Network media player that's easy to use
Discussion
I've just replaced my old HP Microserver with a Synology DS420+ NAS. As well as using it for backups and CCTV, I've got all my media (mp3, .wav and.mkv) on there.
I can play the music and video from the NAS directly on my Samsung smart TV, but it takes about 15 button presses to navigate to the files.
I've also got a Dune HDsmart player, but for some reason I can't set up "favourites" for folders on the NAS, so lots of button pressing. The interface is awful too, just a long list of file names. Audio and video quality is good though, with optical out to my AV amp.
What's out there that sounds good, is easy to navigate ( good graphical interface, shortcut/favourites buttons to go straight to folders), IR remote so that it works with my Harmony, and can handle DLNA or the current version of SMB?
I'd prefer something that works out of the box, rather than having to use Plex, which I've struggled with in the past.
I can play the music and video from the NAS directly on my Samsung smart TV, but it takes about 15 button presses to navigate to the files.
I've also got a Dune HDsmart player, but for some reason I can't set up "favourites" for folders on the NAS, so lots of button pressing. The interface is awful too, just a long list of file names. Audio and video quality is good though, with optical out to my AV amp.
What's out there that sounds good, is easy to navigate ( good graphical interface, shortcut/favourites buttons to go straight to folders), IR remote so that it works with my Harmony, and can handle DLNA or the current version of SMB?
I'd prefer something that works out of the box, rather than having to use Plex, which I've struggled with in the past.
I read your post and was going to say Plex until I got to the end :-). Though I still will...
I too struggled with it until I installed the plex server on my ds220+. I run Plex client on my Nvidea shield.
It was always a pain and often "lost the server" until I installed the DS220+ Plex server. SInce then it's been a dream to use.
Give it another go now you have the DS......
Btw. I simply have two folders, one for TV shows ans one for Movies (subfolders make no odds so you can do as you like). The big breakthrough I found with plex is that you have to accept it deals with TV shows differently to movies. Put a series in a movie folder and it'll make a hash of gathering the metadata and showing you the episodes. Put a movie in a TV folder and it'll ignore it. Once separated it works great.
I can now drop an file in one of the folders and it'll be indexed and show on my Plex client immediately with no user intervention.
I too struggled with it until I installed the plex server on my ds220+. I run Plex client on my Nvidea shield.
It was always a pain and often "lost the server" until I installed the DS220+ Plex server. SInce then it's been a dream to use.
Give it another go now you have the DS......
Btw. I simply have two folders, one for TV shows ans one for Movies (subfolders make no odds so you can do as you like). The big breakthrough I found with plex is that you have to accept it deals with TV shows differently to movies. Put a series in a movie folder and it'll make a hash of gathering the metadata and showing you the episodes. Put a movie in a TV folder and it'll ignore it. Once separated it works great.
I can now drop an file in one of the folders and it'll be indexed and show on my Plex client immediately with no user intervention.
If Plex is easier to use on the DS420 than on a Windows server, I'll give it another go.
That still leaves the actual player hardware though. I think I've got a Roku 2 somewhere - does that play nicely with Plex?
Don't really want to mess around with Raspberry stuff, I'm too old and impatient!
My Samsung TV is about 6 years old, not sure there's much on the app store for it, but I'll have a look.
As it is, the TV does find the Synology, and does play the files. It just takes a lot of jumping around in various menus. Not at all user friendly
That still leaves the actual player hardware though. I think I've got a Roku 2 somewhere - does that play nicely with Plex?
Don't really want to mess around with Raspberry stuff, I'm too old and impatient!
My Samsung TV is about 6 years old, not sure there's much on the app store for it, but I'll have a look.
As it is, the TV does find the Synology, and does play the files. It just takes a lot of jumping around in various menus. Not at all user friendly
clockworks said:
If Plex is easier to use on the DS420 than on a Windows server, I'll give it another go.
That still leaves the actual player hardware though. I think I've got a Roku 2 somewhere - does that play nicely with Plex?
Don't really want to mess around with Raspberry stuff, I'm too old and impatient!
My Samsung TV is about 6 years old, not sure there's much on the app store for it, but I'll have a look.
As it is, the TV does find the Synology, and does play the files. It just takes a lot of jumping around in various menus. Not at all user friendly
Roku has a plex client, yes.That still leaves the actual player hardware though. I think I've got a Roku 2 somewhere - does that play nicely with Plex?
Don't really want to mess around with Raspberry stuff, I'm too old and impatient!
My Samsung TV is about 6 years old, not sure there's much on the app store for it, but I'll have a look.
As it is, the TV does find the Synology, and does play the files. It just takes a lot of jumping around in various menus. Not at all user friendly
I've not touched my Plex server app on my DS since installing it - that should tell you a lot.
