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Just found out how to play my NAS vids!

marlman

marlman

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Oct 10, 2012
401
326
Not had my ATV long and was disappointed that I could not play my videos stored on my NAS.

But after a bit of Googling I discovered the app File Browser and I can now AirPlay them straight to my TV.

I expect everyone else knows this but it made my day when I found it!
 
marlman said:
Not had my ATV long and was disappointed that I could not play my videos stored on my NAS.

But after a bit of Googling I discovered the app File Browser and I can now AirPlay them straight to my TV.

I expect everyone else knows this but it made my day when I found it!
Click to expand...

Airplay does not mean directly.... That would require an intermediary of some type. Might as well just run iTunes on a computer then.
 
On Synology NAS

I think the DS Video App for Synology NASs can actually do this while bypassing the iPad once started -- i.e. I think the NAS streams directly to the AppleTV. This is great for me at home since my AppleTV is wired on gigabit as is the Synology. This means I can play REALLY high Mbps video files which I could not do on WiFi especially if the iPad was having to both received from the NAS as well as send to the AppleTV.
 
colorspace said:
I think the DS Video App for Synology NASs can actually do this while bypassing the iPad once started -- i.e. I think the NAS streams directly to the AppleTV. This is great for me at home since my AppleTV is wired on gigabit as is the Synology. This means I can play REALLY high Mbps video files which I could not do on WiFi especially if the iPad was having to both received from the NAS as well as send to the AppleTV.
Click to expand...

But surely if you have a DLNA TV then the TV will pick up the Synology in any event - absolutely no need to include ATV in the loop. I read many references on these forums about using ATV for this and that and wonder if you have DLNA devices in the U.S.

Since getting my DLNA TV my ATV has become almost redundant (with the exception of iTunes) as I can stream straight from NAS to TV plus TV has Netflix apps etc.
 
One thing I like about the Filebrowser app is that you don't need a NAS. It sees everything on the network, so it can see external hard drives hanging off a router via USB. I have a NAS, so it opens up a lot more options, but this a great solution for people that don't have a NAS.
 
Lankyman said:
But surely if you have a DLNA TV then the TV will pick up the Synology in any event - absolutely no need to include ATV in the loop. I read many references on these forums about using ATV for this and that and wonder if you have DLNA devices in the U.S.

Since getting my DLNA TV my ATV has become almost redundant (with the exception of iTunes) as I can stream straight from NAS to TV plus TV has Netflix apps etc.
Click to expand...

I don't have a DNLA device so the Synology NAS video app comes in very handy. I don't think these are very common in the US yet -- maybe so in Europe?
 
With iTunes, you need a computer to be on and running the application. With Filebrowser, you just need the files to be on a hard drive attached to the router.
 
I think you asked the right question here.. and I'm not sure it's been answered.

Does it require a an intermediate device, and if so does wifi need to stream to that device which then needs to relay to the ATV. If so, unless you have pretty damned good n wifi signal on all three devices I assume that at best it would struggle with 1080 video.


priitv8 said:
You mean "direct" via iPhone/iPad?
Or did you find a way to install File Browser app onto appleTV??
Click to expand...
 
I have a DLNA TV but Smart TV's are not that Smart! They are slow and have clunky interfaces it takes a lot of button presses to get where you want.

My TV can find my NAS but its a pain it is so much easier using my iPad and ATV.

Also for some reason the picture is much better via the ATV

To answer the question the File Browser is on my iPad and its worth every penny and no jail breaking required!
 
Lankyman said:
...plus TV has Netflix apps etc.
Click to expand...

But the user interface of SmartTV features on every DLNA TV is complete crap, Including mine. I mean, my TV has Netflix on it, but the UI/UX (for the SmartTV features) is such garbage. AppleTV's UI is better and better looking (of course). Plus, the Netflix UI on AppleTV is the best one I've seen.
 
colorspace said:
I don't have a DNLA device so the Synology NAS video app comes in very handy. I don't think these are very common in the US yet -- maybe so in Europe?
Click to expand...

You are now hard pressed in Europe to find devices that aren't DLNA compatible. Take the Sony Z3 phones. They use 'Throw' technology to a DLNA device e.g. play a video on the phone and simply swipe upwards and voila the video is now playing directly onto your DLNA compatible TV.
 
priitv8 said:
Let us take a moment and thank Java, for that!
Click to expand...
Java is a programming language, a building block for something else. Just as steel and rubber are parts of an automobile, developers can use these to create Yugos or Porsche Spyder 918s. The language can be used to create intelligent conversations and debates or just spout anger and hatred.

It's more accurate to thank the development team for that.
 
