upnp and NAS drives

Posted by: Party Pete on 12 July 2012

Hi everyone,

 

I have a Unitiqute into which I stream WAV files which were ripped using dbpower power amp. Currently I stream this via a standard usb hard drive connected into a technicolor modem/router which has some form of upnp software. The set-up works fine except for the upnp media server which shows all music and video files as empty. I have tried all the setting options, rebuilding the database etc. All the id3 tags are there fine and PS Audio's elyric builds a data base without difficulties so the problem appears to be with the technicolor's upnp software. Luckily, the option of directly browsing the files does work and therefore at least I use the files. I tried a Netgear N600 router as an alternative in the same setup. It built a database which could be viewed via the Unitiqute but it populated it with about 50 out of 250 albums. I problem which has been noted on other forums. with this unit. 

 

I am looking to buy a reasonably cheap NAS but I am concerned with ending up with something with flawed upnp software. Unfortunately there seems to be little information made available on this part of the modems other than an assurance that it is upnp/dnla compliant. From searching these forums I understand that QNAP and Western Digital use versions of Twonky, though some people haven't been completely happy with this software. Netgear specifies its own readyshare software and based on my experience with the N600 router this would be enough to stop me buying one of their NAS drives. I have been unable to find any useful information about the many other brands available in respect of their upnp software so I am completely in the dark about how well these work or otherwise.

 

The upshot of this long winded post is I am looking to hear about people's experience using the upnp features with different NAS devices in particular how reliable and flexible they are from a music server point of view?

 

Cheers in advance,

 

Peter.

Posted on: 12 July 2012 by Foxman50

Hi Pete

I use a Synology 212j. Not the fastest NAS in the world trust me, but its media server has all the settings that i could need. Simple to set up and use. I use it with an ND5.

Im sure youll get a list of a hundred different recommendations coming shortly. You pays your money and takes your choice. Good luck

Posted on: 12 July 2012 by ash
Peter similar issues with western digital's mybook world edition + playback: when accessing the nas folders  from macbook via playback - half of the folders look empty (while they are not)
Posted on: 12 July 2012 by totemphile

AssetNAS. It runs Asset UPnP, possibly the best out there. I bit pricy but very stable.

Posted on: 12 July 2012 by Peter_RN

I have no problems streaming simultaneously from my ReadyNAS_NVX to both the Qute and NDX. I stream WAV files ripped with Dbpoweramp, there are no issues with the tags, and they work without fault.

 

Peter

Posted on: 12 July 2012 by Party Pete

Thanks for the responses so far. AssetNas appears to be hard to track down in Australia but I'll being in Singapore in a few weeks so I'll keep an eye out for it. I'm interested in the apparent success ReadyNas (which is easily purchased down here) which obviously uses a different upnp client to the router. 

 

Keep the experiences coming.

 

Thanks,

 

Peter.

Posted on: 12 July 2012 by sbilotta

Another thumbs up for Synology.

I have been using it for a year now and it is reliable and enables transcoding.

 

All the best.

Stefano

Posted on: 12 July 2012 by ash

Foxman, Stefano - did your synologies come with hard disks? Or did you get those separately? What  make, what capacity?

Posted on: 12 July 2012 by sbilotta

 

Originally Posted by ash:

Foxman, Stefano - did your synologies come with hard disks? Or did you get those separately? What  make, what capacity?

Seperate Hard Disks: 4 x WD 2TB

Posted on: 12 July 2012 by rich46

assettnas noisy and goes to sleep

Posted on: 13 July 2012 by garyi

Anyone that has set their home netowrk so that the router and nas are in the same room as the hifi has seriously missed the point.

 

Put the nas in the garage or loft or something, it can be as noisy as it likes then, its really dumb putting next to your hifi.

 

As for sleeping, I don't have that model but no doubt it can be disabled.

Posted on: 13 July 2012 by Claus-Thoegersen
Originally Posted by garyi:

Anyone that has set their home netowrk so that the router and nas are in the same room as the hifi has seriously missed the point.

 

Put the nas in the garage or loft or something, it can be as noisy as it likes then, its really dumb putting next to your hifi.

Anyone who has a garage or loft is  dumb as well, has just missed other points.

 

Claus

 

Posted on: 14 July 2012 by garyi

Claus that made no sense what so ever.

 

I was responding to someone complaining they are noisy.

 

They are, so make sure its somewhere it wont bother you.

Posted on: 14 July 2012 by Party Pete

Do the software interfaces allow you to view the upnp database that is created by the NAS and to make changes? 

Posted on: 14 July 2012 by davidm

Another very happy Synology user here as well. 

 

Works great with the NDX.

Posted on: 14 July 2012 by Foxman50

Hi Ash

 

Got my drives separately, 2 x seagate 1TB.

Posted on: 14 July 2012 by Foxman50

Hi Party Pete

 

Not sure if i've understood your question correctly, but on the Synology you just copy your music folders into a shared folder on the NAS, that's it. It does'nt create a database. So all your doing is browsing folders.

Posted on: 14 July 2012 by Rich27
Originally Posted by Party Pete:

Do the software interfaces allow you to view the upnp database that is created by the NAS and to make changes? 

On the Synology you can edit the way in which the media server presents information to the media player.

 

IMHO Synology and QNAP are excellent NAS solutions. I personally would not look outside the Synology range, my DS211+ with 2x2tb Seagate drives has (touch wood) performed flawlessly since (the very straightforward) installation over a year ago.

 

The new Western Digital Red hard drives which are supposedly purposely designed for NAS look like a good choice going forward.