QNAP just announced the new HS-264, a NAS designed specifically for multimedia streaming. Powered by an Intel Celeron processor, this little box has two HDMI ports, two 2.5Gb LAN ports, and support for 4K media transcoding. The QNAP HS-264 is a great choice for a compact NAS that has enough power for movies and shows.
This NAS supports up to two 2.5-inch SSD or 3.5-inch best NAS drives, providing a maximum capacity of 36TB. The RAM is not expandable but does come with 8GB of DDR4, which is more than enough for most media tasks. The Intel Celeron N5105 processor is a potent little chip with the ability to boost to 2.9GHz.
The two 2.5Gb LAN ports are a great option for networks that have this bandwidth capacity. Both ports can be linked together to provide 5Gb/s worth of bandwidth. The two HDMI ports are always a welcome addition to a media NAS as this avoids the need to transcode to the TV if you direct connect.
Lastly, there are two USB-A 3.2 Gen 2 ports that can be used for audio or video devices or even expansion storage units. You don’t have to stick to local media either as apps and other services can be used to stream through the QNAP HS-264. There’s even support for the QNAP RM-IR004 remote.
When looking around for the best NAS for Plex, one must bear in mind just how much media you plan on storing on the enclosure, as well as what you want to stream to. The QNAP HS-264 is a great little compact box that’s designed as a bridge between traditional set-top boxes and NAS enclosures running media services.
No word on availability or pricing yet.
QNAP HS-264
QNAP’s HS-264 NAS is all about multimedia. You won’t find a bulky metal chassis here, nor any loud fans to cool anything. It’s very much a super-smart set-top box.
