Thecus N2810 2-Bay 4K Capable SMB NAS Review

Direct Usage via HDMI

A NAS like the Thecus N2810 would be a waste to use headless as the hardware has so much more to offer. Luckily you can use it for a lot more and directly attach it to your TV or monitor via the HDMI port, and that with 4K resolutions.

While there isn’t any need to configure the resolution, you can if you need to. The NAS did however correctly discover my TVs resolution and started up giving me a wonderful 2160p (4K UHD) resolution.

All you need to control this part of the NAS is to attach a keyboard and mouse of your choice, wired or wireless, and get going. While you’re presented with the Thecus launcher, you also got access to through the menu line – just hit the windows key on your keyboard and it will pop open even if hidden. Here you can see how I’ve changed the resolution to 1080p – something that might be preferred by some people despite having a 4K monitor.

You can browse the web through Firefox and that way you also get access to the NAS configuration itself, a useful feature under any circumstance and without the need for any network connection.

You can naturally also visit any other website such as ours and check up on the latest news and reviews.

One of the reasons to change to a smaller resolution could be the terminal to which you also have direct access by default. As we see in this photo, it isn’t very large and barely readable. A common problem and something 4K users are used to by now.

But enough of all the productive things, this is also an entertainment unit. Whether you prefer a simple and universal approach such as VLC or you want a more advanced media experience, Thecus has it covered.

Kodi, formerly known as XMBC, is also part of the ThecusOS and it is one of the most used media players in the living rooms around the world. But Plex is also supported as we’ve seen earlier.

So you can lean back and watch your favorite shows, movies, and other media files in the comfort of your couch.

The Thecus launcher, better seen here in the lower resolution, will expand with more icons as you install more addons from the package center.