Buffalo LinkStation Live 500 GB Multimedia Storage Server HS-DH500GL Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I'm just writing this review because I believe this product and the company are dealt with a bit unfair in other reviews.
I just installed this device - I own a older Linkstation which works without any problems for non-stop 3 years now - and I would like to mention a few points. I also talked to Buffalo support before buying it (which yes, has a long waiting time on the phone but very compentent people, I believe, that answer at the end, and got clarification on a few points.
The good:
+ fast, just copying 75 GB in around 90 minutes on a 100 MBit network, and the speed is just fine
+ good looking, this device looks great
+ easy to install
The bad:
not much really
- if you enable the media server it reads/writes constantly, the reason is it indexes the disk for new files all the time - buffalo support is aware of this and will release a new firmware which allows you to index manually with a button on demand, this is a good solution for me
- no more bad, sorry ;-)
I find many of the reviews here a bit strange, lets talk about some examples:
- Scanner does not work (well, ALL these devices dont support Multifunction printers, because they technically can't, this is not Buffalos fault
- I put a new firmware on my device and now it's broken - well, apparently, earlier firmwares where different for the Pro and Live model, if you put the wrong firmware on it can't boot anymore, is this Buffalos fault??
- noisy hmmhh, mine is SUPER quiet - actually quieter than the old modell, how quiet do you expect a harddisk to be??
- web interface slow, that's true and I find it a bit strange, but how often are you changing parameters over the Web gui? It's a bit strange, but only a very minor nuissance.
I get the feeling that many users buying a media server are a bit novice at IT devices. Also because the PRO line gets better reviews.
Anyway, I nearly would not have bought this device because of all the bad reviews. But it would have been a mistake. I love it. It's not expensive and I personally recommend it!
Hope this helps.
Armin

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LinkStation Live 500GB Shared Network Storage

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D-Link DNS-343 4-Bay Network Attached Storage Enclosure Review

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(More customer reviews)This is my third D-Link NAS. I bought a DNS-323 one year ago and it has been on ever since, serving up files reliably to my PC/Mac home network, downloading torrents, and streaming videos to my PS3/XBOX 360 (after installing Twonky Media Server). Based on my mostly positive experience with D-link products and price-to-features ratio, I decided to stick with the brand. I had wasted money on a Galaxy Metal Gear NAS, and read mostly lukewarm reviews for Netgear, Iomega, Linksys, and other makers. Other NAS devices like the DLNA-enabled Buffalo Technology LinkStation Live were attractive, but their price point or storage capacity was not. I need a large number of bays to create a centralized media server.
When I outgrew the DNS-323, I bought a DNS321 2-bay when I really should have applied that $130 toward this 4-bay product instead. I wanted to consolidate the half dozen 1 TB external drives I had sitting around and network them so I didn't have to keep plugging and unplugging USB cables when I wanted to retrieve files. My home network is heterogeneous and I also needed the ability to write large files (4 GB+) to the drives. FAT32 is the only mutually writable format across XP and Mac, but it has a 4 GB filesize limit, making it impractical for my movie storage needs. The D-Link uses a Linux file system (ext2 or ext3, your choice), so filesize concerns are now gone.
I've had this product for a week, and so far so good. The device can be configured from any web browser, so you don't need the CD (which is a Windows-only configuration app). I have 1 TB Hitachi and WD drives inside. Build quality is solid (made of thick aluminum). It's a brick of a device and looks quite durable.
For the price, I am not expecting world class security and many bells and whistles. I just need it for storing my personal files and media on my home network, and stream them, and for that, it works to my satisfaction. The iTunes server works very nicely. For file transfers, I FTP to it and do all my copying that way. For some reason, the Mac is a lot faster (20MB/sec) than copying from XP (10MB/sec). Vista is the worse, and I usually get 5MB/sec.
It would've been really great for D-link to include BitTorrent support for this, like the DNS-323. Maybe in a future firmware update.
All in all, I'm quite happy with this product. I don't place heavy expectations on it and don't demand $1,500 server performance from a $370 device. It was the cheapest 4-bay NAS I could find for the features I wanted and gives great overall performance for the price. You can install telnet on it (look for Fonz's funplug) and open the device up to more hacking if you are so inclined.
Will update this review as I use the device more.

