HomeBy using Video Station, DS video or Media Server, you can stream your video collection on your Synology NAS to a media player. If you are trying to stream unsupported video to media player with Synology NAS, some Synology NAS models even has the ability to perform a format transcode process for you. How about streaming 4K video with Synology NAS, can your Synology NAS transcode 4K video for your devices?
Related topics: Where to get 4K Movies and TV Shows
Synology NAS Models that Transcode 4K video
Different Synology NAS models are equipped with different transcoding capabilities, the following table indicates the behavor of Synology NAS in respective scenarios.
Video Station and DS video
The following table shows the video transcoding capabilities of different Synology NAS groups when streaming video to popular media players with Video Station or DS video.
| DS916+, DS716+, DS716+II, DS416play, DS216+, DS216+II | DS216play | |
| Win PC and Mac browsers | * MP4, MOV and M4V: stream original video file | |
| * MP4 (multi audio tracks) or MKV: remux video | ||
| * Transcode video up to 1080p * Use 3rd party plugin for unsupported formats |
* Transcode video up to 1080p * Use 3rd party plugin for unsupported formats |
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| Apple TV | * MP4: stream original video (without subtitles) | |
| * MP4 and MKV: remux video (with subtitles) | ||
| * Transcode video up to 1080p | ||
| DLNA devices | Transmit original files to the DLNA devices; supported formats depend on the device. | |
| Chromecast | * MP4, MOV, M4V, and MKV: stream original video (video codec: H.264 HP@L4.1; audio codec: AAC/MP3) | |
| * MP4, MOV, M4V, and MKV: remux video if audio codec is AC3, or stream original video by enabling AC3 passthrough in DS video | ||
| * Transcode 4K video with H.264 up to 1080p | * Transcode 4K or H.265 video up to 1080p | |
| iOS | * MP4: iPhone 6s & later devices: stream original video Older devices: stream original video in 1080p or lower; transcode 4K video up to 1080p |
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| * MKV: iPhone 6s & later devices: remux video Older devices: remux video in 1080p or lower; transcode 4K video up to 1080p |
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| Android | * Supported formats depend on the device. We recommend installing MX Player for optimal experience. | |
| * Transcode 4K video with H.264 up to 1080p | * Transcode 4K or H.265 video up to 1080p | |
| Windows Phone | * MP4, WMV: stream original video | |
| * Transcode video up to 720p | ||
| Roku players | * MP4 (mpeg4 Pt 14), M4V, and MOV (video codec: h264 / mpeg4; audio codec: aac / ac3 / mp3 / none and non-5.1 aac): stream original video | |
| MKV: remux video | ||
| * Transcode video up to 1080p (resolution conditioned by Roku models) | ||
| Samsung Smart TV | * Transcode video up to 1080p | |
Media Server
The following table shows the behavior of Synology NAS running Media Server.
| DS916+, DS716+, DS716+II, DS416play, DS216+, DS216+II | DS216play | |
| DLNA Devices | * For XBOX 360, transcode video to ASF up to 480p. * For other DLNA devices, transcode video to TS up to 1080p. |
Not available |
Backup and stream 4K video with unsupported Synology NAS to devices
From above lists, we can see that when you are trying to stream 4K video on Synology DS216 play via media server, the 4k video transcoding is not available for Synology DS216play. Or if the Synology NAS models that you are using to backup and stream 4K video are not included in above list, then you will need a third-party 4K video conversion app such as Pavtube Video Converter for Windows/Mac (best Mac OS X El Capitan) to as an alternative to convert any 4K video such as H.265/HEVC, XAVC/XAVC S, MP4, Prores, MXF, etc to compatible file formats for streaming from Synology NAS to media players such as Windows PC and Mac browsers, Apple TV, DLNA devices, Chromecast, Roku players, iOS, Android, Windows Phone, Samsung Smart TV, etc. If your media player app can't play video, you can also use the program to compress 4K video to 1080p or 4K video to 720p for smooth streaming and playing.
For streaming commercial Blu-ray/DVD disc to Synology NAS, you can turn to Pavtube Video Converter Ultimate for Windows/Mac (best video converter ultimate) to copy and backup Blu-ray/DVD onto Synology DS216, DS416play, DS416j, DS414, etc.
How to Transcode 4K Video for Backup and Streaming with Synology NAS?
Step 1: Load 4K video into the program.
Launch the program on your computer, click "File" menu and select "Add Video/Audio" or "Add from folder" to import 4K video files into the application.
Step 2: Define output format.
Click "Format" bar, from its drop-down options, select to output 4K video to your media player compatible file formats such as "HD Video" > "H.264 HD Video(*.mp4)" which is a friendly format used by most media player apps.
Step 3: Compress 4K to 1080p.
Open "Profile Settings" window, click "Size(pix)" to select 1920*1080 as the final resolution for output video for smooth video streaming and playing process on media players.
Step 3:Begin the conversion process.
After all the settings is completed, hit right-bottom "Convert" button to start 4K video for Synology NAS media players streamable formats conversion process.
When the conversion is done, click "Open output folder", a window will pop out with all your converted files. Then feel free to stream converted 4K video from Synology NAS to your desired media player apps.
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