QNAP TS-419P+ TurboNAS 4-Bay Network Storage Review

[Apoptosis]

QNAP TS-419P+ TurboNAS 4-Bay Network Storage Review

QNAP's TurboNAS TS-419P+ is an updated version of the company's 419P Model released more than two years ago. With an updated processor and boasting the ability to stream to a multitude of devices including Apple iOS Devices, Microsoft's Xbox 360, and Sony's PlayStation 3, it could just be the device every Home Theater Enthusiast is looking for to help tame their DVD Collection. Read the full article to see if it delivers on its promises.

About six months ago, I started looking into building a Home Theater PC Solution that fit my needs. Seeing I already owned an Xbox 360, and not wanting to build a separate PC, I decided my best route was to look at some type of device that could stream to an Xbox 360 using UPnP. I ran into many roadblocks, some devices did not support a large storage pool, and others were just too expensive. When asked to review the QNAP TS-419P+, I was thrilled to see that the device supported just the type of streaming that I wanted...

Article Title: QNAP TS-419P+ TurboNAS 4-Bay Network Storage Review
Article URL: http://legitreviews.com/article/1505/1/
Pricing At Time of Print: $577.41 shipped

[KnightRid]

*sigh* and again, $600 for the bare unit. If you add $400 for drives, you are at $1000. This does not figure in the device you have to have at the tv to stream to it either.

There HAS to be a way to make one of these units cheaper than this.

Maybe I am just a cheap bastard that will never understand (take the ipad for example - I can get a faster laptop that does a ton more for cheaper, so why buy a toy?) the way people or companies think.

I just want a NAS device as a simple and dumb file server to send files to my PS3, computer, etc and have the option to expand the storage as needed. I do not want to be limited to 4 drives, I want to be able to add as many as I want. eSata might be a good choice to do this with.

[Digital Puppy]

Good review.

Wanted to thank you for mentioning the QPKG features.

Expensive, but QNAP is really setting the standard with their hardware and OS. These are like the super-duper-deluxe models will all the bells and whistles.

[machtman]

Hi, This sounds like it might be the solution to what I have been looking for. However, I have some questions.
1. How quiet is it? Could you place it in a quiet living room where you want to listen to music without hearing it (my router is in that room).
2. Can you recommend 2 TB HDs that are really quiet for this enclosure?
3. I am using Windows 7 and have decided to go with J. River MC15 as the music server for a variety of reasons. It has a DNLA/UPnP server. Do you know whether the two might be compatible, i.e. using MC15 to assign cover art, genre, tags, etc. but the 419P+ as the physical server for streaming music?
4. I am extremely pleased with how MC15 can transmit music via WiFi to my iPad, which I am using as a renderer and to a wireless DAC that is sitting next to my stereo. Would it be possible to stick a USB wireless stick into the 419P+ and have it stream via wireless as well as vie the Gigabit connection?
5. How were you connecting your iPad to the 419P+ to stream the music?
6. I have not yet started to copy my DVDs. Do you know of an efficient mechanism to do so under Windows and put them on the 419P+?

Sorry to bombard you with so many questions but the 419P+ sounds nearly ideal for most of my purposes and your review has me really excited about the possibility that it might solve the needs I have for a quiet PC-independent music and DVA server.

thanks
Mark

[dicecca112]

1. Unnoticeable in my living room. I only really noticed it when it was on my desk for testing, and in that case I was building the array, so all the drives were cranking at once. I could see the lights flashing in the bedroom at night.
2. I'm partial to the WD Drives I used in the review. Any 5400rpm drive would be quieter than a 7200rpm
3. I'm not familar with the device so I can't comment
4. No, the NAS doesn't have an OS in the traditional sense, so there would be no way to install the drivers needed for the wireless stick to run.
5. Via the Twonky Media Web Interface (http://<IPADDRESS>:9000)
6 SlysoftAnyDVD and Handbrake

EDIT - Weird the post got cut off

[machtman]

Thanks very much. Since reading your review 3 times, I've gone ahead and ordered the unit plus 4 WD green enterprise level HDs with variable speed. It should be delivered next week. The question about a WiFi stick was probably stupid. I'm connecting it to a wireless router via the Ethernet cable and that can transmit to the rest of the network. So it wouldn't need a wireless stick. What will probably help enormously are your recommendations on ripping DVDs. I had SlySoft and deleted it because I wasn't ripping DVDs any more because I had the originals. Now I'll have to install it again because DVDFAB takes too much clicking around for the several 100 DVDs I want to copy. Hadn't heard of Handbrake and will look at that now. Even as a Linux and Apple person, you might want to look at J. River MC15. It provides a superb interface to the catalog of music and translates seemlessly on the fly from various formats such that I can store in FLAC format. However, it does require running a windows machine continuously, which is the advantage of the QNAP. best regards Mark