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The D-Link ShareCenter 4-Bay Network Storage Enclosure (DNS-343) connects to your network instead of to a computer so everyone on your network can back up content to one central location. Plus, it lets you share your stored content across your network and over the Internet so family members, friends and employees can access it no matter where they are.

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Synology DiskStation 4-Bay (Diskless) Network Attached Storage DS411J (White) Review

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(More customer reviews)OK, my review might be biased. Coming from the Drobo, which was absolutely terrible, to this Synology unit was the best technological move I've made since I switched to OSX 10.1 all those years ago. Speeds are fantastic, built-in server features are excellent, and aesthetically the unit is very pleasing.
Unboxing/Installation/Initial Setup:
The unit arrived from Amazon in a large cardboard box along with the two SATA drives that I ordered for it (Western Digital 2 TB Caviar Green SATA Intellipower 64 MB Cache Bulk/OEM Desktop Hard Drive WD20EARS). The box for the 411j was very sleek and easy to unpack. No weird seals or wire ties to deal with. The unit itself fits well with the IKEA-assisted look of my office. To install the drives, you remove some handscrews off the back and the top/sides of the unit will come off (in the stock photo, the aluminum piece with the logo on it). The drive trays are plastic and slide out of the back of the unit. You just sit the drives into the unit and use the included screws to mount the drive in place. Then, just push the tray back in and the drive will be connected. No cables to connect was a big plus here. After the drives are all installed, push screw the back on and plug in the power and network cables.
One thing that was unexpected was that the unit has no software installed on it initially. Not a bad concept though..it forces you to load the most current version this way. The software from the CD happened to be the current version (major revision in December I think) but that might not always be the case, you it might be better to just download the latest Synology Assistant and DSM software from the company website before you begin. The Synology assistant recognizes the unit on the network and allows you to install the DSM (operating system) onto the unit. This process is pretty quick, and the unit will automatically restart when it's done.
Disk Allocation and Backups:
The recommended data allocation that the Synology makes is to use all the drives that are available, and in the hybrid RAID format. This will allow for one drive to fail (assuming you have more than one in it) and all the data will still be fine. It also lets the drives to be different models/sizes, which isn't compatible with regular RAID. You don't get the full drive size available to you. You actually lose the space of one of the biggest drives in the unit for redundancy. Plus a small formatting loss. The wizard makes the partitioning very simple; you can have multiple volumes if you want. I just went with one and have multiple folders. You can also have USB drives plugged in (and printers too I think, but my AIO HP is already networked) that are treated as an additional volume. One nice feature here is that the device will backup to the external drive on a defined schedule. So actually, the Synology can fail and the data would still be safe on the backup drive.
Shared Folders:
The device is capable of creating multiple shared folders. You can create a very complex multi-user system with individual shared folders if you want to. Or you can go the simple route like I did and just have a couple including the app-generated music and video folders. I also have a Time Machine folder that has the sparsebundle images that I use to backup my two Macs. Only one user with full access rights, and read-only access to everything for guests. In my home setup, this is plenty because the computers are the only devices that write data, and my jailbroken AppleTv2 is the only device that reads from it (for XBMC). As far as allowing guests read-only access to everything, my WiFi is WPA2-encrypted, so only those select few people have access. And those that do I couldn't care less about what data of mine they see.
Applications:
I haven't explored the apps very much aside from the media server. It will create a DLNA environment that allows the PS3 and also some TVs (I think) to play movies directly from the drive. For those of you that use PS3MediaServer for this purpose, it's not foolproof. PS3MediaServer trans codes on the fly those file formats that the PS3 can't naively play. The Synology, however, plays the files directly. This is a hardware restriction. Putting a CPU and enough memory into the unit to handle video transcoding would raise the price to about $1K. You can still use PS3MediaServer and map the videos folder as a file location, but be aware that if you do this wireless there will be bumps. If the computer is plugged directly into the router that the NAS is plugged into, it should be fine.
