Media server with wan access and remote access - Raspberry Pi General

I am hoping to build a media server to replace my simple setup. Now I have an external hardbdrive connected to my Samsung smart TV which plays my movies. Now I want a media player connected to my Tv with the hard drive that I can access remotely and can update over the net (add movies to it)
Can the pi2 do this?

nickmax1 said:
I am hoping to build a media server to replace my simple setup. Now I have an external hardbdrive connected to my Samsung smart TV which plays my movies. Now I want a media player connected to my Tv with the hard drive that I can access remotely and can update over the net (add movies to it)
Can the pi2 do this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had an entire media server running with a Raspberry Pi 1 model B, that also ran a few python scripts. I'm sure the Pi 2 has more than enough horsepower for your needs.

darksabre_x said:
I had an entire media server running with a Raspberry Pi 1 model B, that also ran a few python scripts. I'm sure the Pi 2 has more than enough horsepower for your needs.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
really, thats impressive. Did you follow a guide to do that? Could the pi do any transcoding?

Yes and no...........
I used a lot of tutorials, and parts of tutorials, and just playing around.
It was the results of my playing around in linux. The solution actually consisted of more than just the server end. I had the Pi sharing a 3TB hdd via NFS, and at the time I had another Pi connected to my TV running Kodi media center. (I've since moved to an old Quad core which works much better, for obvious reasons.)
The Original Model B wasn't powerful enough to do any transcoding and I don't have any experience with the Pi 2 yet, but I had a lot going on in that lil box and it served me fairly well. I had 2 python scripts running to collect and sort media, an SQL db to sync multiple instances of Kodi, a newsbin client, torrent client, and web server running off the same Pi.
I only encountered a few issues and could never get WAN streaming working, but I suspect that may have been something with my router configs.
I simply sat down and thought up what I wanted my server to do, and started hitting the web to find ways to do it, one feature at a time.

