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Can a NAS be managed by Apple TV, No computer?
- Thread starter ferrarofilms
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Nope. You need either a full x86 computer or, at least, an iOS device with AirPlay support (anything with an A4 or newer CPU: iPhone4+, iPod touch 4+, iPad 1+), which, then, can act as a proxy between a UPnP / SMB etc. NAS source and the ATV.
they are pseudo itunes servers, but they do not support Home Sharing which is what AppleTV requires.
Nope, Home Sharing is proprietary, closed technology, unlike SMB / UPnP / FTP / HTTP. Absolutely nothing supports it.
If you do have an iDevice to be used as a proxy between your NAS and ATV, let me know and I explain how it can be used. Then, you won't be forced to keep a full computer switched on while streaming.
Just use a third-party player with both UPnP and AirPlay support. They're, currently, as follows:
nPlayer, PowerPlayer, 8player, AcePlayer, BUZZ Player, GoodPlayer, CineXPlayer, GPlayer by Ginkgo Tech
Then, 1, connect to your ATV 2, just start playing back the video on your iDevice from your NAS. The video will be shown on the ATV - with full quality.
(More info: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1503351/ )
Unfortunately, of all iOS multimedia players I've tested AirPlay proxying-wise (see the UPnP bible linked to above), only the following two support metadata display (I used the one created with Subler with all the tags filled in, including artwork; it's available at https://dl.dropbox.com/u/81986513/122012/metadatatest-subler.m4v so that you can give it a test ride):
- VM Player HD http://itunes.apple.com/app/vm-player-hd/id445667199?mt=8 (i icon in the top left corner; the Metadata section at the bottom lists everything textual)
- partially, viPlay (Lite) http://itunes.apple.com/app/viplay/id522335067?mt=8 (Genre / director / description are shown when tapping the file in the main file list)
Unfortunately,
- VM Player HD, while it supports UPnP, doesn't support AirPlay proxying
- viPlay doesn't even support UPnP, only SMB and FTP. (Note that I haven't tested its SBM → AirPlay proxying capabilities, if any.)
All in all, (at least if you plan to stick with UPnP), there isn't a single player with the capabilities you're looking for.
When it comes to UPnP-capable but, AirPlay proxying-wise,by me, still untested players,
- Plex only displays the genre and the long description, nothing else
- PlugPlayer and ArkMC only display the artwork associated with the title, no other info.
Note that,
1, again, I haven't tested these three players, ATV AirPlay-wise. They may work. Or not.
2, Plex isn't a fully configurable UPnP client (that is, it won't work with a NAS UPnP server, only with its own); I still list it here as its server component is also a UPnP server.
Check out the Qnap TS-410. It is a network storage device which has a built in itunes server. You can optionally install the Twonky Media Server (on the NAS itself...no computer required). These work very well with my Apple TV. As another poster mentioned...jailbreak (ATV2 only) and use XBMC. You'll be happy you did.
they won't work very well at all with an AppleTV unless you jailbreak it.
the NAS won't support Home Sharing, and that is what Apple TV needs.
While XBMC is much more powerful, if you're looking for a simple solution to connect to your NAS with you ATV ... I highly recommend ATV Flash Black from FireCore.
aTV Flash (black) | FireCore
Again, you would be limited to the ATV2, but the Firecore Media Player even plays back my MPEG4 based Blu-Ray rips ... as in bit-for-bit 1080p MKVs (albeit at 720p). Great for making an on-demand library of your movies/shows.
The "Library" feature with automatic organization and metadata makes the whole experience feel like you're navigating a premium monthly video service too.
And I haven't personally enabled the File Management option to see what it allows me to do, but thought I'd mention it nonetheless.
aTV Flash (black) | FireCore
Again, you would be limited to the ATV2, but the Firecore Media Player even plays back my MPEG4 based Blu-Ray rips ... as in bit-for-bit 1080p MKVs (albeit at 720p). Great for making an on-demand library of your movies/shows.
The "Library" feature with automatic organization and metadata makes the whole experience feel like you're navigating a premium monthly video service too.
And I haven't personally enabled the File Management option to see what it allows me to do, but thought I'd mention it nonetheless.
Exactly. No point in getting it if you don't jailbreak - as I've pointed out above, absolutely no NAS'es support Home Sharing, the only protocol ATV supports for local media streaming.
The OP asked for a computer-less solution
Plex can now be installed on both ARM and Intel CPU based NAS. Powerful NAS can transcode on the fly whereas ARM NAS has to have m4v ready to play files.