Misc:
The unit is surprisingly quiet. My old Drobo was too loud to keep on my desk (and ended up on a table in the corner). It's also very fast compared to the Drobo. On this unit, I average ~30Mbps write and up to ~45Mbps read. I use Aperture and have my entire library stored on the unit. It handles this fine and suffers no lag issues. One computer is directly connected to the router where the NAS is. The unit has gigabit ethernet on it, so that's great. Speed from laptops will obviously be slower. Even wireless N speed can only sustain about 15MB from what I've noticed, but that has nothing to do with the unit. On the Drobo, the fan at the back was behind a plate that couldn't be removed. I like to be able to open the unit and clean it if I have to. My home is near an airport, so it can sometimes be quite dusty during the warm months of the year. Overall, I couldn't be more happy with this purchase. The performance improvements over my Drobo were enormous. It's UI is great and has many features that I hope to someday experiment and explore.
Edit: Tuesday, March 15, 2011 - When I purchased the unit, I put the two mentioned drives above into the unit, but I also put two 1TB Green drives from my old Drobo into it. One of those two drives failed last week. The unit sent me an email notification and set off on its warning beeps that the volume was degraded. I immediately Teamviewered into my desktop from my iPhone, and logged into the Synology UI. I was able to discover the serial number of the disabled hard drive and request an RMA from WD. Credit card was authorized for the replacement price, received the new one via UPS 2-Day Air, and returned the old one via UPS ground. For anyone that hasn't done this, you get charged the price of the replacement unit, you buy a discounted UPS shipping label ($6), and send the old one back in the replacement's box. When they receive it, you get refunded the replacement price.
The NAS allowed me to "repair" the volume with the new drive, and a few hours later the unit was back to operating at 100%. Flawless :-D

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Synology DiskStation DS411j is designed to provide a cost-effective file storage and backup solution with RAID protection for multi-user home environments. The operating system, Synology DiskStation Manager, delivers rich features for multimedia enjoyments, worry-free backup, Internet sharing, and energy-saving options.

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Seagate Maxtor Central Axis 1 TB Network Storage Server STM310005CAA00G-RK Review

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(More customer reviews)I've just purchased this device to backup my Macbook because of a hard drive crash.
I specifically bought the device because it would work with a Mac and I've met all of their minimum requirements.
So I hook up the thing, and their software doesn't find the drive as it's supposed to. I think, oh that'll be okay, I'll just configure the IP in the device and it'll be good from here on out.
Nope, It *must* run through the detect phase of the program every time. After a lot of trial and error, I got the thing to detect, but not reliably. This means backups don't happen as scheduled. Pretty much making the product worthless to me.
I spoke with their tech. support, when I told them I was using with a mac they actually said "you're killing me"
I recommend against this product if you have a mac.

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Digital videos of your children taking their first steps. The music library you\'ve built. The 15 years of personal financial data you\'ve compiled. They\'re highly valuable—if not irreplaceable—but when stored on your home computers they\'re also vulnerable to system failures and viruses, loss and theft.
Automatic data backup, secure web access and sharing, and convenient media access and streaming for your home network Central Axis storage server delivers a smart, simple way to automatically back up the valuable digital content on all the computers in your home network. Backups happen automatically—a welcome change from the tedious chore of copying your content to discs and thumb drives.
You can securely access and share your content via any web browser, too, so it\'s a snap to grab a file from any computer in your home or on the road, and you can easily share content with friends and family everywhere. And for a rich home entertainment experience, you can create a centralized library of household photos, videos, and music that offers anytime access and streaming to your networked TVs, digital music players, and computers.
With automated data protection, you can automatically back up all your network-connected computers to one central, safe location. The Maxtor Central Axis can securely access your stored content and can view images and slideshows from any Internet-connected PC, Mac, or laptop while keeping your firewall intact. Easy file sharing allows you to invite friends and family to view and download select photos and other files via the web. You can even authorize guests to upload their own content. The convenient media access and streaming will let you enjoy the convenience of a centralized, always-accessible library of your household\'s digital music, videos, and photos, and stream media from your Central Axis to any networked computer or home entertainment device. (Requires a UPnP AV-compatible player.)
Printer sharing allows you to print from anywhere on your network. Most importantly, Maxtor Central Axis Network Storage Server is easy to use. Plug your Central Axis into your router and it automatically configures to your network. The server quickly loads and organizes your content by file type, provides at-a-glance storage and backup status, and notifies you via email of system events.
The stylish design of this hard drive--only measures 6.8 x 2.5 x 5.9-inches (H x D x W). All that is required is a wired or wireless router with an available 10/100/1000 Ethernet port, an Internet connection (for system updates and web access), and a UPnP AV 1.0 certified Digital Media Adapter if media streaming is desired.
