Best NAS for Plex and Jellyfin Hardware Transcoding

Quick Summary (TL;DR):
For a NASAliExpress price that will regularly transcode Plex or Jellyfin streams, prioritise a modern Intel processor with Quick Sync Video rather than simply buying the NASAliExpress price with the fastest CPU. Our current shortlist is led by the UGREEN DXP4800 PlusAliExpress price with its 12th-generation Intel 8505, 48-EU iGPU, 8GB DDR5 expandable to 64GB and built-in 10GbE. The TerraMaster F4-425 Plus is a strong lower-power alternative with the newer Intel N150, 16GB DDR5, dual 5GbE and an explicitly advertised hardware transcoding engine. The QNAP TS-464 remains one of the safest mature-platform choices: its Jasper Lake N5095 is not powerful by current CPU standards, but QNAP explicitly supports hardware-accelerated transcoding and Plex currently says NASAliExpress price users need Jasper Lake or newer for reliable HEVC-output transcoding. The Synology DS425+ has Intel Quick Sync, but its older Gemini Lake Refresh J4125 falls below that current Plex recommendation, so we would choose it mainly for DSM and Direct Play rather than as a new transcoding-first purchase. Plex hardware acceleration requires an active Plex Pass; Jellyfin hardware acceleration does not, but both require the iGPU to be exposed correctly—especially in Docker. If most clients Direct Play your files, transcoding performance matters far less and storage capacity, software ecosystem and network speed should drive the NASAliExpress price decision instead.

Best NAS for Plex and Jellyfin Hardware Transcoding: Shortlist

NAS	CPU / media hardware	Why it stands out	Main limitation
UGREEN DXP4800 Plus	Intel 8505, 48-EU UHD, Quick Sync	Strongest overall compute, 64GB RAM ceiling, 10GbE	UGOS Pro ecosystem is younger than QNAP/Synology
TerraMaster F4-425 Plus	Intel N150, 24-EU Intel Graphics, Quick Sync	Modern low-power media engine, 16GB RAM, dual 5GbE	32GB RAM ceiling; M.2 slots are PCIe 3.0 x1
QNAP TS-464	Intel N5095 Jasper Lake, UHD, Quick Sync	Mature Plex/QTS platform, explicit HW transcoding support, PCIe expansion	16GB official RAM ceiling; older CPU
QNAP TS-664	Same N5095 platform	Same media engine with six HDD bays	No compute advantage over TS-464
Synology DS425+	Intel J4125, UHD 600, Quick Sync	DSM ecosystem, Direct Play, light legacy transcoding	Older Gemini Lake Refresh; below Plex’s current Jasper Lake HEVC-output recommendation

The Most Important Rule: Buy the Video Engine, Not the CPU Benchmark

Video transcoding is different from general CPU work.

A powerful CPU can transcode in software, but modern Intel processors contain dedicated fixed-function video hardware through Intel Quick Sync Video. Plex and Jellyfin can use that hardware to decode and encode video while leaving most CPU resources available for the rest of the NAS.

That is why an Intel N5095 NAS can be a better Plex purchase than a more powerful AMD Ryzen NAS that has no supported integrated media engine.

Why Hardware Transcoding Matters

Transcoding happens when the client cannot play the original file directly or when the requested stream must be changed.

• Remote bandwidth is lower than the source bitrate.
• The client does not support the source codec.
• The client requests a lower resolution.
• The audio format is incompatible.
• Subtitles must be burned into the picture.
• HDR video must be converted to SDR.

Plex notes that transcoding is CPU-intensive and that hardware acceleration can make high-quality HEVC/4K conversion smoother while reducing the load and power consumption of the main CPU.

Direct Play Is Still Better Than Transcoding

The best transcode is the one you do not need.

If your TV, streaming box, phone or browser can play the original container, codec, audio and subtitle combination, Plex or Jellyfin can use Direct Play.

Direct Play requires very little server compute.

A large 4K remux can still require substantial network bandwidth, but the NAS CPU is mostly reading the file and sending it to the client.

If nearly everything in your home Direct Plays, spend money on:

• More drive bays.
• Larger HDDs.
• Better backup.
• 2.5GbE or 10GbE where useful.
• Better client devices.

rather than buying an expensive NAS only for a more powerful transcoder.

Plex Hardware Acceleration Requires Plex Pass

Plex currently requires an active Plex Pass subscription for normal hardware-accelerated streaming.

When enabled, Plex can use supported Intel Quick Sync hardware for video decoding and encoding.

In Plex:

Settings
→ Server
→ Transcoder
→ Show Advanced
→ Use hardware acceleration when available

During playback, the Plex Dashboard should show (hw) beside the transcoded video path when hardware acceleration is actually working.

