Watching media via web GUI [SOLVED]

[brendanssound]

Hey all,

New to the forums and sure i will be visiting here a lot for some good tips and suggestions for
my Freenas box. I just came over to Freenas 8 last night (from 7) as i had a new bigger HDD
and decided while i put it in i wanted to update the OS while i was at it.

Been trying to get my family to understand how they can use the media on the freenas box
to watch my movies and such but its proving to be a little bit of a challenge to teach them
(not quite sure if this is laziness or I'm just a bad teacher) But i had an idea whereby instead
of telling them the very simple procedures to access my media.. They could instead use a web
interface to access and watch media (Something like streaming media from FN on a local url via
web interface (with quicktime/flash/whatever) to play it.)

Seems like a bit of a challenge but would definitely make my life easier. I'm sure something like
this has been done.. Iv seen people give me ftp urls to there computer where i can jump in and
watch a video they put up there (usually streamed through quicktime). I can't seem to find anything
much about this on google and I'm still shuffling through pages on search here, and trying different
keywords.

Anyone able to point me in the right direction? anyone able to make sense of what I'm asking? haha
I can be the worst with words sometimes.

Thanks for your time all

 

[ProtoSD]

Hi Brendan,

Congrats on upgrading from version 7 ;)

You could install XMBC media player on the pc's you want them to view from and then in XBMC config point it to FreeNAS. Then when they start XBMC it has a Media Library icon and if you set things up right, it can pull descriptions and poster art etc. so they can see what you have stored. Just to be clear, XBMC isn't an app you install on FreeNAS, and you'll still need to export a share with the media for it to find on the network.

I'm sure there'll be other suggestions, there are a few possibilities....


EDIT: XBMC can be loaded on any PC (its just an app http://xbmc.org) or you can purchase dedicated devices.

 

[lrusak]

Hi Brendan,

Congrats on upgrading from version 7 ;)

You could install XMBC media player on the pc's you want them to view from and then in XBMC config point it to FreeNAS. Then when they start XBMC it has a Media Library icon and if you set things up right, it can pull descriptions and poster art etc. so they can see what you have stored. Just to be clear, XBMC isn't an app you install on FreeNAS, and you'll still need to export a share with the media for it to find on the network.

I'm sure there'll be other suggestions, there are a few possibilities....

XBMC is where it's at.

If you want to watch movies on your iPhones and iPads though (assuming you have any) you can use apps like buzz player and air player to fetch files via SMB or UPNP from your freenas box

 

[survive]

Hi brendanssound,

I'm with the rest, get them a nice XBMC box with a media center remote and be done with it.

Barring that take a look at something like the "Patriot Box Office"....it's a little $80.00 media player that just plugs into the network & can read an SMB share. Comes with a remote & everything.

-Will

 

[brendanssound]

Thanks guys, I suspected someone might say xbmc i had some troubles setting it up last time
i gave it a go.. Not sure what they were though.. i just grabbed it and set it up pretty quickly
just now.. Pretty much exactly what i needed. Thanks again all.

Hadn't realized you could buy remotes for it, I must look into this.. Simpler it is for the family,
easier my life gets haha!

 

[survive]

HI brendanssound,

Take a look: http://wiki.xbmc.org/index.php?title=Remote_controls

-Will

 

[brendanssound]

Glad you mentioned it survive, It just occurred to me we have a logitech harmony 300 that was purchased for
our dvd player that had a remote but the remote ran away. Looking into how i would go about setting this up
now .. Thanks heaps!

 

[arod20832]

If you want an easy off-the-shelf solution then get a boxee box. it's very user friendly out of the box. My three year old can select and start a movie using the remote.

 

[brendanssound]

Yeah that would be the ideal solution, But I'm not forking out the bucks for one.
Personally i don't even watch TV very much. As it stands right now if my family
want to watch something i have on Freenas they will call me out and i will have
to setup my spare laptop with VGA out to the TV, And a cable going from speaker
output to AUX input on the home theater.

