NAS enclosure or USB NAS hub for streaming to Apple TV

Sayn · 11 Sep 2011 at 09:59

Hey guys and girls, I was wondering if you could give me some advice. I'm looking into buying an Apple TV2 and put XMBC on it, so need to make my media share over my network. I will probably use network cables to connect everything up too.

So is something like the Iomega iConnect or Belkin Home Base suitable for this or do you recommend an actual NAS drive or even a NAS enclosure? I already have a 1TB MyBook full of media which will need to be shared as well.
Also I don't intend to use it as a backup for my computer files and I don't really want to leave a PC on all the time to share my media from.

Any help will be massively appreciated. Thanks.

sarge78 · 11 Sep 2011 at 15:55

You might be able to plug the 1TB MyBook into your home router (for a basic NAS)

Turbo-G · 12 Sep 2011 at 13:20

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought your media needed to be on a machine running iTunes to enable home sharing.

Using a NAS would work of course if that was the location of your iTunes library, and iTunes was running on a machine with home sharing enabled. But if the pc/mac running iTunes was not available you wouldn't be able to see the contents of your iTunes library on your NAS.

Turbo-G · 12 Sep 2011 at 13:22

Just to add, I have an Atv2 downstairs connected via Ethernet to my router, and a mac upstairs with a localised iTunes library running with home sharing enabled. If my mac is off or iTunes is not running I cannot see my content on the aTv2 downstairs as iTunes is acting as the media server.

Turbo-G · 12 Sep 2011 at 13:26

Actually, the above it probably irrelevant with XBMC installed lol.

Skully · 12 Sep 2011 at 16:48

I have a Netgear Stora which I bought for £44, whacked a 2TB drive in and shared it all over the network.

Works very nicely with XBMC, 1080P isn't too hot but 720P with DTS is!

Running over my Airport Extreme 5GHZ network.

Sayn · 12 Sep 2011 at 20:53

No USB port on my router unfortunately.

Does anybody know what the benefits are of a NAS enclosure over a something like a USB NAS hub? Being as I don't intend to backup my laptops or use a built in BitTorrent client is something like a single bay Qnap or Synology NAS enclosure somewhat overkill?

sarge78 · 12 Sep 2011 at 21:38

Speed? Most reviews say USB hubs are dog slow so there might be a problem with high bit rate 720p films.

(USB 3 versions might be good enough if the MyBook supports it?)