NAS for media server

pontifex

Lifer
Dec 5, 2000
43,804
46
91
Anyone recommend a NAS type device for use as a media server?

Something like the WD My Cloud might be nice but I read lots of bad reviews about those.


My router - Asus RT-N56U has the ability to connect a usb drive to it (which I have done) and also has media server capabilities (which I have enabled) but I never got it to work. Now I can't even get to the page to configure it.

I've uninstalled and reinstalled, upgraded, downgraded, etc.

Seems a lot of people have had this issue and none of the tricks they have provided works.

Looking for a simple unit to set up and not have to worry about.
 

smitbret

Diamond Member
Jul 27, 2006
3,382
17
81
Anyone recommend a NAS type device for use as a media server?

Something like the WD My Cloud might be nice but I read lots of bad reviews about those.


My router - Asus RT-N56U has the ability to connect a usb drive to it (which I have done) and also has media server capabilities (which I have enabled) but I never got it to work. Now I can't even get to the page to configure it.

I've uninstalled and reinstalled, upgraded, downgraded, etc.

Seems a lot of people have had this issue and none of the tricks they have provided works.

Looking for a simple unit to set up and not have to worry about.

Just get an inexpensive Synology or roll your own from parts you have lying around.
 

voodoo7817

Member
Oct 22, 2006
193
0
76
I'm in a similar situation and was going to post a new thread but instead I'll add my comments, questions, and research here.

I've been using a HP Mediasmart Server for years but it's starting to die. I'm looking to replace it with a NAS device, as I like having a separate standalone box for fileserving and backups, along with the small footprint and low power consumption. I am looking at 4-bay options as my HP MSS had 4 bays and I have 4 2TB drives already.

I'm looking at the following 4 options. There are 2-bay options, and they are cheaper, but not cheaper enough for me to think they are a better solution than the 4-bay options. For OP, the 2-bay options might be your best bet depending on the amount of storage you need.

1. Synology DS415play, $529.99 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822108180
2. Synology DS415+, $599.99 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822108183
3. QNAP TS451, $556.99 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822107176
4. QNAP TS453 Pro, $650.99 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822107180

As you can see, they are all more or less in the same ballpark when it comes to price. I've read some reviews online but no real direct comparisons between these devices. As a fairly simple home user, my guess is the cheapest option will likely serve (pun intended?) my needs just fine, but since the price points are close to each other, I'd like to get the best bang for buck hardware and software wise.

I have really only used my HP MSS for simple filesharing (video and music files) and backups, but I could see using this next purchase as part of a Plex server or something else cool that comes along. I'm not sure I'll need any brute force transcoding, but the QNAP TS453 Pro has the beefiest CPU so I believe it would be best suited to that (it's also the most expensive). On the other side, from what I've read, most people seem to believe that Synology has the best UI and overall customer support.

Does anyone have any suggestions as to which of these fairly newly released NAS's are the best-bang-for-the-buck, taking hardware, software, and support (official channels or simply online forums) into account? Thanks in advance.
 
Last edited:

pontifex

Lifer
Dec 5, 2000
43,804
46
91
most options are expensive for me right now. the cheapest synology i could find was $210 and thats without disks. I could use the disk I am using now for the router though.
 

tential

Diamond Member
May 13, 2008
7,348
642
121
How many bays is the synology?
There is nothing cheaper than building your own box though.
I'd never purchase one of these boxes when I could simply build a PC to do the same task for cheaper and have it do anything else I want as well.
 

Burner27

Diamond Member
Jul 18, 2001
4,452
50
101
I built a FreeNAS server for $225. Found 4 x 2TBs drives for less than $200 on these forums.
 

pontifex

Lifer
Dec 5, 2000
43,804
46
91
I dont want the hassle of building my own, wasting time trying to get everything set up, etc. Also want to keep power consumption low. I got 3 pcs plus tablets to do whatever i want.
 

voodoo7817

Member
Oct 22, 2006
193
0
76
It looks like the cheapest Synology is the DS115J, which is around $130 at Amazon right now. It's a single bay but still might be enough for your needs. Personally it's not enough for me and I'd prefer some redundancy of a 2-bay option at a minimum. The 2-bay Synology DS213j is under $200 at Newegg right now. I can't speak to how good either of those units are but they seem to be solidly reviewed.

