Synology DS218+ as a DVR Platform - Thoughts?

[rtbond]

Hello,

I have a CablelCARD-equipped HDHomeRum Prime (3 tuner) and am planning to move away from WMC-7 shortly, so perhaps it is a good time to consider the Live and DVR service alternative. Assuming the recording of DRM protected content is added by the end of 2019, the solution looks at least as good as WMC.

I was considering the DS218+ NAS as the recording platform, streaming to Roku and Windows 10 devices. Any experience or comments on the suitability of the DS218+ NAS for this application? I am interested in having the NAS perform transcoding of the MPEG-2 TS recorded content (output by the HDHomeRum Prime) to MP4 for the Roku/Windows 10 playback.

Thanks in advance.

--Rob

[wtg]

Assuming the recording of DRM protected content is added by the end of 2019, the solution looks at least as good as WMC.

Unfortunately it doesn't look like that's going to be the case. Note the new info on the Prime 6 product page. We'll be lucky if we ever see recording and playback of protected content outside of WMC. If we do it appears it won't be this year.

[rtbond]

Unfortunately it doesn't look like that's going to be the case. Note the new info on the Prime 6 product page. We'll be lucky if we ever see recording and playback of protected content outside of WMC. If we do it appears it won't be this year.

I am not sure how the availability of the Prime 6 (a hardware device) relates to the Live/DVR software's ability to playback DRM-protected recorded content. There is nothing on the Prime 6 product availability notification that speaks to the Live/DVR software's ability to playback DRM-protected recorded content (e.g., from a HDHomeRum Prime-3 paired with a NAS running the SD Live/DVR software.

[signcarver]

Your question was about a NAS... a NAS isn't used in playing back DRM content as it can't currently be recorded. In the past, SD has stated that DRM recording will be out at the same time as the prime 6... though there is nothing necessarily linking the two together.

Personally because how your original post was phrased (with the requirement of DRM) I felt much of what you asked contradicted itself as there is no DRM recording and if that is of importance, there will be no transcoding of such content. There will be no using of Roku for DRM content. There is no transcoding done with the DVR by the NAS. For non DRM content, plex or something else "could" monitor the folder and it use the nas to transcode but over the years I have found many with an issue of when other things monitor the folder strange things can happen with getting the engine to recognize it wrote the file as the other software seems to not pass on the notification request that there was a file change (this can lead to multiple recordings of the same episode and/or not seeing the recording in the apps that utilize the DVR engine.

[rtbond]

Your question was about a NAS... a NAS isn't used in playing back DRM content as it can't currently be recorded. In the past, SD has stated that DRM recording will be out at the same time as the prime 6... though there is nothing necessarily linking the two together.

Personally because how your original post was phrased (with the requirement of DRM) I felt much of what you asked contradicted itself as there is no DRM recording and if that is of importance, there will be no transcoding of such content. There will be no using of Roku for DRM content. There is no transcoding done with the DVR by the NAS. For non DRM content, plex or something else "could" monitor the folder and it use the nas to transcode but over the years I have found many with an issue of when other things monitor the folder strange things can happen with getting the engine to recognize it wrote the file as the other software seems to not pass on the notification request that there was a file change (this can lead to multiple recordings of the same episode and/or not seeing the recording in the apps that utilize the DVR engine.

My statement "Assuming the recording of DRM protected content is added by the end of 2019,..." was based on my recollection of a SD comment found viewtopic.php?p=351021#p351021. Upon looking back at the specific comment I see it was tied to the Prime 6 schedule (unclear why). Hence there may be cause for concern as to whether the recording of DRM content will be added by the end of 2019.

There is no transcoding done with the DVR by the NAS

That is interesting (and disappointing). So the SD DVR/Live software has minimal role DVR playback and that is a function of the client software (like Plex on a Roku connecting to a Plex server running on the same NAS the SD DVR application)?