Related

Allshare (DLNA) Problems

Hey everybody. I just got my Galaxy two days back. It's amazingly fast
However, I've been having problems with the DLNA software. I cannot get a single file to play either on the galaxy or on a pc.
I've tried three different software solutions on my server (PS3 Media Server, Tversity and FUPPES) and non of them worked and neither does streaming from the galaxy to WMP. It just says "Unable to play"
Any ideas?
Darkstriker, you are not alone, as a number of people have been having problems with DLNA. I have streaming working from one machine and not the other and yet they appear to be pretty much identitcal on the same network.
The second machine had been working, but then stopped. The only difference was an Office installation, and I cant see why that has any bearing on it.
Use the Samsung PC Share Manager.
Downloadable from Samsung support.
dualview said:
Use the Samsung PC Share Manager.
Downloadable from Samsung support.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is not really a workable answer.... especially when you are trying to use DLNA with a TV.
I have had and continue to have problems connecting to any DLNA devices.
Basically the Galaxy S doesn't show any Media Devices in the list to choose from.
TravUK above has tried many times to help me sort this out but despite checking this, that and the other the GS just does not want to show any devices.
I managed to view video's and photo's from my iMac through DLNA, using MediaLink (PS3 UPnP server)
It didn't work with all video's, but the Samsung Galaxy S sample video's linked in another thread streamed fine.
Hi,
I've managed to get wmv's and divx avi's to play on the PS3 through allshare but can't get it to connect to the xbox 360 whatsoever. It won't play the vids captured with the phones camera and also it seems picky about exactly which version of wmv the clip has been encoded with.
Cheers,
Mike
miker33 said:
Hi,
I've managed to get wmv's and divx avi's to play on the PS3 through allshare but can't get it to connect to the xbox 360 whatsoever. It won't play the vids captured with the phones camera and also it seems picky about exactly which version of wmv the clip has been encoded with.
Cheers,
Mike
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do you mean that you can't stream to x360 at all? or you mean the file formats, codecs?
Streaming to the x360 requires running it on extender mode.. you need to have Windows Media Center on your pc and use the code the x360 gives you to complete the set up with it.
X360 has an optional media update that will allow it to run more formats. you can find it under the videogames marketplace>Game addons.
Hiya,
I can stream\browse the phone from the PS3 directly but it's quite picky about the formats.
Can't see the phone at all on the xbox360 and couldn't see any way of locating the phone from the xbox interface although the phone can see the xbox when you try to share a clip. I was surprised that the xbox was supposed to support the phone sharing but it's been mentioned in several reviews of the galaxy s so thought I must be doing something wrong.
Cheers,
Mike
miker33 said:
Hiya,
I can stream\browse the phone from the PS3 directly but it's quite picky about the formats.
Can't see the phone at all on the xbox360 and couldn't see any way of locating the phone from the xbox interface although the phone can see the xbox when you try to share a clip. I was surprised that the xbox was supposed to support the phone sharing but it's been mentioned in several reviews of the galaxy s so thought I must be doing something wrong.
Cheers,
Mike
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't know if you can push media from the x360 to SGS. The problem however doesn't seem from the SGS.. its probably the X360.
Agreed, although i'm trying to stream from the SGS to the xbox I think it's still most likely the 360 having the issues..
I'm having a similar problem. My Galaxy can see the xbox 360 but the 360 can't see it. Plsk1n, could you give a bit more detail on the steps you used to get it working?
Failing that, I may just buy the TV out cable for the phone
markmsmith said:
I'm having a similar problem. My Galaxy can see the xbox 360 but the 360 can't see it. Plsk1n, could you give a bit more detail on the steps you used to get it working?
Failing that, I may just buy the TV out cable for the phone
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The Xbox doesn't come as DLNA ready device out of the box. You need to setup a Windows Media Center Environment on it and on your PC and then use the xbox360 as an extender device to the PC environment.
Note: you don't need to keep windows media center running if you want to push media to your xbox360.
Here are the steps
1- Install Windows Media Center on your PC.
2- Run the Media Center setup on your xbox 360, when you start it it will tell you to write down a code for installation with your PC... write the code down.
3- Run your Windows Media Center on your PC and go down to tasks>add extender... you will use the code you wrote from the xbox in the process.
4- Complete setting up the xbox360 as the extender then check the options/preferences to allow the x360 to accept pushed media from other devices.
On my side, the PS3 ca see my phone but I didn't manage to play anything on teh PS
I tried divx, mp3, jpeg photo and it can't play them
I can stream from my QNAP nas to the GS almost everything, except 720p HD videos (tv shows). Sometimes however the GS simply can't see the nas, even with a strong wifi signal.
I can see my MacBook Pro and my DirecTV DVR through All Share but haven't been able to get antying to download, play or stream. I'd really like to be able to download media from the DirecTV DVR and take it on the road to go.
I can see my laptop, but can't actually see any files. Any idea what I'm doing wrong? It's annoying, as I know it's probably something stupid that I am doing (like not setting up sharing properly on my lappy). I haven't even tried it the other way around (laptop streaming from phone).
Plsk1n said:
The Xbox doesn't come as DLNA ready device out of the box. You need to setup a Windows Media Center Environment on it and on your PC and then use the xbox360 as an extender device to the PC environment.
Note: you don't need to keep windows media center running if you want to push media to your xbox360.
Here are the steps
1- Install Windows Media Center on your PC.
2- Run the Media Center setup on your xbox 360, when you start it it will tell you to write down a code for installation with your PC... write the code down.
3- Run your Windows Media Center on your PC and go down to tasks>add extender... you will use the code you wrote from the xbox in the process.
4- Complete setting up the xbox360 as the extender then check the options/preferences to allow the x360 to accept pushed media from other devices.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm stuck at step 4 as there is no options on my 360??
thanks
Thread Astaire said:
I'm stuck at step 4 as there is no options on my 360??
thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Whats not being made clear is the fact that you have to BE in windows media center mode on the XBOX360 when you use allshare. What will happen is that "xbox360 media center" will show up as a device in allshare AND THEN you can push media FROM your phone TO your xbox360.
ShawtyKING said:
Whats not being made clear is the fact that you have to BE in windows media center mode on the XBOX360 when you use allshare. What will happen is that "xbox360 media center" will show up as a device in allshare AND THEN you can push media FROM your phone TO your xbox360.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's not working that way for me. The Xbox360 option disappears from AllShare when I'm in Media Center Extender mode on the Xbox (connected to the Media Center PC). Where are the options he's talking about? On the Xbox, or on the PC?
DNLA works fine here! not with PS3 media server but with the stock "streaming" option in windows media player! i can even control the player from my phone!
And i can see the DLNA server from my laptop!

