Background:
So, it became necessary to give the opportunity to watch movies from my server on the TV. Well, it would seem, we raise DLNA, for example miniDLNA and the problem is solved. It was until there was a need to give the same opportunity to parents who live in another place, and they did not want to install a server or a simple nas there. It was decided to connect our networks by tunneling traffic and give access to my film library.
Training:
For a long time, I installed an excellent router with my parents, with which I have been working and trust for a long time - Mikrotik 951Ui 12HnD. If you are not familiar with this magnificent router, I advise you to get acquainted. Pricing policy allows you to choose solutions for both home and office. At the same time, we get the functionality as in expensive enterprise solutions.
I also had Mikrotik in my apartment, with only one difference, I had all gigabit ports. Without hesitation, I raised the pptp tunnel and then it started ...
First problems:
In contrast to the classic method of streaming audio and video, DLNA data segment is slightly different. And it immediately became clear after I sniffed the traffic.
Some of these requests went through PPTP, some did not. After I studied the traffic dump, I came to the following conclusions:
- From the server side, we must increase the ttl traffic from the DLNA server, because by default ttl \u003d 1. (This is only needed for SSDP traffic)
- Install multicast package on microtiks, and enable PIM on tunnel interfaces.
- Do not forget to register routes to local networks behind tunnels.
- From the DLNA server side, we register the route 239.255.255.250 as the gateway, specify the tunnel interface.
don "t fragment
And then it dawned on me! The packet size exceeds the MTU that PPTP provides us, and you cannot fragment! Unfortunately, in the miniDLNA server settings, I could not find an option to limit the packet length.
Victory decision:
As a result, the simplest IP-IP tunnel provides us with the necessary MTU, MRU, and MSS, but we face the problem of dynamic addressing from the provider, if you have static on both ends, you're in luck!
You can also try limiting mtu on the interface to which the NAS is connected. In this case, packets will certainly have a small MTU, which will fit into any tunnel, but this can significantly load the CPU.
Addition:
Do not forget that watching movies is a heavy load on the network in terms of channel width. When within local network, not scary, but between networks, when the provider controls the channel width ... In general, I advise everyone to turn on QoS, give priority to your server, and any connections to it, and we can wait an additional 30 ms to open the page.
If you have any wishes, I will describe in detail how to configure Mikrotik.
Articles I have used.
Generally the program Home Media Server is conceived by the developers as a home media server. But most often HMS is used as a DLNA server. It is ideal for this purpose and has many useful settings, often performing even better than these. official programs like LG SmartShare PC SW and standard way DLNA settings via Windows Media Player... The idea is to let your TV play movies, music, pictures and other content right from your laptop or computer. Moreover, they must be connected to one home network, for the organization of which a router or router is usually used. After that, it remains only to configure the program, and the trick is in the bag. You can download it on the official website http://www.homemediaserver.ru by clicking on the “Download” button.
Installing Media Server is as easy as shelling pears: unpack the archive and run “setup.exe”, where we agree to all the conditions and click “Next” everywhere. After successful installation and starting HMS, the main program window will appear. When you first launch it, select your TV from the list of devices (for example, LG TV). You can add media resources that your TV will have access to in the next window or in the settings later. In the window for backing up and restoring program data, click “Run” and “Close”.
HMS as DLNA server
Immediately go to the program settings. Here we are going to set up our DLNA type home media server. To do this, in the “Media Resources” category in the very first tab “Directory List”, using the “Add” button, indicate the paths to the folders on our computer where the media files that you would like to see on LG TV or other are located. After adding all the folders, click “Scan”. Although we will set up autoscanning of new media resources, new elements still sometimes do not appear automatically, and you need to scan using this button manually.
On the “Scan” tab, it is important to enable automatic scanning of directories when they change and when the program starts, so that new media files are immediately displayed on the TV.
