USB mass storage + NAS in one

Rouxenator

Rouxenator

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OK, so I googled around but found nothing that does what I need, so now I am wondering if such a thing even exists.

I want a NAS devices that can also act as a USB mass storage device at the same time. On the one side I will connect it to my LAN allowing me to access it as a fileshare and dump media on it from my PC and on the other side it will be connected to my plasma TV that can play all media files from USB drives.

Where can I get something like that? All NAS devices with USB that I have seen only uses their USB ports to connect to mass storage devices, not act as mass storage devices.
 
I don't know of any devices with that functionality...

What I can suggest is a Mede8er (or other similar media player), connect to the network and you have a nas and you can also connect via HDMI/RCA to the TV, it should also work if connect via USB.

Only downside is you can only have one Hard drive.
 
You can get a Xtreamer Pro to do that. It can hold 2 desktop drives and sports an USB2 slave port (to act as a mass storage device) , a eSata port and a 100mbps network port. It also has 2 USB master ports.

On top of that it can play most media formats, and supports playing media off your network too.

http://www.xtreamersa.co.za/shop/xtreamer-2.html

Edit: Or look at the Xtreamer Prodigy, it can only hold 1 harddrive, but has a USB3 port and a gigabit network port ;)

http://www.xtreamersa.co.za/shop/xtreamer-prodigy-available-soon.html
 
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I have a WD HD Live player that can use both its USB ports for NAS and plays from network shares. What I am trying to do is to make use of the TVs internal player.
 
If you are insistent on a single unit, then (as @Species says) the easiest (and cheapest) would probably be to purchase a unit like the WD TV Live Hub or similar.

Depending on the unit, these have (at minimum) both USB ports and a network connection. The better models will also include an HDMI port and built-in hard disk. They also include all the codecs necessary to play AVI etc files on your TV.

I elected to save some money and purchased a small WD TV Live that plugs into both my TV and my home network, the latter via the RJ45 plug. This enables the unit to see any file on the network. One can also use the TV to view YouTube etc. directly via the Internet.

The 'NAS' is an external 2TB drive attached to my main PC via USB3, though there is nothing preventing me from hooking the drive into the WD unit via one of its USB ports.

In essence if you stick to DLNA compatible equipment you should be fine ...
 
Is the problem that the TV isn't seeing files on the WD unit ?

I have found that some TVs / DVD players (with USB ports) are very limited in what they can recognise: typically they are limited to DivX or MKV files.
 
Note that no device will be able to use both a network and USB device interface simultaneously.

A USB-connected device is not expected to change without the controlling device being aware of it. Data structures are likely held in memory, and would be inconsistent with changes made to the filesystem via the network. This is unlikely to work in practice.
 
My TV and WD have no issues with each other, I play everything over the network from my PC which has 6TB of shared stuff, the WD is connected to the TV via HDMI.

So it seems that if I want only a single unit setup (just TV) I will have to get a network ready TV then...
 
What connections are currently available on your TV ? USB ?
 
Rouxenator said:
I have a WD HD Live player that can use both its USB ports for NAS and plays from network shares. What I am trying to do is to make use of the TVs internal player.
Click to expand...

Ok, so my I understanding is that - as step one - you would like to use the TV's internal player to eliminate the WD unit.

First of all, check the manual & Google for your TV's model number. Chances are that others are having the same problem.

Then I would check by replacing the WD with a USB drive FAT32 format. Load the USB drive with an AVI, a DivX and a MKV file. Your TV should see one (or more) of the files.

If it is not seeing anything then stick with the WD ... :)
 
That works, my problem is I need to be able it from my PC which downloads everything I watch. So that I why I asked for something that is USB mass storage on the one side (for the TV) and NAS on the other side (for the PC).
 
There are a few players that take internal drives and also features a USB host port ... Xtreamer Pro, TViX M6500A, etc.

I guess you could use these completely different to the way the were designed. Use it in USB host mode in order for it to act like an external drive for your TV's built in player. You can then access it via LAN to transfer stuff from your PC onto it ... however, and it is a big HOWEVER ... as far as I know all these devices that run their own OS (to function as player, be available on network, etc.) have to be "booted" into host mode, ie, you will not be able to access it via LAN while the TV is accessing the internal drive. You can generally not have one physical drive "mounted" by two OS's simultaneously. So what you have described in the OP is a scenario where the TV's OS needs direct access to the hdd at the same time as the device's OS needs to make it available on the network and I think that is a NO NO.
 
Thanks, played around with a friend of mine's PS51D550 this weekend, it does have a LAN port. I think I'll need to get one like that for me. Anyone interested in a PS51D450 let me know ;)
 
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