Hey guys, I have a quick question regarding my setup. I have a 2TB WDMyCloud NAS hard drive. I use a WDTV Live SMP (3rd gen) to stream files off of it. I’ve always had it set up as a Media Server, and I haven’t really had an issue with it. The WDMyCloud is found right away, but I have to navigate through the folders to reach the files that I want to stream each time. So recently, I wanted to start using the Media Library feature to use movie info with the xml files, and also start using the backdrop images for some flare. The issue now is, that the only way I can set up a Media Library, is by selecting the WDMyCloud through a windows share. Why doesn’t the WDMyCloud just show up under network shares on its own? Why do I have to connect to it through a windows share? I thought that was the whole point of a NAS, was to eleminate the use of my PC to serve up files. This is an issue at times, because when it’s caching files, or whatever you want to call it…it tends to slow my PC down.
The SMP library connects to the WDMC via a Windows share, your My Cloud will show up on the devices list when you select Windows share in the media library setup. You’ll then be asked to enter your admin username and password, and can then navigate to your media folder. There’s no question of a Windows PC being involved, it’s just your SMP using a Windows type of network protocol.
If you are only using the WD TV with your WD NAS my experience is that Linux shares are more stable than Windows shares. You can activate Linux share on your WDTV, it is not activated by default.
You will also need to use a fixed IP address for your NAS, you can do that in your router settings. In fact I would recommend that whatever shares option you choose, either Windows or Linux.
I did find Linux shares more stable on the previous firmware, but on the latest one Windows shares are rock solid - so far …
I’ve also found it useful, and far more stable to set a static IP for my SMP as well, this can be done in the network settings.
