Synology DS418play

Easily stream audio and video on your home network

The DS418play is the latest in a line of Synology network-attached storage (NAS) boxes that have been designed to stream audio and video to all of the devices on your home network.

The DS418play is a four-bay NAS that can be configured as a RAID array for speed or redundancy. Unlike other Synology NAS boxes, it transcodes video and audio on the fly, so you can store files on its storage drives (not included) and then stream them to an app, such as Synology’s own video player or the popular VLC on your iPhone or iPad, even when iOS doesn’t support the file format.

The DS418play has a faster processor and more memory than its predecessors; it supports up to 40TB of storage and can transcode two channels of H.264/H.265 4K video simultaneously. It also supports hardware encryption for file transmission. And it can be used as a destination for Time Machine backups, as well as being a regular file server. Apps available for iPhone and iPad enable you to stream audio and video and manage files. With the apps switched on in Share sheets, you can share photos and video to the NAS box, too. Support for CCTV cameras and direct downloads round out a comprehensive set of features.

The DS418play’s OS is easy to set up and configure. We had no problems installing storage drives, starting it up, and getting our Mac to discover the box on our network. We copied video shot on an iPhone to the NAS, and played it back on other devices on the network as well. We also uploaded video and audio content via the Finder on a Mac and then streamed it to our iOS devices.

The bottom line. If you want a highcapacity streaming media server that doubles as a NAS all-rounder, the DS418play fits the bill perfectly. Kenny Hemphill