Best way to view videos on NAS from my PC?

with pc using windows u may install vlc media player. it is free download.

your readynas should have smb enabled so from windows explorer can access folders

assume u have respective movies under a folder movies in single file or different folders, u may play those thru vlc by opening file or folder to play.

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papagrant wrote:

Is there a way to secure the music and video folders? I assume this method is using DLNA which seems to have no password capability. If I switch to SMB, is there a way to view the folder in Windows Explorer?

First of all, SMB is what Windows Explorer uses.  So if you enter \\nasname in Windows explorer, you will see the list of shares that have SMB sharing enabled.

The answer to password protection is a bit complicated.  If you have a family PC, then it is not that easy in practice to use SMB passwords for ratings control.  You can require a password for NAS access, but it is not so easy to require one password for share A and a different password (or no password) for share B.  Plus windows will keep sessions open, so if you've been accessing share A, and then don't log off, the next user can usually access share A with no password challenge.

If you use separate windows accounts for each family member, or if everyone has their own PC, then it is practical to use SMB passwords for this.

A potential workaround is to make some shares hidden.  Everyone can still access them, but they'd need to know the path.