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#1 2012-07-08 02:40:49

seniorsassycat
Member
Registered: 2011-08-27
Posts: 76

What are the best tools for a remote media server.

I want to set up my desktop as a remote media player, functioning as a personal pandora, and netflix. I've tried a couple of methods before, using sshfs, mpd/vlc httpd streaming but none of them offer the same quality experience as the online counterparts, even over LAN. How can I get better streaming. Could media be compressed and encoded for streaming before hand? Are there streaming media players that offer buffering?

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#2 2012-07-08 03:14:51

theflyingfool
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From: Fort Polk, LA
Registered: 2012-04-30
Posts: 19

Re: What are the best tools for a remote media server.

Are you trying to stream to a mobile(phone), laptop, another desktops?

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#3 2012-07-08 07:34:34

tomk
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From: Ireland
Registered: 2004-07-21
Posts: 9,839

Re: What are the best tools for a remote media server.

I use NFS for streaming to other PCs and my TV-connected media box, and AirVideo for streaming to an iPad. No quality issues, everything looks/sounds as expected.

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#4 2012-07-08 14:43:14

seniorsassycat
Member
Registered: 2011-08-27
Posts: 76

Re: What are the best tools for a remote media server.

theflyingfool wrote:

Are you trying to stream to a mobile(phone), laptop, another desktops?

I'd Like to build a system that works for all devices, but since I mostly use laptops on the go those are most important.

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#5 2012-07-08 14:45:14

theflyingfool
Member
From: Fort Polk, LA
Registered: 2012-04-30
Posts: 19

Re: What are the best tools for a remote media server.

Then I'd agree with tomk, I also use nfs to share my media across my network.

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#6 2012-07-13 15:40:10

zenlord
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From: Belgium
Registered: 2006-05-24
Posts: 1,221
Website

Re: What are the best tools for a remote media server.

NFS is great to use between linux / OSX-computers. I use DLNA to stream my media to all kinds of devices (ps3mediaserver)

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#7 2012-07-14 01:34:25

theflyingfool
Member
From: Fort Polk, LA
Registered: 2012-04-30
Posts: 19

Re: What are the best tools for a remote media server.

Ampache might be a good way to stream music to whatever has a browser

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#8 2012-07-15 09:51:11

piffey
Member
From: Sioux Falls, SD
Registered: 2009-10-07
Posts: 54

Re: What are the best tools for a remote media server.

I'm a big fan of subsonic. The Android app is free and it will download/cache music and movies locally. The web interface is also great for viewing your media from anywhere. Additionally, it transcodes on the fly into FLV so you can watch your videos at a quality low enough that it won't stutter on 3G and other low-bandwidth networks.

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#9 2012-07-15 21:06:15

Inxsible
Forum Fellow
From: Chicago
Registered: 2008-06-09
Posts: 9,183

Re: What are the best tools for a remote media server.

I am currently trying out the following ( haven't had success with any of them yet...) to connect to my Samsung HDTV

  • rygel

  • tvmobili

  • miniDLNA

  • MediaTomb

  • serviio

I'll stop if I am successful with any of them


Forum Rules

There's no such thing as a stupid question, but there sure are a lot of inquisitive idiots !

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#10 2012-07-16 07:27:15

zenlord
Member
From: Belgium
Registered: 2006-05-24
Posts: 1,221
Website

Re: What are the best tools for a remote media server.

Inxsible wrote:

I am currently trying out the following ( haven't had success with any of them yet...) to connect to my Samsung HDTV

  • rygel

  • tvmobili

  • miniDLNA

  • MediaTomb

  • serviio

I'll stop if I am successful with any of them

I have tried nrs 1, 3 and 4 and was able to set them up successfully for my PS3. My Philips TV was more picky about the incoming format.

I can recommend ps3mediaserver as it is the only one that is able to stream high definition video with 5.1 surround sound and srt-subtitles in one stream. I use minidlna only to use m3u-playlists.

Coherence would've been my first choice (small and versatile, but development seems to have slowed down or halted before transcoding was done)
Mediatomb was pretty easy to configure, but subtitle support was lacking and development was down when I tried it out
Ps3mediaserver was my last choice, since it depends on java, but it is fully featured and development is ongoing. I have made a wiki page on how to set it up.

