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Personal, Media Serving, Cloud NAS Server for Video Streaming?

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andrewcw

New Around Here
Personal, Media Serving, Cloud NAS Server for Video Streaming?

Looking for a personal, Media Serving, cloud NAS server that has the following capabilities:

1. Store 50 GB of MP3’s & music videos.
2. Store 750 GB of Blu-Ray quality MKVs, DVD rips, and movie files (avi, mpg, mp4, mov, wmv)
3. Stream the above content to my laptops/desktops directly from the NAS over the Internet anywhere in the world.
4. Cross-OS functionality (Windows 7, Vista, XP, OS X 10.6+, Linux)

Issues I have heard about:
1. Inability to play mkv files.
2. Audio/video become out-of-sync when fast-forwarding/clicking ahead in a movie.
3. Clunky, cumbersome software add-ons needed for access.

I have researched the following to a greater or lesser degree, but it’s been hard sifting through the occasionally cryptic descriptions of their respective marketing departments.

LG 2TB Network Attached Storage N2A2DD2
Iomega 1TB Home Media Network Storage Drive
Iomega 1TB Home Media Network Hard Drive Cloud Edition
Iomega 2TB StorCenter ix2-200 Network Storage Cloud Edition
Seagate BlackArmor NAS110 3TB Network Attached Storage
Seagate BlackArmor® NAS 110 1TB
Buffalo Technology LinkStation Quad 2.0TB NAS - LS-Q2.0TGL/RS
Seagate FreeAgent GoFlex Net Media Sharing Device
Netgear 1TB ReadyNas Duo (1x1TB) Gigabit
Storage 1TB Home Media Network Server DLNA Certified
Western Digital My Book Live 3TB NAS
Buffalo 2TB LinkStation Pro VS-Series NAS
***Qnap TS-112 (http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/nas/nas-charts/products/0/1062-ts112)

The Qnap TS-112 sounds promising, but can anyone confirm that it has the above capabilities but not the problems listed above?

Please share your well-informed responses, preferably derived from your personal experiences, regarding the aforementioned uses and issues.

Thank you very much for your time.
 
Hey Tim,

Thanks for the prompt response, and sorry for my late one; just wrapped up final exams. I will be more active in the future here.

Your answer seems to indicate that all NAS are capable of streaming video to me. Is this true? I've seen so many product descriptions laden with technology garble that it's been difficult for me to discern.

I'm not exactly technology literate, so I hope I interpreted your questions correctly. The programs I am using for playback primarily includes VLC (on my Mac) and Media Player Classic (on my PCs), but I have experience and occasional use Windows Media Player, Quicktime, and RealPlayer, should a spontaneous error message arise using my regulars.

I always solely use wireless internet, but as I understand it, will have to plug any NAS I am interested in directly to my router.

Thank you very much for your time and assistance Tim.
 
If you are accessing your NAS via wireless, you won't be able to use the full throughput of any of the NASes you are considering. Even 802.11n wireless will give you, best case, only 10 MB/s.

Wireless is also iffy for playing 1080p HD content.

All the players you named don't need UPnP/DLNA to work. So you should be ok.
 

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