Jellyfin Hardware Acceleration Does Not Need a Paid Licence

Jellyfin supports several hardware-acceleration methods, including:

• Intel Quick Sync Video (QSV).
• Intel/AMD VA-API on Linux.
• NVIDIA NVENC/NVDEC.
• AMD AMF on Windows.

For Intel NAS hardware, QSV or VA-API are the important choices.

Jellyfin can accelerate multiple stages of the pipeline, including decoding, deinterlacing, scaling, HDR tone mapping and encoding when the hardware/software combination supports them.

Best Overall: UGREEN DXP4800 Plus

The DXP4800 Plus uses Intel’s 12th-generation Pentium Gold 8505.

• 5 CPU cores / 6 threads.
• Up to 4.4GHz.
• Intel UHD Graphics.
• 48 graphics execution units.
• Intel Quick Sync Video.
• One multi-format codec engine.
• 8GB DDR5 included.
• Up to 64GB RAM.
• 1 × 10GbE + 1 × 2.5GbE.
• 4 SATA bays + 2 M.2 slots.

The 8505 is far newer than the J4125 and N5095 class and has substantially more general CPU headroom than either.

That matters when Plex/Jellyfin shares the NAS with:

• Docker applications.
• Immich.
• Databases.
• Home Assistant services.
• Download automation.
• Media indexing.

The built-in 10GbE port is unnecessary for one ordinary media stream, but useful when the same NAS also serves workstation backups, large file transfers or several clients.

UGREEN’s main trade-off is software maturity. UGOS Pro has developed quickly, but QNAP and Synology have longer-established native NAS ecosystems.

We cover the exact current UGREEN Plex/Jellyfin deployment and acceleration checks separately in Plex and Jellyfin Hardware Transcoding on UGREEN NASync.

Best Modern Value Alternative: TerraMaster F4-425 Plus

The F4-425 Plus uses Intel’s newer N150 processor.

• 4 cores / 4 threads.
• Up to 3.6GHz.
• 6W processor base power.
• Intel Graphics with 24 execution units.
• Intel Quick Sync Video.
• 16GB DDR5 included.
• Up to 32GB RAM.
• 2 × 5GbE.
• 3 × M.2 PCIe 3.0 x1 slots.

TerraMaster explicitly lists hardware transcoding for H.264, H.265, MPEG-4 and VC-1 on the F4-425 Plus, with the current product page advertising an 8K@60fps transcoding engine.

The N150 is also newer than Plex’s “Jasper Lake or better” requirement for reliable HEVC-output transcoding on NAS.

This combination makes the F4-425 Plus particularly attractive when you want:

• A modern Intel media engine.
• Plenty of RAM out of the box.
• Fast networking.
• Four HDD bays.
• Docker/Jellyfin/Plex capability.

Its general CPU is less capable than the UGREEN 8505, but a transcoding-first NAS often benefits more from the media engine than from extra CPU cores.

Best Mature QNAP Option: TS-464

The QNAP TS-464 uses Intel’s Celeron N5095.

• 4 cores / 4 threads.
• Up to 2.9GHz.
• Intel UHD Graphics.
• 16 graphics execution units.
• Intel Quick Sync Video.
• 8GB DDR4 on the current 8G model.
• Up to 16GB officially supported RAM.
• 2 × 2.5GbE.
• 2 × M.2 PCIe Gen3 x1.
• PCIe Gen3 x2 expansion slot.

The key detail is the CPU generation: N5095 is Jasper Lake.

Plex currently says NAS users need Jasper Lake or better to reliably transcode to HEVC output. That keeps the TS-464 relevant even though its CPU is now old compared with an 8505 or N150.

QNAP also explicitly lists hardware-accelerated transcoding as supported on the TS-464.

Its strongest reasons to buy are:

• Mature QTS software.
• Container Station.
• Virtualization Station.
• Established Plex deployment history.
• PCIe expansion.
• HDMI 2.1 output.

The main limitation is the 16GB official RAM ceiling. That matters more for a large home-lab stack than for Plex itself.

Need Six Bays? QNAP TS-664 Uses the Same Media Platform

The TS-664 uses the same N5095 CPU, graphics and 16GB memory ceiling as the TS-464.

It therefore does not provide more transcoding compute.

What it gives you is two additional SATA bays, which can be much more useful for a large movie/TV library.

Choose TS-664 instead of TS-464 when the problem is media capacity, not transcoding speed.

Best DSM Option: Synology DS425+—with a Major Caveat

The DS425+ uses Intel’s Celeron J4125.