I think if you try and stream movie files form your NAs directly/via DLNA etc, you can often end up with the server transcoding, and the problems start when it can't transcode certain formats. My plex server just serves up the files as they are. No transcoding at all.
clockworks said:
As it is, the TV does find the Synology, and does play the files. It just takes a lot of jumping around in various menus. Not at all user friendly
You load the app, find the movie or TV show you want to watch and watch it. I'm unsure of anything that will speed this up, it's no more complex than using Netflix or Prime?somouk said:
You load the app, find the movie or TV show you want to watch and watch it. I'm unsure of anything that will speed this up, it's no more complex than using Netflix or Prime?
Netflix and Prime show as nice big logos as soon as I open the Smart Hub. Maybe 3 button presses.The Synology is currently hiding away in the same place as a USB drive, quite a few button presses, and it's not immediately obvious. Once I've found it, I then have to step down and search for the folder.
For some reason, Netflix, Prime, iPlayer etc. are shown as "recents", but the Synology isn't. I have to search for it each time.
If I can get the Synology app on the TV, it might be a lot easier to navigate, and may "stick" as a "recent"?
Another vote for Plex. First time I tried it I didn't get on with it, but then I built a FreeNAS and put the server on there... Love it. I've got all my music, ripped DVD/BDs, even home movies on there. TV, movie and music metadata is all good.
I use Nvidia Shield for the main viewing area and various generations of Chromecast in most other areas, finally an LG 4k smart TV that has a Plex app despite being a good 10+ years old. All works well.
I don't transcode anything so my server isn't particularly meaty.
The two things I wish it did better are 3D playback and 360 playback. Most of my home movies are in one or other format, but I appreciate it's fairly niche.
I use Nvidia Shield for the main viewing area and various generations of Chromecast in most other areas, finally an LG 4k smart TV that has a Plex app despite being a good 10+ years old. All works well.
I don't transcode anything so my server isn't particularly meaty.
The two things I wish it did better are 3D playback and 360 playback. Most of my home movies are in one or other format, but I appreciate it's fairly niche.
clockworks said:
Netflix and Prime show as nice big logos as soon as I open the Smart Hub. Maybe 3 button presses.
The Synology is currently hiding away in the same place as a USB drive, quite a few button presses, and it's not immediately obvious. Once I've found it, I then have to step down and search for the folder.
For some reason, Netflix, Prime, iPlayer etc. are shown as "recents", but the Synology isn't. I have to search for it each time.
If I can get the Synology app on the TV, it might be a lot easier to navigate, and may "stick" as a "recent"?
You can edit the favourites on the TV to add the Synology app.The Synology is currently hiding away in the same place as a USB drive, quite a few button presses, and it's not immediately obvious. Once I've found it, I then have to step down and search for the folder.
For some reason, Netflix, Prime, iPlayer etc. are shown as "recents", but the Synology isn't. I have to search for it each time.
If I can get the Synology app on the TV, it might be a lot easier to navigate, and may "stick" as a "recent"?
There's a thread I started in the HiFi etc subforum.
And a couple of other related threads.
I think it comes down to your definition of 'easy to use'.
I'd like something which I can just press the play button and not have to drive it from my phone, but I'm also wanting to access a store of music from any one (or possibly more than one...) of a few HiFi systems around the house. Also access streaming services of some sort, maybe.
A couple of people suggest the Wiim devices which you control with a phone.
The last decade or so is littered with the wreckage of obsolete audio streaming and multi-room systems it seems!
I'm toying with a Ras-Pi based system.
It occurs to me that a tablet with a decent DAC would do the job?
And a couple of other related threads.
I think it comes down to your definition of 'easy to use'.
I'd like something which I can just press the play button and not have to drive it from my phone, but I'm also wanting to access a store of music from any one (or possibly more than one...) of a few HiFi systems around the house. Also access streaming services of some sort, maybe.
A couple of people suggest the Wiim devices which you control with a phone.
The last decade or so is littered with the wreckage of obsolete audio streaming and multi-room systems it seems!
I'm toying with a Ras-Pi based system.
It occurs to me that a tablet with a decent DAC would do the job?
somouk said:
You can edit the favourites on the TV to add the Synology app.
OK, I've tried finding the Synology app on the TV - nothing suitable shows up in the "featured" or "apps" section, and there's no option to add more apps, no app store, nothing at all like that. All I get are 4 pages or so of apps for internet TV stuff. No search function.If you don't like Plex (I didn't), have a look at Emby. It's very simple to set up, just set up folders for music, movies etc, point Emby to them and it catalogues and keeps everything up to date, like Plex.
