How to allow people to watch video playbacks without copying the files themselves.

I am setting up a Synology DiskStation Model: DS415play in a PC lab at a small school. In it we will keep recorded classes that people can watch from the PC's in the lab, if they miss part of a lecture. Is there a way to allow these video files to be viewed without allowing people to copy them to their USB sticks? We do not have distribution rights to these classes, so students are allowed to view a class they missed, but not copy the files and take them home.
Suggestions appreciated.

HardwareDudeAsked: 2015-10-30

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LVL 70

Gary CaseRetiredCommented: 2015-10-30

While you could set a group policy that prohibits writing to USB flash drives, this would likely not work in a typical classroom environment, as I assume the students keep their working files on these devices.

If you have some spare systems in the lab, perhaps you could have a limited set of PCs that can access the videos, and for THOSE PC's you could set the "no writes" policy for the flash drives.

LVL 35

Paul SauvéRetiredCommented: 2015-10-30

Is it ever a good idea to allow people to use flash drives in this context? I believe that you would be leaving yourself open to serious virus infection or other security problems.

LVL 26

akahanCommented: 2015-10-31

Very easy to do with the Synology.

Install Video Station on the Synology.

Ensure that the folders containing the class videos are all included in Video Station's list of folders.
Create an account for the students to log in with, and give that account permission to use Video Station (in Control Panel/Privileges).

Make sure the student account is not permissioned to use File Station. (Again, in Control Panel/Privileges).

Provide the students with the link: http://[ip-address-of-video-station]/video , and login credentials for the student account (can be the same for all the students).

The students will see a list of the videos they can stream. Best to install VideoLan on the desktop browsers, and make sure the videos are stored in a format that doesn't have to be transcoded by the Synology (to maximize the number of students that can stream simultaneously before overtaxing the Synology.)

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