2010-04-10, 21:56
If you have multiple clients for your video content than it does make sense to store on a NAS or a file server instead of wandering around with USB drives and trying to find out which one has a movie you need. However you need a Gigabit Ethernet network on the server side for that. The network device must be a switch not a hub. I am able to play a 1080p H.264 movies on my ATV with Crystal HD just fine from a file server over a wired Gigabit network even though the ATV itself only has 10/100 network adapter (shame!). Another benefit of playing over a network is somehow reading from the network is easier for a CPU (less CPU load) than from a local hard drive regardless of internal or USB. This is just my experience. I believe that on computers with more powerful CPUs that effect would not be noticeable but on less powerful comps like ATV or Atom-based it does make a difference.