Is it worth the effort setting up a NAS? Do you watch all those films you transferred from disk?

xxGBHxx

I should add.

They occasionally offer 8TB USB drives for cheap (typically £130-£150) which provided you're happy to have your PC on when you need it are really good value. You don't get any of the NAS niceties and expansion literally is just buying another USB drive but it's a very cheap way to get large amounts of storage (at least 24TB for your £500).

I love my Microserver FreeNAS combination but with 4*4TB drives you're still looking at well over 500 once you upgrade the RAM even if you get an exceptional money back offer on the Microserver.

G

exponential

I did consider that to be honest but the WAF would be very low with that.
It would have to be a NAS or nothing really as I want her to be able to just jump on Plex on the shield and pick a movie.
I work away all the time so simplicity for the family has to be a priority.

She just wouldn't entertain having to get the laptop out every time she wanted to watch a film, she would just load up Amazon.....

Sloppy Bob

If you're only streaming to one TV then you don't need a NAS. Just hook an external HDD to the Shield and run Kodi on it. You can buy a much larger drive for less money.

It might work as well with Plex, not sure.

exponential

Yes, that's exactly what I'm doing mate. Just 1 TV.

So, I can buy a blu ray reader, copy my films to the external HDD via the laptop then, when finished doing that, plug the USB HDD into the shield and away I go?

It can't be that easy surely.

exponential

In that case....

Can anyone recommend an external blu ray reader that doesn't have that anti-rip technology built in?
Got £100 set aside for the blu ray reader.

Sloppy Bob

It can be.

The small issue is that you might have to disconnect the drive to add or remove content. You may be able to network it via the Shield and not have to though.

exponential

This is definitely something I will look into! I never thought of this at all. I just followed the crowd with the NAS banners held aloft.

I do like the idea of NAS though. Maybe it is something for future.....

I still need guidance on the Blu-ray reader though as I know a lot of them have the anti-rip technology on board. Any suggestions guys?

Sloppy Bob

The main reason for having a NAS to do it, is to stream to multiple TV's or devices. Either that or you have other uses for the NAS.

xxGBHxx

Pretty certain this discussion breaks forum rules as it's illegal so can't be discussed.

G

Sloppy Bob

There's a thread dedicated to disc ripping as well as threads on media streamers to playback ripped discs.

The Blu-Ray ripping guide for Media Streamers