Thecus M3800 NAS Stream Box – Total Media Storage
Thecus M3800 Stream Box – Total Media Storage Device
In the past Legit Reviews has looked at a bunch of different external drives and Network Attached Storage (NAS) devices, but none have really caught my eye or peaked my interest. Ive always thought that there was nothing really out there for me, the home PC user, to really get excited about. The most exciting thing for me thus far has been when we looked at the $4500 Alienware High Definition Media Server. The incredibly priced box could do everything under the sun from downloading and streaming all forms of media throughout your house to backing up and burning your favorite multimedia. Very cool stuff, but seriously, $4,000?!?!? Not worth it, in my opinion.
I need a fairly simple solution. Somewhere to store my various media with the ability to either play directly or stream to my favorite TV screens in my house. My Playstation 3 and PC have been getting the job done, but I need a better backup solution. The three-bay, $450 multimedia NAS from Thecus might just be what the doctored ordered.
The Thecus M3800 NAS Stream Box is designed to be your final solution when it comes to storage and media playback. It features HDMI, component and AV out so that you can play your digital content directly to and through your home theater. The M3800 features an AMD Geode-powered Media Server that allows for easy connection of DLNA (Digital Living Network Alliance the standard used by consumer electronics manufacturers to allow entertainment devices within the home or small office to share their content with each other across a network).
The Thecus engineers went out of their way to present a Home NAS solution that features RAID 0,1, 5, JBOD protection that looks sleek and stylish. The M3800 is built around an AMD Geode LX low power processor that was designed to handle home theater video and audio sharing.
For video playback, the M3800 supports WMV9, WMVHD, VOB or TS and AVI up to resolutions of 1080p. Supported audio formats include WMA, AAC, PCM, and M4A. Two glaring omissions from this list are support for the very popular Matroska Multimedia Container or MKV and (gasp) the even more popular MP3 format. This means that the M3800 will not be able to play these types of files directly from the stream box. Well discuss these limitations a bit more in depth later on, but lets take a look at the M3800 specifications and start building the RAID array.
Hardware Specifications:
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Item |
Spec |
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Processor |
AMD LX800 |
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Chipset |
CS5536 |
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System Memory |
256MB DDR SODIMM |
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LAN Interface |
RJ-45×2 : 10/100/1000 BASE-TX Auto MDI/MDI-X |
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USB Interface |
USB 2.0 host port x2(Front x1, Back x1) |
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eSATA Interface |
eSATA port X1 (Back) |
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LED indicator |
Power(Blue) HDD1 Failed/Activity(Red/Orange) HDD2 Failed/Activity(Red/Orange) HDD3 Failed/Activity(Red/Orange) WAN (Link : Green; Activity : Orange), WOL supported LAN (Link : Green; Activity : Orange), WOL supported |
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LCD Module |
2*16 character display with 4 buttons |
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Power supply |
External 12V 96 Watts AC power adaptor |
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Disk interface |
SATA x3 via backplane |
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Thermal/Fan control |
Thermal sensor on HDD and processor temperature Temperature controlled system FAN speed |
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Real-time clock |
Battery backup system clock |
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IR Receiver |
38Hz frequency controlled by Micro Processor |
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Buzzer |
Frequency controllable |
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Chassis |
Metal chassis |
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Environment |
Temperature : 5C to 40 C Humidity : 0 ~ 80 % R.H. (Non-condensing) |
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Power Consumption |
Standby mode: 40W Full Loading: 60W with 1.5TB Seagate * 3 HDD installed |
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Sound Pressure Level |
Without HDD: 18.8 dB(A) With HDD: 24.0 dB (A) with 1.5TB Seagate * 3 HDD installed |
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Safety |
CE, FCC,BSMI, C-Tick, VCCI, RoHS Compliant |
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IO Interfaces |
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AUDIO/VIDEO OUTPUT |
HDMI Audio/Video output Component Output AV Output S/PDIF optical Output |
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System Information |
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Video |
Format |
WMV9(no DRM), WMVHD(no DRM), AVI, VOB, TS |
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Codec |
XVID, H.264, VC-1 |
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Resolution |
Up to 1920 x 1080i, 1920 x 1080P |
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Audio |
Format |
WMA, AAC, PCM, M4A(no DRM) |
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Codec |
AC3, WMA, WMAPRO, PCM, LPCM, BDLPCM(Blue-ray LPCM) |
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Dimension |
158mm(H) 173mm(W) 218mm(L) |
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2. Software Specifications
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RAID |
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RAID modes |
RAID 0, 1, 5,JBOD |
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Auto-rebuild |
Supported |
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Hot-swap |
Supported |
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Network |
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Configuration |
Fixed IP Address, Dynamic IP Address, DDNS |
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IP sharing mode |
Can be enable/disabled |
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Transport Protocols |
TCP/IP/Appletalk |
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File Protocols |
SMB/CIFS, HTTP/HTTPS, FTP, NFS, AFP |
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Wireless LAN |
802.11b/g AP mode supported by USB Dongle (ZD1211x based) |
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Data Access |
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Client OS support |
Windows 98/ME/NT/2000/XP/2003/Vista UNIX/Linux Mac OS 9 / X |
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WebDisk |
Web-based file access |
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FTP |
File transmission protocol |
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Download Manager |
HTTP / FTP / BT |
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Printer Server (IPP) |
Support USB printers Support IPP various printers Client can manage(List/Delete) the print job queue on WEB interface |
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Data Backup |
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USB copy via LCM operate |
Copy USB Mass storage device contents to specified location to NAS |
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Multimedia Support |
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iTunes Server |
Supported File Types: AAC, MP3 w/ ID3 tag, WAV |
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Photo Web Server |
Supported File Types: GIF, JPG (JPEG), BMP, PNG Support EXIF display Support slide show |
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Media server |
Support uPnP AV streaming protocol Works with DLNA-certified players |
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Web cam |
Support Capture, preview, schedule Support image size : 160 x 120, 320 x 240, 640 x 480 |
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User Authentication |
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Local User |
Supports built-in user accounts |
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Local Group |
Supports built-in user groups |
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Microsoft PDC/AD |
Supports PDC/AD users/groups |
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File System |
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Type |
Journaling File System |
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Capacity |
3TB or above |
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File Size Supported |
Support Files max : 2TB |
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Language Support |
Unicode Support |
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Authorization |
Read, Write or Deny options on individual users or groups |
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Administration |
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Multi-Lingual Web-based administration |
Web-based server management Interface Supports English, Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese, Japanese, Korean, French, German, Italian, Spanish |
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Utility Program |
MS Windows / Mac OSX Setup Wizard, Support multilingual Support Windows 2000/XP/2003/Vista, Mac OSX backup utility |
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Email notification |
Send the system messages via Email to the system administrator |
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