Home Theater Geeks 544 Transcript
Please be advised that this transcript is AI-generated and may not be word-for-word. Time codes refer to the approximate times in the ad-free version of the show.
Scott Wilkinson [00:00:00]:
In this episode of Home Theater Geeks, I answer a listener question about playing ripped DVDs from a NAS. So stay tuned. Podcasts you love. From people you trust. This is TWiT. Hey there. Scott Wilkinson here, the Home Theater Geek. In this episode, I answer a question from Andrew who writes, Sometimes my wife and kids want to watch our old home movies, which I've ripped from DVDs to ISO files and stored them on a NAS.
Scott Wilkinson [00:00:50]:
I don't want to buy or build a PC but would like some small device that connects directly to the TV or possibly my game consoles. Well, thanks for the question, Andrew. Uh, I sent him some follow-up questions and learned a few more things. For example, Andrew ripped the DVDs to a Synology DS214se running DSM 7.1.1. His TV is a Samsung UN55KU6290F. That's a UHD LCD TV, a 2016 model that's connected to the same network as the Synology NAS. He has no streaming box like Apple TV, Roku, or Chromecast, and he has an old iPhone 8 that he plans to upgrade soon. Good, I recommend that highly.
Scott Wilkinson [00:01:55]:
Now, I reached out to Synology. For their input to this question. And they basically offered 2 options. One is to install Synology's media server on the NAS and stream video and audio directly to the TV via DLNA, which stands for Digital Living Network Alliance, which is a standard protocol for streaming audio and video content from one device to another. Uh, we'll include the link to the show in the show notes, uh, to the Synology site for downloading Media Server. The second option was to install Synology's Plex Media Server on the NAS and use the Plex app on the TV or another device connected to the TV. There's also a link to, to doing that on Synology's website. Now, option 1 is the simplest, but it depends on whether or not the Samsung TV is compatible with DLNA.
Scott Wilkinson [00:03:10]:
According to my research, this is unclear. Samsung stopped supporting DLNA in 2019. But Andrew's TV is from 2016, so it should support DLNA. But the TV's user manual makes no mention of DLNA. Further research seemed to indicate that Samsung's All Share feature is what they call DLNA. I hate it when manufacturers give their own name to standard things, but That may be what's going on here. I'm not sure. I would try it this way and see if it works.
Scott Wilkinson [00:03:56]:
Now, the TV's manual does list the video file formats, containers, and codecs that it supports, which seems to imply that maybe it does support DLNA. Now, among these supported formats is the VOB container, which is what DVDs use. Uh, MPEG-2 and MPEG-1 codecs, video codecs, and a bunch of file formats, as well as Dolby Digital and Linear PCM audio codecs, as well as a bunch of others. But it only specifies resolutions of 1920 by 1080, Full HD, and higher, not 720 by 480 which is what standard definition DVD is. So I don't know if DVD ISO files will work even if DLNA does. Synology also sent me this statement, quote, media server lists ISO as a supported format so the NAS can make the files available through DLNA. However, the actual playback depends on the TV or DLNA client. I would not assume the files will play unless the TV specifically supports DVD ISO playback through DLNA.
Scott Wilkinson [00:05:29]:
Well, that's a bit of alphabet soup, but of course all this tech is. Now, one possibility might be to stream from the NAS to one of Andrew's game consoles. That is then connected to the TV via HDMI, I assume. The Xbox One and PlayStation 3 and 4 do support DLNA, but the 4 is more limited, and DLNA support was eliminated completely from the 5, PlayStation 5. Uh, so all I can say is give it a try, either to the TV directly Enabling All Share in the Samsung, or to one of your game consoles if it supports DLNA. Option 2 is more complicated, the Plex option, but it could work if one of the game consoles, uh, can, can add the Plex app. I don't think the Samsung TV probably can do that. So, I mean, you could see if it does, but I would be surprised.
Scott Wilkinson [00:06:41]:
Many game consoles can though, including PlayStation 4 and 5 and Xbox One and Series X|S. Also the Nvidia Shield. So hopefully Andrew has one of these game consoles. Um, and you could install Plex on it and then install Plex Media Server on the NAS. See if that works. Now Synology says that it currently has no hardware transcoding, any hardware that supports hardware-based transcoding in Plex. Now transcoding is not required for video playback. The device that's used to view the video is what determines playback capability.
Scott Wilkinson [00:07:30]:
Transcoding is used when the receiving device can't deal with the format of the sending device, the files from the sending device. So, you know, that might or might not work either. Plex can be installed from the Synology Package Center, and we included a link in the show notes for that. But to get the latest version, you can also download it directly from Uh, the Plex website and then use the manual install button in the, in the Synology Package Center to install the latest version. Synology went on to say Plex is third-party software not developed or maintained by Synology, so they cannot provide assistance for troubleshooting Plex issues. Their responsibility that is Synology, only goes as far as installing the package when using the Package Center version. If you run into any issues, they suggest going doing an online search because Plex has many articles and a large community where solutions are provided. So what does this tell us? That media streaming is pretty damn complicated.
Scott Wilkinson [00:08:53]:
Um, I suggest trying option 1 first and seeing if it works either directly with a TV or with one of your game consoles. And if it doesn't, then play around with option 2 and see if that might work. I hope it does, and I wish you good luck. Now, if you have a question for me, send it on to htg@twit.tv. And I'll answer as many as I can right here on the show. And if you have a home theater you're proud of, send me some pics. I'd love to see them, and maybe we'll show them on the show and get you on to talk about it. Until next time, geek out.
