NAS for Video Files - Just a RANT

[danb35]

t's sad to realize that physical content that a person purchases is likely going away and it will all be sent via the internet either streamed or downloaded, with streaming being the way it looks like things are going.

...and the problem with that is that you never own anything--unless you download it illegally. To be sure, part of the reason for piracy* is simply that it's cheaper than buying stuff, but another large part is that it frees you to consume the media on your own terms--when, where, how, and on whatever device you want. If more stuff were available as DRM-free downloads, there would be a lot less incentive to pirate.

* ...and speaking of piracy, that probably has a lot to do with people storing large amounts of data on a FreeNAS box. The plugins make it very easy to find, download, catalog, and watch enormous amounts of media that, let's just say, aren't completely copyright-compliant.

 

[Arwen]

...and the problem with that is that you never own anything--unless you download it illegally. To be sure, part of the reason for piracy* is simply that it's cheaper than buying stuff, but another large part is that it frees you to consume the media on your own terms--when, where, how, and on whatever device you want. If more stuff were available as DRM-free downloads, there would be a lot less incentive to pirate.
...

When I first started buying music via download, DRM free was high on my list. I wanted;

1. The ability to backup my devices, WITH music AND the ability to restore the music.
2. Make custom CDs for my vehicle, including downloaded MP3s, so I need not worry about damaging my master CDs. Or have to listen to songs I don't like...
3. Have copies for different uses, like a copy on my home media server & in vehicle without moving an iPOD like device between them.

Now days I don't bother with burning my own CDs, my vehicle has a player than supports playing MP3s and AACs off a USB flash drive. And I tend not to buy CDs anymore. But if I do, the content gets moved to my master media storage, as well as backed up.

 

[danb35]

Yeah, and DRM-free music is reasonably available. Video, however, is another story. Folks like Rifftrax do it, but I haven't seen anything comparable from any of the major studios.

 

[cobrakiller58]

I do not like to "own" a digital copy that I must have an internet connection to play it and the product resides on some server. I don't mind having my own digital copy, at least I can have that in my hands. So I agree.

This has bothered my since the inception of steam and lately I've started archiving my clean installs of games so when they get yanked I don't get robbed.

Vinyl is great in the home, not so much in the car, hiking trail, or sailboat.

The mental image of someone hiking while listening to a vinyl is hilarious to me. A friend has asked me to help him archive his massive collection of records, he spends a lot of time driving and when he sees how easy it is to carry a digital copy around he's finally given up resisting.

And I tend not to buy CDs any more. But if I do, the content gets moved to my master media storage, as well as backed up.

Funny I'm the opposite if I can't buy a CD of it I don't buy it, then I rip it and put the CD on the shelf. Actually now that i think about it that would apply to DVD's as well I spent months casually looking for a copy of the documentary Slingshot and final saw it come up for sale and bought it.

 

[joeschmuck]

The plugins make it very easy to find, download, catalog, and watch enormous amounts of media that, let's just say, aren't completely copyright-compliant.

I agree and I'm sure many people do this, but I'm certain many people do not do this as well. I own many DVDs (only the ones we would watch again) and I've ripped most of those, the ones I can find that is. Moving around from city to city has many of these things hiding in boxes. But if I don't have the movie then I rent it at a RedBox, only being $1.75 to rent a DVD it's just so much cheaper than buying it. If I find that I really want the movie then spending $12 to $20 dollars is cheaper than taking the wife to the movies:D. With that said, I do like going to the movies, it's the experience of it all.

Wow, even I got off topic in my off topic thread.

 

[LIGISTX]

I think I squarely fall into the “why the hell did you build a FreeNAS box with 10x4TB, Z2 and ECC” but for two simple reasons, and a third that sorta just came along for the ride.

1) I do a good amount of amateur photography, and I would actually like to think I am getting sorta good at it. Point is, between the RAW image files themselves, the Lightroom catalog, all the associate Lightroom files to make browsing my library not painfully slow (1:1 previews and smart previews of every image) I have in the neighborhood of 1.5 TB of data in photo related things alone. Sure, a couple 4TB external drives or a little RAID box would suffice, but A), wheres the fun in that, and B) my father and I share the same hobby and I stay at my parents house often (I am a young professional, no significant other, so I can pretty easily just decide where I want to be any given weekend), and I really wanted a way to personally manage a system to sync my computer and my fathers with all the same photography data. FreeNAS (via syncthing) was the best idea I had and it has worked out VERY well. FreeNAS box is always on and at my apt it holds all photo data, my main gaming/editing PC has the Lightroom data on SSD. The Lightroom data is synced to the FreeNAS box, and this way when I am at my parents house it can pull new edits or pix from FreeNAS automatically, and vice versa. At my parents all lightroom data is on SSD, and RAW photo's are on a 4 TB drive. Easy. Also, don't worry, its backed up to the cloud as well, Z2 IS NOT A BACKUP. I know, I know.

