One NAS, multiple players

[baldrick]

Hello all,

Newbie/rookie here looking for the answer to what is hopefully a simple question.

I'm in the process of setting up a home network. I'm using an 8-bay Synology NAS. What I want to do is connect three TVs to it, each capable of playing different or the same files simultaneously.

I'd also like to see movie / TV info, covers and synopses, if possible.

The best way I can describe it is like an aircraft entertainment system.

Leaving aside network bandwidth and the like, it seems to me that the best solution is for each TV to have its own media player.

So the question is: which media players will do this?

I've been recommended the PCH A-410 on one site, and the WDTV Live on another but (a), I'm still not 100% clear that either of these will do the job and (b) I've heard the WDTV units don't work well together unless you disengage certain functions which are used to get movie info (not sure how accurate that is - the function is "media library").

Can anyone assist?

Cheers,

B

 

[ranjeetrain]

Your NAS isn't DLNA capable?

If it is, enable that. You can watch not 3 but 6 different movies on different TVs simultaneously (subject to read speed of your NAS).

Otherwise, you can also use Android sticks with your TVs, to enable them to fetch desired content from your NAS.

 

[Mohanavel]

Hi B,
Synology available in UAE? If yes, pls provide contact address & phone no.Even am planning to buy soon

 

[dheerajjotwani]

Hello all,

Newbie/rookie here looking for the answer to what is hopefully a simple question.

I'm in the process of setting up a home network. I'm using an 8-bay Synology NAS. What I want to do is connect three TVs to it, each capable of playing different or the same files simultaneously.

I'd also like to see movie / TV info, covers and synopses, if possible.

The best way I can describe it is like an aircraft entertainment system.

Leaving aside network bandwidth and the like, it seems to me that the best solution is for each TV to have its own media player.

So the question is: which media players will do this?

I've been recommended the PCH A-410 on one site, and the WDTV Live on another but (a), I'm still not 100% clear that either of these will do the job and (b) I've heard the WDTV units don't work well together unless you disengage certain functions which are used to get movie info (not sure how accurate that is - the function is "media library").

Can anyone assist?

Cheers,

B

Yes as stated above dlna is an option to go with if your tvs. Have networking built in.

Media players that you mentioned will leave u wanting on the jukebox feel with cover art and info as u seem to want that.

It can be achieved by running plex server on Synology nas and then using Google chromecast with each tv. Or having a xbmc rendering box with each tv. Platform for running xbmc can be chosen depending upon budget and need for speed.

 

[baldrick]

Thanks all for the responses.

The NAS I'm looking at is DLNA compliant (it's the 8-bay DS1318 - Mohanavel, Pinnacle Computers is listed as a stockist in Dubai, but I haven't checked availability yet).

I'd discounted Chromecast and Plex because I'd understood it to be unable to play DTS and was also concerned about wireless stability. Is that right?

Most of my video files are mkv with DTS. My audio tracks are a mixture of MP3 and FLAC (which I understand may also be an issue). Will these all play ok on a Chromecast (or, more accurately, several Chromecasts?)? Isn't that going to require some fairly beefy wi-fi?

Finally, dheerajjottwani, I had thought that the A-410 ran some sort of jukebox feature (NMJ?) through which covers etc were shown. Have I got that wrong?

Cheers,

B

 

[baldrick]

Sorry - meant to also ask this: presumably the DLNA direct connection between NAS and TV will only work on smart TVs? (Which mine are not.)

 

[dheerajjotwani]

Yup ypu got that right, wifi could end up being the bottle neck if it ain't rightly setup.

Plex has the ability to encode on the fly and direct play too. I use it on my Ipad mini and will test if can get a direct dts playback.

The jukeboxes on net and xtreamer and media players as such need hood amount of work for the aggregation.

To me it seems you better then with xbmc in a wired lan setup. Consider arm devices like rpi, cubuetruck, cubox-i etc a try.

On the other hand a e350 board with 2GB ram and openelec on a pen drive is a great entry level htpc too