NAS halp

Started by Theta Sigma, December 12, 2018, 05:50:40 AM

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Theta Sigma

I've had an external HD plugged in to my Asus router for a month now and it has become corrupted several times now (currently won't show anything that is on there on my TV, but the files are visible on an FTP and visible and accessible on the VLC app) so I've come to the conclusion I probably can't rely on this for the long term and a NAS would be the best bet. However, they're very expensive and I don't want to fork out for something that is also a pain in the arse.

I'm wondering if they're worth the price. I'm not looking at running a PLEX server as my TV is old as balls and doesn't have apps, and PLEX confuses me >_> I primarily want to use a NAS to host and play video files on my TV and phone (from other networks too) but it may be nice to keep some files in storage for backup's sake.

If anyone has any experience with a NAS, that would be awesome.

O&Os
 
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Vekseid

What are you looking at and what is your threshold for expensive? A lot of the most expensive ones come 'pre populated', which isn't necessarily what you want to do.

Theta Sigma

I've been looking at the Synology DS218j. £250 is really the max I'd be looking to spend. Not looking to transcode through it (ruling out the QNAPs), everything is a good enough filetype to play on the TV already.

O&Os
 
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Orange Marmalade

I've had one of the 4 bay Synology NAS running for about the last 5 years with absolutely zero issues. They're pretty solid, and there's a large library of apps for them. The CPUs are pretty weak though, so it is good you don't want to do any transcoding :) It should suit your needs for sure, though I'd make sure it can serve files in a way that your TV can access them. (Or failing that, you could get a cheap TV stick to plug into an HDMI port on the TV to give it a lot more capability to go along with the Synology - Chromecast, Roku, FireTV, etc.)

Theta Sigma

I've been running with a Chromecast for the past two years. It's great, but a lot of stuff on demand doesn't allow subtitles with it, which is a pain. I've got the TV now directly plugged into the router so I've just been using the media access that way. The intention eventually is to get a new TV >_>

But, awesome. This is good to hear. The external plugged into the router had another hissy fit and now won't show anything so I'm thinking I'm going to just bite, anything is better than the issues I've been having with this thing.

O&Os
 
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Vekseid

Wow stuff really is pricier over there. I generally prefer the four-drive ones (mine's a QNAP), as a two-drive NAS always felt silly to me, and the bigger ones go up in price rapidly.

Usually what you are paying for is bigger processors and more RAM (for caching). You don't need a lot of CPU or RAM for something where you're streaming a single video at a time. 2GB models will do fine.