Hi all am new to this forum Am thinking of buying a netgear ReadyNAS duo for streaming movies & mp3s, I have a iPhone & a iPad do I need to convert files before I store them on the drives or can I play them directly ( I.e avi mp4 ect )
Do you really mean a Duo (which was discontinued some time ago)? Or do you mean a currently shipping ReadyNAS? The RN212 is currently shipping 2-bay entry-level ReadyNAS.
@Bambos1 wrote: do I need to convert files before I store them on the drives or can I play them directly ( I.e avi mp4 ect )
This kind of depends. There are apps that can play AVI, MKV, and other formats on your iphone/ipad. For instance AVPlayerHD can play those files using FTP (or you can download them to the device and play them later). That are other DLNA client apps that can connect to a DLNA server on the NAS. Plex is popular, but you'd need a new ReadyNAS to run it on the NAS. The iTunes server features in the ReadyNAS won't work for this - they don't have the home sharing feature that you need to play media on iphones and ipads..
The built-in IOS apps are more limited in what they can play, so if you want to use them you generally will need to stick with mp3/mp4.
Another aspect is whether you want to stream locally (while you are home) or remotely.
