Is there any way to stream video directly from a NAS to the 360? Specifically the infrant ready NAS.

I do have an old PC that I could theoretically install an OEM version of MCE on but it seems incredible wasteful electricity wise ($5 to $10 per month) to keep it running only for the purpose of pointing to the NAS - since nothing will be stored directly on that cheap PC anyway.

I do run a Mac Mini as my HTPC and I suppose I could run parallels on it 24/7 with MCE on there but it would require a RAM upgrade to that machine and between more RAM and OEM MCE I am looking at $150 to add that "functionality" to the Mini - which is garbage since theres no good reason why the 360 shouldnt be able to directly stream from the NAS itself.

You can't stream directly from a NAS. You need either an XP/MCE/Vista system running WMP11 or a Mac running a 3rd party program (I think this may be it:http://www.nullriver.com/index/products/connect360).

You can stream using just WMP11?

The last dashboard update enabled video streaming via WMP11 to the 360. :D

I just looked at the Mac link I posted and that may be the OP's best solution since he's running a mac:

HD video streaming

Connect360 now supports WMV+WMA video sharing, allowing you to stream HD quality video right to your living room!

You can stream from a NAS if the NAS supports UPnP streaming.
Some of the Linux-based ones probably do.
The upcoming Home Server Edition OS from MS will show up on Windows-based NAS boxes that *will* stream music and video to 360. Its in Beta now.

Otherwise, you can either use a generic UPnP server on a Linux PC (there are several) or Mac, or use WMP11 on a Windows box.

fjtorres: I did not know that a UPnP NAS could support streaming directly to the 360. Thats good to know. Which NAS drives support UPnP streaming to the 360 now?

Check this: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=616000
Good luck!