[App] VLC Stream & Convert

VLC Stream & Convert
hxxp://traveldevel.com
This software has been out for a little over 2 months and for some reason it hasnt become wildly popular. I figured id start a thread for it since the software can be quirky when setting it up. It sounds like it was a side project for the author.. it is an amazing side project. My phone has become the end all be all multimedia device. I can access my music with Subsonic and all of my Movies with this app. The only thing you need on your PC is VLC.
My EVO is 100% Stock so I do know it works with everything on the stock EVO.
Some quick tips with the EVO.
1. By default the app is set to use port 554 under the "Stream to phone (rtsp)". Change that to port 5554.
2. Wifi has to be on for the video streaming to work for some reason. You do not have to be connected to wifi, just the antenna has to be on.
3. IF you are confused by VLC and want aa quick way to set it up properly in windows (especially with the newer versions of vlc) the VLC setup tool by Hobbyist Software works great. It is a one time setup.
I've had this app for a while now and love it.
Actually, thanks to this post I figured out finally how to stream video over 3g. Didn't know the wireless had to be turned on.. weird.
Awesome being able to have my entire media collection on the go, don't have to worry about converting files or switching out what is on my sd card.
I tried setting this up before but couldn't get it to work. I believe VLC is setup correctly and I put in my computers IP (trying to do it over 3G). It never displays my files, it also doesn't give an error message or anything either. Just sits there. Any idea?
When you go to localhost:8080 in your pc browser what do you see?
donloki said:
When you go to localhost:8080 in your pc browser what do you see?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I see the VLC web interface. But when I put in my IP address (trying to do it over 3g and not wifi) it doesn't connect.
I made a little write up for another forum, steal anything you'd like for the OP:
Fans of Air Video on the iPhone/Pad/Touch know that there are no plans for a much requested Android port because if its reliance on Apple's AirPlay protocol.
Well for Android users there's now an equivalent alternative using VLC.
What this does:
Let you transcode and play on the fly any media file you can play with the desktop version of VLC from your desktop and stream live to your Android device over WiFi and/or a mobile network (3G/4G). VLC will stream the video via the RTSP protocol which supports live seeking of streamed content.
Orb Live also does this, but the Orb client is not free and the video quality sucks ass. The video quality using VLC transcoding is quite excellent.
Installing the RTSP Server
Quick Setup:
1.) Grab a copy of VLC, the latest version of this writing is v1.1.4 has garbled audio issues when transcoding videos with AAC, so grab the older version (1.1.3) from here:
http://www.oldapps.com/VLC_Player.php?old_vlc=53?download
2.) Start VLC and go to
A.) Tools->Preferences
B.) On the bottom left click on the "All" radio button to show all settings.
C.) On the treeview to the left exapnd the Interface tree node and select the "Main interfaces" tree item.
D.) On the right side check the "HTTP remote control interface" option and press the Save button.
Leave VLC running it will act as a streaming RTSP server with a web based file browser running by default on port 8080.
For a more advanced setup, or if you need to setup using alternate ports refer to the info here:
http://traveldevel.com/vlc-stream-convert/setup
Installing Client
Grab VLC Stream and Convert from the Market (the free version works fine and will do pretty much everything we want):
http://www.appbrain.com/app/vlc-stream-convert/com.gmail.traveldevel.android.vlc.app
Exposing VLC to the Internet for 3G/Mobile streaming
Quick Setup;
1.) On my Windows 7 firewall settings I allowed the VLC.exe public and private network access.
2.) On the router I port forwarded the default ports used by VLC for the web based file browser and RTSP server (ports 8080 and 5554 respectively). The default RTSP port may be 554, check and/or change VLC Stream & Convert to verify.
More detailed setup:
http://traveldevel.com/vlc-stream-convert/streaming-over-3g
Streaming over 3G on Froyo (Android 2.2) Workaround
Apparantly there's an issue with Froyo (experienced with my Evo 4G running stock Froyo) which locks down the ability to stream via RTSP over 3G. The work-around is to turn on the WiFi radio, even if you stream off 3G.
More info on the issue here:
http://community.htc.com/na/htc-forums/android/f/94/p/5287/23683.aspx
http://forum.androidcentral.com/htc-evo-4g/26814-htc-streaming-media-player-problems.html
Tweaking for your device:
For optimized viewing on Sprint 3G's network on my EVO 4G, I use thse settings.
1.) In the VLC Stream & Convert application type the "menu" button and tap "Settings".
2.) Under the "Stream to phone (rtsp) under the "H.264" AVC settings I set
- Video Bitrate to 512
- Width to 480
- Canvas aspect ratio : 15:9 (800:480)
- Under x264 settings I set Reference frames to 3.
3.) Under the "Playback" section set:
-Portrait video width to 480
-Landscape video width to 800
Playing Media:
http://traveldevel.com/vlc-stream-convert/usage
Thanks Talyn.... cant wait to get home and try this.
i been using my ipod touch (wifi tether) with air video to stream from home while at work but id like to not have to carry both devices everyday.
will try this later for sure
Followed the above instructions.
I can remotely control VLC, but I can't seem to get the video to run. I configured the port to 5554 and 554 (with the appropriate router changes). I also configured these ports in Windows Firewall.
I get an error stating: "Too Many Errors"
Don't know if this matters, but it is running on a Windows Home Server machine.
sw99 said:
Followed the above instructions.
I can remotely control VLC, but I can't seem to get the video to run. I configured the port to 5554 and 554 (with the appropriate router changes). I also configured these ports in Windows Firewall.
I get an error stating: "Too Many Errors"
Don't know if this matters, but it is running on a Windows Home Server machine.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As a troubleshooting step can you stream within your local network? Meaning don't try to connect via 3g, use the local ip address of the home server and connect within your local home network wifi. That will tell us if the issue is router/Sprint network related configuration issue.
One more thing that should be pointed out.
You are giving the entire Internet access to your files. Developer suggests that you limit your router access to your IP address, but I found that Sprint changes your IP address on a regular basis.
Wish VLC would implement some sort of security on their end.
I had to use port 554 but video playback is choppy for some reason over wifi or 3g.
^^ yeah, the security thing sucks. One solution would be to relay it via VPN but that would add a bunch of overhead. It wouldn't be too hard to write your own file browser interface with an RTSP relay, but alas who has the time....
hkkmr said:
I had to use port 554 but video playback is choppy for some reason over wifi or 3g.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What are the specs of the computer you're running VLC on? Might be due to it not being powerful to encode certain videos on the fly.
I have it running on a pretty beefy machine. Core i7 920 overlclocked to 3.9ghz, and I can trans code 1080p MKVs with no choppiness.
TalynOne said:
What are the specs of the computer you're running VLC on? Might be due to it not being powerful to encode certain videos on the fly.
I have it running on a pretty beefy machine. Core i7 920 overlclocked to 3.9ghz, and I can trans code 1080p MKVs with no choppiness.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's older pc, Core 2 Duo 8400.
hkkmr said:
It's older pc, Core 2 Duo 8400.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's still a pretty darn good processor. What's your CPU usage at when streaming videos?
Working good for me on Wifi on the local network but not when I try to connect externally. I have all the appropriate ports forwarded and it acts like it's playing.. But I get no video. No errors.. Just no video.
thenags said:
Working good for me on Wifi on the local network but not when I try to connect externally. I have all the appropriate ports forwarded and it acts like it's playing.. But I get no video. No errors.. Just no video.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What bitrate / horizontal width set to? How fast is your 3G connection? I usually have to wait about 10 or seconds before the video starts playing over 3G. Until then it's just black.
It's working fine for me now that I'm outside of my local network. It just wasn't working when I was on my local network and trying to connect with an external IP. Dunno why
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App
thenags said:
It's working fine for me now that I'm outside of my local network. It just wasn't working when I was on my local network and trying to connect with an external IP. Dunno why
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ah, probably due to loopback being off on your router. Quite common.
Bumping to say I just tested this with the HDMI cable and it works fine! There's some serious nerd cred to be able stream and trascode videos on the fly over the Internet and into someone's big screen TV via your phone.