System Requirements - Windows - Pentium III, 500Mhz equivalent processor or higher, Windows Vista or Windows XP, 128MB RAM, and Internet Explorer 6.0 or later, or Firefox 2.X or later for management interface of or web access to Central Access - Macs - Mac OS X 10.4.11 or later, Safari 3.1 or later, and 128 MB of RAM.
Product Highlights What's in the BoxMaxtor Central Axis storage server, Maxtor installation CD, quick start guide, Maxtor manager software, Ethernet cable, AC power adapter, user guide on CD, and a 5-year limited warranty.

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Netgear EVA700 Digital Entertainer Review

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(More customer reviews)Before I bought this unit, I tried the D-Link DSM-520 for about a month before giving up. This unit is identical to the DSM in function with one BIG difference-- it is stable! My advise to those not wanting to tinker- skip this technology for a year or so, others read on...
Install
~~~~
I hooked it up to a wireless router and PC with a few external hard drives and it works (almost) flawlessly. First of all, like others said, do NOT install the software that it comes with and also forget Intel Viv technology installs. Just install one of the free (or almost free) software like TVersity (my fav.), Wizd or Twonkyvision. However, except for Wizd, you can't search for a particular album/artist/genre. You have to scroll through menu after menu to find a movie/song/photo.
Media
~~~~~
I am currently streaming a few hundred CDs in FLAC (lossless format) which is noticeably better than the very best MP3 format. For DVDs, I simply have the server software pointed to the Folders that have the DVD (VOB) files. The player does a very good job of picking up subtitles automatically too. I have NOT installed the photo folder as I find the usage completely useless for my needs. I shoot 6MP raw format images. I can't see myself browsing through tens of thousands of images and then waiting for 1 minute for an image to load up!
Conclusion
~~~~~~~~~
All in all, a good system for those that are not intimidated by network setups and server programs but want an uncluttered music system and (almost) instant access to movies, music and photos.


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The NETGEAR EVA700 Digital Entertainer connects your TV and home entertainment system to your computer network, letting you enjoy the movies, videos, radio, and photos that reside on your your PC on a larger screen and better speakers.
Easy Setup and Strong Security The EVA700 plugs into your home theater system with a variety of outputs including RCA, S-Video, Digital Coaxial/SPDIF audio, and HD component video. The Digital Entertainer has both 802.11g wireless for up to 54 Mbps speeds, and a wired 10/100 Mbps RJ-45 jack in order to connect the device to your home network. Support for Intel Hub Connect Technology makes the connection easy to set up.
In addition to the hard drive of your PC, the EVA700 also works seamlessly with the NETGEAR SC101 storage device. There is also a USB port on the front of the device, letting you play files saved on an iPod, USB thumb drive, USB disk, or digital camera.
The Digital Entertainer boasts hardware-based WEP 40/64-bit and 128-bit encryption, as well as WPA-PSK and WPA2-PSK encryption for enhanced security.
Support for Many File Formats The Digital Entertainer can handle a large variety of file formats. Compatible audio formats include MP3 (up to 320 Kbps or VBR), WAV, WMA (up to 192 Kbps or VBR), M3U, and AAC. Compatible video formats include: MPEG1, MPEG2, MPEG4, AVI, WMV (up to 1080p down-converted), and Xvid. Compatible photo formats include: JPEG, BMP, PNG, TIFF, and GIF.
An included remote control lets you control all the media files on your home network--as well as from popular internet sites--from the comfort of your couch. The NETGEAR EVA700 Digital Entertainer is backed by a 1-year warranty.
What's in the Box EVA700 Digital Entertainer, infrared remote control (2 AA batteries included), power cable, Ethernet cable, RCA stereo-audio/composite-video cable, installation guide, resource CD, and warranty/support information card.

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Seagate FreeAgent GoFlex Home 1TB STAM1000100 Review

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(More customer reviews)I give this item a 3.5 stars. It looses some stars because it really is not "simple set up" as it states. It takes some time to get it up and your files to back up the first initial time. I was extremely excited to try this product with my home network since we have two Windows PCs (1 XP & 1 Windows 7), and one Mac computer.For each desktop computer, I have installed wired external backup drives. The idea of having ONE back up drive to backup all my files, photos and iTunes music seemed to be like a dream come true. Features a 1TB storage, which is equivalent to 1024GB.
