I dont think the Buffalo Pro Duo is the cheapest one on the list, but it is quite well spec (I think its RM399).
One of my friend has a Pro Duo, and it has decent speeds (on GB network)... I have used the Buffalo Duo (non Pro) and in my opinion its OK... ok.... (means SLOW la).... but its cheap la....

I think, for your usage the QNAP or Synology would be a little overkill.... (but if you can afford it, why not.. I have installed used Synology and it is quite reliable when compared to the Buffalo)

I would recommend getting the Pro Duo if you can afford it (Not the Buffalo Link Station Duo!, but the Pro Duo!), and the 2nd choice will be the Dlink 320 (which I am planning to buy this weekend)

Based on my requirement (Backup and File serving for Media), I think the Dlink 320 should be sufficient for my needs...

I had asked about the performance of the Dlink 320 vs the Pro Duo on the forum, but nobody replied.....

Depend on what HD level you are in. Normal HD movie don't have problem streaming. The rest like codec and format is depend on your player to decode.

For 3D movie streaming, yes. There will be some problem with shuttering. You need a read/write good speed NAS. And not forget the network setup. Like router and switch.

I m currently facing the 3D streaming problem. The synology NAS stream to the player via router have some shuttering with those high bitrate 3D movie scene. I m not sure is it the NAS problem or the router bottleneck. The palyer is confirm good since play in the player HDD is no problem. The next solution will be waiting for the fw upgrade from synology. If still the same, than will look at the router side.

I check around the gigabit switch. The price from cheap till expensive. ANy different? What to pick?

For streaming, forget the wifi. It is useless.

I m still testing the streaming via NFS, samba and UPNP. All no problem with HD movie even big file. But for 3D, it shuttering.

Is there any speed different with the high end swith and the cheap switch?

I m tired to try around. It is wasting money and time. 1 shoot to make it right.

guys i hope somebody could help me with this problem:

i have a desktop pc with 4 hard drives full of data
now the pc gone kaput and since i have a macbook now i don't need to use it anymore
i'm planning to get a NAS so that i can use all the hard drives that i have wirelessly with my macbook
if i insert those hard drives into the NAS, can i still use the data (the hard drives are formatted as NTFS using windows 7 that is my previous desktop setup) or will it be formatted and become a newly erased HDD?