Just browsing Black Friday deals and came across this. Cheapest I can find. Hopefully of use to someone. Can be your central multimedia hub. Has a HDMI port and can run KODI.
Asustor AS-304T 4 Bay Desktop Network Attached Storage, Exceptionally cost-effective private cloud storage, Powerful built-in HD multimedia player, Flawless integration of AirPlay streaming, Support for a variety of mobile applications, Designed to reliably protect your data, Energy efficient with quiet operation
All comments (19)
Zephyz
25 Nov 16#1
How does it compare to the HP Proliant and Dell T20?
CaptainSocks to Zephyz
5 Dec 16#7
It's a NAS.
Those are servers.
The servers will have more grunt. But you'll pay for that on your annual energy bill (probably around £40 more if you leave it on 24/7. Even powered down, the servers will still use A LOT more power than a NAS in the same state).
Dizy
25 Nov 16#2
That look good value but I am unsure how it compares would like this myself as a little present but how is plex and transcoding?
hmm dont think an atom would be very good at transcoding multiple streams
lovelybeer to Dizy
5 Dec 16#8
I considered this, but found it was cheaper/easier to ensure that the devices being streamed to, were able to direct play via Plex. Samsung TVs are brilliant with the Plex app (on the Smart platform), even LGs app isn't terrible (not proper Plex, but works just fine). Philips TV in the lounge, wouldn't play ball with my Plex server (Seagate personal cloud - super, super simple), but Kodi - referencing the network locations that the Plex server has - works perfectly well.
There isn't much that you can rip yourself that should "need" transcoding in a lot of instances, but older TVs or even some newer ones, won't like DTS audio, so I understand why it might be a pain...multiple audio streams should help here when ripping.
FlyGuyUK
25 Nov 16#5
Anybody else an expert on these and can advise? I want one for multiple purposes and don't know where to start.
Much appreciated.
pants
26 Nov 16#6
OOS
CampGareth
5 Dec 16#9
A dual core atom isn't going to get you very far. For media transcoding the HP microserver is a better bet and for hardcore transcoding (say h.265 or 10+ streams of h264) the dell T20's an even better bet so long as it's got the quad core xeon.
CampGareth
5 Dec 16#10
Urm, this could be used as a server by the looks of it. Umbrella terms are biting us here. The point is this is intended to be a NAS (i.e. so long as it can sustain 110MB/s that's all it needs to do) and because that's all it's meant to do they've skimped on the CPU so it draws less power. The other boxes mentioned though are multi-purpose so have more CPU power.
aj_GB
5 Dec 16#11
THIS ISN'T A DEAL - LOOK IN THE TOP LEFT - "REMOVED" - Admin, please expire.
MalAdjustedMal
5 Dec 16#12
Now only £126.97.
crazymonkey
5 Dec 16#13
Diskless NAS :confused: - How on earth does it store data?
(and the numpty award goes to......)
CaptainSocks
5 Dec 161#14
Yeah, pretty much.
As you say, it's a bit useless for transcoding.
But not everyone needs that of course.
I wouldn't say they've "skimped" on the CPU. It's less powerful precisely because the purpose of a NAS is to be as energy efficient as possible.
If the buyer needs transcoding, I'd recommend getting a more powerful NAS that can handle this rather than using a machine primarily intended for use as a server.
The server will do the job, and will be cheaper initially, but you'll soon end up paying as much in extra power consumption
costs as you would have done just buying a purpose built NAS to start with.
Horses for courses. Usually best to stick to using a machine as it was intended I find.
Magnets
5 Dec 161#15
My T20 (g3220) with 2x2.5" drives uses 23w idle and 43-45w writing data with 100% CPU usage. 1-2w off/WoL
Yeah, this isn't great in terms of power efficiency.
Showing its age I guess.
For a server, the T20 is impressive power consumption wise.
Still prefer a newer NAS mind.
My QNAP 251+ is under 20W running, half that idle, and well under 1W if I let the drives spin down.
Cost me £300 with 8TB of storage.
At full load, 24/7 it costs £25 a year.
The T20 would cost around £60 yearly by comparison.
I guess I factor in a 5 year lifespan for a NAS, so that much more energy use would = an extra £200 over its lifespan.
But obviously neither one of us is probably working it at full load constantly...
I've had both btw.
Loved my server. Just found a cheap NAS deal eventually.
Magnets
5 Dec 161#17
Considering those are £250 for the bare enclosure right now, I'd say you had a good deal!
CaptainSocks
5 Dec 16#18
Aye, storming.
Amazon actually F-up on NAS pricing a lot.
Deals that get put on here invariably get cancelled as too many orders alert them.
Happy to PM you the next time I spot a misprice.
polly69
5 Dec 16#19
Gutted i have a N54L that i retired 18 months back for the Dell but i have the one with a Xenon Cpu in it and i love it with windows 10 on its a versatile server but been looking at these Asustor Nas Drives for a long time as the addons available would be what i use on windows, so i would of bought one of these at this great price.
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Opening post
Asustor AS-304T 4 Bay Desktop Network Attached Storage, Exceptionally cost-effective private cloud storage, Powerful built-in HD multimedia player, Flawless integration of AirPlay streaming, Support for a variety of mobile applications, Designed to reliably protect your data, Energy efficient with quiet operation
All comments (19)
Those are servers.
The servers will have more grunt. But you'll pay for that on your annual energy bill (probably around £40 more if you leave it on 24/7. Even powered down, the servers will still use A LOT more power than a NAS in the same state).
1.6 dual core atom cpu
There isn't much that you can rip yourself that should "need" transcoding in a lot of instances, but older TVs or even some newer ones, won't like DTS audio, so I understand why it might be a pain...multiple audio streams should help here when ripping.
Much appreciated.
(and the numpty award goes to......)
As you say, it's a bit useless for transcoding.
But not everyone needs that of course.
I wouldn't say they've "skimped" on the CPU. It's less powerful precisely because the purpose of a NAS is to be as energy efficient as possible.
If the buyer needs transcoding, I'd recommend getting a more powerful NAS that can handle this rather than using a machine primarily intended for use as a server.
The server will do the job, and will be cheaper initially, but you'll soon end up paying as much in extra power consumption
costs as you would have done just buying a purpose built NAS to start with.
Horses for courses. Usually best to stick to using a machine as it was intended I find.
This thing is not far off
http://www.anandtech.com/show/7887/asustor-as304t-4bay-intel-evansport-nas-review/6
https://www.asustor.com/product?p_id=17#specifications
Showing its age I guess.
For a server, the T20 is impressive power consumption wise.
Still prefer a newer NAS mind.
My QNAP 251+ is under 20W running, half that idle, and well under 1W if I let the drives spin down.
Cost me £300 with 8TB of storage.
At full load, 24/7 it costs £25 a year.
The T20 would cost around £60 yearly by comparison.
I guess I factor in a 5 year lifespan for a NAS, so that much more energy use would = an extra £200 over its lifespan.
But obviously neither one of us is probably working it at full load constantly...
I've had both btw.
Loved my server. Just found a cheap NAS deal eventually.
Amazon actually F-up on NAS pricing a lot.
Deals that get put on here invariably get cancelled as too many orders alert them.
Happy to PM you the next time I spot a misprice.