[Shield Android TV Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] gautham_y:
[MENTION=4806142]baileyjr[/MENTION]

What [MENTION=6174672]OathYvne[/MENTION] said :) I ordered my 16GB Shield TV and it should arrive soon. Details about your NAS would help! Is it a 2-drive NAS by any chance? I'm dead set on getting at least a 2-drive bay for RAID 1 redundancy.

I've been obsessed with the idea of an NAS for months now but there is just so much choice out there. Short story, I decided to invest in one of the ready-made boxes instead of rolling my own. I'm also waiting to accumulate enough cash to make the purchase.

EDIT:

[MENTION=6174672]OathYvne[/MENTION] Just read the rest of your comment. Let me see if I can help.

It won't use your internet bandwidth, just the home network bandwidth, so no worries. As long as the NAS and the Shield are connected to the same network (through WiFi or Ethernet), streaming from the NAS will work even if you just unplug your internet cable fro the router.

Your Shield can access the NAS whether it is connected to your home network through WiFi or Ethernet. But Ethernet will have better performance any day. So if using WiFi is giving you lag when accessing media from NAS, a wired connection will most likely fix that.

A NAS connects to your router (preferably) through Ethernet. After that, any other device connected to your router's network, either through Ethernet or WiFi, will be able to access the NAS.

Saved this one for last because it depends on a few factors.

Short answer:

Kodi streams your media from the NAS, so if I had to guess, you'll have to wait a few seconds at most before your file starts playing.

You can actually try it out before getting a dedicated NAS. You must have a desktop or laptop you can connect to your router through Ethernet. Try accessing some files from your computer from the Shield in Kodi and see how things perform. Run tests with different resolutions you will be using (definitely try with 1080 video files, but if you're using a 4K TV, try that out too). If you feel things are slow, try connecting the Shield using Ethernet and run the tests again. It should most likely be enough. If the performance is not satisfactory to you even then, you may need to upgrade your router.

Long answer:

If you are using Ethernet:

The network speed (data/second) depends on 2 factors: is your router a Gigabit router? And is your Ethernet cable compatible? You need teh right cable if you want to use the full potential of your router's speed. Here's a nice read on the subject:

http://www.howtogeek.com/210326/not...l-you-can-get-faster-lan-speeds-by-upgrading/

If you're using WiFi:

Apart from the obvious factors such as signal strength between your Shield and your router, another important factor: Is your router WiFi n, or ac? ac has much higher data transfer rate than n. Anything lower than n and you should probably upgrade your router. The Shield is ac capable, so getting a WiFi ac router will give the best throughput with all your ac-enabled devices.

Some reading:

http://www.trustedreviews.com/opinions/802-11ac-vs-802-11n-what-s-the-difference

http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2014/06/is-802-11ac-wi-fi-actually-worth-the-extra-cost

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2416612,00.asp

http://lifehacker.com/the-features-that-matter-on-your-next-router-and-the-o-1646574925

Don't worry though. More than likely, things will work just fine without having to upgrade your hardware. But once you get a NAS, you will get used to accessing a lot of your content from multiple devices from the NAS, so getting a Gigabit wireless ac router and the right cables will be a future-proof investment in the long-run for your digital life at home.