Arch Linux

sanche13

Member

Registered: 2011-11-23

Posts: 2

Protocol for network storage for remote playing music/films

Hello, i want to make network storage, where i will store music, films and other stuff.
Can any one help please to choose protocol/technology (FTP, CIFS, NFS....) wich let me play music/films from this network storage without copying it to harddrive of desktop.
I whant that it be like in windows network neighborhood.
I used FTP, CIFS(samba), NFS as protocols in network storage and  GNOME and KDE4 in desktop, deadbeef as player and audio file with 432 Mb size. When i try to play it on mounted folder it just does nothing.
Thanks and sorry for my english.

empthollow

Member

Registered: 2009-09-26

Posts: 168

Re: Protocol for network storage for remote playing music/films

I do not believe ftp will support streaming.  Samba(cifs) & nfs will support streaming.  If the media does not play correctly there are other factors to consider.  Network speed, hard drive speed including whether it is connected usb or internal, and possibly speed of the server/ client.  I do not have expierence streaming large files such as full HD movies.  These are going to require more speed and bandwith to watch.  I use nfs and samba on my network and am able to play audio & video files from my server with both protocols.

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--empthollow
Check out my Arch based live distro http://fluxcapacity.99k.org

Darksoul71

Member

Registered: 2010-04-12

Posts: 319

Re: Protocol for network storage for remote playing music/films

Since you do not mention anything about real streaming (e.g. real streaming server as NAS which servers video streams to corresponding dumb streaming clients) pretty much any file network protocol should server your needs.
You can easily mount parts of a Linux systems directory tree even via ftp or ssh. There are implementations for Linux which let you mount them as part of your directory tree (ftpfs and sshdfs).

You might have a look here:
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/FtpFs
and here:
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Sshfs

Both have some overhead and are a bit slower since they are implemented via fuse but in general even a 10 MBit should be fine for full PAL DivX playback. For 1080p or multiple HD streams 100 MBit are somewhat nicer.
Make shure that the NAS box has enough CPU power for handling the SSH-load if you use sshfs. Beside this of course Samba or NFS will do the job with higher performance but also require additional services on your NAS box.

All protocols will "integrate" in the desktop environment you use since they are simply part of your directory tree.

As empthollow already mentioned the playback issues are more related to the file itself or the player. You can easily find out by either trying out another player with your audio file or try another audio file with deadbeef.

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My archlinux x86_64 host:
AMD E350 (2x1.6GHz) / 8GB DDR3 RAM / GeForce 9500GT (passive) / Arch running from 16GB USB Stick

sanche13

Member

Registered: 2011-11-23

Posts: 2

Re: Protocol for network storage for remote playing music/films

Thanks for answers.