If you are looking to stream to your Roku, you might want to look at Plex. It can run on some of the higher end NAS. However streaming HD video can be a bit CPU intensive so you are better off using a PC for your Plex server.

I have a NAS, as my fileserver, and an older PC running the Plex server. The PC is dedicated to only running the Plex server, and my media is stored on the NAS. The NAS is connected via a Gigabit connection on the router and I have no issues streaming. The NAS backs up all the computers in the house and everyone has access to it on the network. If the NAS ever gets full I could put another hard drive on the Plex server computer and move media directly to it.

I am looking for this, yes. Thank you.

The plot thickens, doesn't it? I'd love to just have the NAS do the streaming of course. I wonder if the faster newer NAS can do this without the computer?

Absolutely, but you'll need a decent processor on your NAS. Transcoding requires a good amount of horsepower.

Great article from Plex on NAS limitations when running the plex server app.

https://support.plex.tv/hc/en-us/art...nd-Limitations

Google Docs link on transcoding levels vs. hardware (community maintained):
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets...#gid=314388488

Here's an article from QNAP on how to install Plex on one of their turbo NASes:

http://www.qnap.com.tw/en/index.php?lang=en&sn=8901

any opinions on QNAP vs. Synology?

In terms of robustness, customer support, that type of thing?

I have no experience of QNAP. Synology products run on their variant of Linux and there is an active support forum on their website. They are known to implement new feature requests pretty quickly.

Plus, Anandtech recommends Synology as well as uses them to run their servers.

I've seen no other tech site test as scientifically as Anandtech.
They make other sites look like the National Enquirer.

Definitely. I've been running a Plex Media Server on my Synology NAS for the last year without any trouble, even when transcoding 1080p video.

The lower-end models, though, won't have the necessary horsepower. I'm using the Synology DS1813+ which has a dual-core 2.13GHz Atom x86 CPU. Most of the basic, residential-focused models use a less expensive ARM CPU that isn't well-suited for transcoding video.

Yowza; nice bit of kit, but that's a good size chunk of cash too. Pretty easy to build your own 8-drive server cheaper than that if you're comfortable building up from motherboard/case yourself (although it's going to end up being good bit less compact.)

I was thinking of the DS1813+ actually. It seems to be big enough and also not outrageously priced...8 bays should be enough for the forseeable future.

Is there an app that lets me use this storage outside the firewall? To stream to my ipad or use as a drive on my Mac if I'm traveling?

Yes, Synology includes built in VPN and streaming functionality - you just need to download their app from the app store.

Synology and QNAP are similar, but QNAP is a higher quality/functionality and (slightly) higher priced system often found in SMBs.

QNAP has a very active user community that has been helpful for me in the past when I had a crappy Seagate drive fail and then another failed during the RAID 5 rebuild...

Hmmm. I wonder who their sponsors are... I'll stick with Ars.

Put DD-WRT on your router and then you can VPN to your whole network (not just one component).

Some people like computers. Other people like women, friends and leaving their house to be social. Suggesting to people that they build their own linux server is silly. Had the person that much knowledge already, they wouldn't be asking the question here.

As for all of your points about USB, you're still missing things. USB is not NAS. The guy is asking about NAS. Talking about USB is like discussing your favorite toaster when someone asks about a car. There are plenty of NAS units out there that will do RAID built in and you don't have to stay home in your mother's basement on Friday night figuring out how to setup your server.

Personally, I prefer precision and accuracy over brevity, especially if brevity leads to misleading generalizations and outright false statements (like "next to nobody uses [Linux].")

(Also, as an aside I find replying inline to individual points is quicker than keeping track of the whole conversation separately and having to compose something that makes sense without context. Mind you, I don't consider blowing off the substance of a post to attack the poster or his writing style to counting as "making sense without context.")

One can like both, you know -- and indeed, have time for both as well... but then, I can't help but think this is another personal attack, just a bit less direct

It's not hard; just because one doesn't have the knowledge up-front doesn't mean that it's a commitment of more than a few hours (or days at most) for a computer-literate end user to learn it. I wouldn't recommend it to everyone, but it was worth raising the possibility of doing so for people who haven't thought of it.

These guys would beg to differ:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-007-_-Product
How's that for brevity?

Or spelled out -- the basic idea of NAS doesn't care how the drives are hooked up to the NAS controller. Direct SATA drives inside the box is only one of a couple of ways to do it, and "external USB hooked up to a network box" is still NAS, just a NAS controller (like a NetApp V-series) in front of a fiber-channel SAN is still NAS (just really expensive.)

Sure, as well as ones that don't do RAID. Quality, features, and cost all vary.

More indirect personal attacks. Good grief.

Since the OP's question has been answered and the thread is veering off topic, I'm closing it. If the OP would like it re-opened, feel free to PM me.