NAS Device Recommendations for PS3

[TheMagicPirate]

I've put this in consoles as the devices main use will be to stream stuff to my PS3. The hope is that the console guys will have had experience with it or something similar.

Currently I am using my iMac and a programme called PS3 Media Server to steam stuff to my PS3. My main problem now is that I am running out of space on my Mac's HDD. I had considered a large USB drive, but having to have my Mac on while I watch stuff on my PS3 has always been a bit of an irritation for me. So i've decided to plump for a NAS device. The biggest problem is going to be having to re-encode some files into a format the PS3 can play natively (mkv files for example)

The one I'm looking at is the WD MyBook
It can be had for £115 (1Tb) or £185 (2Tb).

I've read the reviews and the gist appears to be it is the best for simple plug and play functionality but lacks some advanced features, which is pretty perfect as all I want it to do is be accessible to my PS3 and Mac.

Does anyone have the MyBook and can praise or slate it? What are other peoples solutions to their media steaming needs?

 

[Thesnipergecko]

I can't help with a NAS for the PS3 but my experiences with the WD MyBook 2TB were not great, I found it to be extremely slow for transferring large files across the network, I do not think it would be able to cope with streaming any HD media that you may have.

Hope this was partly helpful.

 

[z0mbi3]

What type of videos do you playback? If it's your standard xvid affair then you'll be alright with any DLNA capable NAS, but if you've been using PS3 Media Server for transcoding MKVs then you'll be stuffed as consumer NAS drives are neither powerful enough or software equipped for transcoding video.

 

[rp2000]

What type of videos do you playback? If it's your standard xvid affair then you'll be alright with any DLNA capable NAS, but if you've been using PS3 Media Server for transcoding MKVs then you'll be stuffed as consumer NAS drives are neither powerful enough or software equipped for transcoding video.

He said he is going to re-encode his videos so that should not be an issue.



I use one of these: http://www.dlink.com/products/?pid=509

Got it a couple of years back and whacked a pair of 500GB drives in it and use it as JBOD. The DLNA support was a bit rubbish but that got improved via firmware and now it streams any files the PS3 understands (It is old and discontinued now so you can't buy it, just giving my experience).

If you are just streaming files any 100/1000Mbit NAS with DLNA support will work just fine as I am not sure PS3 natively supports files with ridiculously high (for streaming) bitrates that would push the data transfer to it's limit. (a 100Mbit device could push files at 10MB a second, on average, so a 1hr video would have to be 3.6GB to stress it, assuming I have done my sums right). I know mkv's of "certain" content can be much bigger than that, I just can't see in practice why people would have such large files they would regularly want to stream to the device, and if they did, then 1000Mbit should cover them, even if it only gives a x2-x3 increase in performance/throughput.


rp2000

 

[TheMagicPirate]

Thanks for the replies guys. All really helpful.

I can't help with a NAS for the PS3 but my experiences with the WD MyBook 2TB were not great, I found it to be extremely slow for transferring large files across the network, I do not think it would be able to cope with streaming any HD media that you may have.

Hope this was partly helpful.

This was especially helpful as I had chosen this device as it was a) well priced, and b) allegedly one of the quicker NAS devices around. I'll have to do some more digging I think.

 

[Thesnipergecko]

From memory the MyBook World 2TB Edition would do around 10/15MBps across the network writing and around 15/20MBps reading.

I have also had experience with DataRobotics DROBO which again suffers from poor onboard controllers giving slow read and write speeds. The key feature would be to look for one with a decent onboard controller.

Some NAS boxes may boast Gigabit connections but that's not saying the controllers will allow the drives to do Gigabit speeds.

 

[Demon]

When it comes to HD Video, I've never seen a Blu-ray go above 35Mbps, and most HD MKV's as an example don't go above 15Mbps, so 1.5Mbytes/sec read rate is all that is theoretically needed, and I can testify that an NSLU2 (basic USB NAS) was fine for all the basic HD content I tried it with..

Now, I use a QNAP NAS, tons more money, but I use it to not only stream HD content to everything, but also as a download box(torrent/usenet)/subversion server/e-mail /uPNP media server etc..

 

[rp2000]

From memory the MyBook World 2TB Edition would do around 10/15MBps across the network writing and around 15/20MBps reading.

I have also had experience with DataRobotics DROBO which again suffers from poor onboard controllers giving slow read and write speeds. The key feature would be to look for one with a decent onboard controller.

Some NAS boxes may boast Gigabit connections but that's not saying the controllers will allow the drives to do Gigabit speeds.

Indeed, mine pushes 30MB/s, over gigabit, whereas the same disks in a XP machine will push about 60MB/s, with ease. Although 100mbit is limiting, as even the worst NAS are gonna push more than the max a 100mbit connection can handle (12.5MB/s theoretically, but closer to 10-11 even on an optimised system).

snip

Your figures are off a bit as there is 8 bits to a byte, not 10, but I agree that very little stuff will push the throughput on even 100 mbit (or even a decent 54g connection) devices unless you want to copy large files. Which QNAP Nas do you have? I am thinking of getting a new one in the next couple of months.


rp2000

 

[Demon]

Your figures are off a bit as there is 8 bits to a byte, not 10, but I agree that very little stuff will push the throughput on even 100 mbit (or even a decent 54g connection) devices unless you want to copy large files. Which QNAP Nas do you have? I am thinking of getting a new one in the next couple of months.

rp2000

Oops.. yeah.. 10 bits to a byte is my Rule of thumb for throughput over Ethernet (100Mbps ~ 10MBps payload throughput with overheads), but is the wrong way around for this, well spotted!

I have the TS209-II Pro (got it 18 months ago), and it's been stellar, but that is mainly due to me using it as a low power 24/7 server doing as much as I can get it to do..

I'd replace it with the TS219 (much quicker processor), as I quite like the QNAP stuff, it's not without issues support wise, but their QPKG system and ease of just getting in and hacking around with Linux has made it very good to really get more out of them.. but I'm sure Synology/Thecus stuff is easily as good..

Personally,unless you are flush, or want a NAS to be more then a NAS, I'd say this level of NAS is a bit OTT and not that good VFM.

 

[Begbie]

Weird coincidence, just been doing a wee bit googling on this. Got my old man a PS3 for xmas and bought him a NAS mybook world a few years ago, which I occasionally put some films on it, does anyone have any experience if this works or not?


Sorry to hijack your thread!