General Discussion Streaming movies from Synology NAS with Video Service (1 Viewer)

[movie_buff]

I have a Synology NAS where I store all my VHS tapes I've converted along with DVD & BluRay movies I've converted to MPG or MP4 files. I have the Synology Video Station service installed on the NAS and I have a Samsung 65in Smart TV with DS Video app installed. The Synology NAS and Samsung TV connect directly to my router's ethernet ports, so connection between the 2 devices should be quite fast (router is a Linksys AX5400 with 4 ethernet ports). My problem is that the movies seem to buffer every once in a while so a circling set of dots appear on the TV for about 20 - 30 secs until the video catches up, or something. I'm not sure what is going on so looking to the folks in this forum for some guidance.

 

[smithbrad]

I've had a Synology NAS 215J since 2015. Up until 5 months ago I used it for playing back MP4 videos on iPads and Samsung TV's. The files were compressed for general mobile use, and I never had a problem with lag. However, in the last 5 months I've switched out my wireless router with an eero mesh giving me much better speed to my projector in the basement and setting up for streaming HD video. I started out with a Chromecast that I already had to connect to the DS video app on my iPad to my receiver. Unfortunately, I was getting a few minutes of lag about every 10 minutes of playback. I switched out the Chromecast with a 4k Firestick. That got rid of the lag, but unfortunately it couldn't handle true 24 fps video (while barely noticeable there was a slight delay with NTSC 23.976 fps). Finally, I switched to using the Plex app on the Synology and a new Apple 4K which solved all my issues. I found that the DS Video app couldn't handle 24 fps and didn't play well with the latest Apple 4K TV remote. Plex was more up-to-date.

Just a guess, but it could be that the App in the TV doesn't have enough memory to buffer the signal, or it could be the DS Video app. I'm very happy with the Plex app now and it seems to be maintained better than DS Video.

 

[movie_buff]

SmithBrad, thank you for the response. I have the Synology DS218J with DSM v7.0.1 running. I am not finding the app Plex on this system. Is that something I have to download to the NAS in order to use it? Does it run under a different name?

The other point is my Samsung is not a 4K but rather an UltraHD, near 4K but not quit. Will that Apple 4K app run on that TV and work okay?

 

[smithbrad]

I ended up starting with a clean install so I could move up to DSM 7.01. Plex is an App you need to download to install. I recall I had to download a Beta version of Plex to work with DSM 7.01. I downloaded it to my workstation and then used the Manual Install approach from the Package Center. It was a little tricky since the Plex installation is a bit different for DSM 7.01 then the earlier DSM. I would do a Google search on "installing plex to Synology server 7.01" for additional guidance. I know it took me a few tries to get it installed correctly.

Once installed the UI isn't much different then DS Video, but maintenance is actually easier. With Plex I setup a few genre specific subfolders. Then loaded my content under each subfolder. With DS Video I remember having to load each TV series/Movie individually. With Plex you can have it rescan at the genre subfolder level and it will configure everything within. It also scans the internet much faster looking for info about the content.

The nice thing is that you can install Plex w/o getting rid of DS Video, until you know you want to go with Plex. Also, I found out the hard way that DS Video has a special system folder for locating content. You can't get Plex to work from it. Plex will setup another folder, or you can create your own to locate your content. Once you get Plex setup on the server, you should be able to download the Plex App to your TV, just like you did with DS Video. You might want to check for the Plex App on your TV before installing Plex on your Synology.

I would start by just installing and configuring Plex. It may be all you need to solve your problem. If not, you can then look to add an Amazon 4K Firestick or Apple 4K TV. The Amazon Firestick is much cheaper than an Apple 4K TV and the Firestick worked great with my uploaded content from DVD/Blu-ray. The problem I had with the firestick was Amazon Prime content I downloaded that was True 24 fps and used Dolby Digital+. It also can't be an earlier Apple TV because they don't support downloaded Apps.

I would think your TV would be fine since you are referencing DVD and Blu-ray content. I use the Apple 4K TV on a 2K projector just fine.

