Ask Engadget: Best NAS / media streamer combo device?

We know you've got questions, and if you're brave enough to ask the world for answers, here's the outlet to do so. This week's Ask Engadget question is coming to us from Felix, who would feel a lot better about his situation in life if he had one certain gadget that could do two certain things. If you're looking to send in an inquiry of your own, drop us a line at ask [at] engadget [dawt] com.

I am looking for a NAS -- 1TB would be good -- preferably with WLAN built in, and multi-download BitTorrent capabilities are a must. I'd like a unit that doubles as a media streamer (music and videos), and while I'd prefer to stream over WiFi, I definitely need an HDMI port. If there's an option with a display on the unit itself, I would love to know about it. Thanks for any input!

We know these multifaceted devices exist, but we also know they aren't exactly everywhere. For those who've bought in, we'd love to hear about your experiences. Do you prefer yours? Are you disappointed with its performance? Don't lead our man astray, okay?

[jmcburna Posted Feb 5th 2010 12:51AM]

I was thinking about getting the WD Live. The only issue I have is I'm not sure about the whole external storage thing. I have an iMac and would like to be able to drag-drop files into storage rather than have a time machine back up drive. What do I do? I've been told at stores that I can't just buy any drive.

[snyderman3000 Posted Feb 5th 2010 10:40AM]

@jmcburna I have a WD TV Live and you can plug any external drive into it. Then you can access that drive on you iMac (it shows up as a SMB share). Also, you can have the hard drive plugged into your iMac and stream it to the WD TV Live. Either way works. You can do drag and drop and you don't need a special drive.

[jmcburna Posted Feb 7th 2010 9:48PM]

@snyderman3000 Thanks for the tip. That's what I'm gonna try then.

[Tyrax Posted Feb 5th 2010 1:18AM]

HP Home Server + Xbox 360
Its the setup that I have going at home and it's great since they work together seemlessly and I was already using the 360 as a games machine ways. There's a rich plugin comminity for Windows Home Server for stuff like torrent apps or remote access over the web.

[buchhla Posted Feb 5th 2010 1:19AM]

I had a custom built pc, but found it too noisy for use in the living room, and honestly when I come home from work, I don't want another machine I have to administer. I ended up selling and bought a synology DS209 which now has 3.5 TB's in it, but in another room so I don't hear the hard drives. It works flawlessly and was very simple to configure. The only think I don't like about it is the torrent client which you put on your pc doesn't seem to like file associations, so if you double click on a torrent, it loads up but doesn't add it. If you then drag the file into it, they are added fine though.

For the living room, I have a WD TV live. Again, a simple device, but outputs HD via HDMI to my TV and just works, and is comeplety silent. It also has a nice TV interface and remote. I now have both of these for less money than my built PC and it works better, though it doesn't do HULU. Then again, my PC based solution stuttered doing high res hulu too at times...

[Zer0CooL Posted Feb 5th 2010 1:53AM]

Am surprised to see almost nobody mentioned the popcorn hour... While I myself have no experience with it, I do own an HDX1000, which is essentially the same hardware.
It has BT/nzb - media streaming to TV (up to 1080p, and about a million file formats are supported) - NAS over Samba (windows filesharing if you will) - ftp - etc etc... It works great & it's actually quite cheap...

check this page for more info : http://www.hdx1080.com/
If you choose to get one now, get the HDX BD-1 at the same base price of 219$ - just buy it at their site, they do deliver way faster than a lot of other suppliers...

[Zer0CooL Posted Feb 5th 2010 1:54AM]

@Zer0CooL
forgot to mention there's no hard drive built in standard, but you can put in what you'd like... for example a 2TB one

[Rothgar Posted Feb 5th 2010 2:34AM]

Windows home server + Twonky media server

[vman81 Posted Feb 5th 2010 3:06AM]

My setup gives me everything I need:

Zotac IONITX mobo with ion/dualcore atom, optionally fanless (I'm running a low rpm 120mm fan, 99% silent at 1m distance)

Ubuntu with:
XBMC controlled by a MS media center remote
uTorrent (via wine, works flawlessly) with WebUI, and a healthy RSS feed with all my favorite tv shows keyworded from eztv.it, and a folder being watched for .torrent files (so i can SSH in and wget whatever i need from TPB)

That setup basically means that when i get home from work, all my tv shows are just a click away on the remote. XBMC even reads .rar/zip archives or DVD isos without unpacking (keeping it super simple, even for my gf)

[troyk Posted Feb 5th 2010 6:03AM]

@vman81

You sir, are exactly right.

