Most preferred way to stream to TV?

Hi twink

I, like you, have a ReadyNAS storage device (the Duo v2) I bought two years ago and I have just started to stream some videos from my NAS via my Now TV box to my TV using Plex software, which comes in two parts, i.e. Plex server running on my NAS and Plex app running on the Now TV box http://www.nowtv.com/box.

However, what I have found out is that ReadyNAS devices not running an Intel CPU cannot transcode videos that require that facility and so will not play, this I believe could work out to between 70 and 85% of the your stored videos (it does work out like that for me).

By the way, while checking out new ReadyNAS's this morning I found out that NAS's with "Intel inside" cost £200.00 more than their non-Intel equivalent, far too much to consider for a domestic environment (could never get that one past the wife).

Anyway, I am also looking for a device that can stream videos without the need for transcoding and the only one I have come across so far was the Western Digital TV Media Player. But WD committed a massive ba***up by doing a firmware update that stopped the device streaming MP4 videos, whereas it could before. Consequently, WD have promised they will fix the MP4 problem in the next firmware update, to be released at some unspecified time in the near future.

When WD have fixed the MP4 problem, and not introduced any others (they have an unfortunate habit of doing that), I will then (and only then) purchase a WD TV Media Player.


UK Bob

Hi twink

I don't think there is a single preferred way.

There are two basic options - one is to install a DLNA server on the NAS, and use a DLNA client device to render. Smart TVs usually have a DLNA client built in, you can also purchase players that include DLNA clients. Plex and ReadyDLNA are two most popular DLNA clients for the ReadyNAS.

The other approach is to get a player that supports SMB and/or NFS, and set that player up to access the NAS share (like a PC would).

The WD TV Media player mentioned above can do either.

In almost all cases there are some media that won't play. Since the RN104 can't transcode (convert) them on the fly, you would need to convert them manually.

Generally the WD TV player is better than most at handling the range of the media out there. I don't know about the MP4 bug, but of course that is a pretty important media format for most people. Netgear has some players that will use DLNA. They used to make some that supported NFS/SMB, but they no longer sell those.

Dune and PCH ("pop corn hour") are other popular - though expensive - players.

Hi StephenB (& Twink)

First of all, let me wish you and all the other forum members a happy new year and may all your technical (IT related) problems be small and easily solved.

If you check my previous post you will see that I was looking into a hardware solution to solve the problem of my NAS being unable to support transcoding. Well, I've found an alternative software solution.

I first found out that Plex will play all MP4 files without transcoding, therefore all I then needed was a software converter to transfer all my other video files into MP4 files, which I have found and it works without loss of picture or sound quality.

However, there is one small(ish) problem, when a file is converted the actual converted files can grow to five or six times it's original size, e.g. an original 60MB file can produce a converted playable MP4 file of approximately 300+ MBs.

I now have to be more selective about the files I want to keep, which in itself is not a big deal


UK Bob

I suggest either using a different converter or exploring the settings.

Most MP4s are H.264 video and AAC audio. The size shouldn't be much bigger than the original, and if your source uses older codecs (mpeg2, xvid avi, etc) then it can be considerably smaller,.

If you post the details of your converter, I will take a look. Also if you could download mediainfo (http://www.videohelp.com/tools/MediaInfo) and post its analysis of your original and converted files that would be useful. Be careful on the install, unfortunately there is bloat/adware.

Hi again StephenB

As you can imagine, I do realise that converted files should have a similar size to that of the original and because of that I have looked into the settings and found the one most suitable to my requirements, i.e. quality of picture and my TV's (32 inch) screen size

The converter I am using is called: Free FLV to MP4 Converter

and is available from here: http://www.free-videoconverter.net

If you get a chance to look into this converter then let me know how you get on because I have found it very easy to use and the converted files do not suffer from any kind of degradation.

regards

UK Bob

Please do provide the mediainfo for an original and converted file.

Hi StephenB

Sorry about that Media-Info misunderstanding, here are the two media files as requested: The first file is a *.flv and the second one is the resultant *.mp4 file.


