Pine 64 as a NAS media centre

[cerberusjvl]

Good Evening,

I'm a semi-technical person and love the versatility of the Pine64, initially I was working out a way to use it as a media player (Like say, a noontec or astone player) off of my media server. Loving simple things as I do, I currently have a very basic setup with a QNAP box. Given that the newest (and most expensive) QNAP's interface directly to the TV through a HDMI port for playing media now I started to think about the Pine64 I ordered.

Given that I could fabricate a case, will the pine64 ever have a RAID module? It has all the other hardware to compete with a Mid-high range QNAP box if we could have that ability.

Given that I have enough hard drives around i can use UNRaid or some other distro (after I bumble my way through it) I like that i could eliminate a few pieces of tech quite easily.

What's the verdict?

TIA

Jamie

[MichaelMeissner]

I don't know what kind of bandwidth you need, but IIRC, the Pine64 only has USB 2 connections and no SATA controller. I don't know whether USB 2 is fast enough to stream say a 4K video.

[joe]

I don't know what kind of bandwidth you need, but IIRC, the Pine64 only has USB 2 connections and no SATA controller.  I don't know whether USB 2 is fast enough to stream say a 4K video.

Yes , 
is not sata controller , but you can buy usb hub adapter to External usb sata case input your sata hard drive , but this usb 2.0 reality speed bandwidth is enough for 4k video stream or not , i don't know , because Linux OS or new version android 5.1.1 have not Download , can't test ............ 

but saw they player 4k video use class 10 sd card is enough  , you think how speed can read 4k this card bandwidth? 
and this time no one report sd card or use usb hub adapter to External usb sata case read and write speed bandwidth , so this is no idea now

 

[MichaelMeissner]

I don't know what kind of bandwidth you need, but IIRC, the Pine64 only has USB 2 connections and no SATA controller.  I don't know whether USB 2 is fast enough to stream say a 4K video.

Yes , 
is not sata controller , but you can buy usb hub adapter to External usb sata case input your sata hard drive , but this usb 2.0 reality speed bandwidth is enough for 4k video stream or not , i don't know , because Linux OS or new version android 5.1.1 have not Download , can't test ............ 

but saw they player 4k video use class 10 sd card is enough  , you think how speed can read 4k this card bandwidth? 
and this time no one report read and write speed bandwidth  

It was a question, I didn't know how much bandwidth you need or can get from USB 2.0.  This link that I found via google says that the maximum you can hope for from USB 2.0 is about 35 Mbytes/second, and that normal disks hooked to a USB adapter (presumably with a USB->Sata converter inside) will get 25 Mbytes/second: http://www.binarytides.com/linux-test-drive-speed/
Other google searches say that to effectively stream 4K video you need at least 25 Mbytes/second.  So, if you were doing nothing else, the GPU could do all of the video decoding without bogging down the main CPU, and other things where the stars were aligned, you might get an acceptable 4K stream. https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-minimu...om-YouTube.  Now, if you only needed 1080p, that is probably more doable.
However, I tend to think in general, you may need a computer with faster I/O (i.e. native SATA, USB 3.0).  Perhaps the 2nd generation of pine64 will have these (but whether you will get them cheap is a different question).

[joe]

I don't know what kind of bandwidth you need, but IIRC, the Pine64 only has USB 2 connections and no SATA controller.  I don't know whether USB 2 is fast enough to stream say a 4K video.

Yes , 
is not sata controller , but you can buy usb hub adapter to External usb sata case input your sata hard drive , but this usb 2.0 reality speed bandwidth is enough for 4k video stream or not , i don't know , because Linux OS or new version android 5.1.1 have not Download , can't test ............ 

but saw they player 4k video use class 10 sd card is enough  , you think how speed can read 4k this card bandwidth? 
and this time no one report read and write speed bandwidth  

It was a question, I didn't know how much bandwidth you need or can get from USB 2.0.  This link that I found via google says that the maximum you can hope for from USB 2.0 is about 35 Mbytes/second, and that normal disks hooked to a USB adapter (presumably with a USB->Sata converter inside) will get 25 Mbytes/second: http://www.binarytides.com/linux-test-drive-speed/
Other google searches say that to effectively stream 4K video you need at least 25 Mbytes/second.  So, if you were doing nothing else, the GPU could do all of the video decoding without bogging down the main CPU, and other things where the stars were aligned, you might get an acceptable 4K stream. https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-minimu...om-YouTube.  Now, if you only needed 1080p, that is probably more doable.
However, I tend to think in general, you may need a computer with faster I/O (i.e. native SATA, USB 3.0).  Perhaps the 2nd generation of pine64 will have these (but whether you will get them cheap is a different question).

Thank your search ,  but i think this is not pine64 board problem 

---

@MichaelMeissner

And buy good quality usb hub adapter and External usb sata case , maybe can up bandwidth but not sure how more !

[MichaelMeissner]

And buy good quality usb hub adapter and External usb sata case , maybe can up bandwidth

You would get only a marginal improvement. At the most you would get is 35 Mbytes/second, since that is the max a USB 2.0 connection can support. It does not matter how fast the hub/disk are, since they have to go through the USB 2.0 connection.

I tend to think in real life you might not get that much improvement.

[joe]

And buy good quality usb hub adapter and External usb sata case , maybe can up bandwidth

You would get only a marginal improvement.  At the most you would get is 35 Mbytes/second, since that is the max a USB 2.0 connection can support.  It does not matter how fast the hub/disk are, since they have to go through the USB 2.0 connection.

I tend to think in real life you might not get that much improvement.

I known you mean, but some USb hub quality is very bad not fully to use bandwidth or External usb sata case they pcb board sata chip maybe use bad chip , this may not to use max 35M

[MichaelMeissner]

I known you mean, but some USb hub quality is very bad not fully to use bandwidth or External usb sata case they pcb board sata chip maybe use bad chip , this may not to use max 35M

True, you can always do worse. My point was even if you buy the best performing gear, 35 Mbytes/second is about the best you can hope for.

Presumably the pine64 creators made this decision due to cost, size, or availability of the USB3, and sata parts. Remember at $19, compromises have to be made.

[joe]

I known you mean, but some USb hub quality is very bad not fully to use bandwidth or External usb sata case they pcb board sata chip maybe use bad chip , this may not to use max 35M

True, you can always do worse.  My point was even if you buy the best performing gear, 35 Mbytes/second is about the best you can hope for.

Presumably the pine64 creators made this decision due to cost, size, or availability of the USB3, and sata parts.  Remember at $19, compromises have to be made.

Thank for your point

This is the allwinner cpu a64 set not support hardware usb3 , this cpu Combined totally support they want hardware , e.g only support max 3GB ram   , USB2.0  and other.   is cpu Control pine64 use or not use usb3 , is not pine64 Control cpu support usb3.

if you saw pine64 wiki about this cpu datasheet  , you will know this is not pine64 problem , finally , one day have no test pine64 really speed , one day  can't say how bandwidth .   ( i know you saw maybe max 35M )
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0cEs0l...NBUXc/view

And the market too many bad not certified and not good quality USb hub and External usb sata case , if you use this not good quality to test speed , is not truly report ( This is my point )

for example , If you buy three usb stick brands (eg. sandisk , kingston, toshiba )and tested , they speed bandwidth is not 100% the same as.

this is some usb drive speed test report
http://usbspeed.nirsoft.net/

[By-Jokese]

Does Anyone tested unRAID on Pine64?