[Sibbs]

Hi folks,

Hoping for some input on which NAS to use in my home.

My requirements and goals: (1) provide network accessible storage and backup for our family's large collection of photos and videos; (2) ability to connect to Samsung 55H7150 smart tv (located in same room as NAS) to show pics, play videos, etc; (3) decent user interface; (4) ability to connect to Google Drive for cloud backup a plus. Would like to keep total cost including 2 WB Red 3 TB hard drives under $1k.

I've done as much research as I can digest and believe I've narrowed it down to QNAP's TS-251 and Synology's DiscStation line (DS213xx,214xx,215xx).

QNAP has HDMI out, which Snyology doesn't appear to and Synology seems to have a direct working relatinship w samsung TV, but can you give me better thoughts on trade-offs or make a recommendation (including which of Synology's line is best) based on your experiences?

Thank you.

 

[tdallen]

Synology is well regarded, but the QNAP TS-251 is more powerful. The question is, do you need a more powerful unit...

Several thoughts -

• NAS units provide redundancy as a basic feature. I recommend you take advantage of it - but that means setting aside a disk to provide redundancy to your other disks. This is much easier with a 4 bay unit than 2 bays.
• The QNAP you selected is capable of some on the fly transcoding of your videos - but do you need that? It's necessary when your smart TV or media player can't handle the format you're storing your video files in and you need a solution like Plex to translate.
• Typically you don't connect your NAS directly to your TV. You connect the NAS to your network and you connect your smart TV (or media player) to your network, and the devices talk to each other over the network. Not saying you can't use HDMI - it just usually isn't done because NAS's aren't very good media players.

So, personally - I'd buy enough capacity to set aside a disk for redundancy, even if that means larger disks or a 4 bay unit. I'd probably get a Synology unless you need transcoding, then I'd jump over to a QNAP - or build your own, which is a great option if you don't mind tinkering with PCs.

 

[Sibbs]

Thanks for the input! If others have thoughts as well by all means chime on in.

 

[tdallen]

What do you think your total storage needs are? I'd try to project out at least 3 years if possible. You might be willing to add disks over the next couple of years, but you won't want to change out your whole storage solution.

 

[ballen823]

I just recently went through this and should have my gear tomorrow. Time will tell whether I chose wisely.

Some questions you might want to think about:
What type of video files do you plan on streaming to your Samsung?
Are you planning on using XBMC, Plex or DLNA?
Do you have an AVR in between (need for lossless HD audio)?
Will you need to stream to multiple devices (and simultaneously)?
How important are your files/will they be backed elsewhere?

Based on my needs I just went with a QNAP TS-451 with 4 WD Red 3 TB drives for under $850. Being a recent cord cutter, I wanted the ability to watch lossless copies of my Blu-Ray collection as well as having the ability to use the multiple plug-ins available in XBMC. Having a direct HDMI connection into my AVR allowed me to alleviate the need for a device capable of handling MKVs without transcoding. 4 bays allows for a hot swappable raid 5 setup which doesn't guarantee data loss, but also allows me to utilize 3/4ths of the allotted space on my hard drives and give me some piece of mind. If you plan on a raid setup with two drives, plan on only having the allotted space of one of those drives.

Hope that helps.