In order for the Home Media Server to start when the computer boots up, in the "Additional" category, check the "Startup program at the start of a Windows session" and "Installation windows services Home media server… ”. Setting up HMS for DLNA server is completed, click OK.
Next, select the "PC Connection" tab and press the "Next" button 3 times. Please note that in step 3, your home network was selected (wired or wireless, depending on the method of connecting the TV), otherwise select it.
In step 4, you should see your PC. If it is not there, restart the server, it usually helps. Next, select the device and go to the "Connected devices" item.
View Media
After the first connection, our device will be displayed in the last item of LG SmartShare - “Connected devices”. If it is not there, restart the server on your PC. For example, to watch movies, select the "Movies" folder, then "Media Resource Directories".
Here you will see a list of folders added in HMS settings. Go to any folder and start the movie. Sometimes the TV may write that “File type is not supported”. Do not despair, this is a glitch, try to run it again and everything will work out 2-3 times.
HMS features
The advantages of Serviio home media server are as follows:
- on the TV you can see the clear structure of the PC folders;
- the ability to start playing media files on TV from the program itself on a PC. To do this, select a file from the list and click on the green Play button, which is present if the TV is turned on;
- relative stability (after PC SW DLNA from LG is just a fairy tale);
- a large number of settings.
Disadvantages:
- some confusion for beginners;
- sometimes automatic scanning of new files does not work;
- periodically you have to restart the server for the device to appear on the TV.
Despite these disadvantages, HMS is ideal as a home media server, including DLNA. The details of setting up the Home DLNA server are in the following video.
Other possibilities
The possibilities of the considered Home Media server do not end with DLNA. HMS can provide access to media resources of a computer using UPnP (Universal Plug and Play) technology and hTTP protocol... This is more true for smartphones and tablets.
But for DLNA, this server can still do a lot. For example, you can give access not only to computer resources, but also the stream of Internet radio and television IPTV... It is also possible to broadcast so-called podcasts from various online cinemas, such as hdserials.ru, hdkinoklub.ru and hundreds of others. There is also the possibility of transcoding media files in a format that is not supported on TV. How do you like that? All this will be discussed in the following articles, subscribe to our newsletter, as well as VKontakte and Twitter.
All devices that have a DLNA module have been tested in advance and have a corresponding sticker on the case.
It is also necessary to have a description of the type of content supported, there is a DLNA server, printer or player, that is, the module allows you to transmit a certain type of content - images, signals, sound.
All these devices can be freely connected to each other, depending on the purpose, the technique has its own class. The classes can be distinguished as follows:
- Digital media servers. This category includes storage devices such as mobile phones.
- Digital media players. This includes devices that can receive and play digital content. For example, a TV that can play music and sound from another device.
How to create a home network
The DLNA home network scheme is similar to the internet data transfer scheme.
It is he who provides the connection of devices to each other. To set up your home network, you need the following:
- TV for playback.
- Media server for data storage, phone or laptop.
- Router - used to provide a connection between transmitting and receiving devices.
- Cables or wireless adaptersare required to connect DLNA to the network.
- Powerline adapters - will allow you to distribute the Internet over the mains.
The first thing to do is connect the playback media device to your router.
There are several ways to do this - connecting by power supply, via cable, or via a wireless bridge.
- Plugging in a media device is a great way to set up a network throughout your home. For this, ordinary electricity is used, no cables are needed. Only a Powerline adapter can be used for configuration.
All that is required is simply to connect the TV to the network via the adapter and the DLNA home network will start functioning. - In case the router and TV are close to each other, it is best to use cable connection... Ethernet cable connects to TV port and router.
- Creating a media group using a wireless bridge is appropriate when the TV is located far from the router. The bridge can be connected to a TV via a cable, and to a router via a wireless network.
Advice: the optimal solution for any case is the electrical connection.
The next stage of setup is to connect other DLNA devices to the router.
After connecting to the TV, you can connect any DLNA server to the network - laptop, phone, tablet.
