No, the house is just a couple of years old, and the trend is wireless. Strangely though, there is coax throughout the house, except for the "computer room."
Which NAS do list members prefer?
- Thread starter gene_stl
- Start date
Help Support QuadraphonicQuad:
I believe you would plug the NAS into an Ethernet port on your router. This would allow the PC and Kodi player access your NAS wirelessly. I think...
True dat. I don't think you will run into much difficulty streaming music from the NAS wirelessly.
You can still add new files to the NAS by physically walking a portable drive to the NAS and copying files to it, if you like. But that can be done wirelessly as well.
Hmm. I do have an AV2000 2-port Gigabit Powerline kit that I've never opened. I wonder where would be the most effective place to use it if I wanted to try a "wired" connection.
Apologies if this has been answered elsewhere; I couldn't find any threads on it. I don't use a NAS, but I do play music from my PC. Are there any applications for streaming 5.1 audio over network? I use Plex on my SHIELD TV Pro to stream Dolby True HD in movies, so I figure there has to be a way of streaming all my 5.1 FLACs and WAV files when my PC is in another room...
Plex should do that too. If not try Kodi, Foobar, Jriver. Musicbee. They will all stream 5.1 over a network.
Hmm OK I will try Kodi. I use MusicBee and Foobar on my PC; is there a way to access them, say, on an Android device such as the SHIELD TV? Plex does not seem to play audio in surround, only in stereo.
I hope I'm not crapping on this thread with a rank beginner (or off-topic) question.
I periodically toy with the idea of a bona fide NAS/RAID setup, but because I'm a) a cheapskate and b) uncommitted--I still prefer messing with physical discs, even though I've got 4+TB of digital files, and even though I've already learned the hard way about disc rot--I vacillate and never make the leap.
My latest halfway scheme involves consolidating the contents of several external drives, including my old "network" drive (a 2TB Seagate GoFlex Home) onto a 12TB WD Elements, then converting those old drives into backups and plugging the 12TB into the USB port on my router, like so:
https://dongknows.com/turning-wi-fi-router-usb-port-into-a-nas-server/
Here's my question: will that 12TB drive be constantly spinning (and if so, won't that shorten the life of the drive), or will it power down if it's not being accessed for some specified period of time? The interwebs haven't been much help in getting a definitive answer.
I periodically toy with the idea of a bona fide NAS/RAID setup, but because I'm a) a cheapskate and b) uncommitted--I still prefer messing with physical discs, even though I've got 4+TB of digital files, and even though I've already learned the hard way about disc rot--I vacillate and never make the leap.
My latest halfway scheme involves consolidating the contents of several external drives, including my old "network" drive (a 2TB Seagate GoFlex Home) onto a 12TB WD Elements, then converting those old drives into backups and plugging the 12TB into the USB port on my router, like so:
https://dongknows.com/turning-wi-fi-router-usb-port-into-a-nas-server/
Here's my question: will that 12TB drive be constantly spinning (and if so, won't that shorten the life of the drive), or will it power down if it's not being accessed for some specified period of time? The interwebs haven't been much help in getting a definitive answer.
Last edited:
There's nothing wrong with doing this, just make sure you have a backup copy of everything on that drive. About 10 years ago I did this with a Lacie external drive, and I think I got about 300mb/sec throughput, which is more than enough for any kind of audio/video streaming.
Almost all devices will send a 'spin down' command after a period of a few minutes of inactivity, so the drive isn't spinning all the time - you can check this simply by sitting near the drive for a few minutes and putting your ear up to it, it's pretty obvious (to me anyway) the sonic difference between 'spinning' and 'not spinning'.
Almost all devices will send a 'spin down' command after a period of a few minutes of inactivity, so the drive isn't spinning all the time - you can check this simply by sitting near the drive for a few minutes and putting your ear up to it, it's pretty obvious (to me anyway) the sonic difference between 'spinning' and 'not spinning'.
jimfisheye
2K Club - QQ Super Nova
- Joined
- Jan 8, 2010
- Messages
- 3,589
My experience with WD USB drives is they like their sleep. And regardless of your OS Energy Saver preference settings! That router would have to be constantly pinging it to keep it awake and spinning.
I cant say for sure with Foobar and Musicbee. Kodi can be run off of an Android phone via a software remote. There is also an Android version that can probably be loaded directly on the Shield. I use the Android version running on a Firestick 4K. For you to access music files from any device (except the PC , which has its own drive) it would need to have network access. So your PC needs to be able to act like a server.