[Q] PC Remote Play ?

I was wondering is there any aplication/concept for aplication that makes PC work as a "cloud" or stream video feed to my mobile phone via WLAN ?
I googled and did quick forun search and could only find aplications that allow you to control your PC, not see video feed.
This could be realy cool App, especialy since Onlive doesnt support some of the older (and free) games and isnt even available in every country.
CrazyRemote is able to control the PC at a very high framerate, which allows watching videos and even playing games remotely. If that's not what you're looking for, look for an app to stream from VLC
jacklebott said:
CrazyRemote is able to control the PC at a very high framerate, which allows watching videos and even playing games remotely. If that's not what you're looking for, look for an app to stream from VLC
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wow, thats what i was looking for
Now i need to figure out is there a way to use Xplay controls (touch pads too)
If not, well thats too bad then.
Not exactly sure what you're trying to do but apart from the aforementioned crazyremote, check out teamviewer and vlc direct. maybe what you're looking for.
OnLive basically can do the functionality if you just want to play games. There is also an upcoming service from them called OnLive Desktop which is a whole Windows 7 desktop environment which allows for high framerate video streaming, flash, browsing, actual MS Office document edition in MS Office, etc.
Also, Nvidia was touting a new tech that would work with Tegra3 devices (not ours, I know, but on topic none-the-less) that would use the GPU to compress and decompress the input and audio/video stream to and from the computer to allow remote game playing or any other function.
Beyond that, framerates and others would depend on the technology, overhead, and speed of connection. You could use RDP (SplashViewer, etc) or whatnot. Most of this is not fully feasible for twitch games or suchnot, but okay for turn-based or some RPGs or whatever.
If all you want is just Video (like you have tons of .MPG, .MP4, etc) and audio streaming over the air (I assume by WLAN you mean cellular data and not WiFi) from your machine, you can try ORB. It takes a little setting up on the server end, but works nicely. There are a dozen little services that can be set up on your computer (especially if it is Linux). You just need to open that particular machine and the app's port to the DMZ (or internet directly) and then use a local app or your browser on your phone/tablet to reach it and view your stuff. If I remember correctly, ORB can even auto-downsize videos on the fly to match closer to your phone's viewing specs, and/or bandwidth.
If you mean WiFi, any DLNA source can work. You can even make your computer a DLNA source if you have Windows Media Center or one of a dozen other apps that can do it. Then you just have to get an app that can pull DLNA sources (I think Mobo can, as well as a number of others). Certain routers can also have a USB stick or USB hard drive plugged into them and use that as storage to present across the network as a DLNA source.

Options for free streaming video?

