Home : August 09 2013 Computer News : QNAP TS-469 Pro review: A fast NAS box well suited to both business and pleasure

QNAP TS-469 Pro review: A fast NAS box well suited to both business and pleasure

August 09, 2013

If you’re a NAS aficionado, it will be no revelation that the QNAP TS-469 Pro is both fast and extremely capable. What might surprise you is that you can attach this SMB-class network-attached storage box via its HDMI output to an HDTV or other high-def display to play movies and music, or to browse the Web. Of more interest to IT types is its on-board display, which allows you to administer the box locally without need of a monitor. The direct-connect multimedia capability is actually available in any QNAP NAS box with an HDMI output, and it stems from the company’s implementation of XBMC. A free, open-source, cross-platform equivalent of Windows Media Center, XBMC is a little more complex than Media Center but is also more capable, supporting more codecs, devices, and protocols. Web browsing is courtesy of Google Chrome. Both apps are installed under the umbrella of QNAP’s HD Station launch application. You can also control XBMC and the other HD Station apps from across the room using the $40 QNAP remote control. You can install a YouTube player and QNAP’s My NAS within HD Station, too. The latter is the same interface that shows up in your Web browser when you administrate the box over the network. One of the easier-to-use NAS-box interfaces out there, My NAS is also second to none in features, offering DLNA serving, multimedia Web portals, LDAP, RADIUS, Active Directory support, VPN, email and Web serving, and a lot more. To use any of the HD Station apps, just attach an HDMI-capable TV or display to the TS-469 Pro’s HDMI output, and add a USB keyboard and mouse. XBMC will appear and let you browse for all the content stored on the TS-469 Pro and any other servers it finds on your network. If you’d like to know more about XBMC, download the PC version and bang away at it. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Link: http://www.pcworld.com/article/2046116/qnap-ts-469-pro-review-a-fast-nas-box-well-suited-to-both-business-and-pleasure.html#tk.rss_reviews