Categorize and play videos with Video Station

Overview

With Video Station, you can easily organize and categorize your video collections into different default or custom libraries, so as to find the video you want much more efficiently. In addition, playing and sharing videos can be just as easy and straightforward as a few simple clicks.

1. Install Video Station

To install Video Station, please go to Package Center, find Video Station, and then click Install.

2. Store and Categorize Videos into Default Libraries

Video Station provides three default libraries as shown on the left panel: Movie, TV Show, and Home Video. To make sure your videos can be correctly indexed and categorized, you need to add video folders for each library and then store your files to the corresponding video folders first. By default, three video folders have been created under the video shared folder for the three default libraries: movie, TV show, and home video. However, in addition to these three folders, you can also do the following to add more video folders for the libraries.

Note:

The system will automatically search related metadata and other information (e.g. poster image) for two video types (movie and tv show) from the Internet. Thus, to ensure your videos can be paired with the correct information, it is highly recommended that the videos should match the specified video type of their respective libraries.

Add video folders for default libraries

  1. Go to Settings > Library.
  2. Click Create > Add folder to choose a folder from your Synology NAS, and select the destination library. You can add up to 100 video folders for one library, but once a folder is selected, neither the folder nor its sub-folders can be selected for another library anymore.
  3. Store video files to video folders to categorize videos into corresponding libraries.
  4. Now you can browse and watch your desired videos from the libraries!

3. Store and Categorize Videos into Custom Libraries

In addition to the three default libraries which can be accessed by anyone by default, you as DSM admin or users belonging to the administrators group can also create custom libraries and assign access permissions to users.

3.1 Create custom libraries

  1. Go to Settings > Library, and click Create > Create library.
  2. Specify a name for the new library, select which type of videos you want to put in the folder, and then choose Public if you want the library to be accessed by everyone, or choose Private to limit the access to particular users who have permissions. Please note that the videos you place in the folder must match the type selected here to ensure the accuracy of video information collected from the Internet.
  3. If you chose Private, click Assign permissions and tick the checkboxes to grant access to the users.

3.2 Add video folders for custom libraries

  1. Go to Settings > Library.
  2. Click Create > Add folder to choose a folder from your Synology NAS, and select the destination library. You can add up to 100 video folders to one library, but once a folder is selected, neither the folder nor its sub-folders can be selected for another library anymore.
  3. Store video files to video folders to categorize videos into corresponding libraries.
  4. Now you can browse and watch your desired videos from the libraries!

4. Play Videos

Once you have categorized your video files into different libraries, you can follow the steps below to play your videos on Video Station. It is highly recommended that you install VLC media player (Windows, Linux) on your computer first. In addition to playing videos on your local computer, you can also stream your videos to DLNA/UPnP-compliant DMAs or AirPlay compatible devices for video playback.

Play videos with the embedded Video Player

  1. Select any video clip you want to play, and then click the play icon on the video image, or click Action > Play.
  2. The video should start playing right away. If not, please make sure the format of your video is supported by your web browser, or you have installed VLC plugin on your computer.
  3. Use the on-screen buttons and progress bar at the bottom of Video Player according to your need. You can also adjust the volume, select video playback quality and audio track, turn subtitles on, or stream the video to another device (if applicable).
Note:

For detailed information about VLC plugin and supported devices, please refer to DSM Help > Video Station > Video Playback.

5. Share Videos with the Public

With the public sharing feature, you can easily share your videos with other people using Video Station. All the shared videos are publically accessible by anyone with the link, and can be managed on the Collection page.

Share videos with others

  1. Go to any video library, and click All on the top-right corner to view all the video in this library.
  2. Click on the Selection Mode icon, or press and hold Ctrl or Shift to select multiple videos. Then click Action > Share with the public.
  3. Alternatively, you can also click Action > Collection to add the selected videos to an existing shared collection (if applicable).
  4. Specify a validity period if necessary.
  5. Simply copy and paste the link into emails, instant messages, and web pages to share the videos with everyone.

6. Organize and Watch Videos on Mobile Devices

To connect to Video Station via mobile devices, you can download DS video with iOS/Android devices or Windows Phone with below QR codes to play videos and organize your collections on your mobile devices, or stream videos to your DMAs or AirPlay devices both at home and on the move.