I've studied every single possibillity for a perfect setup untill now and i must conlcude that at this point building your own HTPC running XBMC on Linux (for HW support) is possibly the most complete / visually stunning and practical solution on the market.

Go xbmc! :D

[THJ Posted Feb 6th 2010 11:44AM]

@vman81 Sounds similar to my setup - still haven't found a way to get shows scraped/moved on delivery- I still need to go into my 'fresh downloads' folder and move episode to TV Shows/ Show.Name / Season 6/ Show.Name.S06E03
in order to add to library.

Of course, I can just watch the show directly from XBMC Videos/Fresh Downloads, but would be very cool to figure out automatic file moving for scraping.

Any ideas, or would this require separate scripts for each show that need to be modified each new season?

Thanks in advance!

[Stick Posted Feb 5th 2010 3:46AM]

I'm looking to get a Synology DS 1010+ (5-bay NAS), Qnap 459 (4-bay) or Thecus N5500 (5) - overkill for your needs maybe, but there's so many smaller ones too (see above). I for my part am tired of juggling hard drives, I want All My Stuff in one place (as a photographer I produce a lot of data, and I have a lot of avi's etc as well). Connect the whole thing to my network and ultimately to a Boxee - that thing is a dream machine if I've ever seen one (might have to get a WD TV Live to bridge the gap until its release though...)

[daskino Posted Feb 5th 2010 4:04AM]

ATM there is no excellent combo device that does both. The downsize of the media players is that they handle audio and video great , both in HD, the HTPC almost never support HD audio and dont have a remote. THe Downsize of the media players is that they can't handle large amount of network traffic, seen when using torrents. therefore I would recommend a combo where you have a dedicated NAS server and a dedicated media player. *If you absolutely must go for a combined machine i would take a look at the Qnap NMP 1000 that comes with a display also or the popcorn C-200 which have a better chipset and a better interface. they can also handle torrents and wifi but you will lag on network speed in the long run. a chaeper and more powerfull alternative, would be to buy one WDTV LIVE player at $110 and then get a nice full featured DLNA NAS server that also support NFS network file sharing. Like the QNAP or Synology line up. They are however expensive, but you will need one with plenty of ram and at least an Atom cpu. check out smallnetworkbuilder.com for the latest offerings and speed tests

[jackygurui Posted Feb 5th 2010 5:15AM]

I think the Synology has definitely made the best NAS OS. It does everything you want and have a wide range of hardware from 1 bay to 10 bays that using the same NAS OS. It's perfect. It even has some iPhone apps from streaming music to your iPhone over 3G to watch live streaming video of surveillance camera it connected to.

The built-in media server can stream videos/music/photo to any upnp compatible players, it also does iTunes share, so you can access your media from your iTunes.

The built-in Audio Station feature not only stream musics to your iPhone, it also stream musics to browsers.

You can connect external HDD, USB thumb drive, printers or even USB speakers to it. And the developers from Synology has promised to let you connect USB wireless adapters in the near future which let you access your media via WiFi.

Other features that you might interested in including user/group access control, mail server, bittorrent/emule download, news group download, http/https/ftp download, rapidshare/megaupload premium account downloads, web server, firewall, DDNS, windows smb share, apple share, timemachine and more


Just check out their website for demo. www.synology.com

[zero998 Posted Feb 5th 2010 8:52AM]

@jackygurui I concur with the synology. I have a CS407 with raided dual 1TB drives (with two more 2TB drives on the way). I can initiate BT downloads remotely, manage all of my files remotely, and in my apartment everything is shareable. For consuming media I just have an old laptop running Boxee hooked up to my TV. That part could be a bit more slick in terms of hardware, but its very easy to setup and use.

[Matt J Posted Feb 5th 2010 6:33PM]

@zero998 I have the same system and do practically all the things.. It has been a life saver for work. Need a secure way to access files so setup an FTP with SSL/TLS and get my files that way.

