Setting up uPnP with minidlna on the freenas nightlies post-09/25/2011

[joeschmuck]

It doesn't matter if it's Windows 7 or my PS3, so for anything that tries to access the minidlna service causes it to crash. I use Windows Media Player because I run the test FreeNAS from VMWare Workstation v7.1.4 so I don't actually have to get up and go to the living room, turn on the PS3, reconfigure everything, and then try. When minidlna works the WMP works fine. So nothing special here. The only things that may be different is how I build FreeNAS but I doubt that is the issue. Again, it's a VMWare machine and all my instructions are in the How-To-Guides on how to create a VM to build freenas.

To duplicate my configuration of my FreeNAS in VM: (4GB RAM, 1CPU w2 cores, 5 HDDs, network Bridged)
1) Enable SSH & root login (Note: create a normal user account as wheel)
2) Enable FTP & root login
3) Enable CIFS
4) Configure 4 virtual HDD's each 20GB (configure as ZFS, create a movies directory and transfer via CIFS a movie or two)
5) Configure 1 virtual HDD with 4GB (for boot image)
6) Configure minidlna per port 19 of this thread and reboot.
7) Using Putty, login as user, then SU.
8) Minidlna should be running. To stop it just open up Windows Media Player and with is kill the service, then close WMP.
9) In putty enter 'minidlna -d', watch it scan for devices. Everything looks good.
10) Open WMP again and minidlna will die with debug data.

My computer is 192.168.1.200 as you can clearly see from the above debug data.

That is how I do it.

Can you tell me how to roll back the port manually?

 

[gcooper]

It doesn't matter if it's Windows 7 or my PS3, so for anything that tries to access the minidlna service causes it to crash. I use Windows Media Player because I run the test FreeNAS from VMWare Workstation v7.1.4 so I don't actually have to get up and go to the living room, turn on the PS3, reconfigure everything, and then try. When minidlna works the WMP works fine. So nothing special here. The only things that may be different is how I build FreeNAS but I doubt that is the issue. Again, it's a VMWare machine and all my instructions are in the How-To-Guides on how to create a VM to build freenas.

To duplicate my configuration of my FreeNAS in VM: (4GB RAM, 1CPU w2 cores, 5 HDDs, network Bridged)
1) Enable SSH & root login (Note: create a normal user account as wheel)
2) Enable FTP & root login
3) Enable CIFS
4) Configure 4 virtual HDD's each 20GB (configure as ZFS, create a movies directory and transfer via CIFS a movie or two)
5) Configure 1 virtual HDD with 4GB (for boot image)
6) Configure minidlna per port 19 of this thread and reboot.
7) Using Putty, login as user, then SU.
8) Minidlna should be running. To stop it just open up Windows Media Player and with is kill the service, then close WMP.
9) In putty enter 'minidlna -d', watch it scan for devices. Everything looks good.
10) Open WMP again and minidlna will die with debug data.

My computer is 192.168.1.200 as you can clearly see from the above debug data.

That is how I do it.

Can you tell me how to roll back the port manually?

Hmmm.. ok, I'll look into this as time allows. For now I've rolled back the port to the known working version.

 

[servion]

Anyone have any luck getting this to work with mp4 movies on the xbox 360? I've got it up and running via the instructions in this post, and everything plays fine on my android tablet using a upnp app, and music plays fine on the xbox. the .mp4 movies won't play - xbox gives me an error code. Funny thing is that when I was using windows media center on my PC to host the exact same video files, they would play on the xbox fine - just not with minidlna. Any thoughts?

 

[joeschmuck]

My only thought is Media Center likely does some transcoding to make the video file compatible with your Xbox. Keep in mind minidlna is DLNA compliant and only passes the stream as-is. And that was just a guess. When the mediatomb plugin becomes available (could be many many months from now) that may solve the issue.

 

[valesan]

The instructions work perfectly for me.
miniDLNA is active in my NAS with FreeNAS nightly r9134 ...
XBMC reads well the video files contained in the NAS from my Mac OSX Lion, PC Windows 7

My nas:
HP Proliant N36L 8GB RAM
FreeNAS on SSD 8Gb Kingston on SATA (CD / DVD port)
3 HDD 2TB HDD ST32000DL003 3.5 "2TB SATA2 5900RPM SEAGATE 64MB, BARRACUDA GREEN
RAID-Z

FreeNAS 8.2r9134 self compiled

many thanks to all

... waiting for a release version with dlna activated from the GUI

 

[valesan]

hi, sorry for my english ...
but if I wanted to upgrade my version of FreeNAS self compiled with minidlna activated at a later build with GUI upgrade, I have to rerun the minidlna configuration?
thanks

Valerio

 

[joeschmuck]

hi, sorry for my english ...
but if I wanted to upgrade my version of FreeNAS self compiled with minidlna activated at a later build with GUI upgrade, I have to rerun the minidlna configuration?
thanks

Valerio

The minidlna configuration in this thread is a hack until plugin support is complete and a plugin has been created for minidlna. Until then you will have to reconfigure the installation for minidlna, it is not saved between installations. So short answer is yes.

