Synology NAS vs mini PC for occasional transcoding? What do I need to look for?

[red-broccoli]

Hi all

I literally just learned about this forum via the subreddit. Let me know if this is not the right place to post.

My current setup is a Synology DS214play as a PLEX server and an Nvidioa Shield TV Pro as my client.
However, this setup is both somewhat slow, and incoming Plex changes (coupled with the Pass for transcoding) make me want to switch to Jellyfin.

My future setup and requirements:

• Shield TV Pro as client
  
• new server to host jellyfin
  
• potential NAS to hold files
  
• Mostly 1x stream up to 4k in home network
  
• For streaming from away, I would tunnel in via a VPN on my Pi, rather than opening up the server to the www. I will try to keep multiple versions for movies, but tv shows may need to be transcoded to watch on the go
  
  

The general question is what specs do I need to focus on to meet the above requirements? I have read that intel CPUs need to be 8th gen or above for QuickSync. Newer Synology NAS seem to not ahve intel CPUs anymore. The DS224+ has one, but per this forum, the latest jellyfish version does not support the transcoding on that CPU/NAS.
The more specific question comes down to the setup. Given the limitations and requirements above, I guess the Synology DS224+ would not be a good fit?
Given my limited streams and transcoding requirements, what specs would a mini PC need to fulfill? Would a Beelink with an Intel i5 10th gen or above be suitable? Would the N95 be? Would a used HP Elitedesk G3 mini desktop with an i5 9th gen be good enough?
Additionally, if I go the mini PC route, should I expect any latency issues if I keep my DS214play as a NAS to store the media files, with the sole purpose of the mini being to run Jellyfin? Or should I attach the storage directly to the server?

Thank you for your help! I am going on vacation in a few weeks, and I am hoping to be ready by then to test it all and hopefully cancel netflix for good thereafter.