QNAP TVS-471-I3-4G Bay Desktop NAS Enclosure with 4GB RAM

i don't often write product reviews but this one is worthy of some time. most people probably don't excited about NAS boxes but i beleive they can be a rather fun as well as practical investment!i umm'd and arr'd for ages over which NAS drive to get, these devices serve many purposes and it's down to the individual to first decide thier requirements and then find a fitting product. for me this is both a small office / home device, it's dual purpose to replace an ageing D-Link 320 NAS.this was my basic set of needs:- large upgradeable RAID1 storage (ideally 4 bays)- cloud utilities to provide an automated off-site backup- fast read and write speeds- plex server capability for transcoding to a chromecast v2- not more than £1ki considered similar solutions from Synology but through everything i read online and reading between the lines of the marketing bumff i wasn't convinced a comparable Synology would have the grunt to do on-the-fly transcoding of 1080p videos which plex often requires for all the weird n' wonderful movie formats. i could well be wrong on that last point but i'd read more negative than positive. the QNAP TVS-471 makes a big deal of it's powerful processor and it's transcoding... but it pushes it's own proprietary media station stuff heavily which is fine, but im a big plex fan so wanted to utilise that frontend via the chromecast (rather an output directly over HDMI).in the end i took the plunge and with 2x 4tb drives spent nearly £1000 on this... i had considered building a FreeNAS or buying a HP Microserver which would have save many £££s but you know what? life is too short! the amount of time i'd spend tinkering and tweaking is just not worth it... time is our most valuable resource ;) i digress...now note, i've only used the device for a couple of days but to say i'm impressed is an understatement.the good:- high quality sturdy piece of kit- it's v fast, the i3 chip does what it needs to and has transcoded perfectly everything i've thrown at it- it's really flexible, there's loads of additional utilities you can install - check out the QNAP app area- the cloud sync means you can backup important files/directories offsite- the Virtual Machine facility is just incredible and so usefulthe bad:- the setup looked straightforward but the online guide is a bit over-simplistic and i got a bit confused by the myQnapCloud stuff, no biggie though, probably me being dim.- the 'desktop' of the qnap takes a bit of getting used to but it's good once you get the hang of where things are.- the odd technical skill is required here and there, there's A LOT of settings and options to play with if you're that way inclined.- if using the built in HDMI you could use this as a HTPC but i'd recommend making sure the drives you select are quiet ones... the WD REDS i bought are a bit noisey which isn't of course the QNAP's fault (the fan is very quiet but audible).bonus points:i'd read that the QNAP 4.2 o/s features a virtual machines facility... i was a bit sceptical beforehand since it's only an i3 with 4gb ram but having used it - it's a great feature. i easily span up a windows7 machine, assigned it 40gb hdd and 2gb ram and it flies along replacing an ageing PC i used to use for file management and other admin jobs. i've no doubt running a linux box would be even more light-weight and speedy. im no expert but because the VM is on the NAS itself it can interact with the network much faster than a separate machine and it certainly feels like that when moving large files around.whilst the VM was running i tried transcoding an 1080p movie across the lan to the chromecast and it was flawless... the CPU did spike to 95% a few times, it seems to process in batches as the movie runs... but this is fine, it's what you'd expect - it may aswell use all the CPU as there's no GPU to help out.so, with the plex transcoding replacing a HTPC in the lounge (happy wife) AND using a VM to replace the other old PC (happy environment), i've now got one box which can do everything i need and all at the same time if required.in closing:yes, it's relatively expensive and you could save a lot of money doing it yourself. but whilst being a insurance investment in your digital life - it will also save you time and make your life easier! if you can afford it, have some technical know-how and are serious about getting a decent small office / home NAS - this is the one to go for.

Remote s/ware is not fully functioning yet but extremely well made and no crashes in three months operating 24/7.

First class!I have previously owned both a Synology DS214+ and a QNAP TS-253 Pro, however, I found that I was getting quite a lot of buffering when using Plex. I now know that it was because the NAS's CPU simply was not up to the taskof 'on the fly' transcoding. My fault, I didn't do my research properly.This NAS blows them out of the water. I can stream at 1080p both on and off my local network. Plex has no trouble transcoding as the CPU has plenty of grunt.The TVS-471 i3 4GB both looks and feels a quality product. Fitted with four 3TB Western Digital Red NAS HDDs it is very expensive. But I have found that you simply get what you pay for.

It's alright, but the firmware lets it down massively.

Great unit and I was lucky enough to get it for a great price. I moved to this unit from a Synology DS214PLAY as I needed additional storage and a bump in processing power and this unit certainly does the trick. It is obvious that QNAP are into making business/enterprise level machines and this becomes apparent with build quality and their OS,..as a novice I much prefer the Synology and would say that it is the much more user friendly from an interaction standpoint,...but don't let that put you off, with a little help from the forums and Google, I've been able to answer all issues.

QNAP TVS471 i3.I bought this for use with Plex. My router doesn't support link aggregation so there's just one cat5e cable connecting it to the home network. No problems with the direct cabled link (no transcoding) to the TV.It has handled the transcode from HD Blu-ray films to the Wifi linked smartphone (android 5.0.2) without any problems whilst handling a PC backup at the same time. The i3 with 4GB seems to be enough.It does have a slight humming associated with the four hard drives but this is reduced with a soft mat and it's not in the same room as the TV anyway.

Another Plex user here - bought this unit 10 months ago as a home for movies/TV shows as I live and work away from home most of the time. Streaming at full native resolution to hotel rooms etc has been a breeze. Also used as a music library for the home Sonos system, and for secure file backup. Couldn't be happier.

I literally don't have time to tell everyone how amazing this Qnap i3 NAS is.Its fast.Its amazing. It does virtual machines. The ram can be upgraded too. (16gb)It can handle fast file sharing, CCTV recording and still run multiple windows VM's.I had a Qnap before this one but wow.. Just get the Intel i3/5/7 range and you won't be disappointed.Put some Western Digital Reds/Purples in and away you go.My best purchase ever!