Thoughts on QNAP NAS

[rea]

On 12/27/2017 at 1:41 PM, Glloyd77 said:

Thanks for the feedback.  Going to keep an eye out for an "after Christmas" deal!  Now I have to choose Plex or other "player".  Also what is the best current program for ripping my bluray collection?

I use Acrok Video Converter Ultimate on my Mac and have generally been impressed with its ripping speed and performance. Very easy to use interface as well. MakeMKV is also good and free to try for the first month. 

[THawes]

On 12/27/2017 at 3:41 PM, Glloyd77 said:

Also what is the best current program for ripping my bluray collection?

 

I use MakeMKV and have not bothered re-encoding with Handbrake as I have plenty of storage and haven’t felt like taking the time to do it. Most Blu-Rays seem to be between 18-30GB in size without re-encoding them.

[wappinghigh]

[koxkp]

Any benefit to hdmi with qnap?

I’m slowly starting to learn the OS and use more of the features of my new TS-453A and extremely satisfied with it.

So far my observation between QNAP and Synology seems like QNAP is more geared toward media and streaming and Synology is all business with data transfer and storage.

The HDMI outs are nice to save on an additional zone’s box (I upgraded from using a raspberry pi and external) I was looking for a box to do Atmos. The HDMI out directly does it no problem. If you’re really looking to do 4K I think you’re better off with the cheaper version and spending on a shield.

I might be veering off of what the NAS should truest be used for, but mine also has mic inputs and the OceanKTV app has been a hidden gem and a hit with my friends...bonus built in karaoke machine. I think can only be used from the HDMI outs.

Also, added Linux station as an extra Linux box I’m going to try and test out and see if the dual HDMI out to my office is a good idea.

The HDStation driver from qnap can run everything from the HDMI out, but after getting that I realized Alan’s full driver is still the best and using that for Kodi and HDStation for karaoke.


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[wappinghigh]

I spoke to soon...

Here it is... (or so I thought)

https://www.qnap.com/en-au/product/ts-653b

edit Ouch..  just 1.4b out not HDMI 2.0... DYOR! 

[wappinghigh]

https://www.qnap.com/en-au/product/tvs-473/specs/hardware or take a look at this.. but DYOR!

It is advertised as 4K HDMI out but is it? And is it HDCP2.2??? You would need to make darn sure it is first before buying... 

edit: No it won't be.. read the fine print.. this is also just HDMI 1.4b... 

It's Buyer beware out there folks.

[rea]

1 hour ago, wappinghigh said:

https://www.qnap.com/en-au/product/tvs-473/specs/hardware or take a look at this.. but DYOR!

It is advertised as 4K HDMI out but is it? And is it HDCP2.2??? You would need to make darn sure it is first before buying... 

edit: No it won't be.. read the fine print.. this is also just HDMI 1.4b... 

It's Buyer beware out there folks.

You weren't kidding, you really had to dig to find out the exact HDMI spec on those. Very misleading based off the text in their description too, i.e., they couldn't say 4K enough, haha. 

Seems the best route right now is likely getting a cheaper NAS and using a Shield or other player for playback. And speaking of that, anyone tried one of these players out in their system:

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B01N5MDS6Z/ref=ox_sc_sfl_title_4?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A1XYCWPN1QR3F4

Looks like a nice player at a decent price  (same as Shield Pro) and seems to have a C4 driver available (https://zappiti.uservoice.com/knowledgebase/articles/734511--rc-ir-ip-codes-of-zappiti-player-4k-for-univer). 

[wappinghigh]

yep there is so much misinformation out there on HDMI/4K/HDCP2.2 

And the Taiwanese MB manufacturers are notorious when it comes to this sort of thing....just take a look at their latest MB spec pages....

Ya gotta have HDCP2.2 compliance with 4K if you are sticking HDMI into your C4 matrixs or into large multi video distributed homes IMHO otherwise there will be heartache....

You should all know the pitfalls by NOW!

W

[ILoveControl]

QNAP is definitely one of the better pre-built consumer NAS. When I was buying (about three months ago) I decided to go with Synology NAS. They have the 1U version for my server rack.

 

What was for me the difference -

The 1U option at the price point

The apps on their app store ecosystem

The apps on the community economy system (big community)

The reviews on multiple sites was 5 stars or 4.5

 

It has now become a me more than just a NAS for me it runs the houses network basically DHCP, VPN, Proxy, DynDns registrations etc it has it all.

 

If you into that type of thing you can install mail servers, virus scanning if it becomes your gateway plenty of options.....

 

While running all these services the CPU and Mem still idles. I thought it's not I uses all the time and is a great appliance for those services.

 

I use it for storage, it stores all my media which then I use a Nvidia Shield to do the hard work with Kodi or a Raspberry PI 3.

