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Overall we liked what we got with the QNAP HS-251 but it does come with a hefty price tag. Without disks we found it selling for £380 (around $595, AU$690) and if you add in the cost of the two 4TB disks that rises to something around the £650 mark ($1,020 AU$1,185). That's a lot to pay for a two-bay NAS even when you factor in the convenience of the HDMI interface and the XBMC-led multimedia capabilities.
That said, there will be buyers willing to pay that much for this unique combination which, when added to the stylish design, is hard to match.
We liked
QNAP has clearly gone all out to create a stylish NAS box and has succeeded in producing a very smart but still unobtrusive product that would grace any living room. Moreover, the lack of fans means it's very quiet which is important in a domestic environment. Yes, the disks do still make a noise, but opt for SSDs and you'll hardly hear a murmur.
The ability to plug the box directly into a TV is another key selling point and the decision to go for XBMC as the main media player is a good one. As a mature piece of software, XBMC can handle just about anything you want to throw at it and, courtesy of the dual-core Celeron processor, even transcode video to different devices on the fly.
Smartphone users will love the remote control app and as well as multimedia options it's worth remembering the HS-251 is also designed to be used as a conventional NAS box. With only two drive bays to play with the capacity is a bit limited but, in terms of functionality, it's all there and more than a match for other storage appliances in this price bracket.
We disliked
Although to be expected on a fanless appliance, we were a little concerned about how hot the HS-251 got when working hard. This is a problem likely to be exacerbated if the appliance is situated in a Hi-Fi rack or directly underneath the TV. Plus it's not as silent as you might expect (it can hit up to 25dB) and fixing that with SSDs will seriously impact both its capacity and your wallet.
The other big drawback is the price. On the plus side it's a quality product and you can plug it straight into a TV, but you're paying a premium compared to Synology's DS-415play which has the same transcoding capabilities plus four drive bays.
We would also have liked to see Wi-Fi and a bit more consumer-friendly help to get the box working. That said, the QNAP appliance is likely to appeal most to those with technical know-how anyway, so maybe that's not such a big issue.
Final verdict
If file sharing is all you crave then the HS-251 will come way down your shopping list behind cheaper, faster NAS rivals with greater capacity. As a multimedia server attached to a TV, however, it makes a lot more sense, especially with XBMC on board and built-in transcoding capabilities. It's also a very neat, stylish and quiet bit of kit most likely to appeal to tech-savvy enthusiasts able to afford the high price tag.