Then load up XBMC and play what they want wireless, From the Freenas box sitting
also in the living room but hidden away somewhere underneath the modem (connected
via Ethernet of course)

I enjoy Freenas and being able to play with it (eg: web server, itunes media, ps3 streaming etc)

And while i do enjoy being able to help the family out in getting what they want to
see playing without any added fees (for example, My father loves the big bang theory
like myself. But at least here in Australia they keep saying "brand new episode!!!" on the TV
when the episode is clearly an old one, likely a repeat.. and not even in a particular order).

It would just be nice to have some way they can see it that's so easy they aren't afraid to
learn it. Or some way i could get VGA output from the Freenas box itself (where they could
just goto http://freenasurl/TVshows and click what they want from there personal laptops.
And then (because it wont be hard to get Freenas right next to the TV and still on the network)
Freenas just streams it on the VGA channel on the TV..

I am no expert, And constantly surprised by Freenas'es ability's however i think something like
that would be impossible. And no i don't want a mythTV box lol.. been there.. done that.


None the less i will bring it to their attention that if they want total ease, go a Boxee,
Iv heard nothing but good reviews about them so far. Thanks for the tip.

 

[cubix]

Buy an apple tv (gen 2) off ebay for a few bucks - jailbreak it and install xbmc. It comes with a remote too.

 

[brendanssound]

That, or WDTV, or a Boxee seem like the best options. I will put it out there and see if they want to chip in for it.

Otherwise a HP MCE IR Receiver with remote along with the laptop being used for xbmc seems the best/cheapest
fix. Only problem is there its another laptop sitting around when no one wants to watch anything. And a added hassle
of setting it up in the living room if i want to pull it down when not in use. Little annoying but i got the advice i asked
for and heaps more.

Would be nice if Freenas did my crazy idea but i see no way for it to be possible. And its not even what Freenas is
really designed for.

Again thank you all for your helpful feedback.

 

[germanflu]

Get a WDTV and use b-rad firmware. The b-rad firmware takes it from just a box to an amazing piece of equipment. I use it with my freenas box. Its pretty easy to setup too.

 

[atrueresistance]

If your not too bad at linux or scared to get your fingers wet you could try Raspberry Pi and XMBC. There is a little bit of a delay with getting newer boxes because the UK forced the company to go through the CE process, but it is a little capable piece of hardware. The version with ethernet is $35. Just a thought.

http://www.raspberrypi.org/archives/tag/xmbc

 

[brendanssound]

hrmm, this thread may have just taken a bit of a turn. So to try and cut a long story short.. My father tried to mount the TV to the wall using a wall mount. Couldn't find the studs so he used some big metal bolts.
The TV fell like humpty dumpty and has a huge spider crack on the bottom right hand corner (on the inside) and makes a buzzing sound. It's beyond repair. Hence why i haven't really replied much here as of late. However..

My father is also a coke retiree of 25 years, and decided to sell one of his badges today, And came home with a brand new Samsung 3dtv. It also has allshares on it. Iv set up an All shares TV before for my girlfriends father, But never with Freenas.. You guys see where I'm going with this?

 

[brendanssound]

I'm going to have to downgrade to Freenas 7 aren't i? It's the only way i can see to get upnp working on the TV?

 

[cubix]

No, 8.0.4 multimedia has upnp via minidlna, just no gui.

8.2 (still beta) has minidlna as a plugin through the jail.

 

[brendanssound]

my current install is 8.0.4 would it be very difficult to turn it into 8.0.4 multi?

edited - whoops read the wrong thing

 

[cubix]

You should be able to use the GUI to upgrade to 8.0.4 p1 multimedia. Just back up your config first.

 

[brendanssound]

yeah ended up doing that, But i still got a GUI.. im guessing once i install minidlna on top it will erase my GUI

 

[cubix]

8.0.4 multimedia comes with minidlna already installed. You just need to set it up via the CLI. All other features, GUI etc.. are the same as 8.0.4