HDTV playback performance of media stored on NAS

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njitgrad

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Jun 13, 2012
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I currently have 5 Samsung HDTVs, all connected to the my network with hard lines.

On three of those TVs I have a WD Passport HDD connected (via USB cable) from which I play various media formats (music, AVI/MP4 video, etc).

You can see the redundancy when I want to add a new piece of media. I have to disconnect all three HDDs from the TVs, connect them to my PC, transfer the files, and reconnect the HDDs to the TVs.

I am considering adding a 2TB or 4TB WD My Cloud (DLNA-enabled) to take the place of the three WD passports.

My concerns are rather logical...suppose this NAS is connected to the 8-port switch in my basement.

1) Will playback of AVI/MP4s stored on the NAS be as smooth as it is when a HDD is directly connected to the TV?

2) Will navigation (FFWD/REW) input response time be affected? I can only assume that it will be impacted.

3) Will I have the ability to add/delete files to the NAS from my PC? I've never owned a NAS so forgive me if this question sounds trivial.

Thanks!
 
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Yes, a NAS can do all of those things. However I'd strongly suggest you get a Synology unit. Slightly more expensive but offers better performance, way more features, and by far is the easiest to learn to use. Something like a DS214 will be good if you want to stream to more than one TV at a time. If you want to stream to just one TV at a time you can probably get away with a DS115j (just keep in mind they are all sold disk less)

The Synology has a ton of built in features for these applications and even more add on features like plex media server. You won't regret spending a little extra for it.
 
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Can anyone suggest a reasonable priced 1TB compact NAS drive that I can attach to each TV? Each drive will be connected to the network (so I can updated them from my PC) as well as directly to the TV via USB. No streaming will take place over the network, only file transfers will take place over the network.
 
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Hi, as the name NAS (network accessed storage) implies it is network connected. So directly connecting one to the TV isn't possible.

I can assure you the Synology unit will work great with 99% of devices. That thread was just regarding certain TV's that don't properly connect using the DNLA protocol. It certainly isn't a performance issue with Synology (they are the top performing NAS units on the market).

If you did experience any such issues, you can just connect a Roku, Apple TV, or other media device to the TV and it will stream, rewind, ff all perfectly. Never seen so much as a hiccup with my setup.
 
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So if I connect the USB port of a NAS drive to a TV (or PC), it won't see the files on it as being an external HDD?

 
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No, it won't. Those USB ports are to connect other devices such as printers, or even other hard drives to the NAS making them available over the network as well. However no NAS that I know of will allow access to it's storage over the USB. Most often these ports are used to connect another external hard drive for the NAS to backup critical data onto each night.

Because a NAS is essentially a computer itself, this would be like plugging two computers into each other with a USB cable.

 
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I use a DS212 for my media streaming and it's great. I think it has been replaced with the DS214.

You can probably get away with just one of these if you're only going to stream to one TV at a time: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822108181&cm_re=synology-_-22-108-181-_-Product

If you want to stream to more than one you might consider the DS214 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=2KH-001H-00002&cm_re=synology-_-2KH-001H-00002-_-Product

Amazon's prices are all over the place for these. Newegg is the place to buy.
 
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Sorry, more questions (and thanks so much for your help BTW)....

1) For each of these two options, the HDD is not included right? Which HDD do you recommend for the two configurations you suggested?

2) Based on my network topology where would you suggest attaching the NAS? The most convenient place would be next to the printer in my office. I could install a switch to split the line that goes directly to the printer. I have no place in the garage (not to mention it could easily be stolen and the temperature fluctuates dramatically).

3) All of my wiring is CAT5e, is this going to be an issue? The dashed lines in the diagram represent wiring behind walls or above ceilings (basically out of sight).

4) Should I consider replacing any 10/100 5-port switches with 5-port gigabit (unmanaged) switches while I'm at it?

5) How would I back up the drive? I would only need 3 TB max, so if I got the DS214 could I have the other bay contain an identical 3 TB drive that will mirror the data? I've never done RAID before, is that the way you would do it? How would you configure from a newbie's perspective?

6) Will the Boxee Box stream from the DS214? That would be nice.

7) I have 5 Samsung TVs (see below) and I don't know which of the 5 will be able to play directly from the DS214. For those TVs that won't play directly from the DS214, what (hopefully inexpensive) device would you recommend for streaming from the DS214?

Master Bedroom:
Samsung UN40D6000 (2011, SmartTV)
Connected to LAN

Family Room:
Samsung LN32D550 (2011, Not a SmartTV but has ethernet port)
Connected to LAN

Living Room:
Samsung LN46B650 (2009, Not a SmartTV but has ethernet port)
Connected to LAN

Basement Den:
UN40F6300 (2014, SmartTV)
Connected to LAN

Cellar (Treadmill):
Samsung UN22D5000 (2011)
No LAN connection but runs content off a Boxee Box via HDMI



 
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