[dicecca112]

just jail broke my apple tv and installed xbmc. works incredibly well streaming from the nas

[machtman]

My 419P+ arrived and the installation was easy. I"m using the Twonky server to send music to the stereo and the PC and to a standalone CD player. Only minor hiccups, such as figuring out how to direct it all from my iPad. And occasional brief interruptions on the music. I solved how to send films to the Sony Bravia by buying a WD HD TV Live, which is working very well with the Twonky server. If the hiccups continue, I'll buy a better wireless router. However, I continue to be amazed how a single core can multitask as well as the QNAP is doing. It was sending 3 different CDs out simultaneously without apparent problems.

Handbrake is wonderful for transcoding, especially with the batch encoder. But I'm still struggling with how to apply meta tags in a way that Twonky can use them to show a useful tree. Do you have tips on that?

Thanks for your help.
Mark

[dicecca112]

No idea, never dug that far. I believe twonky has a forum you could ask at.

[dicecca112]

Apparently QNAP just released an update to support Wireless NAS with USB Drive

- Support USB Wi-Fi adapter
* Support IEEE 802.11 b/g/n compatible USB Wi-Fi adapter
* Support various encryption standards
> WEP
> WPA-Personal (AES or TKIP encryption types)
> WPA2-Personal (AES encryption)
* Connect to a wireless network or create a wireless Ad Hoc network

I don't have an adapter on hand, but I'll see if I can borrow one to test with the NAS

[machtman]

Wow, totally unexpected. I ordered a new wireless router yesterday because my current router only has 100 MB/s ethernet ports. This opened the possibility that it wasn't necessary so I installed the update. Stuck a Linksys dual band usb wireless adapter into the QNAP that I never got more than 150 MB/s out of on Windows 7 and installed the wireless connection.

After the update, QNAP took a couple of minutes to recognize the wireless adapter, during which time it kept saying try again later. After it had installed, I could see 3 WiFi networks in the vicinity, but not mine, which has a hidden SSID. However, when I entered the settings manually, after a few seconds the QNAP connected and claimed 270 MB/s connectivity versus 100 MB/s for the wired connection. So I tested the speed by trying to copy 38 GB of DVDs that I had ripped yesterday. Windows 7 reported an estimated 2 h and 40 min. I cancelled the transfer, set the dcefault gateway to the WLAN1 wireless connection and tried again. Now the estimate is 1 h, which fits with 270 MB/s vs 100 Mb/s. The Windows 7 computer is fully blocked with the 38 GB copy, but at least it will unblock in roughly an hour. Very impressive!

I'm particularly impressed with how simply the QNAP connected to a notoriously difficult USB adapter. I'm also amazed at the speed that it is gettig out of it. Now the question is whether I shouldn't cancel the purchase of the new router.

best regards
Mark

Mark

[machtman]

Something that might save you some time once you dig up a wireless adapter:
The Admin page and the file transfer run over wireless if you set the gateway on the TCP/IP page to point to the wireless adapter (in my case automatically called WLAN1). However, none of the other services run over the wireless adapter, including Twonky. Instead the links that are shown on the WebFile Manager, Multimedia Station and UPnP Media Server simply don't work and the URL does not connect.

The solution is to turn WebFile Manager off and on and the same for Multimedia Station. However, that doesn't help for the UPnP Media Server, including Twonky. Instead on the Twonky configuration page you see the IP addresses 127.0.0.0, the old wired interface and the new wireless interface. And the only one that works is the wired interface. I found the solution on an QNAP forum, namely you have to change the settings by sending the following URL

http://YourWired.IP.Address:9000/rpc/se ... IP.Address

After that you have to go into the old adress
http://YourWired.IP.Address:9000/
and restart the Twonky server. Thereafter it no longer responds at the old address, only shows one address (the wireless address) and works fine as a UPnP server as well.
Mark

[dicecca112]

in my experience streaming requires a good solid connection, in would use the wireless for file transfers and stream on a wired.

[machtman]

I was surprised how well it is working over wireless. No drop outs and both music and films are streaming without problems. I'm running an n wireless network and the QNAP is connected at 270 Mb/s, which is faster than the 100 Mb/s that the Ethernet ports on the router are giving. And I've streamed music via DLNA to three renderers at once from the QNAP without problems. However, none of thebfilms are HD, just standard DVDs.

Mark