Synology NAS and Chromecast?

Hello everyone!

Looking to pick up a Synology DS415+ primarily for light backup use.

One of the additional things I think I can do with this is to stream videos to my 1080p TV via HDMI and Chromecast.

I was just wondering what file formats this thing can play.

I have a collection of MKVs, AVIs, MP4s, MPEGs, MP3s and FLACs.

Can I stream these to my TV with a ChromeCast, or will I be better served with a Roku or something?

The chromecast can play nothing on it's own, it needs to have content fed to it in one way or another.

If you have a smartphone handy then you could possibly install Plex on the Synology box and use that + the plex app ($5 in the play store) to shove content at the chromecast.

Would it be possible to feed the Chromecast from the Synology?

This and this seem to say yes but I'm not sure how exactly this will work as I have neither of the two devices at the moment and there isn't a lot of documentation on this.

Plex seems to be interesting, except I'll need to buy one per license per smartphone at around 5$ each. Penny pinching, yes but we have around 6 phones in the house (plus some iPhones too).

OP to stream 1080p do not go with a NAS. A NAS is just as it implies, it is network attached storage and the CPU in those boxes are just barely able to transcode 1080p for streaming (video playback will studder). Best option I have researched and in process of implementing, is to build a budget media server. I am building one for $450 running windows 7 (Linux works too!) with PLEX. Just as FnordMan said, PLEX to chromecast, phone, tablet from your server.

Find out if your NAS can do PLEX and if it can transcode on the fly. Some can't. I think the main discriminator is if the chip is ARM or intel. But that's not the only thing. If it can't you'll have to pre-transcode what is saved to the NAS or run a PLEX server elsewhere on you network, preferrably wired to the NAS. Untrancoded files could kill your wireless just getting to the Plex Server. Leaving not much for server to cc.

Well the synology has the dsvideo app and you could get the dsvideo android app (free) and like mx player for decoding to stream to the chromecast. I would say in general if you can offload the decoding to the device you will be golden as the synology will not be able to handle the processing power requirements. I moved off of a 1512+ to a dedicated computer as the atom processor was not up for 1080p. It could do 720 or direct streaming no problem.

The avoton C2550 in the DS415+ has been used frequently in FreeNAS/Plex builds showing no issues of multiple 1080p streams. Those are dedicated builds, though, so I can't speak to the remainder of the Synology box's capabilities; one way to find out for sure

Thanks. Am currently doing additional research on this.

It seems that the tradeoff is between the flexibility of a PC-based NAS vs the features of the autobackup and other apps on IOS and Android that Synology packages with its stuff.

Don't forget you could always have your storage on a device and setup your plex server that maps the data to the nas too from a pc, just need gigabit networking. Also be wary of the synology hacked to pc software until you can get to dsm 5.0 because of the BASH vulnerabilities that have been patched.

Machupo said:

The avoton C2550 in the DS415+ has been used frequently in FreeNAS/Plex builds showing no issues of multiple 1080p streams. Those are dedicated builds, though, so I can't speak to the remainder of the Synology box's capabilities; one way to find out for sure

Click to expand...

This is exactly correct. I deploy Synology units in most of the houses I install home theaters in and the media capabilities are more than adequate -- especially if you're a little technically inclined. Our general usage goes something like:

-- 2-6 3MP IP Cameras recording to Surveillance Station (Synology package)
-- 2-8 scheduled computer backups using Data Replicator (Synology's backup application)
-- Multiuser cloud service via CloudStation (Synology package)
-- Plex Media Server & plexconnect, streaming to hacked Apple TVs, Rokus, Samsung TVs, Samsung Blu-Ray players
-- Audio Station for storage and streaming of local music

We have had very minimal trouble streaming multiple 1080p streams simultaneously. The only times we have ever had struggles is when the homeowner had an existing and antiquated network infrastructure. Obviously streaming from the basement to the second floor of the house wirelessly with a single Walmart wireless router has caused issues. We tend to deploy multi-AP setups and hardwire devices when at all possible.

The 415+ is an excellent model choice for such usage. Stay away from the misleading "415play" model, as it currently has compatibility issues with Plex that do not sound like they will ever be fully resolved.