Kodi Community Forum

Would like to hear pros and cons for streaming+NAS vs HTPC

I'm new to XBMC, have read a lot in the forums and wiki. On top of the usual interest in watching movies, TV shows, photo albums and playing music, I'm also interested in creating a library of podcasts.

Also, I'm looking for a system that is portable that I can take between three locations.

My thought is that several low-cost streaming front-end devices like Raspberry Pi's connected to a portable NAS would be easier than disconnecting and reconnecting a HTPC.

Thanks for any suggestions.

/Doug

Easy decision for me - if you need multiple clients, store the media centrally on a NAS of some kind and use low-power front ends (R-Pis, Revos, or the new wave of Android devices) to stream your media where it's needed. That also gives you the option of mounting to a 'phone or similar if you put your music there (or use DLNA/UPnP if your NAS supports it, which most do) for completeness, and allows you to stream to tablets and anything else that comes into the house to boot.

Remember about backups, though... which are even more important if you're thinking about physically carrying your media around the house.

EDIT

I've assumed that the three locations are LAN-connected... if they're separate buildings/addresses, then you'll get into upload speeds and firewall ports before too long, which might get messy - though some folks have done it.

I stream from a NAS because I'm in one place. If it had to be 3 locations no way I would rely on streaming.

Seeing as a NAS is the least likely portable device you might as well make a HTPC/NAS in one.

It will be a much better/faster machine than devices like AppleTV/Android/Raspberry Pi.

You won't have to deal with 3 separate networks.

You could even have 3 power cables and 3 HDMI cables for all the locations.

If you are connected to the network you can always share from the HTPC/NAS to other devices.