How can I stream movies from My Cloud to a Roku

My Cloud OS 3 Personal & Network Attached Storage My Cloud
1

I have read through a bunch of threads and I can’t get my moves to stream.

First, which format do I need to save the ripped DVDs to? Mp4, wmv, DivX?

Which app is easiest to navigate?

Lastly, I have three “smart tv’s” and I would like to stream to them as well.

Please help this old man

1 Like
2

Your movies should be in MP4 format for streaming to both smart tvs and Roku. You need no app to stream them to the smart tv, but Roku needs the Roku media player app/channel installed. to conver to MP4 you need to use a free program installed on you Windows or Mac computer called Handbrake. Google info about all this and check your smart tv user manual. Now, go do your homework.

3

If you have an android phone , try a program called mediamonkey , you can cast the video files directly to your smart tv /Roko through your phone from your MyCloud.

I would convert them all to MP4 , it’s the most compatible format for most players.

4

I stream almost exclusively from the My Cloud to several Roku’s. To stream media you need to have that media in a format that is supported by BOTH the My Cloud and the Roku. Generally for video MP4 will work. There are a number of free video conversion programs, like Handbrake (https://handbrake.fr/) that will encode video to the proper format for playback on a Roku.

To rip a DVD perform an internet search as there are a number of methods to rip DVD’s for local streaming. There is even a way to rip certain DVD’s (unencrypted and certain encrypted DVD’s) using Handbrake. See the Handbrake documentation for more information. Also see this link (http://grandiloquentmusings.blogspot.com/2014/12/ripping-encrypted-dvds-with-handbrake.html) and others that detail how to add a DLL file to Handbrake to allow ripping of certain commercial encrypted DVD’s.

On the Roku you will need to have a channel called Roku Media Player (https://channelstore.roku.com/details/2213/roku-media-player) which should allow you to access any DLNA server, like the My Cloud, on your local network.

Lastly you can input metadata information (cover art, program name, program information) into the MP4 media file that will be displayed onscreen in certain media players like the Roku Media Player channel. One can use MP3Tag (http://www.mp3tag.de/en/) or Media Monkey (http://www.mediamonkey.com/) for example to add or edit that metadata. Again perform an internet search to learn more about metadata in media files.

5

Thank you for all of the replies. My next question is, is there a specific file folder they should be stored into?

On my smart tv’s the file names show up, but nothing happens when I click on them. I have been using Macx Ripper and using its mp4 setting which doesn’t save anything except the actual movie.

6

No the media can be stored in any Share or subfolder within a Share provided the Share has Media Serving enabled through the My Cloud Dashboard.

If one has trouble with playing a media file (like MP4) they should try reencoding the file. The MP4 format is a container file, if one uses certain encoders to encode the video/audio its possible that the DLNA client within the TV or Roku may not be able to play the file even though its in MP4 format. For example if I download a video from YouTube, often my Roku will not play the audio from that media file, I have to reencode the video with a different audio encoder.

7

good god, glad I saw this thread - I am watching deadpool2 mkv x264 file and all my other ones like 265 work… it appears under ALL on the roku media player - streams fine - don’t need plex
thanks for this thread!

8

Nice post thanks for sharing. Read mine also:

10

Just copy your media into a Share on the My Cloud and enable Media Serving on that Share within the My Cloud Dashboard. Once Media Serving is enabled the Roku Media Player should be able to access the My Cloud and stream videos media from it.

11

Thank you for another informative site. Where else could I get that kind of info written in such an ideal method?
Roku Error
canon printer error

12

This is an old message, but I will respond. First, you need to know what brand of TV’s. Are they all Roku ready? If so, you can use Twonky server to begin with on your “My Cloud” Dashboard and how you get there is by installing the WD Smartware app from WD. Once on Dashboard you must find apps on your drive to be installed. Once that is accomplished Roku will detect your media server. You can also go the expensive way and get the WD media detector and player 600 dollars and you can skip all of this. You can also use Plex app for the newer WD media servers.

13

I have found PLEX the best way to go as a media server. Just make sure you are streaming transcoded files. . . most MyCloud devices don’t have the horsepower to transcode on the fly.

The Roku stuff tends to change over time. . . .and I (personally) have not had consistent success with DLNA apps

If I must be honest. . . . lately, I just have plugged a PC into the home theater receiver (i.e. HDMI) cable. Then I just fire up a media file directly using VLC.

14

Will echo using Plex (or Kodi) instead of using Twonky. However, Plex can be a bit challenging for the non technical person to properly setup and configure. Then there is the issue of properly naming files so the Plex agent can scan/catalogue the files properly. But overall Plex is much better experience than Twonky and a DLNA client on the client device.

The major downside to Plex is the single bay My Cloud units don’t officially support Plex and some of the multi bay models may struggle to run Plex. Most My Cloud models don’t support Plex transcoding which is sometimes a problem.

For a number of years ran Plex on a Rasperry Pi 3B+ with the single bay first gen My Cloud holding the Plex library files. Worked well enough most of the time once properly setup. Moved to using a more powerful NAS from Synology that has transcoding support to host the Plex server and it’s library media files. Been using Roku’s for many years mostly without major issues.