NAS / HTPC opinions, thoughts, and such

[RKenshin]

So I'm giving in and finally getting an actual solution to the storage/media needs.

Up until now I've done it the crappy way in using an ever-increasing set of external drives (up to 4 now!) to handle data, with some redundancy on the important stuff between them. But I'm pretty much at 95%+ on everything, so I need to stop putting it off. Plus, it's super painful, archaic, and annoying to do it this way.

I've got about 1.5 terabytes of data total, with maybe about 50% or so of that being media.

I spent a good a mount of time reading on and off about different options, and I'm somewhere between three choices:

Buying a good NAS for storage/redundancy, likely to be this one:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00CRB9CK4/...CYV4IN49&psc=1

Buying a NAS for storage/redundancy and maybe some power for trans-coding and doubling as a media server, which might be:
http://www.amazon.com/Synology-DiskS...logy+ds214play

Or building my own somewhere in between a NAS and an HTPC (never done before, though I'm familiar with and have built a few desktop PCs).

I think I'm leaning toward the first option, and I *think* I could setup something like Plex to run on my desktop PC and just point to media on the NAS server if I ever wanted to stream to another device (assuming that works smoothly if at all (?) - if so then I really don't need to go for a more powerful NAS or a HTPC). I haven't used Plex before so I'm not certain if it works well that way, but it seems to be a good option to avoid needing trans-coding power? (I don't mind using my desktop's resources)

In any case, likely to pair it with two 4T WD Red drives in Raid1.

Thoughts/opinions/experiences?

[octopus]

Synology NAS is definitely the way to go. Personally I went with a 212 (back in 2012) and went with an HTPC to do the media playback/conversions.

I'm not sure if you watch any anime but subtitles capabilities (specifically stylized subs) will be hard to do well with a NAS (transcoding). I personally went with an Intel NUC (Haswell version), it works great with XBMC, and it's lightweight and very quiet.

[Niya]

Running a DS211j since mid-2011, though mostly as storage/replacement for external HDDs. Tried out streaming anime to my smartphone once, as long as the player on the receiving end can decode the material it works fine even with the limited resources of the NAS box. You just have to turn on Upnp/AV and tell the NAS which folders to announce, it'll then generate a media index (takes a bit) and that's it. But you'll probably get problems when the receiver can't handle the formats and you'd have to transcode, like I said the CPU power of those small Synology boxes is VERY limited and it would probably take quite some time to transcode everything.

[RKenshin]

Yeah, most of the reviews and stuff I've read has recommened Synology. Feel comfortable about going with them.

Anyone have any experience with Plex in particular? And/or using it in the way mentioned in the OP?

[octopus]

I don't use Plex so can't tell you.... but I believe DS214play (any Intel based Synology NAS) supports Plex. Not sure about how good it is though.

If you're using Plex on an HTPC and transcode content from the NAS I don't see why it wouldn't work. I mean I used to transcode movies on a NAS to stream to the PS3 (with TVersity and Twonky) with no problems. I don't see why it would be different for Plex.

[Gryffes]

I have a DS214+ Play and use it as a nas to stream.

It does support plex server, and is pretty good.

The downside to it is if you stream to a "dumb" ( read ps3/xbox360/networked but not smart TV ) dlna client you can run into issues if you wanna stream anime.
If on the other hand you're streaming to something that can run either plex apps/etc you won't have a problem. It's the quite niche subtitle problem you might run into but outside of that it works great. ( works fine with SRTs, but not embedded stuff like MKVs - this issue is ONLY if you're streaming to a dumb dlna client as mentioned ).

Also you can point the nas to a dynamic dns service and access all your content over your phone/tablets/laptops/etc which is fucking great.

[octopus]

Also you can point the nas to a dynamic dns service and access all your content over your phone/tablets/laptops/etc which is fucking great.

And I want to point out that Synology provides a free dynamic dns service and updates automatically via the NAS. It's great.

[RKenshin]

Thanks for the input thus far gents - think I'm going to finally make the decision/purchase by tomorrow.

Likely to be the first option, for the DS213j.

[DrClout]

Thanks for the input thus far gents - think I'm going to finally make the decision/purchase by tomorrow.

Likely to be the first option, for the DS213j.

Hey RKenshin, how did the Synology work out for you? I've been in the market for a NAS as of recent.

[RKenshin]

Absolutely lovely.

I did go with the DS213j and 2x 4-TB WD Red drives, and have had it setup for a little over a month now. I'm still playing with and finding new features all the time, as recent as yesterday.

Setting it up was easy, the build quality is solid, and the software running the NAS is great too (plenty of options, customization, and features). Perfectly content and satisfied with the purchase, so far it's definitely worthy of the high ratings and praise it's getting on Amazon.

I also setup my PC as a media server with PLEX, and everything worked as I thought/hoped it would. My PC does the transcoding and the NAS handles the storage, and it all works like a charm. Can stream any media file (movie, tv show, music, etc) in my library to any device I can connect to with PLEX (my smart phone, my home smart TV, my friend's smart TV, a friend's Chromecast/tablet, a friend's PC, etc). Now I just wish I actually went with the 4-bay unit, because it makes me want to digitize my entire movie collection... and I might run out of room if I try that. D: