DLNA - How is the WD EX2?

I currently have a Synology DS214 which I bought MAINLY for DLNA Streaming to my devices;

(Netgear R7000 Router)

  1. 55" Samsung TV 2010 Model - Hardwired 

  2. 40" Samsung Smart TV 2012 Model - Wireless 5GHz

  3. Xbox One

  4. Roku 3

  5. Amazon FireTV Stick

  6. iPad Mini, iPhone 6’s

Now these are my devices capable of DLNA (actually I dont think the FireStick does DLNA but Ill leave it listed). Prior to buying the Synology DS214 I just had two portable HDDs connected to each of my Samsung TVs and movies from the HDDs to the TV via the TV UI and it always worked like a charm. I could;

A. Play HD moves

B. Resume play if I turned off the TV

C. I could play both my MKVs and MP4s with no issues

I bought the DS214 to consolidate my drives and just have a friendly, easier experience, but it has been the farthest from that. 

I can stream to my 55" TV with it being hardwired directly to my Netgear R7000 Router using the TV UI and some of my movies have audio/video sync issues, when this was NEVER the case when directly connecting a HDD with the movies to my TV. This also happens to my 40" Samsung Smart TV connected via 5GHz wireless, but its NOT all of the same movies that have the issue, which is strange. Again, if I connect the HDD to EITHER of my TVs and play the movies they are ZERO audio/video sync issues. If I play the movies with the issues on my MacBook they are fine as well.

It’s very frustrating. So I am looking at buying the WD EX2 in hopes it doesn’t suffer from the same issue. Any one have experience with this?

Hi Orlandoech, welcome to the WD Community. You might want to share your TV models, to see if any other users have done the same test. 

I use my EX2 for DLNA purposes daily.  I do not employ half the playback methods that you do though.  I will however say that using the XBone as my playback device I have zero issues.  Maybe someone else has used some of the other methods you mentioned.  Good luck.

Edit for content :  I also use the Ipad and my Samsung Galexy S5 for playback.  Both opperate smoothy.  However, I find that the Ipad does not have a very robust Codec library. 

Thanks for the reply.

I have tried both a QNAP and Synology NAS and but have the same issues, but I have narrowed it down to particular files and not all videos, but all my videos are MP4. So I believe it was how some of them (ones with issues) have been encoded, compressed and contained.

While I do NOT have the issue with the files playing on a Mac or PC, or even via USB HDD to the TV directly, it is only via streaming to my TVs (mainly 55") TV because it is only 10/100 capable. If I stream it to my Roku 3 and watch it, the same file with issues is now fine.

I have spent several hours this weekend troubleshooting and I am now positive its because;

  1. Mainly that my 55"TV is only 10/100 capable

  2. How the files with issues were possibly encoded, compressed and contained.

I can live with playing it via my Roku3 or Xbox One.

Hello, I’m interested in this as well.

I have a ton of home videos and wondering what formats are best supported.

Also, I have devices like ipads and android phones which I’d like to access the videos but I can’t seam to find any free applications that work well with the Ex2.

Most of the online documentation tell you how to only configure and not actually use the device.

I’m currently using ex2 to store mkvs and other video files. For the most part I use infuse to play the files on my Apple TV 3. I can play most mkv on Xbox one using the dlna.

Right out of the box it plays great on my Xbox one, I skipped the smart tv when I bought mine, simply because Xbox one and wdtv live let me do the same thing