For a long time I used DVDs and Blu-rays to watch movies, but I'm moving away from that. I'm tired of looking for the discs and want to access my videos on all devices. The solution is to choose a central storage location for my extensive video collection. A NAS is the obvious choice.
It is no longer of this time to watch movies on a DVD or Blu-ray. First of all, the location of the playback device limits you. In my house, for example, I only have a Blu-ray player in the living room. Difficult, because I would also like to access my films on my tablet and media player. Handy for the bathroom or when my girlfriend watches something on television that I don't need to see. Also read: 15 tips to solve your NAS problems.
Furthermore, I find the use of discs too much hassle. After I came across a NAS in the attic that was a few years old, I decided to store my movies on it. I have not regretted that, because from now on I always have access to my film collection on any device. Do you like that too? Then follow all the steps in this basic course carefully.
01 Supplies
A NAS (network-attached storage) is a smart storage device with its own operating system that is perfectly capable of housing your movie collection. Compared to a normal computer, a NAS consumes much less energy. Ideal if you often watch movies and regularly turn on the storage device. When you buy a NAS, make sure you have a lot of storage capacity. Movies take up quite a bit of space.
You connect the box to the home network via an Ethernet port. Because modern equipment nowadays has a (wireless) network connection, the NAS is able to communicate with media players, smart TVs, game consoles and mobile devices. Streaming movies does require a stable network. A wired connection is always preferable to a wireless connection. In the latter case, there is a real chance of hitches when you want to watch movies in Full HD, for example. A wired connection can transfer video data faster.
02 Media server
Before copying movies to a NAS, it is helpful to configure a media server on the device first. The movie files are then immediately available for most playback devices via the wireless network protocols DLNA and/or UPnP. The advantage of a media server is that you hardly have to change settings to share media with, say, a smart TV, PlayStation 3 or media player. Most brands have developed a user-friendly media server for their NAS. Examples include: Netgear, Western Digital, QNAP, and Synology. Because the latter manufacturer is the market leader in Europe, we explain how to enable the media server of a Synology NAS. The operation on other devices is more or less the same, although you will of course be dealing with a different operating system.
In the browser, open the DiskStation Manager online management panel. Click on the part Package Center and choose Multimedia. below media server then click to install. After installation, the media server will be available in the menu of DiskStation Manager.
plex
Is the media server of your NAS not working properly? No problem, because you can also try a media server from another manufacturer. Plex is an excellent program available for various brands such as Netgear, QNAP and Synology. For a Synology NAS, install the package from the Package Center section. Then you create an account and add a new media library. You can point to the folder with movie files on your NAS for this. The nice thing is that Plex retrieves media data from the Internet, so that extra information is present in the library. There are also apps for mobile devices, smart TVs and Google Chromecast to stream movie files from your NAS. Thanks to DLNA support, it is also possible to share video files with equipment for which no app is available.
03 Settings
After the media server is installed on the NAS, go through the settings thoroughly. The options for this are highly dependent on the NAS brand and the chosen media server. On a Synology NAS, open the main menu, after which you choose media server. rear DMA menu language select from the drop-down menu Dutch. Menu items on smart TVs, game consoles and other DLNA equipment will be displayed in Dutch from now on. Bee DMA menu style you optionally decide how you want to organize media files. We leave the default option Simple style unchanged. click on To apply and go to DMA Compatibility. Check whether the setting Restrict access to Media Server for newly discovered UPnP/DLNA devices is unchecked. click on Device list and see to which devices the NAS is able to stream movies (and other media files). Of course, it is a condition that the intended devices are switched on. Would you rather not have a certain device access the files? Then remove the check mark and choose Save.
04 Transfer Movies
Once a media server is installed and configured on the NAS, you can finally add movies. Note that media folders have been added in the file browser of the storage device. On a Synology-branded NAS, you can reach the video folder by selecting the File Station to open. The idea is that from now on you will save movie files in this place, so that they are available for other equipment. Are all your (downloaded) movies on your PC's hard drive? You can easily copy all data to the NAS. The best way to do this is through Windows Explorer. Open this utility on the computer and navigate to Network. Select the name of your NAS and enter the username and password. Copy the contents of the movie folder on your PC to the NAS. Keep in mind that these are large files, so this process may take a long time.