 

I also backup all my devices to it, my Windows machines, iDevices and Android devices backup to it. Has saved me a few times. Whilst cloud backups kinda work and get you 60/70% there sometimes you want a quick restore and it's right there. I use iMazing for my iDevices incase you wanna check it out.

 

Forgot to mention it has an insane Surveillance camera software that is used in many corporate / businesses. All IP based like QNAP all it needs is someone to build a driver for it for C4

[eggzlot]

5 hours ago, ILoveControl said:

QNAP is definitely one of the better pre-built consumer NAS. When I was buying (about three months ago) I decided to go with Synology NAS. They have the 1U version for my server rack.

 

What was for me the difference -

The 1U option at the price point

The apps on their app store ecosystem

The apps on the community economy system (big community)

The reviews on multiple sites was 5 stars or 4.5

 

It has now become a me more than just a NAS for me it runs the houses network basically DHCP, VPN, Proxy, DynDns registrations etc it has it all.

 

If you into that type of thing you can install mail servers, virus scanning if it becomes your gateway plenty of options.....

 

While running all these services the CPU and Mem still idles. I thought it's not I uses all the time and is a great appliance for those services.

 

I use it for storage, it stores all my media which then I use a Nvidia Shield to do the hard work with Kodi or a Raspberry PI 3.

 

I also backup all my devices to it, my Windows machines, iDevices and Android devices backup to it. Has saved me a few times. Whilst cloud backups kinda work and get you 60/70% there sometimes you want a quick restore and it's right there. I use iMazing for my iDevices incase you wanna check it out.

 

Forgot to mention it has an insane Surveillance camera software that is used in many corporate / businesses. All IP based like QNAP all it needs is someone to build a driver for it for C4

Which model?  I was looking at the 815+.  Was waiting on a sale but seems like they never get marked down. 

[ILoveControl]

Which model?  I was looking at the 815+.  Was waiting on a sale but seems like they never get marked down. 

RS217 is the model has two bays

[eggzlot]

1 hour ago, ILoveControl said:

RS217 is the model has two bays

got ya thanks

I was looking at a 4 bay model and was back and forth on the 815+ v the 816.  was hoping you had one of those, doh!

[ILoveControl]

got ya thanks
I was looking at a 4 bay model and was back and forth on the 815+ v the 816.  was hoping you had one of those, doh!

With the size of drives now a days do you really need 4 bays. Unless you going for the horse power but then again they will never do 4K on plex running on it so it's better to use it purely for storage.

Then we back to my first point

[eggzlot]

15 minutes ago, ILoveControl said:

With the size of drives now a days do you really need 4 bays. Unless you going for the horse power but then again they will never do 4K on plex running on it so it's better to use it purely for storage.

Then we back to my first point

i like the 4 bay for RAID 5 - just a personal preference.  more bang for the buck out of your drives by maximizing space - at least years ago when I did more of this stuff that was my logic.  I use amazon fire tv/kodi for all the transcoding, so the NAS is for storage.  Though I am looking at some of the business apps as my wife will likely be starting a remote office within the next year.

[zaphod]

If you don't mind more of a DIY aspect then consider building your own server and using unRAID as your OS.  You can then run apps (Plex, Kodi, Unifi, AirVideo HD, Letsencrypt/nginx, SageTV, etc) in dockers and/or VMs.  If you have a lot of HDMI wiring through your house you could even host all of your "PCs" as VMs on one server and only have monitors and Keyboards/mice in rooms where you want computers.

[eggzlot]

28 minutes ago, zaphod said:

If you don't mind more of a DIY aspect then consider building your own server and using unRAID as your OS.  You can then run apps (Plex, Kodi, Unifi, AirVideo HD, Letsencrypt/nginx, SageTV, etc) in dockers and/or VMs.  If you have a lot of HDMI wiring through your house you could even host all of your "PCs" as VMs on one server and only have monitors and Keyboards/mice in rooms where you want computers.

Thanks but my tinkering days may be numbered.  As I get older and busier with other aspects of life I do not want to worry about doing an OS upgrade and some drive is not compatible or an app I use is not compatible anymore.  Looking for something more plug and play where things are tested in advance.  10 years ago I would have built myself, today I lean towards more of out of the box experience.

[koxkp]

52 minutes ago, eggzlot said:

i like the 4 bay for RAID 5 - just a personal preference.  more bang for the buck out of your drives by maximizing space - at least years ago when I did more of this stuff that was my logic.  I use amazon fire tv/kodi for all the transcoding, so the NAS is for storage.  Though I am looking at some of the business apps as my wife will likely be starting a remote office within the next year.

I went 4 bay for the RAID 5 too. The general thing I found is more small drives are better. Think if you have 12TB storage...2 x6TB is 6 usable in RAID 1 and 4 x 3TB is 9TB usable in RAID 5. Also, easier to swap out a failed 3TB than a 6TB.

