HD Streaming using a NAS

[Isometric]

If I were to set up a generic NAS (Network attached Storage) device; would I be able to stream media files such as HD movies to a television, computer or smart phone on the same network? Does anyone else use a NAS for a similar purpose to the intention of mine? Cheers.

[RollinLower]

yes, this should be possible. you would need atleast decent internet for this to work smoothly tough.

[Curufinwe_wins]

yes, this should be possible. you would need atleast decent internet for this to work smoothly tough.

It has nothing to do with your internet. It has to do with your intranet. Which is much much faster in every situation.

[AverageHardware]

If I were to set up a generic NAS (Network attached Storage) device; would I be able to stream media files such as HD movies to a television, computer or smart phone on the same network? Does anyone else use a NAS for a similar purpose to the intention of mine? Cheers.

Plex. Nuff said.

[Zeke]

Yes, I have a NAS and use it for that exact purpose.

[ltguy]

Yes its possible and I have done it but.... It depends on many factors including but not limited to  a) the read speeds of your hard drives, the bandwidth of you network c) the software setup you use d) the bitrate of you hd video content.

[RollinLower]

It has nothing to do with your internet. It has to do with your intranet. Which is much much faster in every situation.

welp, this is awkward.

[Isometric]

Yes its possible and I have done it but.... It depends on many factors including but not limited to  a) the read speeds of your hard drives, the bandwidth of you network c) the software setup you use d) the bitrate of you hd video content.

 

Okay; so assuming I set up a generic NAS - My bandwidth is hefty so that's not a problem. Let's say I have Videos with a ~4000kbps  bitrate and just standard read speeds for my HDDs, nothing special maybe a couple of WD HDDs. Would this be sufficient to stream media effectively?

[rcarteraz]

Okay; so assuming I set up a generic NAS - My bandwidth is hefty so that's not a problem. Let's say I have Videos with a ~4000kbps  bitrate and just standard read speeds for my HDDs, nothing special maybe a couple of WD HDDs. Would this be sufficient to stream media effectively?

 

It would be best if you provided details about your hardware in said "generic NAS"

[Isometric]

It would be best if you provided details about your hardware in said "generic NAS"

 

This is scenario based, I don't actually have any hardware yet because I have not purchased any - Hence why i'm asking about it on forum... I thought that was blatant. Either way, the reason I'm asking is so that I get the correct advice as to whether I need specific hardware etc. or whether a generic, bog standard NAS will do what I want it to do.

[rcarteraz]

This is scenario based, I don't actually have any hardware yet because I have not purchased any - Hence why i'm asking about it on forum... I thought that was blatant. Either way, the reason I'm asking is so that I get the correct advice as to whether I need specific hardware etc. or whether a generic, bog standard NAS will do what I want it to do.

You could easily put together NAS that streams media. A lot of software that people use to run a NAS has plug-ins available for specifically that purpose (i.e. Plex). However, when it comes to what content you want to stream and to how many people then hardware will come into play. Most low end NAS can stream a movie with no issues. When you start streaming multiple movies though it may become hard for lower end hardware to keep up. I'm assuming here but I'm sure it would also come into play depending on the resolution you want to stream at as well. As I said though, after a quick search of the web, it seem that even most low-end NAS can keep up with streaming a 1080p movie.

[Curufinwe_wins]

You could easily put together NAS that streams media. A lot of software that people use to run a NAS has plug-ins available for specifically that purpose (i.e. Plex). However, when it comes to what content you want to stream and to how many people then hardware will come into play. Most low end NAS can stream a movie with no issues. When you start streaming multiple movies though it may become hard for lower end hardware to keep up. I'm assuming here but I'm sure it would also come into play depending on the resolution you want to stream at as well. As I said though, after a quick search of the web, it seem that even most low-end NAS can keep up with streaming a 1080p movie.

Yea... consider that a 1080p blu-ray streaming requires like 30 MB/s max and modern hdds are around 6x that, provided you don't have an absolutely terrible wireless router, (wired won't have any issues at all), it is almost impossible for a nas system not to be capable of doing it.

[Captain_WD]

~snip~

 

Hey there Isometric,

 

Generally it depends on the specific NAS, but most of them can stream media. Regarding the capabilities of it, it's more up to the internal connection rather than the capabilities of the NAS and the drives.

I can suggest checking out what WD can offer as pre-built NAS devices as they are very easy to set up and manage, offer streaming options as well as backups and other useful tools and feature WD Red drives: http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=5BxIfi

 

Feel free to ask if you happen to have questions

 

Captain_WD.