• 4 cores / 4 threads.
• 2.0GHz base / 2.7GHz burst.
• Intel UHD Graphics 600.
• 12 execution units.
• Intel Quick Sync Video.
• 2GB DDR4 included.
• Up to 6GB total RAM.
• 1 × 2.5GbE + 1 × 1GbE.

The DS425+ therefore does have an Intel hardware video engine.

The problem is generation. Intel identifies J4125 as Gemini Lake Refresh, while Plex currently recommends Jasper Lake or better for reliable HEVC-output transcoding on NAS.

That makes the DS425+ reasonable for:

• Direct Play.
• Older H.264-heavy libraries.
• Occasional compatible hardware transcoding.
• Buyers who prioritise DSM over media-server performance.

It is not our first choice for a new NAS bought specifically around modern HEVC transcoding.

Why We Would Not Choose the Synology DS925+ for Transcoding

The DS925+ is a stronger storage/server platform than the DS425+ in several areas: ECC RAM, 32GB memory support, eight CPU threads and expansion to nine bays.

But its Ryzen V1500B does not provide an Intel Quick Sync media engine.

For backups, Docker and storage growth, DS925+ can be the better NAS. For Plex/Jellyfin hardware transcoding, the older Intel DS425+ has the more useful architecture.

A Fast AMD NAS Is Not Automatically a Fast Transcoding NAS

This lesson extends beyond Synology.

High-performance AMD systems such as the ASUSTOR Lockerstor 4 Gen3 can have much stronger CPU, ECC RAM and networking than an N5095 NAS.

But if the processor does not expose a supported video encode/decode engine, Plex may need to use CPU software transcoding.

Jellyfin supports AMD hardware acceleration when a suitable AMD GPU/APU is present, but not every Ryzen Embedded CPU includes the required graphics engine.

HEVC Output Changed the CPU Generation Requirement

Plex’s current hardware-accelerated streaming documentation includes an important NAS-specific line: Jasper Lake or better is required to reliably transcode to HEVC output.

This matters because older NAS buying guides often treat any Quick Sync processor as equivalent.

They are not.

CPU	Generation	Current Plex HEVC-output position
J4125	Gemini Lake Refresh	Older than current Jasper Lake recommendation
N5095	Jasper Lake	Meets stated minimum generation
N150	Twin Lake	Newer than stated minimum
Intel 8505	Alder Lake	Newer than stated minimum

HEVC Encoding in Plex Is Still Experimental

As of the current Plex transcoder documentation, HEVC video encoding is still marked experimental.

Plex warns that HEVC encoding uses more resources and will generally support fewer concurrent streams than H.264.

Do not buy a NAS based on an assumption such as “this will always transcode six 4K streams to HEVC”. Plex software, drivers, source files, HDR processing and subtitles can all change the result.

HDR Tone Mapping Is a Separate Requirement

Converting HDR video to SDR can add substantial processing work.

Plex hardware tone mapping requires supported server software and compatible hardware. Plex currently notes an Intel Kaby Lake-or-newer requirement for relevant hardware-accelerated tone-mapping paths.

Jellyfin supports hardware-accelerated HDR10/HLG tone mapping and supports Intel VPP tone mapping through QSV/VA-API on Linux.

If your library is mostly 4K HDR remuxes and remote clients frequently need SDR, test this exact path—not simply “4K transcoding”.

Subtitles Can Break an Otherwise Easy Transcode

Subtitle format matters.

Text subtitles such as SRT are often easier for clients to render directly. Image-based subtitles such as PGS may force subtitle burn-in depending on the client and playback path.

Burn-in can move parts of the pipeline back to CPU processing and dramatically change performance.

This is why “How many 4K streams?” is usually the wrong benchmark question.

Docker Hardware Transcoding Works—but the Device Must Be Passed Through

Plex explicitly supports hardware acceleration inside Docker when the host exposes a supported Intel Quick Sync device to the container.

On a Linux-based Intel NAS, this normally means exposing the relevant /dev/dri device into the container and ensuring the container has the correct permissions.

Jellyfin similarly requires access to the host’s GPU device and the appropriate QSV/VA-API configuration.

If the container cannot see the iGPU, buying a Quick Sync CPU provides no hardware-transcoding benefit.

Do Not Put Plex in a VM Expecting Quick Sync Automatically

Plex’s current documentation says hardware-accelerated streaming is not supported inside ordinary virtual machines because the required low-level video hardware is not normally exposed to the guest.

Advanced hypervisors can support PCIe/iGPU passthrough in other architectures, but that is a separate design problem.

For an appliance NAS, Docker/native Plex is usually the cleaner hardware-transcoding path.

RAM Matters Less for Transcoding Than People Think

Plex itself does not need 64GB RAM to transcode video.

