Afaik the J series is known to have bad performance when it comes to processing media, like creating thumbnails or transcoding videos. That's why they added the Play series at some point, as an affordable option with ok media support.
this post was submitted on 24 Jul 2023
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I just tested on my local network and it works perfectly fine. It's only when I'm outside.
This one guy on reddit said:
It definitely cannot be the NAS. The NAS does not do any sort of transcoding when you play a video using the Synology Photos App. Try a lower res/bitrate video, if that plays fine, then your internet upload speed is the problem.
Is there anything to it? Is it possible that the Play series is for the Plex functionality?
There's something to that claim. Sending uncompressed (i.e. not transcoded) video content over the internet can easily saturate your internet link.
Do you have CIFS/Samba, in other words Windows Network Explorer access to the files on the NAS via your local network? If so try directly opening a video and look at the network dashboard of the NAS and/or your computers task manager (performance -> ethernet tab) to see to what mbit bandwidth the not transcoded stream amounts too.
Consider that the exact same mbit bandwidth will be needed using Synology QuickConnect to view media from outside of your local network.
If you want to work around all that you would probably have to look into something that buffers/transcodes your media, something like Jellyfin/Plex or the likes. For that you'd have to look into running Docker on the NAS but that'll plunge you into self-hosting very deep very fast and may be beyond your initial comfort zone.
500 fibre connection means it is a 500mbit internet uplink?
Have you checked whether the ethernet cable you're connecing the DS216j to your router is a "Cat5e" cable. If it is a "Cat5" you would be limiting and thus bottlenecking your bandwidth to 100mbit max.
I checked it - it's Cat 5e
Is it connected to a gigabit connection? I recently found out my WiFi router only had 10/100 ports, which didn't matter until I needed to use them
How could I check that?
What model is the router? I suspect it is a router your provider equipped you with? In that case, with a 500Mb download bandwidth contract it would be really crazy of your provider to hand you a router with 100Mb ports ;-)
In either way looking up specifications of the router model will help here.
This is what i have:
https://www.virginmedia.com/broadband/fibre/m500
I will check my Ethernet cable when I'm back from work
M500 broadband package boasts average download speeds of 516Mbps and average upload speeds of 52Mbps
So, while viewing media from outside your local netwwork, i.e. via Synology QuickConnect, you're limited to 52mbit speed.
If you're self-hosting upload speed matters alot unfortunately. You will surely need something that buffers / transcodes your media for viewing from the internet.
So you reckon it's my connection is bottlenecking the whole operation?
EDIT: I noticed when I'm on my home network, there is no issue with the videos being slow. So it is the connection most likely. Ergo, nothing I can improve unless I upgrade my contract?
I would not upgrade the contract, even if you go beyond your 50mbit UPLOAD speed you won't be sure that no buffering and hence drop in streaming will happen. Note you have a "500Mb Broadband" contract but the upload is limited to 50Mb. Asymmetric bandwidth is typical for "consumer" internet you mostly consume/download - contrary to "hosting" internet uplinks which typically are symmetric and very pricey since you are typically hosting/uploading.
You need specialised software to make sure you can transmit big, uncompressed real-time data (which video basically is) over the internet. It's basically what Youtube does for its users.
It hosts arbitrary uncompressed video data you upload to it (this is your NAS - which you have now) and then displays that data to users on the web in a compressed, streaming fashion (this is what streaming software would handle - which you do not have yet).
In your scenario issues will arise, naturally.
I noticed that there is one scenario that I get good load times + video with proper framerate: laptop connected to the same network. If it's on my phone, no matter if it's the same network, 5G or external network - videos are always choppy...
You say you're using QuickConnect, do you know if you're getting a direct connection to your NAS or one through QuickConnect relay service? Maybe try opening the required ports and checking again.
https://kb.synology.com/en-global/DSM/tutorial/Quick_Start_External_Access
Which option is it? Also, is it secure?
I'm using QuickConnect relay atm.
"Configure port forwarding" covers pretty much all of the steps. I don't think that it would be any less secure than quickconnect through a relay, but if security is a priority, then look into setting up a VPN to your network instead.
I just checked and my router doesn't allow for DDNS so this option won't work for me unfortunately.
You can run a DDNS service on a machine within the network if your router doesn't have the configuration available.
But said machine would have to run 24/7 for this to work correct?
Not necessarily, anytime it was on it would update the ddns service with the correct IP address. As far as I'm aware, your dynamic IP doesn't change too frequently. There would be some downtime if your ISP assigned you a new dynamic IP while the machine was powered down but it would correct itself as soon as the machine came online again.
I'm not an expert but I think this is accurate.
Edit: Does Synology have a ddns app? Or is it possible to install a ddns service via the command line? It would be cool if the NAS could send the update!
I think it might be because I'm running DSM 7 and it's suggested to have 1gb of RAM when DS216j have 512mb. I think I will try to downgrade to DSM 6
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