I run it as a back end to Kodi on a media PC in my living room, but only because my all in one remote works perfectly with Kodi. For all my portable devices I just use the Emby app on its own.
I run it as a back end to Kodi on a media PC in my living room, but only because my all in one remote works perfectly with Kodi. For all my portable devices I just use the Emby app on its own.
I've tried playing Synology video files on a cheap LG smart TV in my workshop. Plays about 50% of them. The Samsung TV refuses to play some files that work on the LG.
The Dune HD player seems to play most video files, the Roku2 somewhat less.
All the devices seem to be OK with playing mp3.
From what I can make out, video files that I ripped myself from original DVDs and BluRay disks using MKV mostly work, while other stuff is pot luck. Either transcoding problems on the Synology (not imported the files into the Synology Video Station app yet), or DLNA isn't negotiating the device capabilities?
When I had the same files on my Microserver running WHS2011, they all played OK on the Dune.
As for using Plex, the Roku supports it, but the TVs don't have Plex apps. Not sure about the Dune, as it's quite an old model.
Still wondering what hardware media player/streamer is going to work for me? Choice seems limited to Roku or Amazon stick- type devices (no optical output or ethernet connection), or Fire TV cube and Shield (no optical output).
The Dune HD player seems to play most video files, the Roku2 somewhat less.
All the devices seem to be OK with playing mp3.
From what I can make out, video files that I ripped myself from original DVDs and BluRay disks using MKV mostly work, while other stuff is pot luck. Either transcoding problems on the Synology (not imported the files into the Synology Video Station app yet), or DLNA isn't negotiating the device capabilities?
When I had the same files on my Microserver running WHS2011, they all played OK on the Dune.
As for using Plex, the Roku supports it, but the TVs don't have Plex apps. Not sure about the Dune, as it's quite an old model.
Still wondering what hardware media player/streamer is going to work for me? Choice seems limited to Roku or Amazon stick- type devices (no optical output or ethernet connection), or Fire TV cube and Shield (no optical output).
I'm confused. The last thing you want to use are TV apps - they get outdate fast, and the TV rarely has the grunt to decode the likes of h.265.
Roku - at least to me - is a phisical device - not an app. You load Plex on your Roku device.
I've still only found Shield to be able to play all my movies. It's powerful and can decode all formats.
Roku - at least to me - is a phisical device - not an app. You load Plex on your Roku device.
I've still only found Shield to be able to play all my movies. It's powerful and can decode all formats.
Griffith4ever said:
I'm confused. The last thing you want to use are TV apps - they get outdate fast, and the TV rarely has the grunt to decode the likes of h.265.
Roku - at least to me - is a phisical device - not an app. You load Plex on your Roku device.
I've still only found Shield to be able to play all my movies. It's powerful and can decode all formats.
I was just trying the TV apps to see if they would work. Roku - at least to me - is a phisical device - not an app. You load Plex on your Roku device.
I've still only found Shield to be able to play all my movies. It's powerful and can decode all formats.
I know that Roku is a physical device. I have got a Roku 2, which has the Plex player as standard. It's currently being used in a bedroom to get Netflix on a dumb TV. It also has Roku Media Player app built-in, which is what I was using earlier to play the files.
The Dune HD (hardware device) is a fairly old thing that seems to work with any source using SMB. Worked perfectly with my Microserver hosting the files, a bit iffy now that the Synology is hosting them. I've just updated the firmware, will try again later. Might be a setup issue with the Synology.
I see that there's a simpler and cheaper Shield now. Is that any good?
I caved in and installed Plex on the Synology. Pretty easy to do, as apparently they changed the installation process a few months ago. Linked it to my old Plex account, authorised the Roku box, and started adding folders to the library.
So far, so good. Plex seems to do a much better job of making videos playable on the Roku box. It even managed to properly play a ripped video that defaulted to "audio description" when played on other devices.
The Plex client interface and library format will take a bit of getting used to.
So far, so good. Plex seems to do a much better job of making videos playable on the Roku box. It even managed to properly play a ripped video that defaulted to "audio description" when played on other devices.
The Plex client interface and library format will take a bit of getting used to.
The app is called DS VIdeo, not sure searching for Synology would find it, been some time since i did it:
https://kb.synology.com/en-me/DSM/tutorial/What_sh...
https://kb.synology.com/en-me/DSM/tutorial/What_sh...
somouk said:
The app is called DS VIdeo, not sure searching for Synology would find it, been some time since i did it:
https://kb.synology.com/en-me/DSM/tutorial/What_sh...
My TV isn't on the list, so must be too old. It was one of the very first Samsung curved screen models- UE55HU8200Thttps://kb.synology.com/en-me/DSM/tutorial/What_sh...
I don't have any form of search function on the TV.
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