[bradsteratl Posted Feb 5th 2010 6:20AM]

I've been running a Mac Mini as my HTPC with an attached Drobo for storage about six months now. A Kenex mini-display port to HDMI cable connects to the TV. An Elgato EyeTV provides the DVR capabilities. I've dropped cable TV and don't miss it a bit.

[troyk Posted Feb 5th 2010 6:27AM]

IMHO, dedicated media players will die a slow death in the coming years. Eventually everybody will see the huge advantage of a HTPC connected to your big screen. Why? Because there are no boundries to media / filesharing / streaming content / updates etc.
Why be limited by the floppy OS that comes with a dedicated media player when you can have a full OS with full capabillities? If you're gonna say that the Dedicated Mediaplayer OS works easier: Install XBMC - done.

We should focus on more important things like: A real easy way to control your HTPC from the couch. A WM-remote isn't gonna cut it.
Logitech seems to get it with their mediaboard. A keyboard with touchpad, i've never tested it but i think it's a good solution for now.

[Jibaro009 Posted Feb 5th 2010 9:00AM]

@troyk If you have an iTouch check this app out...

http://www.mobileairmouse.com/

[KNO17 Posted Feb 5th 2010 6:48AM]

I am the one who asked the question, thanks for posting it and thanks for all the answers.

I have a PC in a nice Silver/White Asus case hooked up to the TV, built with normal PC components and runs XP. Had it for two years, and all I do is BitTorrent and watching movies with VLC. So - do I need a full PC? I think the combo I am aiming for will do, save energy, and when it gets outdated after 2-3 years (codecs, BitTorrent gets replaced with the next big thing) I will just buy a new device...

I will take the time to look into all of your suggestions. I asked because I will buy myself a new LED LCD soon (Samsung UE46B6000 if you must know) and want to slim down the media corner then.

[Valo Posted Feb 5th 2010 7:42AM]

Is there a good streamer, with BT and wireless for around 130$?
I'm currently on a low budget situation... so I'd really apreciate your help...

[tj78492 Posted Feb 5th 2010 8:08AM]

Those atom based nettops are a perfect solution for your needs, I'd get a zotac mag (300) or even the single core acer revo (200), throw you os of choice on it and call it a day. Mine has windows 7, and is controlled by either a remote or wireless xbox controller, or through logmein.com from the lappy if I need too. Its the cheapest device thats gonna do all those things you want to

[Valo Posted Feb 9th 2010 9:02AM]

@tj78492
Yeah.. I guess I'll be saving some money and go for those Asus "EEEBox".

Thanks!

[ShawnB Posted Feb 5th 2010 8:10AM]

WD MyBook World 2TB. It doesn't have WLAN though, just ethernet.

[Jibaro009 Posted Feb 5th 2010 8:51AM]

Checkout unRAID form Lime Technology.

http://lime-technology.com/

Macworld posted an article about the yesterday.

http://www.macworld.com/article/146120/2010/02/unraid_server.html?lsrc=rss_main

The

[THJ Posted Feb 6th 2010 11:38AM]

@Jibaro009 That's definitely my next NAS device. Wish I had discovered before I bought a Drobo, mainly for the DIY aspect though - the Drobo has been rock solid, I just like to tinker.

Looks like some of the streaming/transcoding apps for unRAID are still in their infancy though, something to keep in mind if using primarily for media streaming (and can't find any any info for streaming to TiVo).

[neomits Posted Feb 5th 2010 8:56AM]

I too am anxiously awaiting the release of the iconnect. It looks like the perfect device to easily add network streaming plus a couple of advanced features. And for the price, it is a gimme.

[txphisher Posted Feb 5th 2010 9:25AM]

HTPC!

I built a dual core ION based computer in a tiny box with a 1TB WD green HDD, Windows 7, Media Center, Media Browser, Meta Browser, PS3 Bluetooth keyboard.

It does HDMI, HDMI audio (bitstream to receiver too), plays 1080p flawlessly with media player classic using gpu acceleration, automatically downloads plots/covers/background art for my movies and puts it all together in a slick interface that I can also browse the web and download on. Oh, and it uses less power than a standard light bulb.

[TFNN Posted Feb 5th 2010 9:46AM]

I have a quad core HTPC.
W7 Home Premium
BR DVD
WinTV-HVR-2250
Dual output video card connected to:
Projector
24" LCD
Apple BT keyboard
Apple Magic Mouse
Logitech 5.1 speaker system

Been running it for years now, I could never go back to a traditional TV...

