I have a DIY NAS and would like to stream files/media from it to various Android powered devices (like a phone or Android TV) such that apps like VLC can browse/stream the remote contents like they were mounted locally.
The advantage of this is it doesn't require transcoding (like Plex) and puts the responsibility of decoding on the client.
I have previously used SMB but it's not safe exposed to the internet.
Another alternative I tried was using ssh on Android via termux to forward the smb port so VLC could access the files.
This worked but it's not practical given the excessive setup required.