Plex is great. Plex is also a transcoding server, a library manager, a metadata fetcher, and a thousand other things you may not want. If your media is well-organised on a NAS and you just want to play it on the TV, you do not need any of that.
SMB - the protocol your Mac, Windows machine, and NAS all already speak - is enough. tvOS will play H.264, HEVC, Dolby Vision, and HDR10 directly. The only thing you need is an SMB client app on Apple TV. Here is the full setup.
What you need
- A NAS or any machine on your local network with files to share. Synology, QNAP, TrueNAS, Asustor, plus a Windows or Mac with file sharing on, all qualify.
- An Apple TV (HD or 4K, both work; 4K obviously needed for 4K content).
- Wi-Fi or wired Ethernet on both ends.
- An SMB client app for tvOS, like NAS Media Player.
That is it. No transcoding server, no metadata, no library scan.
Step 1: enable SMB on the NAS
The exact path varies by brand:
- Synology: Control Panel → File Services → SMB tab → tick "Enable SMB service". On the Advanced tab, set Minimum SMB protocol to SMB 2 (better: SMB 3 if available), Maximum to SMB 3. Disable SMB 1 entirely if it is still listed.
- QNAP: Control Panel → Network & File Services → SMB / Samba. Same idea - turn it on, set the protocol range to SMB 2 - 3, disable SMB 1.
- TrueNAS Scale: Shares → Windows (SMB) Shares → add a share, pick a dataset, set Purpose to "Multi-user time machine" or "Default share" depending on your use.
- macOS: System Settings → General → Sharing → File Sharing. Click the (i) and pick which users can connect over SMB.
- Windows: Settings → Network → Advanced sharing settings → turn on file sharing. Then right-click any folder → Properties → Sharing tab.
Make sure the share you want is exposed and that the user account you will use from Apple TV has read access. For most people that is the existing admin user on the NAS.
Step 2: note the NAS address
You can connect by:
- IP address: e.g.
192.168.1.50. Check the NAS dashboard or your router\'s "connected devices" page. - Hostname: e.g.
diskstation.local. Uses Bonjour/mDNS. Works on most home networks; fails if your router blocks multicast.
IP is more reliable for an Apple TV setup. Hostname is more convenient if your IP changes occasionally. I usually start with IP for setup and switch to hostname later if I want.
If you use IP, give the NAS a static lease on your router so the address does not change. Otherwise the Apple TV will lose the connection one day in three months when the lease rotates.
Step 3: connect from Apple TV
Install an SMB client app (NAS Media Player, for example). On first launch:
- Add server.
- Enter the IP or hostname (no
smb://prefix needed in most apps). - Enter your username and password.
- Pick the share to mount.
Credentials get stored in the tvOS keychain on this Apple TV. They are not synced to other devices or to iCloud.
Browse to a file, press Play. If you picked the right user and share, you are streaming.
Step 4: the network sanity check
If playback stutters, the cause is almost always the network. The order to check:
Wi-Fi to Apple TV
Wired Ethernet on Apple TV solves 80% of streaming complaints. If you have not run a cable, that is the first try. A long-run flat Ethernet cable can be tucked under a rug for not much money. Wi-Fi 6 works for most files, but a 4K HEVC HDR file at 80 Mbps stresses any indoor wireless link.
Wi-Fi to NAS
If your NAS is on Wi-Fi (unusual, but happens), move it to wired. Streaming 4K from a Wi-Fi NAS over Wi-Fi to an Apple TV is two compressed pipes in series; one of them will hiccup.
Network congestion
Heavy background sync (Time Machine, Backblaze, photo upload) competes for the same link. If a particular file always stutters at 9 PM and never at 10 AM, that is your cue.
The NAS itself
Some NAS models, especially older ARM-based ones, struggle to serve 4K HEVC over SMB. CPU on the NAS hits 100% just delivering the file. Modern (post-2020) units handle it fine; pre-2018 budget units sometimes do not.
Codec compatibility
Apple TV plays back whatever tvOS supports natively, which means SMB clients do not transcode. The good news: this covers almost every modern file format.
| Codec | Supported on Apple TV 4K |
|---|---|
| H.264 / AVC | Yes, up to 4K 30 fps. |
| H.265 / HEVC | Yes, up to 4K 60 fps, including 10-bit and Dolby Vision. |
| AV1 | Limited. The 2022 Apple TV 4K supports AV1 software-decode at low resolutions only. 4K AV1 generally does not play smoothly. |
| VP9 | Limited. Same situation as AV1. |
| MPEG-2 | Not supported in modern tvOS. Old DVD rips need re-encoding. |
If you have a file that does not play, run it through HandBrake to H.264 or HEVC and the problem goes away. The conversion is a one-time job.
Subtitles, audio tracks, chapters
All work, with caveats:
- Embedded subtitles: SRT, ASS, and VTT subtitle tracks inside MKV files are picked up. PGS image-based subtitles work in many SMB clients but render quality varies.
- External SRT: drop a
moviename.srtfile next tomoviename.mkvand the player picks it up. - Audio tracks: multiple audio tracks in MKV (e.g. English, Spanish, commentary) appear in the on-screen menu.
- Dolby Atmos / DTS: passthrough works if your TV or receiver supports it.
A note on Plex / Infuse / Jellyfin
If you already use Plex or Infuse and they work for you, keep using them. They do more - poster art, "watched" tracking, recommendations. The argument for SMB is simplicity: no library scan, no metadata, no server process to maintain. If your media is well-organised in folders, this is enough.
I run both. Plex for shows I watch with the family, where "next episode" tracking matters. SMB for everything else - the movie nobody else in the house is going to want, the documentary I have downloaded but not added to the library yet, the home videos.