FLV file before conversion (size 79,180KB)

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
- <!-- Generated by MediaInfoLib - v0.7.71
-->
- <ebucore:ebuCoreMain xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:ebucore="urn:ebu:metadata-schema:ebuCore_2014" xmlns:xalan="http://xml.apache.org/xalan" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:schemaLocation="urn:ebu:metadata-schema:ebuCore_2014 http://www.ebu.ch/metadata/schemas/EBUC ... 140318.xsd" version="1.5" dateLastModified="2015-01-02" timeLastModified="12:26:25Z">
- <ebucore:coreMetadata>
- <ebucore:format>
- <ebucore:videoFormat videoFormatName="AVC">
<ebucore:width unit="pixel">624</ebucore:width>
<ebucore:height unit="pixel">352</ebucore:height>
<ebucore:frameRate factorNumerator="24000" factorDenominator="1001">24</ebucore:frameRate>
- <ebucore:aspectRatio typeLabel="display">
<ebucore:factorNumerator>16</ebucore:factorNumerator>
<ebucore:factorDenominator>9</ebucore:factorDenominator>
</ebucore:aspectRatio>
<ebucore:videoEncoding typeLabel="High@L3.0" />
- <ebucore:codec>
- <ebucore:codecIdentifier>
<dc:identifier>7</dc:identifier>
</ebucore:codecIdentifier>
</ebucore:codec>
<ebucore:bitRate>400000</ebucore:bitRate>
<ebucore:scanningFormat>progressive</ebucore:scanningFormat>
</ebucore:videoFormat>
- <ebucore:audioFormat audioFormatName="AAC">
<ebucore:audioEncoding typeLabel="LC" />
- <ebucore:codec>
- <ebucore:codecIdentifier>
<dc:identifier>10</dc:identifier>
</ebucore:codecIdentifier>
</ebucore:codec>
<ebucore:audioTrackConfiguration typeLabel="Front: L R" />
<ebucore:samplingRate>44100</ebucore:samplingRate>
<ebucore:bitRate>94415</ebucore:bitRate>
<ebucore:channels>2</ebucore:channels>
</ebucore:audioFormat>
<ebucore:containerFormat formatLabel="Flash Video" />
- <ebucore:duration>
<ebucore:normalPlayTime>PT21M22.387S</ebucore:normalPlayTime>
</ebucore:duration>
<ebucore:fileSize>81079475</ebucore:fileSize>
<ebucore:fileName>File Name Removed.flv</ebucore:fileName>
<ebucore:locator>D:\New Folder (32)\File Name Removed.flv</ebucore:locator>
<ebucore:technicalAttributeString typeLabel="overallBitRate">505803</ebucore:technicalAttributeString>
</ebucore:format>
</ebucore:coreMetadata>
</ebucore:ebuCoreMain>


MP4 file, after FLV conversion, (size 331,479KB)

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
- <!-- Generated by MediaInfoLib - v0.7.71
-->
- <ebucore:ebuCoreMain xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:ebucore="urn:ebu:metadata-schema:ebuCore_2014" xmlns:xalan="http://xml.apache.org/xalan" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:schemaLocation="urn:ebu:metadata-schema:ebuCore_2014 http://www.ebu.ch/metadata/schemas/EBUC ... 140318.xsd" version="1.5" dateLastModified="2015-01-02" timeLastModified="12:29:01Z">
- <ebucore:coreMetadata>
- <ebucore:format>
- <ebucore:videoFormat videoFormatName="AVC">
<ebucore:width unit="pixel">800</ebucore:width>
<ebucore:height unit="pixel">480</ebucore:height>
<ebucore:frameRate factorNumerator="30000" factorDenominator="1001">30</ebucore:frameRate>
<ebucore:aspectRatio typeLabel="display">1.667</ebucore:aspectRatio>
<ebucore:videoEncoding typeLabel="Baseline@L3.1" />
- <ebucore:codec>
- <ebucore:codecIdentifier>
<dc:identifier>avc1</dc:identifier>
</ebucore:codecIdentifier>
</ebucore:codec>
<ebucore:bitRate>2000000</ebucore:bitRate>
<ebucore:scanningFormat>progressive</ebucore:scanningFormat>
<ebucore:videoTrack trackId="1" />
</ebucore:videoFormat>
- <ebucore:audioFormat audioFormatName="AAC">
<ebucore:audioEncoding typeLabel="LC" />
- <ebucore:codec>
- <ebucore:codecIdentifier>
<dc:identifier>40</dc:identifier>
</ebucore:codecIdentifier>
</ebucore:codec>
<ebucore:audioTrackConfiguration typeLabel="Front: L R" />
<ebucore:samplingRate>44100</ebucore:samplingRate>
<ebucore:bitRate>127990</ebucore:bitRate>
<ebucore:bitRateMode>constant</ebucore:bitRateMode>
<ebucore:audioTrack trackId="2" />
<ebucore:channels>2</ebucore:channels>
</ebucore:audioFormat>
- <ebucore:containerFormat formatLabel="MPEG-4">
- <ebucore:codec>
- <ebucore:codecIdentifier>
<dc:identifier>isom</dc:identifier>
</ebucore:codecIdentifier>
</ebucore:codec>
</ebucore:containerFormat>
- <ebucore:duration>
<ebucore:normalPlayTime>PT21M22.323S</ebucore:normalPlayTime>
</ebucore:duration>
<ebucore:fileSize>339434255</ebucore:fileSize>
<ebucore:fileName>File Name Removed.mp4</ebucore:fileName>
<ebucore:locator>D:\Video Conversions (FLV to MP4)\File Name Removed.mp4</ebucore:locator>
<ebucore:technicalAttributeString typeLabel="overallBitRate">2117621</ebucore:technicalAttributeString>
</ebucore:format>
</ebucore:coreMetadata>
</ebucore:ebuCoreMain>

