I built it with the propose to replace all of that crap from stores. The I sold all of the devices it replaced. NAS+ drives, DVR, router, switch, etc. Net cost vs the performance gained was worth it. I'm not stuck with a 2 bay NAS and slow speeds and buggy software. I'm not capped on the DVR function at 2TB of space. My firewall rules are more secure than the router and don't have the constant buggy fw updates that caused more issues than they fixed The initial wifi card I was using as an AP inside the box was faster than the router ever was. I have the ability to record 4 shows at once vs 2 on the DVR. I can playback from any device on the network vs needing boxes to pull from the DVR. The list goes on for convenience and performance though. It was worth the investment in time to collapse things into a single box. All of those functions / devices added up over time as well.
NAS $200+
DVR w/subscription was $500+
Router $200
Switch $100
So, $1000 in equipment that has planned obsolescence vs custom setup for about the same price with better performance is worth it. When I rebuilt it wasn't a huge cost when selling the prior box as a complete ready to run system to someone. originally I was thinking about just doing an upgrade / overhaul to the CPU/mobo/ram but, I ended up getting more in return building from the ground up again and just moving the drives over to the new setup.
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