Best NAS to stream to ATV4?

[hongkonghk]

Hello

what is the best NAS now days for streaming Video and Audio to an ATV4? Ideally I want to just leave everything in iTunes - which is the current set up via a Mac connected to the network

or is the better option to get a Mac mini with NAS for full flexibility? Trying to eliminate the need for extra box in the house...

thank you

 

[priitv8]

If you plan to leave a Mac running, then why a NAS?
I ran one for many years, now switched to USB (or Thunderbolt)-connected DAS and am much happier. Also performance is absolutely from another ballpark.
Cheap NASes suffer from tiny CPUs.
And I could not list any benefit of NAS over DAS (again, assuming that you intend to keep a Mac running the server OS). So DAS it is. Currently Drobo 5C for me but there are alternatives available.
One simple example. Imagine system startup. With NAS you’d need to wait until network shares mount before you run iTunes. Otherwise it doesn’t find your media. It takes couple of seconds to authenticate and mount them.
I had to do an Automator script to sequence these events.
An USB drive is mounted already when your account logs in and iTunes is autostarted. Much simpler and more reliable.

 

[BODYBUILDERPAUL]

OR... Instead of all of the time and money spent on the NAS, why not plan ahead and buy future film etc from iTunes? By doing this you'll get 4K Dolby Vision or HDR and Dolby Atmos and the flexibility of watching film on your iPhone, iPad, Mac etc AND you'll be able to watch them on any Apple TV anywhere in the world upon your travels?

iTunes simply seems to be getting better and better every year as does the Apple TV. IMO, there will come a time when the Apple TV is as successful as the iPhone!

That's my approach and my word, it works well and is stress free PLUS I have my ripped videos, photos, surfing film, travel vlogs in iTunes on my MacBooks built in SSD which I Apple homeshare to the ATV and also on my iPhone which I Airplay.

 

[hongkonghk]

The plan is to ditch the Mac if I can - and remove a box. I current have Mac + DAS as the set up

If you plan to leave a Mac running, then why a NAS?
I ran one for many years, now switched to USB (or Thunderbolt)-connected DAS and am much happier. Also performance is absolutely from another ballpark.
Cheap NASes suffer from tiny CPUs.
And I could not list any benefit of NAS over DAS (again, assuming that you intend to keep a Mac running the server OS). So DAS it is. Currently Drobo 5C for me but there are alternatives available.
One simple example. Imagine system startup. With NAS you’d need to wait until network shares mount before you run iTunes. Otherwise it doesn’t find your media. It takes couple of seconds to authenticate and mount them.
I had to do an Automator script to sequence these events.
An USB drive is mounted already when your account logs in and iTunes is autostarted. Much simpler and more reliable.

 

[priitv8]

The plan is to ditch the Mac if I can - and remove a box. I current have Mac + DAS as the set up

When I looked at them back then, I decided rather quickly that getting a NAS of similar performance to a Mac Mini QCi7 would be more expensive than my current setup.
Mac Mini is the nicest, smallest and quietest server you can get, that does have a real Intel i7 performance. Equip it with 16GB RAM and forget it there. Just sits and runs.
Also. at the end of the day, the embedded Linux and it's apps were not to my taste, from UX perspective.
Synology's DSM is a far cry from all others, but I still prefer the look and feel of macOS.
At the end of the day, this will be your personal preference, so YMMV.

 

[steve62388]

I built my own and run Plex on Xpenology.

 

[corrado7]

I have a synology and it works very well with my atv. You can also stream your media anywhere in the world. It’s your own personal cloud. I have two 3tb HD’s mirrored so if one fails I can just replace it and it will rebuild itself.

 

[HDFan]

I run Plex on a Western Digital PR4100. Works like a champ. That way I don't have to keep my power hungry iMac and drives running.

https://www.amazon.com/Diskless-Clo...d=1534111579&sr=8-1-fkmr0&keywords=pr4100+nas

 

[jlc1978]

I have a synology and it works very well with my atv. You can also stream your media anywhere in the world. It’s your own personal cloud. I have two 3tb HD’s mirrored so if one fails I can just replace it and it will rebuild itself.

I have a similar setup running infuse using a Plex Server. Infuse does not transcribe video So I get no buffering issues and can stream to my ATV just fine with an old Mac mini.