Thecus plans NAS / Media Server: All in one?

[Hi-Jack]

Check out the news about thecus plans for next year. How do yuou like the
idea of having a NAS and media player integrated into 1 device and what
would be the consequences? What would it have to have before being
considered for you?

Happy discussion.
http://www.mpcclub.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=392

[digitalera]

for me the 2 items shouldnt live together.

a NAS should be cool (temp) and enable lots of storage + fast read times this wouldnt sit in your front room nice and silent.

Anyone making a media player needs to actually make it talk to everything on a network some of the support for networked devices is shocking in some players. Throwing hard drives in a media player does not solve the problem :)

Id love a media player to stream i wouldnt want to ftp/copy over files before i play them My media player plays files my NAS or server upstairs holds the files.

btw while were at it please add dvd roms to media players a lot of people burn movies/tvshows on to a dvd to store :)

[daniel_owen_uk]

Like chips.... I am with sosages on this one :D (sorry)

But seriously one is a noisey thing that goes with your media server, out of the way, not in the vacinity of your viewing pleasure, and one goes right next to your TV where you shall be viewing.

They should be kept seperate.

[digitalera]

another thing i feel strongly about is peoples wishes to add features to media players such as:

"email server"
"web browser"
"games"

I have to say it now. If you want all that build a PC. Im after a Sexy DVD player sized box with every connector possible that can have a lovelly UI and talk to my Linux server + My nas + my shared folder on my XP PC upstairs and most of all my girl friend can pick up the remote and watch the latest desperate housewives episode without me doing anything but pressing the download link a few hours before :)

The current media players are (for me) unusable i know its all very new technology but instead of thowing new features in the boxes lets fix the current issues and have a stable system that plays our media.

I will make the move away from XBMC only when i am 100% happy with a media player.

[daniel_owen_uk]

LOL @ the DH stuff, my girlfriend is the same.

Problem is when she isn't home I want to be able to quickly pull up a bookmark without powering the PC on.

And I would like usenet downloading so I can ditch the media server.

[digitalera]

the NAS will (hopefully) handle any downloads. Next year i think we will see some big leaps in that side of thing.
so a home setup will likely be:

PC for work/games
laptop for where ever
NAS for downloading/storage
Media box in front room streaming.

[Hi-Jack]

Yes, and problems will be streaming while downloading :-)

I like the idea and concept if the unit is kept silent (passive cooling), nice
design (could be a DVD player style instead of a box) and can compete with
current players. on the side, it must be seperate NAS/Media Player so it's
one but not totally (modular)

Dunno. We'll see if we see more of their plans.
Intersting it is... usefull...? dunno yet :-)

[TsUPeR]

SOSAGES, I completely agree with you.

The NAS should be tucked away in your server room and is something comming in the next few year to more and more people (look at Windows home server).

A media player should be something dead silent under your TV

[mhiatt]

Agree, don't mix the NAS and media streamer for all the reason Hi-Jack mentions. I also don't believe Thecus can put enough resources to compete with the other media devices.

On the other hand, the N5200 is a awesome device. Over the years I have tried the cheaper NAS servers and been very disappointed. I recently acquired a N5200 to "put to the test" and it has performed flawlessly. I tried hard to destroy the RAID by removing a drive, powering the system off, etc. and in all cases the RAID rebuilt with no issue. The chassis works well and the drive cages are very easy to use. Most of all, lots of protocols and excellent performance.

Finally, something that works!

[Hi-Jack]

Agree about the N5200 but... the interface should be so much better than it
is. Was the biggest remark we had... Anyway, last at IFA in September we
already discussed our vision with Thecus about a all in one device and I
must say I was not so positive on the idea either but as the Company is
bound to go ahead, they might as well consider my feedback to make it
as good as possible...

Time will tell...
Maybe they should do like some car manufacturars do...

A concept NAS...
Just to show what it would be like :-)

[jaco]

Hopefull some decent performance. Still somewhat dissapointed by a 800+ euro machine (N5200) with 5 fast Sata-2 disks only outputs 30 mbyte/sec (like half the speed of a single disc)
Why not fill the complete gigabit Ethernet link ? The raid controller in my PC can do it with 5 slower discs.

-edit: i own a 5200, so speaking out of own experience..