Some NAS devices come with robust ability to run third party apps - Synology DSM 4.0, for example, allows running Squeezebox Server and Plex to name a few. Plex just got more interesting with its ability to support DLNA devices which means that you don't need to run a special client in order to access videos and files on the sever.
Beta News has a post that describes the DLNA feature of the newest Plex server version:
With the release of Plex Server 0.9.6.1, users no longer have to install the free Plex Media Center client on desktop or $4.99 Plex app for iOS, Android or Windows Phone in order to access their media collection. Thanks to its new DLNA capabilities, you’ll be able to access your Plex library from any DLNA-enabled software player, including aVia for Android and Media Link Player Lite for iPhone and iPad.
While it’s fair to say you’ll be missing out on the gorgeous Plex user interface by going down the DLNA route, you will still benefit from one of Plex’s best features -- its unrivalled metadata tools. These allow it to provide a wealth of details about each media file in your library, and often this is added automatically by Plex itself, saving you time and hassle manually tagging your files.
The end result is that browsing a Plex DLNA server is a much easier, quicker and friendlier experience than your current server, with a multitude of different ways to drill through your content, and files displayed according to their title rather than a less intuitive filename, sorted properly where applicable according to episode number.
Source: Beta News
One of the problems, though, with using pre-built apps on NAS devices is the issue of the app not being updated as fast as the software itself. For example, as of this writing, the Synology version of Plex is in the 9.5 version range, so check before installing Plex just to get access to DLNA capability since your NAS's version may not yet be updated to the latest that supports DLNA.
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