 

[movie_buff]

I've had a Synology NAS 215J since 2015. Up until 5 months ago I used it for playing back MP4 videos on iPads and Samsung TV's. The files were compressed for general mobile use, and I never had a problem with lag. However, in the last 5 months I've switched out my wireless router with an eero mesh giving me much better speed to my projector in the basement and setting up for streaming HD video. I started out with a Chromecast that I already had to connect to the DS video app on my iPad to my receiver. Unfortunately, I was getting a few minutes of lag about every 10 minutes of playback. I switched out the Chromecast with a 4k Firestick. That got rid of the lag, but unfortunately it couldn't handle true 24 fps video (while barely noticeable there was a slight delay with NTSC 23.976 fps). Finally, I switched to using the Plex app on the Synology and a new Apple 4K which solved all my issues. I found that the DS Video app couldn't handle 24 fps and didn't play well with the latest Apple 4K TV remote. Plex was more up-to-date.

Just a guess, but it could be that the App in the TV doesn't have enough memory to buffer the signal, or it could be the DS Video app. I'm very happy with the Plex app now and it seems to be maintained better than DS Video.

I finally got Plex installed on my NAS and my TV is connected and it seems to be working fine, no drop outs or apparent buffering. I'm a bit disappointed that plex didn't use my movie folder arrangement I had set up in my NAS. The plex home page simply has 4 rows of my movies just thrown in however. I have 26 folders with 480 movies distributed amongst those 26 folders based on my design.

Is there anyway to get plex setup to present my movies in their respective folders?

 

[Josh Steinberg]

You’ll need to change library settings on Plex and re-import each folder as its own library.

I’m guessing from the end result you described, that you selected the drive itself or main folder that your 26 folders are contained within as the location where you store your media. What you’d need to do is delete the library in Plex (not the actual files on your NAS) so you’re back to a blank slate.

Once you’ve removed everything from Plex so you’re back to a blank slate, add each of your unique folders as it’s own movies library. You can give each library the same name as the corresponding folder if you wish. You’ll have to do this individually with each of your 26 folders, but that will keep the contents separated from each other.

I don’t have 26 libraries in my Plex setup but I have two unique ones for movies - one for theatrically released films, and one for made-for-TV films.

 

[smithbrad]

I finally got Plex installed on my NAS and my TV is connected and it seems to be working fine, no drop outs or apparent buffering. I'm a bit disappointed that plex didn't use my movie folder arrangement I had set up in my NAS. The plex home page simply has 4 rows of my movies just thrown in however. I have 26 folders with 480 movies distributed amongst those 26 folders based on my design.

Is there anyway to get plex setup to present my movies in their respective folders?

That's good news. Glad it worked out and that you didn't have to buy any additional hardware.

I believe the issue regarding your original folder arrangement is more an issue with DS Video then Plex. DS Video set that folder aside for its own special purposes and it is more likely disallowing Plex access. DS-Video is Synology's app so it isn't surprising that they geared the initial configuration around it.

I currently use around eight folders for my Plex. I mainly use Plex for my TV collection, so I break my content up by genre. Each genre is based on a folder I created within the Plex media folder. I then added each genre folder to the Plex interface as a new library, named after the genre. Each TV series is a subfolder within a genre folder, and each season is a subfolder added under each TV series folder.

Regarding your 26 folders, do you use a relatively flat structure of 26 folders at the same level (like I do with genre), or do you have a multi-level organization of subfolders? If organized in a multi-level fashion, then that may be the problem. I recall having a multi-level structure within DS-Video where I separated content by family member and then genre. DS-Video handled this easier because you added items within DS Video one item at a time, so it did not matter where it resided on the drive when you added it for display within a specified category. However, adding one item at a time was tedious to me. Plex allowed me to load up many subfolders of content under a master genre folder and then have Plex add them all to the interface at once by rescanning the top-level genre folder. I guess each approach has it advantages and disadvantages.

If you are doing a more elaborate hierarchy than what I have done, you may have to investigate more into Plex to see what all it has to offer around file management to determine your options going forward.