Hello everyone!
I planned to buy a 2 drive NAS for a while now and finally settled on a Synology DS 209. But I got a chance to play with Windows Home Server and since the NAS box will be behind the TV I thought maybe I can have a NAS + Media Player all in one machine.
1. The main idea is to have centralised storage that can be accessed inside a LAN or over the internet. I don’t need special features except a Torrent downloader + RAR archives extractor (these are a must).
2. I want some kind of file duplication, RAID 1 is OK but not ideal because it makes no sense to duplicate everything (only selected files like family pictures/movies, projects, etc). I simply love the Drive Extender concept in WHS and the way you can duplicate whatever is important to you and know that in case of a drive failure it is duplicated on another disc. And one more plus for WHS is the ability to add drives in the future; with a dedicated 2 drive NAS you are limited.
3. Now for the media center part > I am willing to configure the NAS in such a way that it will have enough power to play 1080p files (Blu Ray discs, MKV, etc), but honestly I don’t know what possibilities I have for combining the NAS and Media Player part. Theoretically WHS would be a good idea, but I don’t think WHS allows codec installation and direct Media Playback to a monitor / TV. Except Windows world, my Linux experience and knowledge is almost 0.
Right now I am using a laptop for media playback but I tired of walking around with it, plug it in, plug it out, a machine that’s ON and connected all the time is needed. I know about networked media players (WD TV Live, Asus O!Play, PopCorn Hour, etc), but they all have issues and quirks with different formats and they are far more perfect. A PC is more versatile and with the right codecs and configuration everything works.
So is it what I want possible or I’m asking too much?
I planned to buy a 2 drive NAS for a while now and finally settled on a Synology DS 209. But I got a chance to play with Windows Home Server and since the NAS box will be behind the TV I thought maybe I can have a NAS + Media Player all in one machine.
1. The main idea is to have centralised storage that can be accessed inside a LAN or over the internet. I don’t need special features except a Torrent downloader + RAR archives extractor (these are a must).
2. I want some kind of file duplication, RAID 1 is OK but not ideal because it makes no sense to duplicate everything (only selected files like family pictures/movies, projects, etc). I simply love the Drive Extender concept in WHS and the way you can duplicate whatever is important to you and know that in case of a drive failure it is duplicated on another disc. And one more plus for WHS is the ability to add drives in the future; with a dedicated 2 drive NAS you are limited.
3. Now for the media center part > I am willing to configure the NAS in such a way that it will have enough power to play 1080p files (Blu Ray discs, MKV, etc), but honestly I don’t know what possibilities I have for combining the NAS and Media Player part. Theoretically WHS would be a good idea, but I don’t think WHS allows codec installation and direct Media Playback to a monitor / TV. Except Windows world, my Linux experience and knowledge is almost 0.
Right now I am using a laptop for media playback but I tired of walking around with it, plug it in, plug it out, a machine that’s ON and connected all the time is needed. I know about networked media players (WD TV Live, Asus O!Play, PopCorn Hour, etc), but they all have issues and quirks with different formats and they are far more perfect. A PC is more versatile and with the right codecs and configuration everything works.
So is it what I want possible or I’m asking too much?
