DS415play NAS by Synology ($540)

Synology, Inc. announced the DS415play, the four-bay follow-up to 2014’s two-bay DS214play.

As the second NAS to support hardware video transcoding, the DS415play delivers full 1080p HD video to nearly any media-streaming device. Paired with the company’s DSM 5.0, it is a NAS acting as ‘the’ multimedia hub for tech-savvy household.

Video Station for Every Display
The NAS was designed to benefit homes, and media enthusiasts who have more than one display. It’s able to share multiple streams of HD content without being tethered to a single television, or computing device. Users can enjoy media via: DLNA, Apple TV, Roku Players, and computers; while iOS, Android, and Windows Phone devices make it possible to enjoy terabytes of media on the go.

Multimedia Without Service Fees
DSM 5.0 is full of integrated multimedia capabilities, available at no additional cost through Synology’s Package Center. Multimedia-applications like: Audio Station, Photo Station, and Media Server, enable the Synology play, to serve-up audio, and photo libraries, in addition to video. It’s built to meet the demands of a mobile society; all without incurring the fees associated with traditional cloud-based content solutions.

Experience a Better Media Cloud
It can act as a personal, mobile, media cloud. DSM 5.0’s Video Station is the company’s application for play-listing, categorizing, and presenting video content. With Video Station, media doesn’t have to be locked to the home.

The mobile infrastructure includes apps such as: DS Video, DS Audio, DS Photo+ (and more). Each application provides context aware access where media can be cashed, or streamed remotely from a DiskStation, for any occasion with, or without a data connection.

Additional Features:

• Supports up to 20TB of raw capacity

• Over 110MB/s read performance and over 100MB/s write

• Two USB 3.0, and three USB 2.0 ports for external storage, and peripherals

• Native floating point processing for faster file previews

• Support for the pending series of Android TV Boxes

“The DS415play adds the one thing people wanted most in last year’s DS214play; higher capacity,” said Thadd Weil, PR specialist, Synology America. “With hardware video transcoding, the ability to add up to 20TB’s of raw storage, plus the wealth of multimedia functionality integrated in DSM 5.0, media enthusiasts of all kinds will find a lot to love in the new play. It’s a great home server replacement.“

Shipping now, and will be available in the United States in the next couple of weeks.

MSRP : $539.99 in USA (€365 without VAT or €438 with VAT in France)