Hello,

First of all I like to say that I searched and red a few topics, but I can't find what I'm looking for or in some cases it goes beyond my knowledge.

I have an AC Ryan mini 1 for quite some time now and basically it works fine. I stream from my QNAP NAS through UPnP. As you all know ISO and subtitles aren't supported. So now I like to stream in a way so that I CAN stream ISO and subtitles.

I read about NFS, so I enabled this service on my NAS and activated it on my shared folder to get it to work, but I doesn't.
I also understood that I could create shortcuts to evade the problem, but I can't find to topic with the search function. I remember there was a topic covering the issue.

Anyway, can somebody tell me what the best way is fro streaming from my NAS besides UPnP and maybe tell me how to set it up or redirect me to somewhere where it's explained.

Thanks in advance,

Tommy

Hi
You need to enable file sharing on your NAS - most do this by default, and you don't need nfs enabled. If windows can connect to shares on the NAS and see the content then that is enough.
You can then access the NAS via the file explorer section of the menu on the Mini, there are options in here to enter the name or IP address of the NAS and the credentials (if any) for logging onto it
Andy

Hey Andy,

Thanks for the quick reply.
I don't remember disabling file sharing on my NAS and I'm pretty sure that I didn't. Although I can't find the exact option (file sharing). Here's an overview of the services available on my QNAP NAS:





In the Files Manager menu on the ac ryan I got three options:
- Network (1. My_Shortcuts 2. WORKGROUP (shows my pc if its turned on))
- UPnP (1. TwonkeyMedia 2. my pc (when it's turned on))
- NFS (empty)

So my NAS doesn't show up in the ac ryan except UPnP, so where should it normally be visible?
thanks in advance

Hi
I'm not familiar with the QNAP settings but, if there is a setting for the workgroip name anywhere, set it to WORKGROUP - in capitals.
Which firmware on the Mini are you using btw?
And can you browse / connect to the file shares on a windows PC?
Andy

Where can you see the firmware version?
I recently updated so I'm pretty sure I've got firmware: v7.4.6.r7317 - European Edition
Since I just took the most recent version.

And yes, I can browse and connect to my file shares on my windows pc. I'm note sure if you mean access them on my pc or access the files from the ac ryan, but I can do both. Before I had the NAS I streamed from my pc and it still works!

As for the workgroup setting, there is none. I can put in a server name (which I already did of course), but nothing about workgroups.
I remember vaguely that I used to be able to access my NAS through network under files explorer in the ac ryan menu, but I'm not entirely sure...

Hello,

Judging on the picture of your NAS settings.

You should find what you are looking for in the 'Microsoft Networks' which is layman's term for 'Samba' network protocol. This is in general the most compatible network protocol and also what Microsoft / Linux and apple to some extent uses. If you go there and enable this service and also chose the domain name: WORKGROUP, this should be enough.

Then go from your Mini to: 'Files Manager:Network' and you should see the 'WORKGROUP' domain and inside there the name of your NAS. If you don't see anything in 'WORKGROUP'? Then you can note down the IP address of your NAS, and manually add a shortcut to it. To do this go to: 'Files Manager:Network:My shortcuts' and here press the 'Menu' and 'Add' the shortcut.

This will work with all formats and subtitles that we support. You can also do this with NFS but then you need to manually add a shared directory, that is the only difference.

Best regards,

Thanks Mikael! This works
Microsoft Networking was already enabled, but this is the place where you can (re)name the workgroup (sorry about that Andy, didn't know where it was located )

is NFS better or is it all the same?
and now I see my entire NAS's shared folders and it would be great if I could choose (or make a shortcut) to the share containing my multimedia
is this possible?
and how is 'my shortcuts' under files manager different from the 'shortcuts' option in the main menu?

thanks in advance

I'm glad you got it working!

NFS is the standard linux network and file sharing protocol. In general there are not that much difference with these two. In general the NFS can be slightly quicker for transfer and streaming, but this also comes down to your general hardware and network environment. In other words, if you want to know for sure, you have to test both and compare

If you don't have any issues in streaming and using the current samba/Microsoft protocol I would just recommend to use it. If you would like to try the NFS protocol, you simply go to this location on your NAS, set the shared folder you want to access.

Then on the Mini, you can go to 'Files Manager:NFS' and press the 'Menu' button to add a new nfs client. You need to know the path of the shared folder, so remember what it's called in your NAS settings.

The difference with the 'Shortcuts' in the main menu and the 'My Shortcuts' in the network section is that the 'Shortcut' in the main menu are for your files and folder you want to access quick, and in the network environment you can add shortcuts to your various clients in your network.

If you have a folder or file that you want to access quickly (both local and network) you can do this by simply going to the location you want through 'Files Manager' and then when you have selected the file or folder you want to access quick, press the 'Menu' button to 'Add to shortcuts' and you will then have this access from the main menu.

Best regards,

ok thanks Mikael, this is really helpful information
I just set it up within minutes
even the NFS thing was easier than I thought
thanks a lot for the help!

makes we wonder why I ever used UPnP/DLNA, I understand know why people dislike it so much

No problem!

Yeah, the UPnP/DLNA are very good protocols for pushing music for instance and I use those much more with my Android devices as I have those for my music.
But for a mediaplayer there is no real reason not to use Samba or NFS (whatever suits you best) as they are much more compatible in general and also much faster.

Best regards,