I think Synology sounds really solid and the features @ILoveControl mentioned have a similar QNAP counterpart and I've been really happy with my TS-453A. I got this one because QNAP has the built in HDMI out, but as WAP mentioned already. I didn't expect great 4K support. I only have 1080p still and it runs great and saved me from tempting me to spend $200 on a shield for a while.

What WAP hinted at just proves, don't get a NAS for video out specs. HDCP/HDMI specs change so much you're better off getting new 4k players as it comes up. I hope my QNAP can outlast as server/storage longer than HDMI specs change.

[eggzlot]

32 minutes ago, koxkp said:

I went 4 bay for the RAID 5 too. The general thing I found is more small drives are better. Think if you have 12TB storage...2 x6TB is 6 usable in RAID 1 and 4 x 3TB is 9TB usable in RAID 5. Also, easier to swap out a failed 3TB than a 6TB.

I think Synology sounds really solid and the features @ILoveControl mentioned have a similar QNAP counterpart and I've been really happy with my TS-453A. I got this one because QNAP has the built in HDMI out, but as WAP mentioned already. I didn't expect great 4K support. I only have 1080p still and it runs great and saved me from tempting me to spend $200 on a shield for a while.

What WAP hinted at just proves, don't get a NAS for video out specs. HDCP/HDMI specs change so much you're better off getting new 4k players as it comes up. I hope my QNAP can outlast as server/storage longer than HDMI specs change.

agreed

My ReadyNas NV+ is still kicking after 7 years and I can play 1080p movies without a problem over wifi on a kodi fire TV stick.  I have to assume anything today will blow that out of the water and 4k will be trivial.  I just want to retire the ReadyNas before it retires on me if you know what i mean!  Being proactive here.

[wappinghigh]

Yep I am looking at upgrading my NAS as well.... such a crock of crap advertised whats going on out there frankly and IMHO the latest QNAP's are a great example of this - most "normal' NAS boxes even those years old will deliver a 4K stream fine it's the playback the other end that matters.. ie what graphics card and what HDMI certification/HDCP2.2 etc  is at the playback end... be that in the actual NAS box itself or on a dedicated streamer hanging off the other end of your network... DYOR! and buyer beware! 

[msgreenf]

Imho video playback is not the job of a Nas. File storage and access are. Get a drobo

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[THawes]

2 hours ago, msgreenf said:

Imho video playback is not the job of a Nas. File storage and access are. Get a drobo

This. This. This.

It's a NAS. Network Attached Storage. Let the NAS do it's job of storage and use a media player for playback. 

[rolldog]

On 12/28/2017 at 12:57 AM, wappinghigh said:

The QNAP with direct HDMI out is good for folks with streaming and network issues as it just plays the files straight off the RAIDED discs into the TV/Receiver/in your case matrix. Mine is the 470Pro I think which is now 4-5 years old HDMI 1.4 1080p. As I have said above there is zero talk right now of a QNAP with HDMI2.0/HDCP2.2 4k capable on that HDMI output.. This doesn't mean you can't get QNAPS that will stream 4K files onto a network. You can. Just needs enough grunt and RAM. > Regarding streaming 4K just get a QNAP with known compatible specs 4k handling/streaming specs. Enough RAM and faster enough processor etc. Details are on their website. Same as for any receiver box > you need grunt. .. There were HDCP issues with my QNAP into a Leaf matrix I had once. Basically wouldn't handshake. I now run HDMI straight into one zone which frees up needing another XBMC player in that room. It runs XBMC direct on the QNAP (there is an app yuo download off the QNAP app store) and the AChow driver controls XBMC on there like any other Linux based XBMC. Like I said  it's great for folks who only want one zone, don't have a network (say for a cabin) and being not dependant on network for playback just acts like a giant Sony 400 disc player. Robust and always works. But obviously not essential in your case. I run linux for XBMC for all my XBMC playback boxes (other than that on a PC/MAc). I know AChow says go Android but I just love the stability of Linux. Never had a problem running his XBMC drivers on Linux, (I think the QNAP runs Ubuntu?? might be wrong on that), Lireelec or Openelec. I run all three  Cheers. 

I'm using a TVS-882 with QTier setup using M.2 SSDs, 2.5" SSDs, 60TB in RAID5, and 1TB PCIe NVMe SSD as a cache drive. Plus, I've upgraded the CPU to an i7-6700 with 64GB of memory. I have my HDMI running through a Lumagen Radiance Pro, which upscales the video to 4096 x 2160 in a 2.35:1 aspect ratio on a 155" screen. The video quality is very good, but still not as good as an Ultra HD Bluray on my Oppo 203. I recently found out that my QNAP is compatible with my Hikvision security cameras, so I'd like to see if the Surveillance Station would work instead of running it through the Hikvision NVR. I've been using it as a backup for everything in my house and my work, but I also have all our pictures on it, videos, movies, and music, which can then be imported using Composer. Then, if you want to listen to music on the NAS, anyone can view thumbnails of all the albums, artists, tracks, etc on the T3 navigators.