Sunday, February 5, 2012

Hardware: Synology DS1511+ as a Home Media Server

I recently purchased a Synology DiskStation DS1511+ to use a a media/file server in my home:

http://www.synology.com/us/products/DS1511+/index.php

I am overwhelmingly pleased with this device, it is simply amazing. I was able to consolidate my entire library of audio and video onto a single 10 TB array that could then be streamed directly to my TVs using DLNA:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_Living_Network_Alliance

This allowed me to remove all the computers I *was* direct-connected to my Samsung LCD TV's (two computers, each with a different set of media files, and neither having the capacity to consolidate my whole library). All I had to do on the DS1511+ was enable one feature:

http://www.synology.com/us/products/features/DLNA.php

Now my TVs just plug into a power outlet and each utilizes a Samsung-branded USB-based 802.11n adapter to stream the content wirelessly. Once the TVs were connected to my network they immediately recognized my DS1511+ and I was able to use nothing but my TV remote to browse and play my ENTIRE library of audio and video files. Simply amazing and a far easier solution than the previous one for playing my digital media (my mantle-piece is now much cleaner).

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