Netgear's ReadyNAS Ultra 4 and Ultra 6 stream to TiVo, mobile, and DLNA-certified devices
The "Death of Local Media Storage," eh Netgear? The company is certainly proud of its latest unveiling, the ReadyNAS Ultra series, as the aforementioned press release headline exemplifies. In addition to the usual network storage capabilities, the gang can stream media to any TiVo device, DLNA-certified machine (via Skifta), and mobile devices using Orb technologies. All machines feature 1.66GHz Intel Atom CPUs, 1GB RAM, and RAID 0, 1, 5, and 6 data protection. Need a hefty do-it-all box for storage? The Ultra 4 (2 x 2TB, single-core processor) and Ultra 6 (3 x 2TB, dual-core) will start shipping in mid-July, with pre-orders available in the very near future, for a penny under $900 and $1350, respectively. And if you want the capabilities in a lighter form factor, keep an eye out for an Ultra 2 in October.



























That's a lot of pr0n!
@Ninetysix
Dammit Lebron!, sorry had to change the subject...
@Ninetysix Does it come with illmatic??
You can't have a lot of something which you can't get enough of.
Come on, with the advent of streaming video nobody downloads porn anymore
@Crentisthedentist +1 Instant gratification (pun intended) FTW!
@Crentisthedentist
lol i knew someone who said "i dont download porn i leave it on the internet where it belongs
then 2 days later i asked if he ever used video converters and he replied "i use the codecs in my browser to watch videos" and i replied "to keep it on the internet where it belongs, right?" he just bursted out laughing after realizing what i just made a reference to
woowww, I thought my DroboFS was expensive!
but seriously, get a drobofs instead
@scld
I was thinking the same thing. I've been very close to buying a DroboFS many times. Beats leaving the power-hungry desktop on 24x7 for torrents, if nothing else. But the ctorrent client sounds like a pain, hard to tell how full-featured it is. I like just scp'ing the torrent file to my box and having the client pick it up automagically.
Drobo's RAID-like technology should blow the Netgear out of the water, too.
No matter what, calling it the death of local storage when it costs more than most peoples' computers is stretching things a bit.
Drobo's are expensive and lame. The hard disk size flexibility is about the only thing good going for them. Downrank if you must.
@Mr Oblong I don't personally use torrents on my box, but I have read about good progress with a Transmission app for the Drobo. The DroboFS is damn expensive, but cheaper than this with more storage capacity.
I've got MediaTomb running DLNA to my roommate's iPhone and my PS3 and I won't be regretting this purchase anytime soon.
@aubreyq Won't complain about the expense. . . . but what about it is lame? I mean, if it's the fact that you believe all NAS devices are lame, then there's nothing to say.
In comparison to the particular device on which we are commenting, the DroboFS seems like a better fit.
(I do realize the CPU may be better on this Netgear device, so if you are doing transcoding and file decompression on it, it may be a better choice, ...but I doubt it?)
@scld
I actually have a NAS (Netgear ReadyNAS Duo) that's worked great so far. Drobos have history of slow read times, although I haven't seen the reviews of the FS.
@aubreyq hmmm, I get about 40-45 MB/s, which is enough for streaming 1080p. Also, I don't do much transferring from the device on the fly (meaning, they're overnight syncs or backups). That being said, the usb functionality of these would be very nice.
Maybe when everything is broadcast in 2160p and we have 50MPixel cameras, I'll need another 4-6 bay NAS and I'll pick one of these up!
@scld
I am sure someone else will come up with something substantive to complain about with these boxes. They seem like the sort of thing that would be really cool if you could run the software of your own choosing on them assuming the hardware is up to the task.
FreeNAS is open source, has ZFS among oodles of other great features. Cost of hardware only and a wee bit of time to configure.
@grub
I use FreeNAS too, and am very happy with how stable it is, but if you want to use it for torrent downloads, it's a big pain. Transmission seems to have a memory leak that kills it after a few hours.
Other than that, thumbs up for FreeNAS.
@grub
I'm also using FreNAS with a Via Artigo A2000 and mirrored 1.5TB drives. It only uses about 35W at idle, has GigE, and is generally fast and reliable. Read times are as fast as the local drive on my laptop, and writes are only slightly slower on large files.
The only bug I've noticed is that the DLNA/UPNP service doesn't always update the available music without restarting the service. Not a big deal for me since I just map drives on my playback devices, but it could be a deal breaker for some.
I'd rather run it all of my main computer, but thx
If you can setup a DLNA VPN that'll be cool :)
@NeatOman You don't need a VPN. With Skifta you can shift your ReadyNAS content to any location with wifi. Hotels, friends houses, etc. and play them on any of their DLNA/UPnP devices as well.
So it's like an HP Home Server, but more expensive, less capabilities and less customizable. Good luck with that.
@GeekPI
You should compare specs before jumping to conclusions.
There will be no death to local storage at those prices.
Isn't getting a Qnap or synology a better solution for a lot less cash?
Just for clarification sake...I don't think it streams video to the TiVo. Nothing does. You can copy the file to the TiVo for playback, but the TiVo does not stream video files natively.
@vansmack Yeah, I'm not sure about the Tivo, but my DirecTV DVR has UPnP playback. You can also use a PS3, XBMC or the super handy Western Digital WD TV HD player for $80. That thing is the best!
@vansmack
Thats not entirely true. After all, TiVo streams netflix. As for local streaming, streambaby (http://code.google.com/p/streambaby/) allows streaming of local content to TiVo.
I can't decide if I want to go with this or a Windows Home Server option by Acer. Many more options with that.
If the netgear "stora" product is any sign of false advertising, this thing probably won't work as advertised.
The "stora" product has not been able to stream HD files with high bit rates and still isn't fixed.
I would stay as far away from Netgear network storage devices as possible.
Sounds good on paper, but the ReadyNAS user reviews I've read have ranged from middling to horrific.
Since 2TB HDs are now around $100... where is the other $700 going to for this?
This might make a Tivo a feasible competitor for a HTPC.
Source? I want to know how they work this Tivo magic...
So how is this better than HP EX495? You can do a lot more with the HP and it has core 2 duo.
In what possible way is a WHS not a better purchase than this? These are stupid expensive.
I just bought a HP EX490 (495 isn't available outside the states) and will be chucking 8tb in it with an intel e7500. Wont cost me much more than this rubbish and will do tonnes more.
I'm glad I didn't buy a NAS earlier this year when considering it.
@Sicarius123
HP Mediasmart does not do RAID. No truely common environment for filestorage for MAC, Linux and PC. By the time you expand the storage to same as a NetGear NAS, cost is comparable. No offsite sync via rsync to another device. WHS is nice, but not quite comparing apples to apples here.