Lets start with the installation. I am using the Windows 7 PC for initial setup. First and most important, you need a Home Network, a wireless router and of course an internet connection. Enclosed in the box is a very basic "Quick Start" guide, I recommend going to the manufacturer's website and downloading the 82 page manual which gives more information. I plugged in power and Ethernet cable to my wireless router. I powered up the drive and inserted the installation CD. I named and registered my drive and added additional user accounts , one for each computer. After that was complete I had to install the software on my other Windows PC and Mac. After I installed the CD on the other PCs, a screen pops up asking to insert the username and password. It's that simple. On my Mac the installation was a little different, but I was able to easily follow the instructions and get it connected using Time Machine with no hassles. One bit of advice for Mac users, if you plan on using Time Machine to back up your files instead of using the optional Memeo Instant Backup, you need to go to Seagate Share Preferences before installing the program on the Mac. Once you are in the preferences page, enable ComputersBackup. Create a password, this password will be used to configure the program when it is installed on your Mac. This information can only be found in the downloaded Users Manual online. Luckily I read the entire manual before attempting to install the Seagate GoFlex. It did take a long, long time to backup all files and folders from all three computers, but I had no bugs or issues. Depending on how many files and folders you are having backed up, it may take all day and night. The program will just run in the background and you do not have to do anything.
The drive will automatically created three folders for each PC account, a public, personal and backup folders. The Seagate Dashboard is the centralized location for all the computer files. This only works with Windows, this is the reason I used my Windows 7 PC as the main system. On the Mac it is Seagate Share and you must use the internet to access the files. You do have the option to use the internet storage base for Windows as well if you like.
There are a few options on how you want to backup your files, I went with the automatic backup. I clicked on instant backups on my menu and the computer shows you the amount of storage that will be included in the backup. If you only what to choose certain files, you can use the advanced settings and drag which files to backup. After clicking "Start Backup", my files started backing up. Whenever I add a new file to the folder or make and changes, the Seagate GoFlex will automatically back up the new file.
Every computer in my home already has a wireless printer, so I really have no use to for the share printer option. But if you do want to use a printer wireless throughout your home network, you must attach the printer via the printer's USB cable to the Seagate GoFlex Drive.
There are many other features and options that can be used, but my primary reason for using this device is to backup the iTunes and photo files on all the computers. When you have thousands of songs and spent several hundreds of dollars on iTunes purchases for every iTunes account on each system, you want to make sure you can access your file in case something terrible happens like the internal hard drive dies. Trust me, I have had this happen to me. I always burn my photos to a CD for added protection, but this way we can share our photos from any computer.
Overall, once you get the unit installed and your files and folders backed up it is extremely easy to use. I guess time will tell if the unit is reliable for retrieving backup files if your system crashes or dies. Hopefully I will not have to find that out! :-)
UPDATE: Sometimes I am not able to gain access to my account online. This is because I use Firefox with a 64-bit operating system and currently "Flash" is not not supported for this OS. I keep getting the "Flash Crash Error Report". However, I can sign in with no troubles using Internet Explorer. So if you have troubles signing into the account online, try a different browser.
If you notice that the drives are not showing under devices in your computer, best thing to do is to unplug it for 15 seconds and then plug it back in to reboot.

