Online CCTV and photo server

I would like to use it for: Storing Photos centrally and streaming them to various devices. Storing a few files and recording CCTV off 2 IP cameras (possibly 4 in the future) The cameras would be recording on motion only so I estimate between 1-2GB would be plenty for CCTV. I would also like some form of redundancy across the drives. I am stuck on the best solution. I am pushing towards a 4 bay Synology but I don’t know whether to install 3 x 3TB WD RED drives using Raid 5 and leaving the 4th slot free for future and then dedicating a portion of the drives for the CCTV. Or installing 2 x 3 TB WD Red drives Raid 1 and then having a WD Purple in the NAS dedicated to the CCTV. 4th slot left free again for future. I have tried searching forums but not a lot of people seem to use the NAS for both media and CCTV but I would like a single solution. I have been looking at the DS418Play.

The DS418play is quite powerful NAS and will be a great solution for CCTV and multimedia storage. This model feature h264 and h265 video encoding engine for videos up to a 4K resolution. This is very useful when trying to watch recorded footage over the internet or slow network. Transcoding will automatically resize video files into smaller video size to fit the destination device format. This will save expensive gigabytes on your phone allowance or keep local network less busy.

When choosing what drives to use and which RAID to set up, focus on tasks NAS will be dealing with. So if it will do regular network drive functions and also the surveillance tasks than choose NAS drives. NAS drives are for 24/7 network storage solutions and combination with surveillance. If NAS would be used only for surveillance, I would recommend using Surveillance drives (Purple or Skyhawk). You can also have a separate RAID for NAS and surveillance, but this is not recommended as it is not a cost-effective solution. RAID5 across 3 or 4 drives will use one drive for redundancy and you will be left with maximum data storage space. RAID1 would lose half of the potential storage space. Also, drive with no RAID are vulnerable to a data loss in case of failure. If that happens at the same time as burglary you have no footage.

An alternative to DS418play would be DS418, but it will struggle with few file formats when trying to access it over the internet. For use in a local network, it will be the perfect alternative to save some money.

Some NAS compatible cameras:

What can I connect to a Synology?

Wireless Speaker Sonos

The great thing about Sonos is that you don’t need to pay for music subscription service. With the cheapest NAS at home like DS115j or any other, you can have your backups done for all of your devices and still use your network drive as a Sonos music library. Sonos will connect to your NAS via your network and let access your provided music library. If you have little more of IT knowledge, you can even set up your Alexa or Sonos with Alexa built in to play music on your voice commands (“Alexa! Ask DS Audio to Play Music!”).

Casting devices

Nowadays it is so cheap to upgrade your old TV and make it smart. All you need is Google Chrome or EZcast alternative plugged into your HDMI port at the back of your TV. Now you have great functionality added to your TV to send a video file directly from your NAS to a TV. No need for wires and chargers and other mess. You can use your phone as a remote to go to your movies or family videos and cast that content on your TV during family or friend gatherings.

 

Amazon Fire TV

You may not have a smartphone, or you just simply prefer to control your content with a remote in that case Amazon Fire TV will be a great addon to get to your TV. It also plugs into your HDMI port and will play content from your NAS to a TV. No wires no mess.

nVidia Shield TV

It gets even better! If you want some more entertainment and all previously mentioned functions – nVidia TV is a great thing to get. You can use it for playing games and watching movies from your NAS. The greatest thing is – shield TV does video transcoding. So even if you have a cheap NAS with a weak CPU, in a combination of shield TV you can now automatically on the fly change video file size and format for a destination device. It is a great way to reduce network load and let older devices to play video content which normally was not supported on the device.

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