But if this is not possible, you can connect them using the above methods.
Thus, the TV will be able to "see" the devices and play the content.
Setting up DLNA HomeGroup Devices
For the TV to recognize the content, the media group devices must be configured. For laptop and tablet, you need to install a special software.
These programs can be:
- Windows Media Player 11 or 12.
- VAIO Media Server (for Sony TV).
- AllShare for Samsung.
- LG Smart Share.
- Home Media Server.
The group must be allowed access to the laptop, this can be done in the software settings by activating the media sharing.
These can be music files, images or videos. Typically a library or list is created that the media device can play later.
Not every smartphone can be connected to a DLNA group. But those that have this feature connect via Wi-F to a wireless router.
Advice: for the network to work, the following algorithm should be performed:
- Wi-Fi must be included in the favorites list and set to automatic connection.
- Disable power save mode.
- Activate file sharing.
It's no secret that over time we accumulate a lot of all kinds of films, photographs and the like, and this is all usually stored on a computer.
But it would not be bad to watch the movie that you just downloaded from the network on big tv, and not on the PC screen, but for this you need to transfer this movie to a USB flash drive, or burn it to disk.
In short, a lot of unnecessary movement. But there are solutions, this is a multimedia server.
Don't be alarmed, it's not quite separate computer with hard drives. This is a program that performs strictly assigned tasks.
Let's take a look at several programs that can provide access to media content from other devices or programs.
Let's start with the theoretical basics of what DLNA and Smart Share are.
DLNA (in its own words) is a technology that allows devices that are connected to the same network and support DLNA technology to exchange media content (video, photo, music).
Now, almost all devices support DLNA technology: computers, TVs, smartphones, game consoles, etc.
Smart Share Is a proprietary application (technology) by LG. If I can say so, then this is a kind of shell for working with DLNA.
Other TV manufacturers call these programs differently. Samsung has AllShare. SONY - VAIO Media Server.
And so, without a doubt, you can watch photos, films, etc. on TV that are on your computer or even smartphone.
But from the beginning you need to set up DLNA (Smart Share) between PC and TV. (TV must be able to connect to the network)
What does it mean?
This means that both the TV and the computer must be connected to the same It does not matter how they are connected. (via Wi-Fi or cable)
And so you have a router, but there is no Wi-Fi in the TV. We can simply lay out from the router network cable to the TV.
Our router must be connected to the Internet and configured. Also, we need a network cable. We connect one end of the cable to the router, into the yellow connector.
On the TV, connect the other end of the cable to the network connector.
And you can debug the router itself from the knowledge gained in this article:
Next, we need to set up the distribution of files from the computer so that the TV can play videos from the necessary folders, or show photos. We just need to open access for this. This can be done even with the standard windows Player Media.
But there is a very good and absolutely free program « Home media server (UPnP, DLNA, HTTP)», Which is an excellent analogue of Smart Share from LG, or for example AllShare from Samsung.
And so, friends, a media server for a computer that will pump your TV and make it much more functional.
Home Media Server
Home media server (UPnP, DLNA, HTTP) is a program that provides media resources (photos, audio and video files) of your computer to other UPnP (DLNA) devices on your home network.
For instance, philips TVs, Sony, Samsung, LG, Toshiba, game consoles Sony Playstation 3, XBOX 360, WD TV Live media players, Popcorn Hour, Dune, Boxee Box, IconBit, ASUS O! Play, iPad / iPhone / iPod, mobile and PDA devices.
The program includes various transcoders for audio and video files that allow converting media resources into a format supported by the playback device.
It is also possible to convert the frame format of video files to the display format of the playback device (the color of the padding is set by the user), the choice of the audio track, subtitles. You can choose transcoding from any minute.
The program includes transcoding profiles for VLC Media Player, you can redirect streams of Internet radio, Internet TV from your computer to your media devices.
The program supports Digital TV (C, S, T), you can redirect streams digital television from your computer to your media devices.