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The GoFlex Home network storage system connects to your WiFi router, allowing you to wirelessly store and access files and back up multiple computers in the home. The GoFlex Home network storage system includes software to automatically and continuously back up all the files and folders on up to 3 PC and Mac computers in the home. By storing files in a central location on your network, you can use one drive for all your storage and backup needs. When connected to your home WiFi router, the GoFlex Home network storage system enables you to wirelessly store and access files from any PC or Mac computer in the home. The GoFlex Home network storage system also allows you to stream media to game consoles and the GoFlex TV HD media player. Store all your photos, movies and music on the GoFlex Home network storage system and enjoy your media and favorite memories from any room in the house. Additionally, you can share a USB printer with every computer in the home by simply connecting to the USB port on the GoFlex Home network storage system or you can plug in a USB drive to the port to increase storage capacity. The built-in drive can also be upgraded by simply removing the drive from the base and replacing with a higher capacity GoFlex Desk drive. With a simple guided setup process and just two cable connections, the GoFlex Home network storage system installs in just minutes, allowing you to quickly begin protecting your files, enjoying your media and accessing your content wherever you are. Additional licenses available for purchase

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Synology DiskStation 2-Bay (Diskless) Network Attached Storage DS211J (White) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)This thing is fast/scalable/reliable/configurable/expandable/bulletproof and worth ten times what it costs. For the money you get a full function NAS with two drive bays, Linux OS with plenty of really top shelf apps, support for raid arrays and JBOD, thru-the-internet accessability, dlna media server, audio and video apps, excellent disk management apps, solid group/user creation and mgmt, a web server app, ddns with 'no-ip' support and a host of other very useful file/data sharing utilities. Call Synology tech spt and you won't get a tier-1 zombie - rather you get a very knowledgeable competent tech who knows the product inside and out - very impressed! I've used most of the network apps and so far they work perfectly.
Cons: This is not a con but be advised: if you're populating the NAS with large drives (I populated my NAS with two, 2TB drives for a max capacity of 4TB), initial drive preperation will take 8-10 hours to complete - for each drive! I called Synology tech spt to find out if there might be a problem and they explained that the NAS drive prep utility goes thru an excruciatingly detailed surface scan at the outset thereby eliminating issues with bad sectors and other related problems once the drive is placed into operation. THere is a less time consuming drive prep offering but they recommended the full scan - and so do I. Find something else to do while the scan is running. Also; I bought my NAS to use primarily as a DLNA media streamer. It does that flawlessly - this thing is bulletproof, I have purposely tried to add and delete shares/folders/users/etc etc to try and confuse this box. It continues to operate flawlessly - I'm amazed and impressed! The Synology folks surely did their homework.
Other Thoughts: There is one anomaly I found with the DLNA function that I find rather annoying; Once the DLNA server is activated in the command interface, it creates three separate media folders (Audio and Video and Photo) and places them at the root level of Volume 1 (ie disk 1). The DLNA server will only look into these folders to find media to serve up. So, unless you Raid-0 your two drives and create one large volume, you will be stuck storing all your media files on only one drive - OR WILL YOU. There are several workarounds for this, and they work (although a little cumbersome). Once the three media folders have been placed on your vol 1, you can manually move one or more of them to vol2 and the op sys will work just as effectively with the folder on vol 2. You can also use a 'root' login to access the linux opsys and mount pointers to other shares you've created on vol2. Both techniques are explained on the Synology website. Maybe an update to DLNA file structure and searching is due Synology(hint hint).
Network streaming speed is more than ample. I have the NAS attached to a gig switch which is then attached (gig enet uplink) to a Linksys 3000 gateway. As a network bandwidth and NAS performance test I have run the following: one HD video stream to Samsung dlna enabled TV -and- one HD video stream to second TV using HP DLNA-enabled client -and- one audio stream to my Iphone (Wireless) -and- a second audio stream to my dlna-enabled V-Tech radio (also Wireless), all streams were running concurrently without any hesitation, skipping, pauses or any other anomalies. THis, plus all the other very useful functions make this box a real keeper!

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Synology DiskStation DS211j is designed to provide a cost-effective file storage and backup solution with RAID protection for your home environments. The operating system, Synology DiskStation Manager, delivers rich features for multimedia enjoyments, worry-free backup, Internet sharing, and energy-saving options.

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LG BD570 Network Blu-ray Disc Player Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Having reviewed previous LG Blu-ray players, including the vaunted BD390, our expectations for the BD570 were pretty high and happily, LG does not disappoint. While some of LG's competitors (notably Pioneer and Sharp), think audio/video performance is the only thing that matters, LG embraces the idea that convenience and choice of media and distribution format are also important to many consumers. So the BD570 includes one of the richest media playback offerings of any Blu-ray player, including internet streaming from Netflix, CinemaNow, VUDU and Pandora. The player also supports DLNA networking so it can access audio and video files on a home network as well. For those who have a library of videos on their computers, the BD570 supports Divx, Xvid and MKV files as well as a number of other formats and codecs.
