Jellyfin in Container Manager on a Synology NAS (Hardware Transcoding)

In this guide I am going to take you through the setup of Jellyfin in Container Manager using Docker Compose.

Does my Synology support Hardware Transcoding?

Before we do anything else, you need to make sure your model of Synology has hardware transcoding capabilities. You need to do a quick lookup via the linked Google Sheet below, this is updated by Plex however it’s perfectly relevant for Jellyfin.

• This great Google Sheet officially updated by Plex

If you find that your model does not support hardware transcoding you can jump back over to the standard guide.

Let’s Begin

As usual, it’s important you complete the three preceding guides which will get your folder structure and docker, user and bridge network setup.

• Step 1: Directory Setup Guide
• Step 2: Setting up a restricted Docker user
• Step 3: Setting up a Docker Bridge Network

Folder Setup

Let’s start by getting some folders set up for the container to use. Open up File Station create the following.

/docker/projects/jellyfin-compose
/docker/jellyfin

Container Manager

Next we are going to set up a ‘Project’ in Container Manager. Open up Container Manager and click on Project then on the right-hand side click ‘Create’.

In the next screen we will set up our General Settings, enter the following:

Next we are going to drop in our docker compose configuration copy all the code in the box below and paste it into line ‘1’ just like the screenshot.

What on earth is a Docker Compose?
Docker Compose allows us to define how Docker should set up one or more containers within a single configuration file. This file is yaml formatted and Container Manager uses the Projects feature to manage them.

services:
  jellyfin:
    image: linuxserver/jellyfin:latest
    container_name: jellyfin
    environment:
      - PUID=1234 #CHANGE_TO_YOUR_UID
      - PGID=65432 #CHANGE_TO_YOUR_GID
      - TZ=Europe/London #CHANGE_TO_YOUR_TZ
      - UMASK=022
      - JELLYFIN_PublishedServerUrl=SEE_TABLE_BELOW
    volumes:
      - /volume1/docker/jellyfin:/config
      - /volume1/data/media:/data/media
    devices:
      - /dev/dri/renderD128:/dev/dri/renderD128
      - /dev/dri/card0:/dev/dri/card0
    ports:
      - 8096:8096 #web port
      - 8920:8920 #optional
      - 7359:7359/udp #optional
    network_mode: synobridge
    security_opt:
      - no-new-privileges:true
    restart: always

The two optional ports in the above can be removed if you will not use them. 7359 is for automated discovery of Jellyfin by the apps, and 8920 is the HTTPS port which is useful if not using the reverse proxy later in the guide.

Environment Variables

We need to make some changes in order for the container to have the correct permissions to save its configuration files and to have access to your media.

Volumes

We can now pass through our file paths into the container they are mounted using the volume’s section of the compose file.

I have pre-filled this section to pass the correct paths, the only thing that you may need to change is the /volume1/ if your file paths are on a different volume.

Click ‘Next’

You do not need to enable anything on the ‘Web portal settings’ screen click ‘Next’ again.

On the final screen click ‘Done’ which will begin the download of the container images and once downloaded they will be launched!

The image will now be downloaded and extracted. You should see ‘Code 0’ when it has finished.

You will now see your Jellyfin running and should have a green status on the left-hand side.

Firewall Exceptions

(Skip if you don’t have the Firewall configured)

If you have enabled and configured the Synology Firewall you will need to create exceptions for any containers that have a Web UI or have any incoming or outgoing connections. This section covers the basics of how to add these. (Please note this is a generic section and will not show the specific ports in this guide however it applies in the same way)

Head into the Control Panel> Security > Firewall, from here click Edit Rules for the profile you set up when you enabled the Firewall.

Next click on Create and you will see the screen below. Source IP and Action will be automatically selected to All and Allow, I will leave it up to you as to your own preference on whether you want to lock down specific Source IPs from having access. In this example we will leave as All.

