Which NAS do I need?

[Sprucemoose]

Hi!

I am contemplating getting myself a NAS to be able to stream media across the house. Looking into several buying options I am a little confused, and hopefully some of you can give me a push in the right direction.

What I plan to do is the following:

1) I want to be able to stream music to a Logitech Squeezebox. I have figured out that I need to install Squeezeserver on the NAS, so it has to support this.
2) I also own a Samsung TV PS50C7705 (European version) and a BluRay player C6900. Now, I know these should be DLNA-compatible, but I also know that people have had issues streaming mkv files and subtitles. Many people are using the Twonky Media Server, but I don't know if that is necessary though.
3) Being able to play the stored music through iTunes on my Windows machine is also something that I want, and to be able to sync the music with my iPhone. Does an iTunes server on the NAS support this?
4) Regarding backup: Photos are the most crucial here, and I would like to see an automated backup system for the photos folder on both a iMac (OSX Snow Leopard) and my Windows 7 PC.
5) The NAS should be silent as it will be placed in the office.
6) Ability to install future mediaservers if needed.

Will I get along nicely with a budget NAS from any manufacturer, or should I look into specific models? I've looked at the QNAP 110/119P+/210/219P+. But then there is the more cheap Zyxel NSA-210/221/320.

I don't know if I'll need two harddisk bays, as this would be just a basic home storage with appr 1-2TB of space. But any tips would be highly appreciated. The most important thing, though is compatibility with the streaming.

 

[thiggins]

SqueezeCenter is supported as an add-in on Synology, QNAP and NETGEAR products.

The Twonky server is used as the media server in the above NASes and many others. But if you need transcoding, you need to check the specs carefully. I believe only QNAPs support transcoding of a limited number of formats.

In general, DLNA compatibility is only known when you put the product into actual use.

Any NAS can serve as a backup target if you run a backup program on the machines you are backing up.

 

[Sprucemoose]

Thank you for a quick reply!

So, basically, what you're saying is that any NAS from these manufacturers would be able to stream both using Squeezebox server and Twonky server.

I haven't thought of transcoding, though...I plan to stream HD videos, so I guess I have to buy a pretty powerful NAS to be able to do so. For now I'll stick with the regular streaming capabilities.

One thing I stumbled upon is the read/write speed. To be able to stream 1080p flawlessly, I guess that I need something fast. Since my initial post I've somewhat landed on the QNAP TS-119p+. I might go with the TS-110 or the 112 as they should support the same software, but I'm a little worried if it is fast enough. Then again, the choice of hard drive might be more important. Should I be ok just to go for TS-110?

 

[thiggins]

No, you don't need a really fast NAS to stream 1080p. The 1080p H.264 streams I've used for testing have rates between 20 and 40 Mbps, which is 2.5 to 5 MB/s. Any current NAS can do that without breaking a sweat.

Hard drive performance generally doesn't matter in NASes aside from noise and power consumption.

Check the manufacturer forums for threads on your specific concerns before you buy.

 

[Sprucemoose]

So no need for that extra processor speed or memory. I guess the TS-110 would suit me well, then. Unless you know of any serious issues regarding this unit/firmware, I'll go for that.