Large memory capacity matters when the NAS also hosts:

• Immich.
• Nextcloud.
• Several databases.
• VMs.
• Large Docker stacks.
• RAM-based transcode temporary storage.

For a pure Plex/Jellyfin box, modern Intel media hardware matters more than a huge RAM ceiling.

SSD Cache Will Not Make Video Transcoding Faster by Magic

A modern HDD can read one large movie file far faster than required for normal playback.

SSD/NVMe is more useful for:

• Plex/Jellyfin metadata.
• Thumbnail databases.
• Transcode temporary files.
• Docker application data.
• Large multi-user metadata workloads.

Store the bulk movie library on HDD unless silence, size or a specific high-performance workload justifies flash.

1GbE Is Enough for Many Media Servers

One Gigabit Ethernet connection can deliver roughly 100MB/s-plus of real application throughput under good conditions.

That is far more than one ordinary compressed 4K stream needs.

2.5GbE or 10GbE becomes valuable when the NAS also handles:

• Large workstation transfers.
• Multiple simultaneous users.
• Backups while media is streaming.
• Video editing.
• Several high-bitrate streams plus other NAS workloads.

Do not buy a 10GbE NAS solely because you plan to watch one movie at a time.

When a Mini PC Plus NAS Is Better

If you need very strong transcoding but also want a large, long-lived storage array, separate compute and storage can be the better architecture.

Intel mini PC
Plex / Jellyfin / Quick Sync
        │
     2.5/10GbE
        │
NAS with large HDD array

This lets you upgrade the media-server CPU without replacing the NAS enclosure and drive array.

Our dedicated troubleshooting/buying article covers this decision: Plex Server vs NAS Storage: Which Component Should You Upgrade First?.

Practical Buying Matrix

Your priority	Best fit	Why
Best overall four-bay transcoding/home-server mix	UGREEN DXP4800 Plus	Alder Lake 8505, Quick Sync, 64GB RAM, 10GbE
Modern low-power media NAS	TerraMaster F4-425 Plus	N150 Quick Sync, 16GB RAM, explicit HW transcoding
Mature QTS/Plex ecosystem	QNAP TS-464	Jasper Lake Quick Sync, explicit HW transcoding, QTS
Six-bay Plex library	QNAP TS-664	Same media engine with more HDD capacity
DSM + mostly Direct Play	Synology DS425+	DSM ecosystem and Intel Quick Sync
Modern HEVC-output transcoding	8505 / N150 / N5095 class	Meets or exceeds Plex’s Jasper Lake generation guidance
Large Docker stack + media	UGREEN DXP4800 Plus	Most CPU/RAM headroom in shortlist
Huge library + strongest transcoder	Mini PC + NAS	Separates upgradeable compute from storage

Best NAS for Plex and Jellyfin Hardware Transcoding: The Bottom Line

For a new purchase focused on transcoding, choose a modern Intel Quick Sync NAS. The UGREEN DXP4800 Plus is our strongest all-round hardware choice because its 8505 combines a modern media engine with much more general compute and RAM headroom than older NAS processors.

The TerraMaster F4-425 Plus is a compelling media-first alternative with the newer N150, 16GB RAM and explicit hardware-transcoding support.

The QNAP TS-464 remains highly relevant because N5095 is Jasper Lake, which matches Plex’s current minimum generation guidance for reliable HEVC-output transcoding on NAS, and QNAP’s software ecosystem is mature.

The Synology DS425+ is the compromise choice. It provides DSM and Quick Sync, but its Gemini Lake Refresh J4125 is older than Plex’s current HEVC-output recommendation. Buy it for DSM and Direct Play, not because it is the strongest new transcoding platform.

Above all, check whether you actually need transcoding. If your clients Direct Play your library, the best Plex NAS may simply be the NAS with the right number of drive bays, reliable backups and the software ecosystem you prefer.

Continue the Media Server Series

• Best 4-Bay NAS for Docker, Plex and Family Storage
• Plex Server vs NAS Storage: Which Component Should You Upgrade First?
• Plex and Jellyfin Hardware Transcoding on UGREEN NASync

Datasheets & External Resources

• Plex – Using Hardware-Accelerated Streaming
• Plex – HDR to SDR Tone Mapping
• Jellyfin – Hardware Acceleration
• UGREEN DXP4800 Plus – Official specifications
• Intel 8505 – Quick Sync and GPU specifications
• TerraMaster F4-425 Plus – Official specifications
• Intel N150 – Quick Sync and GPU specifications
• QNAP TS-464 – Official product page
• Intel N5095 – Jasper Lake and Quick Sync specifications
• Synology DS425+ – Official specifications
• Intel J4125 – Gemini Lake Refresh and Quick Sync specifications