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NAS appliances can be used to both share files and stream media to home entertainment systems, but the boxes involved can be both ugly and noisy. Some also require additional hardware, like an Xbox, to connect to the TV. Which is where QNAP's HS-251 score...

Living room friendly, stylish and quiet, HDMI for direct attachment to TV, Hardware, based transcoding and integrated XBMC...

Gets very hot, Expensive and only has two drive bays, Requires some technical know, how to set up...

If file sharing is all you crave then the HS-251 will come way down your shopping list behind cheaper, faster NAS rivals with greater capacity. As a multimedia server attached to a TV, however, it makes a lot more sense, especially with XBMC on board and...
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techradar.com/au/ Updated: 2015-01-10 10:46:58
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NAS appliances can be used to both share files and stream media to home entertainment systems, but the boxes involved can be both ugly and noisy. Some also require additional hardware, like an Xbox, to connect to the TV. Which is where QNAP's HS-251 score...

Living room friendly, stylish and quiet, HDMI for direct attachment to TV, Hardwarebased transcoding and integrated XBMC...

Gets very hot, Expensive and only has two drive bays, Requires some technical knowhow to set up...

Overall we liked what we got with the QNAP HS-251 but it does come with a hefty price tag. Without disks we found it selling for £380 (around $595, AU$690) and if you add in the cost of the two 4TB disks that rises to something around the £650 mark ($1,02...
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This is not the typical every-day NAS we are testing today, it is a somewhat special device. When we usually think of NAS devices, it goes in the direction of tower and rack-systems; and that is not the thing you would like next to your well designed home...

Slim design to fit in with other home cinema devices, Magnetic front cover to hide drive bays, Friendly user interface, Direct HDMI output with HTPC features, Noise-less, Great performance...

System runs a bit too hot for my liking, USB ports not easy to access, Neutral, No card reader, Price-tag might be a bit to high for most people, Screws are not default-sized...

PricingThe price is a major factor in the SOHO market, as I'm sure you can imagine and it's something that can make or break the decision to buy a particular system. Priced at around $540-600 through Newegg, Amazon.com and TigerDirect in the US and around...
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What is the QNAP HS-251? This is QNAP's big pitch to be part of your living room. A two-bay NAS which looks like it belongs beside your Blu-ray player or cable box, packs a wealth of media functionality, HDMI and no fan for silent operation. It all looks...

Smooth, reliable transcoding, Simple setup, intuitive UI, Quiet operation, No tool-less drive installation...

Very expensive, Mediocre file transfer performance, No dynamic, expandable RAID, Gets very hot...

QNAP has dared to do something different and largely succeeded. The HS-251 looks good, is fast enough for its media centric purpose, fits in nicely under the TV and has integrated HDMI to directly connect to your TV. The problem is it is far more expensiv...
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The HS-251 from QNAP is a 2 bay NAS especially made for the living room. Thanks to a nice looking design with brushed aluminum cover plate it should blend in perfectly. Apart from that there is an Intel Celeron dual core processor in combination with 2 Gi...
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If you've been put off buying a NAS (Network Attached Storage) device, the HS-251 from QNAP might change your mind. It's capable of the stuff a typical modern NAS can do – acting as a repository for all of your files (among them movies, TV programmes and...

HDMI port surprisingly useful, quiet running, powerful and flexible software, additional functionality via app addons...

No eSATA ports or RAM upgradability, transcoding deterioration, can run warm, pricey...
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