Does anyone have any thoughts on the best/cheapest good 4-bay NAS options? If you have a build in mind (including case and power supply), I'd be open to seeing that too.
 
Last edited:

Scarpozzi

Lifer
Jun 13, 2000
26,392
1,780
126
I have a QNAP 212-TS. They do lots of firmware upgrades and it saved my data when I had a drive failure last year. Runs on 13 watts and is easy to setup/use. It was the best $150 + drives I've ever spent. I powered off my desktop when I got this thing.

It also has multimedia streaming options and hosts a lot of different web servers across different ports. There are a lot of plugins that can be installed and it basically allows you to run server type services if you want to play with that stuff. Another option is to utilize CIFS/NFS, USB, or iSCSI and strictly use it as a storage device for media apps housed on a server with more CPU (that's where most of these types of devices lack...not enough CPU/memory to really support linux)
 

voodoo7817

Member
Oct 22, 2006
193
0
76
FYI, the QNAP TS-451 is on sale at Fry's for $349.99 (http://www.frys.com/product/8326247), which was too good for me to pass up. I think it's OOS at the moment but they seem to be still taking orders at that price.

I'm excited to get this NAS as it is well reviewed on almost all tech sites. It transcodes quite well because of its Celeron processor, has 1GB of Ram, a USB 3.0 port on the front, hot-swappable bays, and HDMI out. And while QNAP software might not be as good as Synology's, it's still pretty good. A comparable Synology NAS hardware-wise costs $500+, and I think only rarely goes on sale if ever. I think anyone considering a 4-bay NAS in the ~$500 range should seriously consider getting in on this deal.
 

voodoo7817

Member
Oct 22, 2006
193
0
76
My research showed the same thing, and 3 days before I saw that deal I was pretty sure I was going to get the Synology 215j for around $200 when it is eventually released. I still think that would have been a good option.

However, there is no Synology comparable to the TS-451 at the $350 price point. It usually retails for ~$500 and the competitors at that price point and feature level are the Synology 415play and 415+, which as you mentioned, have slightly worse specs but perform a bit better in certain tasks. If there was a similar great deal on a Synology, such as if the 414j for ~$300 (really not comparable to the 451 but it does have 4-bays), or the 415+/play for ~$400, I might have jumped on one of them instead of this deal.

Hopefully I'm happy with the QNAP experience. The feature set is very impressive and other than media streaming I don't have super sophisticated NAS requirements.
 

blastingcap

Diamond Member
Sep 16, 2010
6,654
5
76
Until ZFS or btrfs + ECC RAM is on prebuilt consumer NASes, I will keep rolling my own. There is only one company that has the btrfs in consumer NASes right now, AFAIK, but they charge a huge amount for ECC RAM so screw them.
 

boomhower

Diamond Member
Sep 13, 2007
7,228
19
81
I had a QNAP a few years ago and didn't care for it at all. I couldn't stand the software but I'm sure it's changed quite a bit. I later built a Freenas system and didn't care for it either. Everything was just difficult to do, I like simple. I now have a Synology DS214 and could not be happier. Easy to set-up for basic stuff and relatively easy to get more advanced things going. I have mine rolling with SabNZB, Sickbeard and Couchpotatoe. I had some issues getting all the permissions set up correctly but once done it's been as 100% reliable. Also using as my Time Machine backup for my Mac. If I needed another NAS it would be a Synology without a doubt.

Another good point with the Synology brand is they have a huge customer base for add ons. Basically an app store. Just download the add on needed from within the NAS interface and go. That same community also does more advanced stuff but it's beyond my needs. This combined with XBMC has replaced satellite/cable for me.
 

voodoo7817

Member
Oct 22, 2006
193
0
76
Hmmmmm (yes, 5 m's). Well I can still cancel my QNAP order as it hasn't shipped. Boomhower's ease-of-use sentiments are echoed around the internet, but from what I can see, the QNAPs software has improved significantly recently, and (among other things) it can do the SabNZB/Sickbeard/Couchpotato thing, but perhaps it's not as straightforward and/or is buggy.

Any QNAP users in the forum want to defend QNAP? Maybe if there are the proverbial crickets that's an answer unto itself. As a fan of hardware though, it's hard to pass up such a more powerful machine at that lower price. The cheapest Synology 4-bay is the 414j at $390 and it only has a MindSpeed Comcerto ARM CPU, but at least it's dual core.
 
