Networking

[Paul4444]

Hi

I'm new to the forum and in need of some help. I have a reasonable knowledge of computers in general but have very little understanding of networking. We have 2 laptops and an air in addition to 2 iPads and iPhones. Currently we watch tv shows or movies by plugging a hard drive into the ps3 or Xbox.

So after all that here is what I would like your advice on please. I would like to set up a network where we can save from all the devices and also stream media from a central location. I have been doing some reading and think a NAS might be the best way to go. I was thinking the synology 212j, do you think that would meet my needs? Also any other advice or information you think I might need would be greatly appreciated for example I'm not sure I understand the benefit of gigabyte Ethernet and cat5 cables.

Thanks in advance

Paul

 

[robgendreau]

The benefit of gigabit ethernet cabling is that it is faster than wifi. But it can be a pain to wire up depending on your house. Cat5 is pretty standard cable.

While you certainly could store media in a NAS box, that doesn't necessarily serve it to your devices in the way that you would like. Media files could certainly be accessed, but they wouldn't stream. For that you'd need some kind of media server. It could be a desktop Mac, which could access the files stored on the NAS and then stream them to the other devices. Something like Plex.

Or there are network boxes that serve as media servers.

 

[Paul4444]

Thanks. Would I be able to use the Xbox to stream from the nas?