960design said:
Java is a programming language, a building block for something else.
It's more accurate to thank the development team for that.
Click to expand...
Sounds really good on paper, but not in real life.
Java's devil lies IMHO in the VM and interpreted code. If I press Power on my 12-year old DVD-player, it is ready to obey my commands right away. It's firmware was compiled to machine-executable code.
The smart-TV and BluRay player (both of them carry this 'Java Inside' label), both require warm-up time, just as if we are back in the era of tube, not semiconductor-based sets.
 
priitv8 said:
Sounds really good on paper...
Click to expand...
You are correct, it is good on paper and in real life applications; several billion of them.
The smart-TV and BluRay player (both of them carry this 'Java Inside' label), both require warm-up time, just as if we are back in the era of tube, not semiconductor-based sets.
Click to expand...
I'm sorry, your hardware sucks... the warm up has nothing to do with the code. The Java inside is executed in under one millisecond. The manufacture's poor understanding of HIG is the cause of your frustration.
 
Well as we are diverting from the topic of this thread, I make my final rant 😉
960design said:
You are correct, it is good on paper and in real life applications; several billion of them.
Click to expand...
I can't share your enthusiasm. As I see it, Java's main downside, besides interpreted code and VM architecture, is the worldwide availability of lousy coders.
960design said:
I'm sorry, your hardware sucks... the warm up has nothing to do with the code. The Java inside is executed in under one millisecond. The manufacture's poor understanding of HIG is the cause of your frustration.
Click to expand...
We can argue that hardware is cheap and fast coding is the way to go, but this does not excuse for huge compromises done for the sake of platform independence and "cost-effective" software development.
And I can assure you, the hardware inside the 12-year old device does not even compare to the new, Java-based ones performance-wise. Still, the UX excels.
I know, life is too short to code in assembler, but I'd take tight & efficient machine-optimized code any day over platform-agnostic P-code.
The bottom line : we've traded the efficiency of executable machine code for the efficiency of software manufacturing process.
 
Last edited:
So what was the conclusion here? He's streaming through airplay and losing quality while doing so? Or is he actually streaming from NAS to Apple TV with no intermediary?
 
bpeeps said:
So what was the conclusion here? He's streaming through airplay and losing quality while doing so? Or is he actually streaming from NAS to Apple TV with no intermediary?
Click to expand...
I have no idea, how would one stream from NAS, without using AirPlay.
Alternative would be direct file access (ie. reading from network share) from NAS to aTV but non-jailbroken aTV is unable to do that.

The File Browser app OP mentioned, is an iOS app that is able to connect to a network share and play it back in QuickTime player of iOS device. From there he can AirPlay it onto aTV. This process does not involve stream alteration/recoding (provided original stream is in AVC/MPEG-4), hence no difference in quality.
 
priitv8 said:
I have no idea, how would one stream from NAS, without using AirPlay.
Alternative would be direct file access (ie. reading from network share) from NAS to aTV but non-jailbroken aTV is unable to do that.

The File Browser app OP mentioned, is an iOS app that is able to connect to a network share and play it back in QuickTime player of iOS device. From there he can AirPlay it onto aTV. This process does not involve stream alteration/recoding (provided original stream is in AVC/MPEG-4), hence no difference in quality.
Click to expand...

Interesting, all I care about is keeping 1080p quality. I've been looking for something to act as a better UI for my DLNA Blu-ray player when streaming from my NAS. Going to check out File Browser then.
 
bpeeps said:
Interesting, all I care about is keeping 1080p quality. I've been looking for something to act as a better UI for my DLNA Blu-ray player when streaming from my NAS. Going to check out File Browser then.
Click to expand...
For me that role is awarded to a Mac Mini that I can keep on 24/7/365 and that does not run out of juice.
I also find it more pleasant to browse the library from aTV screen and menus (with metadata), rather than navigating a forest of folders on an iOS device.
PS 1080p does not say much about quality (just see the discussion on iTunes 720p vs 1080p movies' perceivable image quality).
 
priitv8 said:
For me that role is awarded to a Mac Mini that I can keep on 24/7/365 and that does not run out of juice.
I also find it more pleasant to browse the library from aTV screen and menus (with metadata), rather than navigating a forest of folders on an iOS device.
PS 1080p does not say much about quality (just see the discussion on iTunes 720p vs 1080p movies' perceivable image quality).
Click to expand...

Update: After browsing Slickdeals, I installed XBMC on a Fire TV Stick, renamed all of my media files, and shared the folders with XBMC and it displays poster art, meta-data etc, in user-defined custom skins. This is much better than the list organization on my blu-ray player and will do for now.
 
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