I seek opinions, recommendations, etc. from users with experience with the applications avaiable for my new RN102 as to which I should use for sending Photos and maybe music and videos from the NAS to computers on the LAN and maybe a DNLA enabled TV. I did a quick scan of the applications available and there seem to be options to choose from, some in the list have links to more info and some do not. Which applicaitons do others use and are they happy which what they use? Are there some to stay away from? There is no ratings available for the applications - maybe that is something NetGear might consider adding some day. Is adding applications easy and straight forward? Can applications be removed completely just as easy, with no side affects so typical in the MS Windows world?My first need is to view JPEG pictures using a slide show tool on LAN connected computer and maybe the DNLA TV. Family members prefer to use a slide show feature to look at photos rather than have to individually click on a picture file to move to the next one in a series. With only a low horsepower RN102 I know not to expect transcoding on the fly from Plex for video. But maybe MP4 encoded videos can be served up by this NAS. All suggestions, comments, and opinions are welcome.Thanks.

With DLNA, the experience you get depends on both the client and the server. So I'd suggest trying both ReadyDLNA and Plex out. Personally I favor Plex (and am running it on my RN102). I don't do much with photos on the TV though. Plex will serve up MP4 videos with no problem (though this does depend on your TV's support for mp4 too).For the computers I'd use native SMB/CIFS and AFP, and access the media directly from your players of choice. VLC for videos for instance.Are there any mobile devices in the mix?

Thanks - no mobile devices currently. I have Plex installed on a Tower computer and it seems to work well, so I will try PLex on the NAS.i assume I would create a new share "media" with folders for video, music, photos and direct Plex to use those and remove the shares installed during installation of the NAS. Is that the proper way to configure the NAS & Plex?

I created my own shares for media. You can use more than one if you want, both plex and ReadyDLNA give you the ability to do that.With plex, you configure it using the web UI. ReadyDLNA service is one of the settings for each share.

Stephen,I installed Plex on my RN102, the one test movie I added to my default Videos share (where I told Plex to find movies) is enabled for DNLA. The one movie file is MP4 file type. Attempting to play the movie in Plex gives me an error "Media server does not support transcoding". The info for the movie says it is not optimized for Web. Is there a setting in Plex I am not seeing? I would think this Plex build would support MP4 and MP3 (audio) files at a minimum. The movie file on the NAS does play in VLC on a Linux computer when accessed via the file manager (open in VLC). Also, some meta information (poster, cast, ect.) for the movie is not being fetched from the Internet. Does that work for you and is there a setting to get that to work? I have Plex installed on another Linux computer with more horsepower and it works well, plays media (same movie file loaded to the NAS) and fetches data from the Internet for the movie. I understand the Plex build for ReadyNAS is probably scaled down from the full version and is obviously a dersion of Plex, but the basics should work. Any suggestions - thanks

It is the same plex, but configured not to transcode. Metadata should work the same as your other system.What browser are you using for playback?

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StephenB
Guru - Experienced User
Sep 15, 2014
Plex is 0.9.7.28, the web is 2.2.5. I don't think the NFS path is the problem, as the web client won't be using that.

Your video is essentially the same resolution as mine, the bitrate is pretty close as well. Note that you only need 300 KB/s or less to stream this stuff - the NAS can read about 70 MB/s. So it can deliver at rates > 200x faster than needed.

I do get an error if I try to play a file with AAC 5 channel audio - I'm 90% sure that is a browser issue. My HD content is almost all surround sound, otherwise I would have tried on of those.

Maybe try installing firefox on the XP system.
wagb4
Aspirant
Sep 15, 2014
I tried a video from a plex channel (PBS) and it works, but I suspect that is simply a pass-through. Firefox is installed on the XP comuter and I get the same results - will not send the MP4 movie from the NAS (transcode error notice), but will from the other computer with Plex.
StephenB
Guru - Experienced User
Sep 15, 2014
If you have a short video that you think should play, maybe PM me with a link - then I can add it to my library, and see if it works with my RN102 using firefox on my win7 system.
wagb4
Aspirant
Sep 17, 2014
Stephen,

I think I discovered something. I searched the Internet for short MP4 test files, found a couple and downloaded them, moved those to my NAS Video folder and Plex does play those files, just fine. Then I compared the Info in Plex on those files with the MP4 files I am creating. The one consistant difference is that my files which do not work show "Web optimized = No" in both the Media and Video sections.

I found some short trialer files on some DVDs I own to use for testing my ripping process, so that helps my experimenting process (few minutes to create an output MP4 file). I use Handbrake to produce the MP4 files and nothing I have found yet will set the MP4 files I create with the Web optimized setting to Yes. The Handbrake toggle setting for Web optimized makes no difference in the output file. I beleive I am using the latest version of Handbrake (3680svn 64-bit).

So, I think I need a better MP4 file creater that sets that Web optimized value it appears the Plex software on the RN102 is good. I'll be searching for help from the Handbrake forum or where ever.
StephenB
Guru - Experienced User
Sep 17, 2014
There is a post from last December on the plex forum from someone with a similar problem. They found that chrome worked for them, but firefox did not.

https://forums.plex.tv/index.php/topic/ ... mp4-files/
wagb4
Aspirant
Sep 18, 2014
Stephen,

What do you use to create MP4 files that work on the RN102? I realize you use MS Windows. Just curious.
StephenB
Guru - Experienced User
Sep 19, 2014
I use my own script (called vid2eva). Though the sample I posted above is a download.
wagb4
Aspirant
Sep 19, 2014
Just information -

I have my smart TV connected to the LAN/Internet now. The MP4 files that do not work from the NAS in a Web Browser also do not work on the TV via Plex. The TV does support MP4 via DLNA and the couple of test MP4 files that work in a browser also work on the TV.
I installed Chrome and that gives the same results as Firefox for those MP4 files - Server can not transcode.
I loaded a bunch of pictures onto the NAS and viewing them via Plex from the NAS is so slow it is not usable. I was hoping viewing pictures through Plex on the TV be like the old days of a slide show for family & friends. Not so!
StephenB
Guru - Experienced User
Sep 19, 2014
The issue for photos might be the TV. It has to downsize them to fit the screen.

Anyway, the net here is that the server shouldn't need to transcode vanilla mp4s on most devices. The question is why the client (web or otherwise) is thinking they need to be.
Wildtexaschef
Aspirant
Dec 01, 2014
I don't use any apps on the NAS to serve out pics, music, or video.

I just use the built in DLNA service and iTunes service.
I have tried plex, but the only device that I can use plex with is mainly the roku as far as devices attached to the TV goes. So it wasn't worth the investment to me.

As far as my clients go for viewing and or listening to the pics, music, video, are my DLNA TV, Xbox 360, TiVO, DLNA blu-ray player, Roku, iPad, iPhone, Logitech music box, Sonos, Kindle fire hd, a couple of android smart phones and tablets. I don't really use my computer for viewing pics movies or listening to music.

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