Media stream with smart tv on LAN

[kokopisti]

Hello Everybody!

The situation:

1. I have a Qnap TS253A 2 bay NAS
2. I use it currently with a smart tv (with direct HDMI connection)
3. I will move to a new house, I will have 3 different smart TV-s, in different rooms
4. The NAS will be on same LAN network than the smart TV-s, but won't be possible the HDMI connection to smart TV

Questions:
- How can I use the media streaming function just using LAN and Smart TV without HDMI cable?
(I mean, I will have just LAN connection between smart TV and NAS, no HDMI)
- Need I buy something hardware, or use another software on TV-s?
- Maybe using Chromecast, or something else?
- I wouldn't like to use computer, or something like this (I would like to use streaming on LAN in parallel, without computer, or something)

Thank you forward!

Have a nice day.

[gggplaya]

What TV's do you have, do the TV's have an app store? Can you download Plex or Emby from their App store onto each TV?

You can install Plex on the NAS and use the Plex app on each TV to watch videos. Plex will give a full guide with movie coverart, your family will be happy. Since you have an Intel processor, you can enable hardware transcoding which will allow you to watch all your movies. https://www.plex.tv/

The other option is to enable to Multimedia Console on your NAS and point it to the media folders. This will enable what's called "DLNA Streaming" which your tv can pick up and watch movies. However, in my experience DLNA doesn't work will with all your movies. Some movies will have conflicts with codecs and licenses which won't allow them to play without transcoding.

Third option is to use other hardware on the TV. You can buy cheaper boxes like a Firestick or AndroidTV box and use an app called KODI to play movies. Or you can buy an apple TV and use an app called INFUSE (https://firecore.com/infuse) to play movies. Both these options will directly decode on the external hardware, but require a decent wifi connection to the main router. I prefer the Infuse app due to it's much cleaner design.

[kokopisti]

Thank you for your feedback, thank you for your help. I will have all TV-s from Samsung, those are different modells from 2012 to 2019. I tried the Plex, but it wasn't work. The DLNA streaming a good question, I have DLNA function, but not all TV-s are/can work with it. The Infuse I don't know. Do you think that the Apple TV can help? What about the Chromecast?

Thank you.

[gggplaya]

Chromecast is garbage. There's no remote so it requires you to use your phone and tablet to tell the tv what shows and movies to play. If you have a family, this is not ideal. It also requires your phones to be Android, if you have any iphones in the family it won't work.

Plex should work, Samsung has the plex app available, even on tv's as far back as 2012. But you need to setup plex on your NAS first. Perhaps we should help you with plex setup first because that would require zero further investment to get started. If you need hardware transcoding, then you'll need to get plexpass which is $5/mo or $120lifetime. But some movies should work without hardware transcoding.

1. Sign up for a plex account: https://www.qnap.com/solution/plex-best-nas/en-us/
2. Download Plex for the NAS, choose QNAP on the dropdown and Intel/AMD in the download: https://www.plex.tv/media-server-downloads/
3. Download Plex on your tv's built in app store.
4. Install the Plex package onto your NAS using these steps: https://www.qnap.com/en/how-to/knowledg ... -manually/
5. Log into the Qnap with a web browser on your PC and click on the Plex app to open it.
6. Log into your Plex Account.
7. Click on the Settings Menu(Wrench and Screwdriver icon), scroll down into the MANAGE submenu and click on LIBRARIES. Click Add Library, choose the type of content(movies or tv shows), point it to the folder in the NAS with all the movies, select your options then hit ADD LIBRARY.
8. Plex will take a while to scan the folder to see what's in it and download metadata like cover art and movie synopsis. This can take a few minutes to a few hours depending on how much content you have. Once it's done scanning, your library will be ready.
9. Meanwhile on your TV's plex client app, log into your Plex account. Once your library is ready, it should appear on your tv's app.

If you have a bunch of movies that require transcoding and you like the plex app. You'll need to upgrade to Plex Pass Premium to unlock the Intel GPU hardware Transcoding feature. However, your NAS's processor can probably transcode 1 movie at a time, without plexpass using CPU software transcoding.

[Dic3man]

Apple TV works great (you can install plex on it also) aswell as Chromecast (works on both Iphone and Android just to clarify but you will have to use your phone/tablet as the remote as already stated by gggplaya).
And as ggg already said Plex should work on your TVs (maybe not the oldest but then you could connect your Apple TV on that one).