As far as load times are concerned, the BD570's are decent but not winning any speed records. It offers a 17 second overall bootup time (while it loads all of the aforementioned content options in the menu) - this makes it 3 seconds faster than the Pioneer BDP-320 which offers no multimedia options. Standard DVDs load in about 12 seconds, Blu-rays in 23 seconds, and BD-JAVA-heavy Blu-ray Discs like "Pirates of the Caribbean" in 32 seconds. This is pretty close to parity with the fastest models of 2009 (including OPPO's BDP-83) but it seems like they could have improved things a bit with this whole new generation of players.
In terms of performance, the BD570 delivers Blu-ray Discs in excellent audio and video clarity (as it should), and performs most of the difficult tasks of DVD upconversion right as well - excellent diagonal filtering and 3:2 cadence detection, for example. But it does not handle noisy source material very well (its noise reduction processing could use some work). Overall, as a DVD upconverter, it's very good but not outstanding.
What is outstanding is the built-in 802.11b/g/n WiFi wireless networking. For us this worked right our of the box connecting to our wireless router, and streaming VUDU's 1080p HDX movies like nobody's business. And although the remote looks almost upside down compared to many other BD player remotes, the button layout is actually quite comfortable with the most popular buttons in easy reach of your thumb, and transport buttons (play/pause/FF/REW) raised and angled for improved ergonomics.
Overall, with its built-in WiFi, DLNA networking, multimedia playback and internet streaming offerings, combined with solid Blu-ray playback, the BD570 offers a good blend of performance and convenience for a fairly affordable price. Our complete review of the BD570 is available on Big Picture Big Sound (dot com).

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BD-P, Netflix, YouTube, CinemaNow, BD Live, Advanced Audio, Quick Booting, 1GB Memory, Wireless 802.11n, DLNA, 7.1ch Analog Output, Instant Tray Open, 1080p up-scaling for DVD, USB Media Host

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High Performance 3G/4G Wireless N Router and DLNA Media Server with Bit Torrent download -IEEE 802.11n up to 300Mbps Video file and data center Review

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(More customer reviews)Bit torrent is great for sharing stuff. But it consumes too much electricity if your powerful desktop machine just runs the whole day for downloading stuff. So I am looking for something more energy efficient.
I was attracted to the ezdownloader from another maker. But it price tag was a little high and I guess there must be a competitor out there with a better price/feature ratio. So I researched the US Market and then the TW and HK market. There are definitely similar products with much cheaper price. Finally I came to this one - the Sapido 3G N+ Wireless Audio/Video Router.
What this is:
- A wireless router - that serve as any other router out there, you may just hook it up to a DSL/cable modem to get wifi at your home/office.
- A NAT server - you may attach a USB drive to it and access the drive as as SAMBA network drive. The drive can be format to NTFS. I believe the limit is 1.5TB. I am using only a 250GB so it is good enough for me.
- Webcam server - I haven't tested this feature yet. As the spec indicates, you should be able to plug in a webcam and access it from a webpage. It sounds fun, isn't it?
- Finally, the most important factor - A BT downloader. You access this router via a webpage interface, upload the .torrent file, and it will download the contents for you! It allows a list of 20 torrents, with 2 active download running. Unlike the ezdownloader, where you must use the vendor's website to control the download, this router will be access from the LAN only. Depends on how your LAN gateway is set up, you can assign this router as your Web server at your current IP. If you do that, then you may access the router from outside (anywhere over the world).
The set up was not straight forward for non-geeky users. But just be patient and you should be done in 30 minutes. There is no manual provided - only a big folded piece of the instruction paper with diagrams. Since my broadband gateway is already wireless, I use this a wireless Access Point. Yes, you can use this a wireless "client" to your existing wireless network. Then itself can be used as a wired + wireless access point. There are four ethernet ports available to use. I hook my PS3 and XBOX to it and it works great!
The samba network drive can be detected by the PS3 automatically. I am able to watch the movies directly from the PS3 without doing anything extra.
The Pros:
- A lot of feature to play with.
- Wireless AP (the 3G network feature is not tested, but could be a big plus to someone)
- Support BT
- Support Samba
- Upgradable firmware
- Web access from outsideThe Cons:
- BT page not compatible completely with all web-browsers. It likes Firefox and IE more.
- Can't handle Asian character sets - all characters of the downloading file name will be converted to hex byte representation of the character. It makes reading back of the file name difficult sometimes. Not a problem if the file was created before hand and copied to the USB drive.