2) I wanted to learn more about “Linux”. I am a huge techy, love computers, but mostly hate “coding”. Decided to be a normal run of the mill engineer and not a coder, well, cuz I hate code lol. That being said, I wanted a way to sorta dabble in it as a hobby in a way that works for me. And so far sshing into my box and doing some simple things, I am happy with what I have learned, I have nginx set up so I can access syncthing remotely and securely, and things like this are just fun to me. All in all, it’s not my most expensive hobby lol. Cars and gaming computers.... and photography, that will do it to ya.

And the “along for the ride” part, I do have a lot of content I like to stream to plex. This is a large portion of my pool, but to me that was worth it. Once it’s all said and done, adding 4-5 extra hard drives for a one time sunk cost in a server I already wanted for other reasons makes it a no brainer. This way I can also watch content from my box when I am not in my apt, which as I said isn’t all that often. I mostly just sleep there during the week (I work in defense, so 4/10’s, 3 day weekends are fantastic!!!).

All in all, ~1500 bucks for a full fledged “server” seemed like a good idea at the time and still does. It gives me a way to manage a “small” amount of photos and associated data compared to what a real photographer has, but being a techy person this seemed like the best solution. I can manage it, I can sysadmin it (create accounts for friends to ssh in and drop pix for me to edit for them and associated security policies via user credentials and stuff, super remedial, but hey it’s a start) and just generally learn more about FreeBSD.

A couple photos to prove my point...

#maythe4thbewithyou
Mustang_May_the_4th_be_with_you by David, on Flickr

And then some more real pix:
FX1_2300 by David, on Flickr
FX1_2051 by David, on Flickr
FX1_1950 by David, on Flickr
FX1_2010 by David, on Flickr
FX1_1783 by David, on Flickr
FX2_2828 by David, on Flickr
FX2_1064 by David, on Flickr
FX2_0988 by David, on Flickr
FX2_0921-HDR-Edit-2 by David, on Flickr
FX1_0581 by David, on Flickr
FX2_0873 by David, on Flickr
FX1_2045-3 by David, on Flickr

#sorrynotsorry for all the pix


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[joeschmuck]

@LIGISTX Nice photos! Wish I took the time to do that kind of work.

 

[cobrakiller58]

Yup that makes me think it's time to upgrade my poor D70.

 

[GrumpyBear]

Joe,

Little late to the party but something else to consider.

I do IT for a living and am less inclined to do it at home these days. I also do photography and have a ton of raw files. I’ve been ripping my media since my youngest broke the oldest’s favourite DVD in half getting it out of the case and had to pay premium to replace it. Its also easier surfing with the remote from the couch for content.

I have a lot of data and I wanted to consolidate it and I wanted something that just worked. I started with a 2 Bay Synology with 2 3T WD Reds in RAID1. When that started getting full I started by looking at the 8-Bay Synology but it was at $1800 Canadian pesos at that time which I felt was poor value for a dual core Atom processor.

So I invested my time and researched solutions and spent that $1800 on FreeNAS on server grade hardware.

Yes only 10% of my data is mission critical (i.e. the wife would kill me if I lost all the kids photos ) but it’s all in one place which makes it easier to manage and easier to selectively back it up. The important stuff gets replicated daily to that 2-Bay Synology and weekly off-site.

The systems been running flawlessly for over three years and I don’t have to think about it. Next year it will be time to start thinking about replacing the hard disks or maybe building a new system and delegating the old to the off-site.

So yes, I do have 600 movies on my FreeNAS. Why? Because it’s where I store stuff and it’s reliable.

 

[joeschmuck]

The systems been running flawlessly for over three years and I don’t have to think about it. Next year it will be time to start thinking about replacing the hard disks or maybe building a new system and delegating the old to the off-site.

3 years is a good point to start thinking about how to replace a failing drive and ensure they are being tested routinely, but the good thing is you have WD Reds, I've got my six WD Reds and they all have exceeded 5 years power on time and constantly running, I think three of them are presently going to hit the 6 year mark in a few months, the other three are sitting on a shelf ready for service if needed. I'm sure you have seen it here many times where someone sets up a FreeNAS system and it just works, and works, and works. Then after several years it fails and the user gets a little flustered about how to go about fixing it. At least you have a backup of your information, so many people do not.

Yea, I just can't get my head around the fact that some people spend a lot of money for media storage, unlike you who are only running 6x 3TB drives, that is not nearly 20TB or more which is what my rant was really about. I just can't fathom the costs of that kind of storage.