mass NAS storage options

[kent1146]

Most compressed video maxes out at 4Mbps (4 megaBITS per sec... the numbers I mentioned for throughput earlier use megaBYTES). Uncompressed 1080i is around 45Mbps (again, 45 megaBITS... this is roughly 6 megaBYTES per second). Whether or not this poses a problem will depend on how the media is going to be streamed and used.

If you are simply playing back this media on a computer, you will not have a problem using USB2.0 / eSATA DAS devices, or ethernet / gigabit NAS devices. A WiFi-based NAS device would be fine for compressed video, but wouldn't be able to keep up with uncompressed 1080i video streaming. If you're streaming 1080i over a NAS, you'll need at least an ethernet connection.

If you're streaming to a media device connected to a TV, that media device will most likely be connected to your network via WiFi. If you go with a DAS device and set up a network share from your computer, then you should connect that to your network through at least an ethernet port (WiFi-to-WiFi uses a shared bandwidth of 54Mbps, not 54Mbps per connection). If you go with a NAS, be sure it's connected through at least an ethernet port.