What are the best ways to stream video from my linux server to an N7, over the internet?
What are the best websites that stream free video to an N7?
Thanks!
tlc
Bump I'd like to know this too.
Sent from my DROID RAZR using xda premium
I set up MiniDLNA on my Linux Mint box and I'm using BubbleUPnP w/ Dice+plugin on my N7. MiniDLNA is lightweight, doesn't offer any fancy interface stuff and doesn't do transcoding, which is exactly what I wanted. Setup was a snap, and it actually took longer to figure out what ports to allow through the firewall than to get MiniDLNA installed and configured. There is just one config file to modify to tell it where to get at your media and what media types you want to show from that location, and that's pretty much it.
I have it list my movies and TV shows that I have stored (avi, mp4, mkv, etc.) and the N7 plays everything perfectly, even the HD stuff that my SGSII won't do cleanly (unless it's actually on the phone). I haven't tried any 1080 HD video though, just 720p high profile, and that much is working fine for me. This is all for my LAN of course, I probably would have gone with a different solution if I wanted access over the internet (automatic transcoding would really be needed there).
Don't have an answer to your second question though, I'm currently looking for the same info.
Plex
Sent from my EVO using Tapatalk 2
mtrs said:
I set up MiniDLNA on my Linux Mint box and I'm using BubbleUPnP w/ Dice+plugin on my N7.
...
This is all for my LAN of course, I probably would have gone with a different solution if I wanted access over the internet (automatic transcoding would really be needed there).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks. I clarified my first post to say I'm looking for something that streams my home media over the internet.
Besides the transcoding issue, IIRC, DLNA doesn't serve the WAN without VPN or ssh tunnels, right?
Plex is very good and in terms of the clients is very flexible (I have it running on my old Samsung blu ray player too!)
orcham sanctifier
tee el cee said:
Thanks. I clarified my first post to say I'm looking for something that streams my home media over the internet.
Besides the transcoding issue, IIRC, DLNA doesn't serve the WAN without VPN or ssh tunnels, right?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Right. If over-the-internet is what you need then I agree with everyone else, just go with Plex.
Streaming movies from the web.. Look up Amo Navi-X in the play store.
Have a look at polkast, got it on my NAS and works great.
fridgeman said:
Have a look at polkast, got it on my NAS and works great.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just sent mail to get the beta linux server.
ownCloud is a competitor in this space. Have you compared them?
tee el cee said:
I just sent mail to get the beta linux server.
ownCloud is a competitor in this space. Have you compared them?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No not looked at anything else as Polkast is built into my NAS, and I dont think I can change it
I haven't bought the plex android app yet, but I tried plex with my linux server and a macbook client. For me, it's a big PITA to rename & reorganize my video files and hope that plex matches them correctly. And it's all for a fancy UI that I just want to get past and watch the vids. I may do it eventually though -- some of the streaming plugins look cool. It'd be really cool if I could get that tivo plugin working.
Something I found that works for me today is Air Video. Air Video is designed to serve iOS clients and doesn't advertise a Linux server. But there are server jar files available here and someone rolled an Ubuntu PPA here. And the "Mirage" android client works with it. I've tested with iOS clients and the N7 and it works well for both.
Air Video serving home video to an N7 on the internet.
Pros:
Simple server, Ubuntu PPA.
Serves iOS clients too.
Don't have to rename/reorganize your vids.
Password protected access.
Cons:
Vids only.
Mirage client takes IP address not host name.
For the N7, Air Video may be unnecessarily transcoding to an iOS friendly format.
Basic folder navigation UI.
Give tversity a shot, has a web interface and does transcode if you need it
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda app-developers app
I also use TVersity, streaming from a Windows PC. We usually watch videos on an Xbox 360 and TVersity seems to work best for that, but it also does a bang-up job with the Nexus 7. I use MediaHouse to discover it and MX Player to play the videos.
The only hitch is that DTS audio does not stream. TVersity transcodes, but I have not looked to see about changing the audio to something else.

Note 2 and Plex: WOW !

