this can be your problem.