You will now choose ‘Select from a list of built-in applications‘ and then the Select button

Now from the list choose the newly created Docker container (You can do more than one if you wish)

Click OK a couple of times to get back to the main screen. You will see by default the new rule is added to the bottom of the list. You must always have your Block All rule last in the list as the rules are applied top down so move your container up.

You have now completed the Firewall changes and can continue with the guide.

Jellyfin Initial Setup

After a few minutes you should be able to access the server and go through the initial Jellyfin setup by going to the IP of your NAS in your browser followed by port 8096.

e.g. 192.168.0.30:8096

When adding movies or shows they will be located in the /data/media folder.

How to enable Hardware Transcoding

The last steps for initial set up are to enable the hardware transcode features for your NAS.

On the main Jellyfin homescreen, click on the hamburger menu on the top left and then ‘Dashboard’ in the ‘Administration’ section

On the next screen select ‘Playback’ where you will now be able to select from the first drop-down from ‘None’ to ‘Intel QSV Video’

I have removed the video previously shown below and changed into a table – to take into account some feedback and testing completed in our Matrix/Discord server.

Below are the settings you would enable for a Gemini Lake based NAS such as the 920+/720+/420+/220+. You can cross-check between the Synology CPU list and the table on the QSV Wikipedia page as to the hardware functions your NAS supports.

Please note that I have included the items I changed from the default values – e.g. if the default item is turned off, and I turn it on then it appears in the table.

Once you have made the required change press ‘Save’ and you are now free to change any other settings you wish in relation to the server, make sure you check out the fantastic documentation from Jellyfin.

Remote Access

If you are going to be using your set-up outside your LAN you will also need to enable the following options to allow access and also to restrict bandwidth

Allow remote connections to this server

Streaming

In order to limit upload bandwidth you can also set an overall limit for streams, this is useful if you or other users will be trying to play back files larger than your upload bandwidth can handle

Part 2 – DDNS, SSL and Reverse Proxy

Before we start, make sure you have registered for a Synology Account as we are going to be using their DDNS service. https://account.synology.com/en-uk/register/

In order to successfully use the reverse proxy you will also need to forward port 443 to you NAS IP. (You will need to check how to do this on your own router) This port is used for secure web traffic.

DDNS (Dynamic Domain Name System)

A DDNS address allows you to get external access to Jellyfin via a subdomain provided by Synology, this is useful on home internet connections where your ISP will change your IP address on a regular basis. (If you already have this set up via another guide you can skip to the Reverse Proxy section)

Note: If you want to access DSM via this new address you will either need to create an additional Reverse Proxy for it or open port 5001 on your router.

In the DSM Control panel go to ‘External Access’ and then to the ‘DDNS’ tab

Click on ‘Add’, then fill out the following sections.

Now press OK, DSM will apply your settings. It can take a few moments to set up and the DSM interface will refresh. You will likely receive a certificate error which you will need to accept to get back into DSM.

You should now test that you can access your Diskstation via the hostname you requested and not receive any SSL errors.

Reverse Proxy

So you don’t have to open up additional ports on your router for Jellyfin we are going to set up a reverse proxy subdomain. This means you and your users can access Jellyfin without using a port number as it will route all traffic through the secure 443 port.

Go back into the Control Panel and access the ‘Login Portal’ then in the ‘Advanced’ tab click ‘Reverse Proxy’ and then click on ‘Create’.

We are now going to enter some rules, so when you or your users access the URL specified the request will automatically be sent to the Jellyfin web UI.

Use the settings below, you will need to amend the Hostname sections in line with the hostname you registered earlier, and the IP of your NAS.

On the second tab ‘Custom Header’ click on Create then WebSocket, this will add two entries which will force a https connection if you ever try to connect over http, you can now press save.

You should now be able to access the Jellyfin login screen to https://jellyfin.yourhostname it will be a secure connection, and you should have no SSL errors.

You can now log in with the username and password you created earlier, the same address is used in the Android and iPhone apps.

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