I saw a colleague toying with Plex at home, showing off his collection of videos on an Ipad at work (with a few decent black zones... LOL) over the 100 Mbit link we have there...
Well, just installed Plex media server myself on my PC, the Plex client on the Note 2 and it ROCKS !
Yesterday I sat at a coffeecounter in our mall, browsing via 3G, opened my OpenVPN to home and took a moment to view my videos at home in exquisite quality on the Note 2. My wife couldn't help herself seeing the videos and pulled it out my claws to go and watch herself...
Big screen, 16:9, good resolution and speed: all you need... :laugh: :laugh:
Yrcimim said:
I saw a colleague toying with Plex at home, showing off his collection of videos on an Ipad at work (with a few decent black zones... LOL) over the 100 Mbit link we have there...
Well, just installed Plex media server myself on my PC, the Plex client on the Note 2 and it ROCKS !
Yesterday I sat at a coffeecounter in our mall, browsing via 3G, opened my OpenVPN to home and took a moment to view my videos at home in exquisite quality on the Note 2. My wife couldn't help herself seeing the videos and pulled it out my claws to go and watch herself...
Big screen, 16:9, good resolution and speed: all you need... :laugh: :laugh:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Why did you have to VPN??? Does Plex not allow for outside access?
I never knew anything about Plex. What a very neat application to have at home and on mobile devices.
Thanks for sharing and I'll definitely be taking advantage of this once T-Mobile's note 2 is released. Thank God for unlmtd 4G data.
Milkman00 said:
Why did you have to VPN??? Does Plex not allow for outside access?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Plex allows everything. It's just that *I* don't allow much: I use my LAN also for home office and as a networkmanager I have too much sensitive client stuff there. But OpenVPN has no human-measurable impact on the speed and a.t.m. you don't even need to root anymore to use it.
A tip: in order to get subtitles working you need to set Direct Play on Disabled in the Advanced Settings of the Plex client on the phone...
Have fun.
Sent from my GT-N7100 using xda app-developers app
Eh, I'll stick with Splashtop. You can view all of your videos, including DVD's burned to your harddrive. With Plex, you cannot.
Just got it set up myself. I really like it plays every video on my computer.
Any idea if it'll be updated for multiwindow?
-BoneZ- said:
Eh, I'll stick with Splashtop. You can view all of your videos, including DVD's burned to your harddrive. With Plex, you cannot.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Huh? Do you even know what is or what it's capable of? And I'd like to see you watch a 1080P video on your hard drive over HSPA using SplashTop. I have a terabyte of music, movies, and TV shows on my home server that I can access from anywhere. You can even share libraries with other people using Plex so they can access your stuff and vice versa. There are Plex clients for iOS (desktop and mobile), Windows (desktop and mobile), and Android. I have three Google TV's and stream audio and video from Plex anywhere in the house. It transcodes on slower connections so you can use it on as low as a 3-5MB connection. And as you can see its meta-tagging is unbelievable at indexing and organizing your media. Everyone I know that uses it swears buy it.
http://plexapp.com/
I'm using Plex for last 2 years and it's absolutely awesome and no comparison with any other similar media managers.
1. It's light
2. It's cross platform. You can have server in Mac, Windows, Linux whatever. You have clients in Android, iOS and most importantly and interestiny clients for devices, like Samsung TV, LG TV etc.
3. It's open source project
And so many other things. I have like 10TB of media and I use Plex with my Samsung LED TV, Note 2, Galaxy 10.1 Tab, MacBook Air and it is absolutely fabulous.
Please try it and I guarantee you'll love it.
i tried it and its crap . XBMC is 10 times better.
So this streams films from my PC to my phone?
I love Plex but for some weird reason I can't get stuff unless I am on the same Wifi connection, any idea what I need to change?
I used to use something very similar called Subsonic. Haven't ran it in a loooong time but it didn't support video nearly as well as Plex appears to.
Using a VPN is an easy way to setup a secure connection to your LAN while away from home without opening up ports etc. However not sure I want to jump through those hoops again with Plex and my Note 2. Wonder how hard it is to setup Plex to be open on the net? Hmm I'll look into it. Thanks for pointing out this app though OP. Looks 100x prettier than Subsonic ever was.
Aw lame, just tried installing the PC media server and it requires Bonjour. I hate Apple -_- refuse to install any of their stuff on my machine. Damn, that's a shame. The app looked really nice on Android.
Ok wow nevermind. I said screw it, installed Bonjour and setup the Plex media server. I then went into settings and disabled Bonjour discovery, then uninstalled it from my machine. I then setup Plex on Android and setup a myPlex account. Wow. On 4G right now testing at home, and man I can stream my movies in brilliant quality without any lag or buffer issues. AMAZING. This app owns Subsonic hands down.
Thanks OP!
djashjones said:
i tried it and its crap . XBMC is 10 times better.
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Care to elaborate? Maybe a few pros and cons? "It's crap" and "10 times better" aren't very descriptive to people interested in understanding the differences between the multiple approaches to storing, cataloging, and accessing their media.
AjunNg said:
So this streams films from my PC to my phone?
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IamPro said:
I love Plex but for some weird reason I can't get stuff unless I am on the same Wifi connection, any idea what I need to change?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'll post some newbie tips later...
ok, i tried with my movie/tv/music collection as there is an app on my NAS for it. The scrapping i found was poor compared to xbmc. playback was abit poor on 1080p and the deal breaker was my music. i have loads of compilation albums and it showed up as seperate disks.
tried to find a way of installing a player on my win7 laptop but it seems only the server got installed.
I spent 4 hours playing around with and that was enough for me
djashjones said:
ok, i tried with my movie/tv/music collection as there is an app on my NAS for it. The scrapping i found was poor compared to xbmc. playback was abit poor on 1080p and the deal breaker was my music. i have loads of compilation albums and it showed up as seperate disks.
tried to find a way of installing a player on my win7 laptop but it seems only the server got installed.
I spent 4 hours playing around with and that was enough for me
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Click to collapse
These type of programs try to be easy for an end user to understand, but at the end of the day you really are setting up a streaming server that has a database of files and has to transcode them on the fly. Unless you are very familiar with how these things work, you probably shouldn't be the one to set it up.
Granted once someone who knows what they're doing gets it setup, its easy for an end user to connect and enjoy their files in great quality all over the air. I myself streamed Star Wars in 720p with really high bitrate over 4G yesterday and had no hiccups. And that's not even on my Note 2, it was on my Thunderbolt that struggles to play 360p videos on Youtube. So the program and buffering IS efficient and quality, it just requires the proper setup.
As for music goes, I am a little concerned. My Thunderbolt apparently doesn't support WMA music files, and since most of my audio collection is just that, I am sorta screwed. Hoping my Note 2 which is out for delivery as we speak, has some form of WMA reading capability or else that's that
DaRkL3AD3R said:
These type of programs try to be easy for an end user to understand, but at the end of the day you really are setting up a streaming server that has a database of files and has to transcode them on the fly. Unless you are very familiar with how these things work, you probably shouldn't be the one to set it up.
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^^^^^
This.
For Plex to metatag and display everything correctly your files and folders have to be organized and structured a certain way. It was a huge pain in the ass and took me several days to rename and reorganize my media initially so Plex could tag it. I didn't have to, but I wanted the UI to look pretty, clean, and professional so I made the commitment. Anything I added after the one-time organization was easy because I new the naming convention and structure to use. In a way, Plex made me more disciplined about how I stored my media which wasn't a bad thing.
djashjones said:
The scrapping i found was poor compared to xbmc.
i have loads of compilation albums and it showed up as seperate disks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can manually tag stuff that wasn't found properly via Media Manager on the server side. It's not perfect but it's no less perfect than other PC and Android taggers I've used.
playback was abit poor on 1080p
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Odd. It shouldn't be over a fast connection if Direct Play's enabled. It only transcodes when it detects buffering and even then adjusts up if the signal improves.
and the deal breaker was my music.. tried to find a way of installing a player on my win7 laptop but it seems only the server got installed.
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Their website's not the most intuitive. A lot of people mistake the Media Server for Media Center which is the client. Here's the link to the client if you ever want to try again.
http://plex.r.worldssl.net/plex-laika/0.9.5.4/Plex-Media-Center-v3213059-en-US.exe
People should use what works best for them and for you that seems like XBMC. Like DaRkL3AD3R said, getting Plex and your media files set up initially is a chore. Friends ooh and ah when the see Plex on my devices and want it too. When I tell them what's entailed they get less enthusiastic. That's why it's great to have so many different choices.
Would love to get this to work....be VERY nice to stream my vast move collection right to my note 2. I played with it a few hours with different settings and it still stutters the playback every few seconds. My wi-fi streams netflix fine...(scratch head).
Well good news. Got my Note 2 today and setup Plex on it, and success: I was able to stream WMA music files without error.
Back on my Thunderbolt I would get an invalid file type error. It just couldn't play them.
DaRkL3AD3R said:
Back on my Thunderbolt I would get an invalid file type error. It just couldn't play them.
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HTC does funky things to their video and audio players that deviate from stock and Plex craps out because the files it's looking for aren't in the correct system directory. I briefly had a Jetstream and couldn't get it to work and Plex support was kind of baffled by what HTC was doing based on the logcat I sent them. Plex worked great on my One X so I'm guessing their newer devices are following standards.
I tried plex on my ipad and it worked great with my htpc. However, now that xbmc has come for Android, I doubt I'll use plex again, simply because of how efficient networking, scraping and syncing between platforms work in xbmc. And of course because the rest of my million boxes all run xbmc
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