- The saved path sometimes can not be handled by Windows explorer, if you plug the USB drive to your PC. However, you may use a ftp client to ftp to the router and access the drive to rename the files before moving back to Windows.
=> It definitely can do some improvement on the file system.
Conclusion: overall this product is great product of integrated features. However, I did spend some effort finding it. I think the sales department from Sapido should promote it a little better so a bigger consumer crowd can see its availability.



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Digital Home - Network?Data?AV CenterWireless connection for internet surfing, skype, music and games are accessible at every place in your house no mater what type of broadband you use. It can be mobile broadband, hotspot, DSL, cable or others. Superb download booster with 20,000 high sessions. Newest QoS bandwidth priority enhances great smoothness and no lag for games and multimedia streaming.Download files without time and space limit. Just direct all download files to your network hard disk drive. It will continue downloading whenever you are at work, out for fun or at sleep. Files and data are accessible anytime and anywhere, no trouble to deliver large file via email or disk.Download movies and music in your room, connect wirelessly to a media player, you can then enjoy the movies and music with family on TV or LCD monitor in the living room. Multimedia Audio ad Video entertainment is accessible everywhere - living room, study room or remote sites.For 3.5G modem compatibility list please check sapido link.http://sapido.us/data/service/gr1222_35g.htm

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Netgear Wireless Router for Video and Gaming WNDR37AV Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Introduction
This is my third router in 5 years. I upgrade when the technology takes a jump or when I start to see a lot of network outages or both. This time I replaced a router that was 802.11n but it was not dual band (netgear 3500 series). I used the 3500 about 2.5 years and I was starting to see more and more network outages. Maybe because the router was getting old or maybe because I'm starting to add more devices to my network and it simply could not handle the traffic. Currently I have the following equipment on my wireless network: (1)Desktop, 2(laptops),(1)iPhone4, (2)iTouch, (2)Sony PS3, (1)Kodak Digital Picture, (2)Flat Panel TV's streaming video. I also support a number of devices wired directly to my router including: (1)Desktop, (1)Network Printer, (1)AT&T 3G Microcell, (1)Synology NAS, (1)Sonos Bridge, (1) Vonage Device. So, I have many devices trying to communicate through my router.
Router Review
Installation was a snap. Out of the box, follow the quick install guide. Power off modem, connect router to modem, connect computer to router, power on modem (2 minutes), power on router (2 minutes), power on computer (2 minutes). Type in [...] to access router. Default configuration will get you online. Have the router check for firmware updates with the netgear website. If there are any upgrades available, download and install. I always change the router password from default. Setup wireless network both 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands. I named them both the same and added a 5G to the 5GHz band :). Setup security preferences (WPA2-PSK [AES] for me) , type in passphrase (network password). Done.
I use my Synology NAS as an ftp server that can be accessed from outside my home network so I had to setup some port forwarding. This is outside the scope of most setups. Suffice to say that this operation went smoothly with no problems.
I had a secure network up and running with no problems in a matter of minutes. I added both TV's to the 5GHz band using WPS (Wi-Fi Protected Setup) and I added the other wireless devices to the 2.4GHz band using the passphrase.
The network has been up and running for a week now with no outages. I have really taxed the network too by streaming HD movies, moving large files from my computer to my NAS, while uploading large files to a remote backup site. No matter what I throw at this router, it doesn't miss a beat.
Pros
Easy setup
Easy to add devices to network (WEP and passphrase)
Strong signal throughout the house (much better than 3500)
Cool looking design, low profile and lights
Reliable (so far after a week of heavy use)
Reasonable price
Cons
Could have included a Gensu knife or Salad Shooter with router.
Based on the ease of setup, performance, and reliability under heavy traffic, I highly recommend this router.

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Why Netgear's Wireless Router for Video and Gaming? Dual Band Wireless - Twice the bandwidth for better connection and less interference Gigabit - High speed wired connection. Ideal for transferring large HD Video files DLNA Media Server - Stream video and music from a USB drive to media players and DLNA TVs-no PC required! Video mode - optimized to stream HD without glitches, stutters, or lags Dedicated video network - Stream video on one network, while surfing the Internet on the other networkWireless Connectivity - Wirelessly connect notebooks and wireless printers as well as networked home theater devices

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