What I managed to do in the end was install PlexKodiConnect on Kodi for the SHIELD (not Plex for Kodi; this is an unofficial add-on). After some messing around, I believe I was able to get it to work. I did have to set the speaker number to 5.1 manually in the Kodi audio settings, for some reason you can't do passthrough for LPCM audio. It seems to be OK though. Another benefit being that I already had the PC set up as a Plex server.
Anyways, sorry for hijacking the thread; hopefully someone else finds this useful!
EDIT: This actually doesn't seem to work properly; It plays in surround but something about it just sounds off. Almost like it's downmixing to stereo and then upmixing back to 5.1. However, I found a different app, Emby, which works similar to Plex and played everything back with no issues. So, if anyone is streaming through a NAS or PC to a SHIELD or other Android device, Emby seems to be the best option.
Last edited:
So I have pulled the trigger on some NAS and backup solutions. I bought an 8TB (4+4) two drive Buffalo NAS and an 8 TB Seagate Backup Plus Hub. I also have a 500GB drive that I am going to use as separate storage too.
Of course wanting to put stuff onto them creates a huge number of new questions. For my about 700 CDs I bought a copy of of dbPowerAmp and am initially very happy with it. It does a much better job of composing tables of contents with titles already loaded, as well as finding Album Art, than Exact Audio Copy. Definitely worth the money imo.
The questions I have relate more to DVDs. I have a pretty good number of concert DVDs to rip. For my first attempt (The Concert for George) I downloaded Handbrake and MakeMKV. Handbrake did a nice rip so it seems. But in VLC on my computer all the sound tracks say stereo. I thought I had set the preferences to both Stereo , Dolby 5.1 and DTS 5.1 They all say stereo.
Also I am saving them as MKVs. Should I be using MP4? I don't expect to upload anything to You Tube or anything that requires MP4. But will I run afoul with my Marantz Pre Pro, or my Oppo, or my Samsung Smart TeeWee. ( I will look up the manuals and report back later) Also will HD DCP refuse to show these videos over HDMI. (I probably can send them to the TeeWee via Ethernet)
Would I be better off letting jRiver rip DVDs and Blu Rays? I intend to purchase it in the near future.
TIA
Of course wanting to put stuff onto them creates a huge number of new questions. For my about 700 CDs I bought a copy of of dbPowerAmp and am initially very happy with it. It does a much better job of composing tables of contents with titles already loaded, as well as finding Album Art, than Exact Audio Copy. Definitely worth the money imo.
The questions I have relate more to DVDs. I have a pretty good number of concert DVDs to rip. For my first attempt (The Concert for George) I downloaded Handbrake and MakeMKV. Handbrake did a nice rip so it seems. But in VLC on my computer all the sound tracks say stereo. I thought I had set the preferences to both Stereo , Dolby 5.1 and DTS 5.1 They all say stereo.
Also I am saving them as MKVs. Should I be using MP4? I don't expect to upload anything to You Tube or anything that requires MP4. But will I run afoul with my Marantz Pre Pro, or my Oppo, or my Samsung Smart TeeWee. ( I will look up the manuals and report back later) Also will HD DCP refuse to show these videos over HDMI. (I probably can send them to the TeeWee via Ethernet)
Would I be better off letting jRiver rip DVDs and Blu Rays? I intend to purchase it in the near future.
TIA
MKV is easier to use and edit. What are playing back on?
The setup will be a Marantz AV7005 and an Oppo 205 with a Samsung Smart TV probably. I was trying to open manuals on my computer and have discovered a problem with "finding" pdf files.
Edit: Microsoft Edge made itself the default pdf reader without my permission. I reset it to acrobat and everything is fine.
The files didn't disappear, when you clicked on them you got a "Windows can't find this file" error message.
I despise self installing features.
THe AV7005 will not eat MKV apparently. There is also no mention of it in the Oppo manual.
Edit: Microsoft Edge made itself the default pdf reader without my permission. I reset it to acrobat and everything is fine.
The files didn't disappear, when you clicked on them you got a "Windows can't find this file" error message.
I despise self installing features.
THe AV7005 will not eat MKV apparently. There is also no mention of it in the Oppo manual.
Last edited:
Take a look at Music Media Helper here, it has a few tools that will help you work with MKV files:
https://www.quadraphonicquad.com/fo...seful-tools-for-music-videos-mch-audio.22693/
https://www.quadraphonicquad.com/fo...seful-tools-for-music-videos-mch-audio.22693/
Hmmm.... have ya tried opening Windows Search in File Exloprer & looking for .pdf? Always glad to state the obvious.
You can use the Western Digital Drive Utilities and change the sleep timeout value or even disable it. You can also turn off the LED light. These settings are stored in the USB drive itself.
You can play from your Oppo or a media player
Similar threads