Hope this helps in your investigations


UK Bob

ukbobboy wrote:
When WD have fixed the MP4 problem, and not introduced any others (they have an unfortunate habit of doing that), I will then (and only then) purchase a WD TV Media Player. UK Bob

Hi Bob, What is this MP4 problem you mention?

I'm using WD TV Live Media Player to connect to the ReadyNas shares and play the video files directly from disk (without using Plex, that I also have installed on ReadyNAS). I found that it will play most any format, including the MP4 files that I have. So I was wondering if I missed something here? Or do I just have an older one that is not affected?

StephenB wrote:
They used to make some that supported NFS/SMB, but they no longer sell those.

The WD TV Live that I have supports Windows/Linux/Mac (so SMB/NFS/AFP?) shares. But actually I'm using AFP to connect to the RN shares. You just need to switch the AFP protocol on in the admin page on the RN. Or do you mean that connetion to shares of any kind is no longer supported?

twink wrote:
I have a ReadyNAS 104. I'd like to stream avi and mp4 files from it to my TV. They are both connected to the network. What's the most preferred way of doing that?

I'm using WD TV Live Media Player to connect to the ReadyNas shares and play the video files directly from disk (without using Plex, that I also have installed on ReadyNAS). I found that it will play most any format, including the MP4 files that I have. Don't know if the new ones don't support SMB/NFS (or AFP) share access, as StephenB metions. If so, that would be a pitty, because I use it all the time.
I do use Plex, but mostly for audio and for the nice overview of video's and movies it produces. At first, I used DLNA directly or via Plex on my TV, but found that formats, not supported by the TV and/or Plex, don't get listed. This was a bit annoying, so decided to let the WD TV Live media player connect to the share and do the file format conversion. This way all the files get listed. If the WD TV Live cannot play it, it will pop up an error message. I use the TV as a mere terminal via HDMI.

Hi dsnpevl

I shall try to answer your question clearly and hopefully indicate my thinking at the time I made my posting:

OK, You asked:

What is this MP4 problem you mention?

Well, back in November I was looking to buy the latest WD TV Media Player (2014), I had read good things about it on Amazon, it got a glowing review on YouTube but when I actually checked out WD's own forum I found a lot of WD TV Media Player owners complaining that the latest "Player" firmware update had screwed up it's ability to play MP4 files.

WD's forum people said that this firmware botch would be put right in the next update but the next release date is unknown, and was still unknown the last time I looked at the forum before Christmas.

At the time I wanted something that could stream all my video files to my TV without the need for transcoding and, above all, didn't cost a small fortune, the WD TV Media Player seemed to fit the bill, until I read about the notorious update.

So I recently decided that I would no longer wait for WD to undo their firmware botch-up, and put myself at the mercy of another potential catastrophe, and seek out an alternative solution.

Now, using Plex I can stream all my video files from my Duo V2 via my Now TV Box onto my TV.

Happy Days


UK Bob

ukbobboy wrote:
Hope this helps in your investigations

Yes, this is helpful.

I am noticing four things
(a) the codecs in this FLV are already compatible with MP4 - AVC video and AAC audio. With some effort you can find a way to remux the FLV (which eliminates any need for transcoding). This is faster than transcoding, and there no quality loss at all, since the original media streams are being kept.

(b) Your converter is changing the size from 624x352 to 800x480 This won't improve the quality (since the real resolution is always limited by the original).

(c) The tool also appears to be converting the frame rate from US film speed (23.97 fps) to US television speed (29.97 fps). Most TVs and hardware media players will do this kind of translation more accurately than a software conversion tool can (and even an entry-level TV shouldn't be worse).

(d) Your original is encoded at 400 kbits, and the conversion was encoded at 2 mbits. Both are AVC - there's no benefit in re-encoding using the same codec @ 5x the bitrate.

In the short run, look for settings that preserve the original resolution and framerate. And try reducing the bit rate to something much closer to the original. If you see an option that copies the original media, try using it.

If you are interested in remuxing, I can look for a tool that can do that for flv to mp4.