The Synology DS216+ is a great little box, and streams multimedia as well as any NAS box in its class.īut if youa€™re not dead set on the 2160p transcoding, you canA get away far cheaper with other NAS boxesa€”including Synologya€™s less-expensive models, of which there are many.ĭSM 6.0 brings Synologya€™s boxes up to snuff in terms of backup, replication, snapshots, and spreading storage across multiple devices. Though this article is focused on multimedia serving, the DS216+ and DSM 6.0 also provide excellent backup services. Beyond streaming multimedia, just some of the other things you can do with a Synology NAS box are record and browse the output of at least one Webcam, create your own email server, anda€”its newest featurea€”collaborate with other users on spreadsheets. Version 6.x brings the operating system into the 64-bit world, which is of marginal value to most home users, but will allow more onboard memory in the Synologya€™s high-end boxes. No, thata€™s not Linux, ita€™s the DiskStation Manager operating system that works inside of your browser. As I mentioned up front, you can bypass the streaming and transcoding to play files directly if your device supports playing files from network locations.Ī 2160p video played directly, and quite smoothly, from the DS216+ using MPC-HC on a Windows PC. To test transcoding and streaming I loaded the DS216+ with numerous test files, including about a dozen 2160p (UHD 3840x2160 and 4K 4096x2160) videos. The $300A (drives not included) DS216+ is one of Synologya€™s faster consumer NAS boxesa€”the reason the company sent it to us to test the transcoding. NAS boxes are nigh on perfect devices for storing and streaming your multimedia collectionsa€”music, video, and photogorapha€”throughout your home. The ability to transcode 2160p video files in real time is this NAS box's best feature by far. Still, there are cases, such as shared team projects, where you need spacious local storage, creating a more compelling need for the switch to a Synology NAS.In addition to remote file access, this NAS server comes compatible with Synology's Surveillance Station application providing remote access to your IP cameras. Even if you pay a monthly fee for Google Drive, it takes years to match what you'll pay for your own network storage. However, you don't need to pay a monthly fee when you have a NAS of your own, but there's an upfront cost attached, and it's a hefty one. The sweet spot is $10 a month or $100 a year for 2TB of data, which is cheaper than most 2TB HDDs. Plans go as high as $300 a month for 30TB of storage. The payment plans start at $2 a month or $20 yearly for 100GB of storage. Google One is a subscription service that includes Google Drive storage, Google VPN, and other niceties. If you need more storage space, check out Google One. It all boils down to how much value you place on your personal or business data and how important it is to keep your files in your own storage space instead of in someone else's cloud servers. It has plenty of integrated bells and whistles, and the introductory rates are affordable. Google Drive could be your best bet for purposes requiring less than a terabyte of data. This is particularly true if you need the tool for a single purpose, like backing up data. Google Drive is easily accessible and may be a more feasible option for many users when compared with a Synology NAS (Network-Attached Storage).
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