One of the best reasons to upgrade to W7 is WMC.

[randyharris Posted Feb 5th 2010 11:05AM]

Drobo.

[Ma2T Posted Feb 5th 2010 12:39PM]

I have a Popcorn Hour C-200 + WiFi and a ReadyNAS Duo streamer, works great.

Popcorn Hour works with DLNA or simple windows shares, 1080p playback works great.

[jcsaba84 Posted Feb 5th 2010 2:47PM]

Hi guys,

I have other preferences but the same problem.
So I have a desktop gamer pc, and I'm planning to buy an HDTV a WD mybook world with 2 or 4 TB and a decent netbook.

As I read through the comments almost everybody recommended to buy or make a home server and an HTPC. But I don't like this solution.

WHY?

I already have a desktop computer and I don't want two other in my home. What I need is a huge storage which I can reach through wifi with my iphone and my gilfriend's laptop. And I need an HDTV which is connected to the desktop and somehow should communicate with the storage when my desktop is off.

For that I prefer a netbook (OR a tablet preferrably), what is more multipotent than an HTPC. I can connect it to the TV and play files from the storage I can download and upload. Unplug and connect it to my hifi system, and I can play songs from the storage....

And when the wifi display will be common soon I prefer this solution above the home server/HTPC combo.

What the professionals think? Any advice, or do you agree with me?

[Stick Posted Feb 5th 2010 4:28PM]

@Jibaroo,

thanks for the unRaid tip....looks pretty sweet! the Macworld article is good as a starter, I'm looking into it some more now...
thx-

[jaredthensomenumbers Posted Feb 5th 2010 5:06PM]

i have been using Synology Diskstation NAS drives for some time, and they are awesome! full of features and highly customizable. did I mention they cost nothing compared to leaving a PC running 24/7?!

[THJ Posted Feb 6th 2010 11:26AM]

AAAARGH! WHY ARE YOU ALL TRYING TO MAKE ME SPEND MONEY?!?!?!?!?!

I have absolutely no need for additional storage or another NAS, but I just had to go put my wallet in the attic and give the key to my wife :/

[gospina Posted Feb 15th 2010 11:33AM]

What are you guys thinking? Best setup, get a QNAP NAS and get the Dvico 6500 or better. Easy to setup, easy to setup menus, supports pretty much every file standard out there (ISO, MKV, VIDEO_TS, VOB, etc..)

Fastest throughput for the NAS, very reliable.
This setup works perfectly if you want to stream HD or pics or music.

With the TVixie app, you get menu driven streaming better than anything else. All my kids know how to get to their videos (10, 7, 2.5 and even my 1yr old). Even my wife can do it :).
The NAS is amazing!

Here is the links: http://www.qnap.com/pro_detail_feature.asp?p_id=104 for the QNAP. easy to increase the size on it.

http://www.tvix.co.kr/ENG/products/HDM6500.aspx for the Dvico. I got the 6500, the 6600 will work as well.

I go with dvico over popcornhour, but have a popcorn as well accessing the same data.

[gospina Posted Feb 15th 2010 12:01PM]

I would add that this my solution is self-sufficient. It was great to build my own computer that did everything...then I graduated college, got married, had kids. Had one kick ass computer, but then you can't stream from it to a tv while you are rebooting it. So then you need to get multiple computers on your house.
Get an appliance with ASICs for decoding and no more worries!.
Same approach I take at my job. Sure, I can have Windows SB edition that has SQL, exchange, SMS, AD and Sharepoint on it, but you are much better off having a server (or VM) dedicated to its own task. Same at home, IMO. Leave the NAS in the basement, get streamers on your TVs and leave your computers for computing :)

[DutyGuy Posted Feb 19th 2010 10:25AM]

I have a Drobo with DroboShare (4TB) which has my iTunes library. I also have an AppleTV.

Both the AppleTV and the DroboShare are a bit inconsistent. I would prefer a different solution or upgrades of both with better reliability. Haven't had any probs with the Drobo.

My only concern is that accessing iTunes wirelessly is a pain in the neck. It's slow.

The Todhiba StorE Media Hub due out late 2010 looms pretty sick.