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#11 2012-07-16 08:06:27

broken pipe
Member
Registered: 2010-12-10
Posts: 238

Re: What are the best tools for a remote media server.

rygel works great but you have to make sure all necessary ports are opened (ssdp, 1900 udp and 8200 tcp).
minidlna and mediatomb are good for plain sharing but without any hacking they aren't able to encode/decode on the fly

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#12 2012-07-16 15:08:45

Inxsible
Forum Fellow
From: Chicago
Registered: 2008-06-09
Posts: 9,183

Re: What are the best tools for a remote media server.

I was able to get it working with minidlna. Very easy setup. I don't need encoding on the fly yet, because my tv has been able to play mkv, avi. If I encounter a file type that doesn't work, I'll think about switching.

I might play around with ps3 media server when I get a chance, but the java part bugs me as well. becomes too heavy, but then again, I already have java installed for my programming.


Forum Rules

There's no such thing as a stupid question, but there sure are a lot of inquisitive idiots !

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#13 2012-07-24 02:53:50

seniorsassycat
Member
Registered: 2011-08-27
Posts: 76

Re: What are the best tools for a remote media server.

So after looking around a bit I've decided to build my own as a Ruby on rails server, using html5 audio and video tags to stream the media. My idea is that users would run the server on their own computers, so that they would have complete control over their data. Here is my git repo, but there isn't a whole lot right now, summers are my busy season.

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#14 2012-09-15 23:49:42

sambul13
Member
Registered: 2012-08-18
Posts: 34

Re: What are the best tools for a remote media server.

zenlord wrote:

I can recommend ps3mediaserver as it is the only one that is able to stream high definition video with 5.1 surround sound and srt-subtitles in one stream. I use minidlna only to use m3u-playlists.....  I have made a wiki page on how to set it up.

Its strange, I don't see your nick mentioned in PS3 Mediaserver Wiki History. Also, for some reason, pms package in AUR is marked Out-of-date without explanation. Any ideas, why?

Last edited by sambul13 (2012-09-15 23:50:05)

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#15 2012-09-19 08:26:56

MisterAnderson
Member
Registered: 2011-09-04
Posts: 285

Re: What are the best tools for a remote media server.

PS3 Mediaserver is definitely the best I've used for transcoding, MiniDLNA seems to work well for plain sharing. I couldn't get PMS to work as a daemon though, I've had to add it to the autostart applications in Mate (this would clearly be a problem if you aren't running X) but it at the least starts up minimized.


D:

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#16 2012-09-24 15:33:03

zenlord
Member
From: Belgium
Registered: 2006-05-24
Posts: 1,221
Website

Re: What are the best tools for a remote media server.

sambul13 wrote:

Its strange, I don't see your nick mentioned in PS3 Mediaserver Wiki History. Also, for some reason, pms package in AUR is marked Out-of-date without explanation. Any ideas, why?

1. That's because I made a general page on Streaming media and someone took the part of pms, modified it and put it on a separate page. I have since I reinstalled my own server added to the new PS3 Mediaserver-page.
2. I don't know? I guess a new version had become available at the time you checked on it?

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#17 2012-09-24 15:39:11

zenlord
Member
From: Belgium
Registered: 2006-05-24
Posts: 1,221
Website

Re: What are the best tools for a remote media server.

MisterAnderson wrote:

PS3 Mediaserver is definitely the best I've used for transcoding, MiniDLNA seems to work well for plain sharing. I couldn't get PMS to work as a daemon though, I've had to add it to the autostart applications in Mate (this would clearly be a problem if you aren't running X) but it at the least starts up minimized.

Use the links to the wiki in my previous post and you'll find both a sysv-initscript and a service-file for systemd-systems. It runs just fine and dandy on headless servers.

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#18 2012-09-27 12:03:57

MisterAnderson
Member
Registered: 2011-09-04
Posts: 285

Re: What are the best tools for a remote media server.

zenlord wrote:

Use the links to the wiki in my previous post and you'll find both a sysv-initscript and a service-file for systemd-systems. It runs just fine and dandy on headless servers.

I personally had trouble getting it to start with user-set settings. It would only ever start with a generic set. That being said, this was a much older version than the current ones, and I don't care since I run X anyway. I'm going to have a look at the systemd scripts.


D:

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