 

[sonisame72]

Hi Joe

I have been using r8759 with MULTIMEDIA built. Seems to be working fine.

I am wondering if latest nighlty builds or 8.03 released recently is including minidlna and transmission? I also read in one of the other thread that gui-support for these two are coming by end of 2011, should I wait or keep using your r8759?

Thanks

 

[gcooper]

Hi Joe
...

I am wondering if latest nighlty builds or 8.03 released recently is including minidlna and transmission? I also read in one of the other thread that gui-support for these two are coming by end of 2011, should I wait or keep using your r8759?

In theory we should have a release out by the end of the year with the needed support, but in reality I don't think that there's going to be a release out with support until late January/early February.

I'll hook in a weekly build with this stuff turned on (don't advise using trunk right now because a few critical items are busted).

 

[joeschmuck]

Hi Joe

I have been using r8759 with MULTIMEDIA built. Seems to be working fine.

I am wondering if latest nighlty builds or 8.03 released recently is including minidlna and transmission? I also read in one of the other thread that gui-support for these two are coming by end of 2011, should I wait or keep using your r8759?

Thanks

Glad the build is running fine, I figured it would providing you don't have any odd hardware compatibility issues.

Quick answer, No. The nightly builds do not have these nor the support files built in.

I've already built a 8.0.3-RC1 version (not final yet and I see rebranded to BETA-3) and it works just fine. It was as simple as just updating the freenas-common file with the proper files which gcooper did for the trunk quite a while ago. No patch file for minidlna was required either.

I was going to wait until 8.0.3-Release came out before building and offering it up to anyone who asks for it. You would still need to follow the setup instructions as this is still just a hack as gcooper would say, but it's a good hack and doesn't affect the stability of the system at all, or none that I could find.

Something to note, the r8759 has a few features you will see go away when you change to 8.0.3 (likely not important to you at this time) and the configuration file will be different as well. It will actually conform to the format they intend, the trunk builds currently are not format compatible. I'm not sure why that is, I just accept it. I hear that will be fixed but I don't know when. This means you will have to set up your system again from basically scratch from the configuration standpoint. You can auto-import your drives so you don't lose any data. If however you are happy with your system the way it is, you could stay that way until 8.1 comes out.

@gcooper,
I've noticed a few things popping up so I'm just staying clear of the trunk files for a while (I say that now, let's see how long I can truly stay away). It's too bad the 8.0.3-RC1 doesn't have the same easy entry into the shell as the trunk version has from the webpage, that would be a great addition. I can wait until 8.1 or 8.2 release, it just makes entering a simple command so easy vice opening up an SSH window. I also wanted to thank you again for all your work in helping up get minidlna implemented, even as a hack, for those of us who really wanted FreeNAS to sever as a DLNA server too. I also see you have a multimedia version (directory) setup in the downloads. Nice to see that.

 

[gcooper]

Glad the build is running fine, I figured it would providing you don't have any odd hardware compatibility issues.

Quick answer, No. The nightly builds do not have these nor the support files built in.

I've already built a 8.0.3-RC1 version (not final yet and I see rebranded to BETA-3) and it works just fine. It was as simple as just updating the freenas-common file with the proper files which gcooper did for the trunk quite a while ago. No patch file for minidlna was required either.

I was going to wait until 8.0.3-Release came out before building and offering it up to anyone who asks for it. You would still need to follow the setup instructions as this is still just a hack as gcooper would say, but it's a good hack and doesn't affect the stability of the system at all, or none that I could find.

It just increases the 'used' image size, and might log some more stuff to /var and store a few more files in /var . Other than that, you're right -- there shouldn't be too much of a difference.

Something to note, the r8759 has a few features you will see go away when you change to 8.0.3 (likely not important to you at this time) and the configuration file will be different as well. It will actually conform to the format they intend, the trunk builds currently are not format compatible. I'm not sure why that is, I just accept it. I hear that will be fixed but I don't know when. This means you will have to set up your system again from basically scratch from the configuration standpoint. You can auto-import your drives so you don't lose any data. If however you are happy with your system the way it is, you could stay that way until 8.1 comes out.

1. *8.1 -> 8.2 ;) (the decision from on-high was to brand the FreeNAS version according to the FreeBSD version it was running).
2. "format compatible"? The problem is ultimately a design caveat with southdb because of how we generate the database files. william could provide better insight than me into the technical details.

It's too bad the 8.0.3-RC1 doesn't have the same easy entry into the shell as the trunk version has from the webpage, that would be a great addition. I can wait until 8.1 or 8.2 release, it just makes entering a simple command so easy vice opening up an SSH window.

You reminded me about filing a few bugs related to that. The problem with 'accessing the CLI via the GUI' is that interrupts handlers aren't implemented, so hitting ^C, ^T, etc doesn't work and the command ends up executing indefinitely in the background via python. Seems like a really bad idea ;)..

I also wanted to thank you again for all your work in helping up get minidlna implemented, even as a hack, for those of us who really wanted FreeNAS to sever as a DLNA server too.

No problem :).

I also see you have a multimedia version (directory) setup in the downloads. Nice to see that.