Last edited:

tHa ShIzNiT

Platinum Member
Feb 15, 2000
2,321
8
81
I believe I'm looking for the same thing as you are here voodoo. Want it to be able to transcode Plex at 1080p. So I dont need to leave my main computer on all the time.

So the Q&A and the Reviews of the Synology DS415+ (http://www.amazon.com/Synology-Ameri...m_cr_pr_sims_t) appear to indicate that this thing is capable of doing that. Pretty expensive, but I do need a solution to my problem.

So voodoo, and anyone else interested...Is that what you and I should be buying?
 

voodoo7817

Member
Oct 22, 2006
193
0
76
I decided to not cancel my QNAP TS-451 order as there are lots of good reviews of the unit online and at the (fairly significant sale) price of $350 it's close to the cheapest 4-bay NAS option out there while still having very solid specs and features. I do think the 415+ is the closest equivalent Synology, perhaps the 415play, but I believe the CPU in the Synology 415+ still isn't as good as the one in the QNAP TS451, so it might not be as good at transcoding. There are likely other advantages of the 415+ to the QNAP TS451 (namely ease of use as I understand it), but you definitely pay for it.

Either way, there still may be some large bitrate files that both of those machines can't play, especially when considering multiple streams, which is why going with a cheap storage option and running a separate and more powerful HTPC as a Plex server (2012 mac mini or similar level performance) is often the advice I see online. I am trying to get away with not doing that, but I'm prepared if my current plan doesn't work out great. I am putting together an HTPC anyway, and might end up running Plex Server on it if I have to.

So, as I understand it, the QNAP TS451 has a better chance of transcoding a random file than the 415+. Again, that doesn't speak to other advantages of the 415+, but I think I'll be happy with my QNAP (whenever it arrives, still on backorder).
 
Last edited:

tHa ShIzNiT

Platinum Member
Feb 15, 2000
2,321
8
81
Well damn, I was hoping for an easy solution to a difficult problem. I may go back to my original "roll your own" idea. I have a complete Q6600 box that was retired when I built my current PC. Pretty sure that sucker will have no trouble transcoding 1080p.

I think I'm gonna have to roll FreeNAS or UnRAID or something on that machine for now. Anyone with a recommendation?

I have two 5 GB WD Red's coming to me today or tomorrow that I'm pretty excited about. But now that excitement is going to turn into trepidation as the building process commences.
 
Feb 25, 2011
16,992
1,621
126
Well damn, I was hoping for an easy solution to a difficult problem. I may go back to my original "roll your own" idea. I have a complete Q6600 box that was retired when I built my current PC. Pretty sure that sucker will have no trouble transcoding 1080p.

I think I'm gonna have to roll FreeNAS or UnRAID or something on that machine for now. Anyone with a recommendation?

I have two 5 GB WD Red's coming to me today or tomorrow that I'm pretty excited about. But now that excitement is going to turn into trepidation as the building process commences.

For JUST NAS duties, FreeNAS or NAS4Free are both pretty easy to get going and have similar featuresets.

unRAID is not free, but I hear very good things about it.

If you want to have more configuration flexibility and host servers (like video streaming, game servers, etc.) I would recommend installing a full OS on it. (Even just good old fashioned Windows would work.) FreeNAS plugins are an endless parade of half-supported suck.
 

Data-Medics

Member
Nov 25, 2014
131
0
0
www.data-medics.com
I was just playing around on Qnap's website with the live demo, and it seems to have copied a lot from Synology. Including a lot of the plugins. Could be that they've caught up a bit, but I'm still partial to my Synology.

Just got in my 8 bay unit, time to upgrade.
 

tHa ShIzNiT

Platinum Member
Feb 15, 2000
2,321
8
81
Anandtech posted a holiday guide for NAS's: http://anandtech.com/show/8789/holiday-guides-2014-cots-nas-units

Made me feel good about going with the TS-451, but I definitely think I'm going to upgrade the ram (my version comes with only 1gb). Not sure I need to go all the way to 8gb, but it doesn't look like that's too expensive and I'd rather only have to open the unit one time.

Wish you had yours already in hand so I could get some impressions on how it runs plex and transcodes. I'm still not sure what to do with my 2 5TB drives =(. Still kinda leaning towards the synology 415+ though. But if yours will do it for cheaper that has to be the front runner.