Qnap 53A vs 53B series

Last updated on 09 May 2018 📧 Subscribe
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1 What can I connect to a NAS?
1.1 Wireless Speaker Sonos
1.2 Casting devices
1.3 Apple TV
1.4 Amazon Fire TV
1.5 nVidia Shield TV

Having trouble deciding on whether to purchase the QNAP TS-653A/TS-853A or the newer TS-653A – all options would be 8gig. I need lots of storage so it needs to be a minimum of 6 bays. I’m not that overly concerned about real time transcoding as I have a 4K Apple TV with Infuse that can pretty much play anything. However I would like to utilise offline transcoding to resize larger video files. Can either the A or B series transcode video files into the h265 format?

My main concern really is about the processor between the A and B series. How much better in real world terms is the J3455 over the N3150. Will I be forgoing anything if I went with the A series and N3150 cpu? Will QTS be markedly slower? I also want to use Linux station so is there are marked difference between the machine?. Can either series be upgraded beyond 8gig (unofficially of course)?

Forgetting about the TS-653B functions such as SD card reader, direct access storage via usb and PCI expansion, is the J3455 cpu worth the extra expense?

This is a very popular question- “Do I need this extra performance”. And in most of the time, I can say no. If you are looking for a NAS with basic network drive functions, then older models have just better value for money. It is very different when you need extra performance for virtual machines or web server or latest multimedia.

Both A and B series will let you transcode either offline or on the fly. But once you are talking about H265 encoding format you should know that A series is not doing a great job with that. A series transcoding engine was created when h264 was popular, but things changed since then.

CPU Mark (cpubenchmark.net)
53A  1700
53B   2132
B series perform almost twice as fast compared with B series, but only when pushed to absolute limits. You will not notice the difference in performance whilst using QTS. Only when running demanding virtual machines and other tasks.
So I will say – stick with A series unless know you will have demanding Linux virtual machine or heavy h265 video files.

 


What can I connect to a NAS?

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.

 

Apple TV

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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