Yeah. Running one final test on a rototill of the end2end-build.sh script so that people (including iX) can hook in ways of executing pre-build patching, etc in order to get things to work, setup more stable/well-documented 'APIs' with which people can override in included 'config-files', etc. It's funny how a script that was intended to just be a stopgap solution turns into something more.

 

[joeschmuck]

It's funny how a script that was intended to just be a stopgap solution turns into something more.

:) isn't that the case most times. Good Luck.

 

[sonisame72]

Thanks for update, I will wait for 8.1, The r8759 seems fine and stable. Current minidlna seems to be working fine with windows machine, sharp smart tv, few of android devices(some use as old as froyo OS), ps3 and a western digital live media player.

Thanks

 

[gcooper]

Thanks for update, I will wait for 8.1, The r8759 seems fine and stable. Current minidlna seems to be working fine with windows machine, sharp smart tv, few of android devices(some use as old as froyo OS), ps3 and a western digital live media player.

Excellent! If you could document how you got things to work with your PS3 and to what extent they're working (i.e. certain media types, etc), that would be extremely helpful (I've tried to no avail to get my Sony BluRay player to work).

 

[joeschmuck]

The PS3 accepts many video formats but I use the vob/mpeg2/mpeg4/avi formats. PS3 has never been an issue and will see the media server automatically, nothing to configure at all, but when you start looking at things like DirecTv, those are not DLNA compliant and where Serviio or MediaTomb would come in with transcoding. Let me know the model of your player, but if it's DLNA compatible then you just need to make sure you are in a supported format. Mpeg2/vob should work.

EDIT: Does the Sony player display the server at all? If so and it doesn't display the media then it's probably in a non-compatible format.

 

[sonisame72]

I will post some basic documentation and ps3 screenshot(s) of my freenas media server.

Its been running fine, I have not tried all the files but the basic ones like mp3, jpeg, vob(dvd), avi(divx) seem to be working fine on ps3. I will try mkv's with ac3 or dts audio (i need to go wired for those large files, wirelessG on ps3 is too weak for my setup) and some of those .ts or .tp files from my hd camcorder to see if all works.

 

[gcooper]

@joeschmuck: good news!

Code:

mi          2011-12-22 19:12:41 UTC

 FreeBSD ports repository

 Modified files:
   net/minidlna         Makefile 
   net/minidlna/files   BSDmakefile patch-aa 
 Log:
 Cast a size_t variable to ssize_t to prevent negatives being interpreted
 as huge positives. Bump PORTREVISION.

 Explicitly turn off the "deprecated-declarations" warning, which allows
 to delete the NO_WERROR setting from BSDmakefile.

 PR:     162526
 Submitted by:   Wes Santee

 Revision  Changes    Path
 1.5       +1 -0      ports/net/minidlna/Makefile
 1.4       +1 -2      ports/net/minidlna/files/BSDmakefile
 1.3       +1 -1      ports/net/minidlna/files/patch-aa

I could update the port to bleeding edge again in the nightlies if you want.

 

[joeschmuck]

I just bought a Sony BDP-580S Blu-Ray Player which has great support for DLNA but it's file support is a little limited. If anyone is going to buy a DLNA player, Sony has the DLNA certificates for comparability/features over most other brands. I'm still testing it but the only file format that doesn't stream well was m2ts (HD content) where it has burps in the stream but my PS3 handled it just fine. I'm still testing.

The posting here is to show that minidlna is working fine.

@sonisame72,
I could not get mkv files to run on my PS3 at all. If you figure it out, please PM me.

 

[cubix]

Just a note that PS3, Roku SoundBridge and my android phone all work without issue.

I'm tinkering around with transcoding but looks quite messy - serviio might be a better option for those who 'need' transcoding - or convert your media (ie; mkv to m2ts for the ps3)

A big thank you to joeschmuck and gcooper for their help.

 

[gcooper]

Just a note that PS3, Roku SoundBridge and my android phone all work without issue.

I'm tinkering around with transcoding but looks quite messy - serviio might be a better option for those who 'need' transcoding - or convert your media (ie; mkv to m2ts for the ps3)

A big thank you to joeschmuck and gcooper for their help.

Thanks again. And if you do in fact have tips/tricks on how to set things up with your PS3, please share. I can create a HOWTO that documents how to set up a PS3 to work with FreeNAS (and probably wash-rinse-repeat for my BluRay player if there's something special that I missed), but in order to do that, I need guidance as my time in this space is kind of limited.

Also, again.. if people want transcoding and can clearly document how either mediatomb or serviio works via the command line or a series of easy to create .conf files, I am more than happy to replace minidlna with one of those two options. I just couldn't find any HOWTOs online the last time I looked or documentation (without diving through source code, which I quite frankly don't have the time to do nowadays for non-essential tasks) for either mediatomb or serviio. All of the media stuff in FreeNAS 0.7 is a dead end in the opensource community and can't be used as a viable solution in FreeNAS, so that's why I mention the two previous projects.

/me is just annoyed that mediatomb absolutely requires a webserver to function -- even when it displays a "go away -- the webserver interface is off in the configuration database!" webpage.. *grump*