Video station on Synology DS713+, live tv streaming, movie + tv show streaming etc..
Here is just a quick review of the video station for Synology. Its quite a new feature added only last year which started off by being useless, but has gotten better since and here I'd just like to share some thoughts on it, and start a discussion. I just recently had a play around with it, after a year since I installed it, just sitting dead on my syno. I've recently spent some time setting it up properly, getting all the meta data, setting up the live tv functions, setting it up on my iphone and ipad, and finally using it. Its a pretty cool feature, and when I first heard about it from the synology update, I was quite surprised and it ended up making my day. Although at first, after using it, I saw it as a bit of a gimmick, only rarely working well with it being slow, and non-useable. Its now about a year later, and past many updates, but the most recent update has had a big significance on the user-ability of it. Below is a screenshot of the main page of my video station. You can see I've set up meta data for all my movies, although most of my movies were recognised and updated from the metadata servers automatically. The most common is IMDB which has pretty much every movie in its system. And again, as you can see it gives me a description as well.
But fancy shamcy, Synology has a excellent UI but nothing is important besides the use-ability and how well it works. Right now, video station works great, its reasonably fast to load on wifi in my network, although outside on other wifi networks it can sometimes be slow, obviously depending on the speed on the other network. But I have used it at friends houses and its viewable. The synology also transcodes the video live, so it converts it from whatever format its on to a mp4 (I think) so I can view it in my web browser. It also lets you change the quality. Below is a video screenshot of despicable me, which I've got a 10gig 1080p version of, and it transcodes fine, and still really good quality. I've also heard you can airplay these from the web browser, but haven't tried it myself. I've also thinking about getting apple tv for this, but wanna know if it works, and how well it works if you have tried it?
View My Video
The next thing I've tried is the live tv function. I've bought off ebay a cheap $10 USB tv dongle. Here is the link for it:
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Digital-...6?pt=AU_Components&hash=item232a45c184&_uhb=1
But I can only pick up channel 7 and some other crappier channels. I can't get channel 10 or 9. I've done some research and so far I've discovered that some channels broadcast using MPEG-4 which this stick can only pick up MPEG-2 channels. Sydney users out there, do you know any tuners that can pick up channel 9 etc.... i've also bee thinking, maybe I need a HD tuner? Anyway, ebay links would be appreciated. Below is channel 7 live streaming on my phone using the video station app, my iphones on 3G as its working really well and its good quality to.
Regarding the video station app for iPhone, its again really well designed, and I'm really happy with it. It has a new side slider thing, which I think, came from the spotify app, but synology now use it on all there apps. Its a handy menu, and saves space on the bottom. Anyway, the most important thing again Is usability, and the video station app is right on target this time. Its fast, and just simply works, which is exactly what I want. Its also good quality, which makes me wonder, how well can this airplay? I'm wanting to get an apple tv desperately to try this out, but also wanting to wait for the new one, which rumours say, should be out within the next month. If anyones tried airplay with video station, how did it go, and is it usable? Below are some screenshots from my iphone of the ds video app:
Thanks for reading, but please in return, let me know what tv tuners work, and if airplay with this app is really worth it. I really want to know, as I've got the money and time invested built up ready to hopefully move this onto becoming my main system, and my family (very IT unskilled) of course need to know (and remember) how to use it without any issues. I've also recently seen the video station app being released on the ruko box, and google tv's. I've recently ordered a google Tv stick from ebay for around $35 and just waiting desperately for it to arrive in the mail. If you like, I can let you know how it goes. Here was the link: http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/350832571794?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649
Hopefully it works well
Thanks again for reading, please help me out.
Here is just a quick review of the video station for Synology. Its quite a new feature added only last year which started off by being useless, but has gotten better since and here I'd just like to share some thoughts on it, and start a discussion. I just recently had a play around with it, after a year since I installed it, just sitting dead on my syno. I've recently spent some time setting it up properly, getting all the meta data, setting up the live tv functions, setting it up on my iphone and ipad, and finally using it. Its a pretty cool feature, and when I first heard about it from the synology update, I was quite surprised and it ended up making my day. Although at first, after using it, I saw it as a bit of a gimmick, only rarely working well with it being slow, and non-useable. Its now about a year later, and past many updates, but the most recent update has had a big significance on the user-ability of it. Below is a screenshot of the main page of my video station. You can see I've set up meta data for all my movies, although most of my movies were recognised and updated from the metadata servers automatically. The most common is IMDB which has pretty much every movie in its system. And again, as you can see it gives me a description as well.
But fancy shamcy, Synology has a excellent UI but nothing is important besides the use-ability and how well it works. Right now, video station works great, its reasonably fast to load on wifi in my network, although outside on other wifi networks it can sometimes be slow, obviously depending on the speed on the other network. But I have used it at friends houses and its viewable. The synology also transcodes the video live, so it converts it from whatever format its on to a mp4 (I think) so I can view it in my web browser. It also lets you change the quality. Below is a video screenshot of despicable me, which I've got a 10gig 1080p version of, and it transcodes fine, and still really good quality. I've also heard you can airplay these from the web browser, but haven't tried it myself. I've also thinking about getting apple tv for this, but wanna know if it works, and how well it works if you have tried it?
View My Video
The next thing I've tried is the live tv function. I've bought off ebay a cheap $10 USB tv dongle. Here is the link for it:
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Digital-...6?pt=AU_Components&hash=item232a45c184&_uhb=1
But I can only pick up channel 7 and some other crappier channels. I can't get channel 10 or 9. I've done some research and so far I've discovered that some channels broadcast using MPEG-4 which this stick can only pick up MPEG-2 channels. Sydney users out there, do you know any tuners that can pick up channel 9 etc.... i've also bee thinking, maybe I need a HD tuner? Anyway, ebay links would be appreciated. Below is channel 7 live streaming on my phone using the video station app, my iphones on 3G as its working really well and its good quality to.
Regarding the video station app for iPhone, its again really well designed, and I'm really happy with it. It has a new side slider thing, which I think, came from the spotify app, but synology now use it on all there apps. Its a handy menu, and saves space on the bottom. Anyway, the most important thing again Is usability, and the video station app is right on target this time. Its fast, and just simply works, which is exactly what I want. Its also good quality, which makes me wonder, how well can this airplay? I'm wanting to get an apple tv desperately to try this out, but also wanting to wait for the new one, which rumours say, should be out within the next month. If anyones tried airplay with video station, how did it go, and is it usable? Below are some screenshots from my iphone of the ds video app:
Thanks for reading, but please in return, let me know what tv tuners work, and if airplay with this app is really worth it. I really want to know, as I've got the money and time invested built up ready to hopefully move this onto becoming my main system, and my family (very IT unskilled) of course need to know (and remember) how to use it without any issues. I've also recently seen the video station app being released on the ruko box, and google tv's. I've recently ordered a google Tv stick from ebay for around $35 and just waiting desperately for it to arrive in the mail. If you like, I can let you know how it goes. Here was the link: http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/350832571794?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649
Hopefully it works well
Thanks again for reading, please help me out.
