Serviio

I have setup Serviio and its working great. Just wanted to explore a different setup and would like any opinions as to wether it would be faster or not.
Current setup:
Serviio installed on Win7 i7 laptop with external HDD plugged in via USB 2.0. This streams to my Sony TV via a wireless N router.
Generally have no issues...
https://19216801.onl/ https://routerlogin.uno/
Considering:
Serviio still installed on Laptop.
BUT plugging external HDD into the router instead of the laptop.
Most of my files need no transcoding.

I assume as the files are now going ROUTER/TV instead of laptop/router/TV
Cheers

Very few routers have enough processing power to transcode video, so if you have any files that need transcoding, I would not recommend using the router. Also, the DLNA server built into the router is unlikely to have the sort of features that Serviio offers, such as the customizable presentations, user access control, and more.

Now if you were thinking of using the router as a NAS, and Serviio on the laptop is pulling the files from the NAS and streaming them out, that takes care of the transcoding. But in my experience you're doubling your network traffic, as the file must go from the NAS to the computer and then to the player. If your media is a high bitrate HD video, such as a ripped Blu Ray movie, that could in theory saturate your wireless connection, depending on the wireless hardware involved. 802.11n is capable of speeds up to 300 Mbps, but that is a theoretical maximum. Some hardware is only rated at 150 Mbps, and in practice you might only get around 100 Mbps, depending on conditions. I've seen Blu Ray rips with bitrates that are 40 Mbps or higher, and certainly higher peak rates. If you're sending the same video twice (NAS to computer, then computer to player), running out of bandwidth is possible.

Now if you could connect the laptop to the router with an Ethernet cable, then there should be no issue with bandwidth, assuming the router and laptop both support Gigabit Ethernet. If it's only Fast Ethernet, then you're back at the 100 Mbps ceiling for bitrate and you again have the potential of saturating the network.