

- #Seagate media server for mac how to#
- #Seagate media server for mac software#
- #Seagate media server for mac tv#
Most music playing apps, such as iTunes, make it easy to convert CDs into digital files. If your music collection is on CD (or already digital) then the good news is that this is a simple process.

To stream your media to devices around your home (and even outside if you allow external connections), you’ll first need to digitize it and store it on the NAS device in appropriate folders.
#Seagate media server for mac how to#
The Kodi website also has a page that explains the various devices it’s compatible with, so check there for your NAS device and instructions on how to install it. If yours is on there you should be able to download the file, then add it to your NAS device for installation. You can visit the Plex website’s download section to view a list of compatible NAS devices. Other NAS drives may have different ways of installing apps on them. Some NAS devices have user-friendly interfaces that make adding apps easy This ups the price considerably, so you’ll want to find a hard drive that offers plenty of space without going over your budget. The QNAP TS-251A we’re using is dual-bay, so we've actually added a second IronWolf for a total capacity of nearly 20TB after the operating system and other factors are accounted for. For the ultimate home server we’ve gone with the Seagate IronWolf 10TB drive, which although pricey provides a whopping 10TB of storage, and many NAS-specific benefits. Because we want our server to hold a lot of large media files, while making these files available 24/7, we want a hard drive that combines large capacity with energy efficiency and reliability.įor help finding the right hard drive for your needs, check out our 10 best internal desktop and laptop hard disk drives guide.

While this isn’t quite as convenient, it at least gives you more flexibility when installing a NAS device as a home media server. While some NAS drives come with a hard drive already installed, many others, including the QNAP TS-251A, are sold without them.

Of course, the easier option is to avoid using Plex and stick with Kodi, or play the media natively from the NAS using the HDMI connection. To get around this when using Plex, we used the QNAP to store the media while using a second device (in our case the Nvidia Shield) as the media server for all the transcoding needs.
#Seagate media server for mac software#
The problem is that transcoding is a demanding process, and while the QNAP TS-251A has the specifications to transcode 4K footage, the software transcoding method of Plex puts a lot of strain on the QNAP’s processor.
#Seagate media server for mac tv#
It means you don’t have to worry if your smart TV doesn’t support MKV files, for example, as the server will transcode the file so it can be played anyway. Transcoding is the process of converting a media file from one file type to another while it’s being played. These apps enable you to organize and play your media through attractive interfaces designed for TVs, so you can use them to make your very own Netflix-like streaming services! One thing to note is that while we really like Plex, it doesn't support hardware transcoding – just software transcoding.
