Sony Bravia KD55XG8196 Android TV - NAS Media Playback - best Android app to achieve playback?

[rjsdavis]

Hello to all

I have the abovementioned Sony TV. I'm tying to find the slickest and most efficient way to access the media files (video files) presently stored on my Western Digital My Cloud NAS drive, and play them on my TV? 

I've been experimenting with the KODI app - but this is really pretty poor. It doesn't show all of the video files that are in the video folder that it has been directed to, and throws up error messages. 

I have installed PLEX onto the NAS drive, and as I write, the drive is still "processing" all of my video and audio files. Whilst there are many, many thousands of files, it is still doing this after about a day of processing. I downloaded the PLEX app last night, and connected it to the PLEX server on my NAS drive, and eventually got a film to stream, but it really didn't want to work at all, and needed to be "retry'd" a number of times before it eventually ran. I am assuming that this is because the NAS drive was "processing" all of my files at the time, as it still is now.... 

What other app solutions are there, that I can download onto my TV? 

At the moment, I'm sort of "making do" by accessing the NAS files on my Android smartphone, and mirror-screening them onto the TV. This is no good in the long-term as it burns through the phone's battery. I've also cast these videos to my Chromecast device which is plugged into the TV, but this is a poor solution due to the sheer number of file types that Chromecast won't play! 

Many thanks for any app or hardware solutions in reply.  

[rooobb]

There are too many things you are skipping to be helped... Your tv doesn't have any Kodi app, WD mycloud AFAIK doesn't have any plex server, thousand of files how are encoded (assuming you legally own them)...

The easiest answer should be to use the internal tv mediaplayer connected to the standard DLNA server available on your NAS (should be twonky)

[rjsdavis]

"There are too many things you are skipping to be helped..."

Am I? What are they then? It's a simple enough post: What app can easily and reliably access NAS files and play them on my TV? One step. One app.

"Your tv doesn't have any Kodi app"

Yes, it does. It's on there right now and I've used it. It's a poor app.

"WD mycloud AFAIK doesn't have any plex server"

Yes, it does. It's on there right now and I've used it.

It's not amazing helpful if you're going to criticize the quality of the original post, or my missing "of so many things that I am skipping that I can't be helped", when it's overtly clear that you are guessing and don't even know what you're talking about!  Why post if you don't know? Honestly...

[rjsdavis]

"There are too many things you are skipping to be helped..."

Am I? What are they then? It's a simple enough post: What app can easily and reliably access NAS files and play them on my TV? One step. One app.

"Your tv doesn't have any Kodi app"

Yes, it does. It's on there right now and I've used it. It's a poor app.

"WD mycloud AFAIK doesn't have any plex server"

Yes, it does. It's on there right now and I've used it.

It's not amazing helpful if you're going to criticize the quality of the original post, or my missing "of so many things that I am skipping that I can't be helped", when it's overtly clear that you are guessing and don't even know what you're talking about!  Why post if you don't know? Honestly...

[rooobb]

I already posted the easiest solution without installing anything that you didn't mention (but maybe you already tried that...)

The tv model you wrote is not an android tv so please if you have kodi on it share a picture since it is really a big news .

I have a similar setup but with an android tv (kd55a1) and it works right out of the box (you should only activate the default media server on the wd my cloud and configure the directory to be shared).

BTW just for you to understand my doubt on your description: why are you using a chromecast on an Android TV if it is embedded in the tv itself?

[rjsdavis]

"I already posted the easiest solution without installing anything that you didn't mention"

...except that you didn't actually post a "solution". You wrote a vague sentence without the benefit of any actual expertise and/or experience.

"The tv model you wrote is not an android tv so please if you have kodi on it share a picture since it is really a big news ."
Really? I must have magic skills to have downloaded the KODI app, from the Google Play store direct onto my TV . I'm really glad that you know more about the capabilities of the TV sitting on my wall right now, than I do, and have experienced it directly.

"BTW just for you to understand my doubt on your description: why are you using a chromecast on an Android TV if it is embedded in the tv itself?"
I'm not really worried about your "doubt" to be honest. The embedded casting of the TV itself is flaky and unstable, and drops the connection. The MS Screen Adapter and Chromecast are far more stable.... not that I need to explain this to address your "doubt".

[rooobb]

Enjoy your video

[rooobb]

Just for your info sony states that the tv model you wrote is not an android one  and no chromecast function at all  so the options are you wrote the wrong model number or you got a special tv. In amy case the solution I wrote is still valid in case you change mood https://www.sony.co.uk/electronics/televisions/xg7002-series/specifications?cpint=SG_PRODUCT_DETAILS...

[williamfsmith]

Android TV kd55xg8196bu 

[rooobb]

Do you understand that XG81 is a different tv than XG70 that you wrote in the post? Quite different.

[williamfsmith]

Title says KD55XG8196