NAS & Apple TV 3 (video)

I just noticed that the Synology app on Droid (I'm using the Nexus 7) support airplay. However, it's only limited to mp4 video files. I can stream mp4 video directly to my ATV (2nd generation) without any problem.

I just noticed that the Synology app on Droid (I'm using the Nexus 7) support airplay. However, it's only limited to mp4 video files. I can stream mp4 video directly to my ATV (2nd generation) without any problem.

I have the same [problem and have used AirPlay successfully - for 10 minutes. Then it drops out. And won't reconnect. I've just downloaded AirPlayHD - I'll let you know if it's any better.

Your best option is to install Plex Media Server AND PlexConnect in the DS212j. Your media needs to be in a format supported by the Apple TV3. See Plex.tv for more info.

I will second moody_blue that is about your only hope without using a intermediary such as an iPhone or iPad and using airplay. If you can install PlexConnect on your D212J (which theoretically you should be able to because it runs linux) then you can use the Trailor app on Apple TV. I'm currently working on this with my little home NAS. I have an HP MediaVault and it can easily be hacked to run debian linux on it. Once I get debian installed, I can ssh in and I'm going to try to apt get vnc4server on it which will then allow me to VNC to the NAS and get a GUI which will allow me to do it quickly and see stuff rather than using a cli.

I will copy and paste what I find out, hope it helps you.

Apple TV can not acces files on a NAS. However, iPhones and iPads can. There are apps for that. 🙂 Then you just need to airplay your movie to the Apple TV.

Find out what communication standard your nas supports. DLNA or SMB.

The Airport Extreme I use does not support the DLNA standards which most external drives like LaCie Fule or DW My Cloud use. I found out it supports the SMB standard though. So a quick search on the App Store with SMB as the keyword showed up a few file managment apps and the first I tried worked!

It's called FileExplorer Free and can access files on your external drive attached to your Airport Extreme. There were more hits but since the first app I found worked I didn't bother to check out the other apps.

I tried FileExplorer with songs first and it worked. You can listen to your songs with your iPhone or iPad or Airplay them to your Airport Express and listen to them at your home audio system. I couldn't hear any loss of quality.

It also works with yorur movies. Just select the movie and watch it on your iDevice or Airplay it to your Apple TV. Works with HD movies as well with no problems. Only downside was that the Apple TV can only display .mp4 files. Even the movies bought on iTunes won't work with the app and the Apple TV. So I had to convert a few movies using the free converter HandBrake.

FileExplorer works with other types of files like photos or documenst too. Oh and as a bonus: The FileExplorer app can also access your library from the DropBox or Google Drive. Works with NAS drives as well. Looks like you need the paid version though for those extras.

In case your router supports DLNA search for a DLNA app like 8player.

So finally I can move my big movie collection to my external drive and still watch it without the need for the Mac or iTunes to run. Hope this helps you too.

Your Apple TV can't access your content on your NAS. Your iPad can! So just airplay it to your Apple TV. 🙂

I have an Airport Extreme, but it works with other routers as well. Find out what communication standard your router supports. DLNA or SMB.

The Airport Extreme I use does not support the DLNA standards which most external drives like LaCie Fule or DW My Cloud use. I found out it supports the SMB standard though. So a quick search on the App Store with SMB as the keyword showed up a few file managment apps and the first I tried worked!

It's called FileExplorer Free and can access files on your external drive attached to your Airport Extreme. There were more hits but since the first app I found worked I didn't bother to check out the other apps.

I tried FileExplorer with songs first and it worked. You can listen to your songs with your iPhone or iPad or Airplay them to your Airport Express and listen to them at your home audio system. I couldn't hear any loss of quality.

It also works with yorur movies. Just select the movie and watch it on your iDevice or Airplay it to your Apple TV. Works with HD movies as well with no problems. Only downside was that the Apple TV can only display .mp4 files. Even the movies bought on iTunes won't work with the app and the Apple TV. So I had to convert a few movies using the free converter HandBrake.

FileExplorer works with other types of files like photos or documenst too. Oh and as a bonus: The FileExplorer app can also access your library from the DropBox or Google Drive. Works with NAS drives as well. Looks like you need the paid version though for those extras.

In case your router supports DLNA search for a DLNA app like 8player.

So finally I can move my big movie collection to my external drive and still watch it without the need for the Mac or iTunes to run. Hope this helps you too.

"Your Apple TV can't access your content on your NAS."

Ehhh... not true at all. If you bothered to read even portions of this thread you would've found that many of us use our NAS as our Plex Media Server, and stream it to our Apple TV's, without using AirPlay.

AirPlay is pretty wonderful, but it actually gums up the works if all you're trying to do is stream local content from one device to another. By using your iOS device as a middleman, you're effectively doubling the amount of data flying over your WiFi (once flowing into your iPad/iPod/iPhone, and then the exact same content flowing back out to your ATV).

Plus, my ATV is hard-wired to my home network, as is my NAS. Why would I want to use, let alone tax, my WiFi if I have a much more stable wired alternative. My WiFi is left free, my ethernet streams my media like a champ, and I don't have to sit and watch the batteries drain out of my iPad like I would if I was AirPlaying.

In addition... with my content streaming directly to my ATV, that leaves my iPad free for my kids to take to the other room and stream their own content (also from Plex on my NAS) simultaneously. No sense tying up the device if you don't need to.

DLNA is nice, too, but I've found the interfaces to DLNA clients to be incredibly lacking... most to the point of being completely unusable (to me). The interface of the PlexConnect client for the ATV is incredibly easy and very Apple-like. AND, as a bonus (if you can call it that), Plex is DLNA-compatible... so, if I ever got a hair up my craw, I could use the DLNA client on my SmartTV to pull content from it... but I never will.

Anybody tried Pogoplug. It has got an app for apple, one can access the content launching the app on iPad, iPhone (I guess the app also works with Apple TV).

You can get a pogoplug mediashare adaptr to bulid your own private cloud, just plug in an external harddrive to adapter n hook up the adapter to home network.

Now use the pogoplu app to access the content on hard drive.

Video quality is bit choppy. Music n photo sharing is OK.

The simplest thing to stream from the synology or other NAS, is to mount the distant disk where your vidz are stored on the desktop of your Mac Osx computer, then throw the file into Beamer to stream any content with any format (AVIs, Mpegs etc) to your apple TV. The advantage is that it works with any formats!!!!!