The program supports control of DMR (Digital Media Renderer) devices, you can use the Play To function for an individual device and a group of devices.
This is a whole combine, the functionality of which knows no boundaries.
The only drawback will be the terrible interface of the program, but since it is needed to play movies on TV, it will not big problem... The program is absolutely free and is only available in the Windows version.
First, we need to download and install the program itself. I recommend downloading from the official website: //www.homemediaserver.ru/index.htm... There is always a new version!
After installation, launch the program with a shortcut on the desktop. Let's go to the program settings. We won't do anything special there. We will just indicate local drives, flash drives, external hDDand, or folders, the contents of which we want to see on the TV.
For example, you can only open a few folders with movies, photos and music.
A window with settings will open. In the first category, Media Resources, we need to specify which disks or folders we want to see on the TV. By default, there are open standard folders with photo, video and music.
The program tries to sort everything. And in order not to get confused in all these folders on the TV, I advise you to open general access to local drives. This means that you can open any file on the TV that is stored on these local drives (drives C, D, E, etc.).
You can also specify individual folders, or for example external hard disk. To do this, click on the Add button on the right, and select the desired folder, USB flash drive, or hard drive in the explorer. These are the basic settings, click on the Ok button, and agree to scan media resources.
Further, you can already start the DLNA server itself. To do this, just click on the "Start" button. Now, just turn on your TV. If everything is connected correctly, then it should appear in the "Home Media Server (UPnP, DLNA, HTTP)" program.
To do this, go to the Playback Devices (DMR) tab, and on the right, click the Update button.
VIDEO:
So Plex .
The most popular and, perhaps, rather convenient option. Having started the server on a computer, you can control it from a browser, set up a media library, add subtitles, and more.
Plex downloads all information about the movie automatically and does it perfectly in most cases. The TV sees the Plex server without any problems and plays everything perfectly.
The disadvantage of Plex and other similar programs is that the TV does not see the subtitles embedded in the movie, but for me, it doesn't really matter to you.
Plex is free, but additional features require a subscription.
//plex.tv/
PS3 Media Server.
The PS3 Media Server was originally distributed as an add-on to the PlayStation 3, allowing the console to play movies on a TV.
Then the program began to live a separate life. Like previous alternatives, it supports DLNA playback and doesn't require any setup hassle.
//www.ps3mediaserver.org/
Serviio is far from the most popular multimedia server. The app is free, but for $ 25 you can buy the PRO version, which allows you to access your content from any network, not just your home network.
And this allows you to play content from the WEB (this function is given as an introduction and in free version). Serviio has applications for Android, however they act as a secondary control panel for the server side on the computer.
//www.serviio.org/
Kodi or (XBMC)
XBMC was created to bring video playback functionality to the Xbox. Then the project spun off and now Kodi is one of the most popular media centers, supporting almost all platforms due to open source.
Kodi has iOS and Android apps that let you use your smartphone as a remote control. The service lives on donations and is completely free.
//kodi.tv/
Good luck Friends!
After that, unpack the downloaded archive and run the "setup.exe" file.
The installation process will start. You will be prompted to select a directory for installing the application. You can leave the default:
In the next step, you will be asked to select the type of device with which our media server will work.
Basically, if the "Auto detect" option is checked, the program will determine everything and set required parameters your media device.
Now you need to select folders, or entire local drives that you want to make public:
Then the program will ask you to do backups settings. We will not do this, since not everyone has yet configured what we wanted. Therefore, we press the "Close" button:
At this step, the main program window will open. You can study a little to get comfortable. Then click the "Settings" button:
In the window that opens, select the "Scanning" tab below:
This will give us the ability to control the server and computer from the TV.
For example, after watching a movie, you will not need to go to the computer to turn it off. Everything can be done from the TV. Cool, agree?
Now select the "Devices" tab and click the "Search" button:
Here again, click the "Search" button at the bottom of the window. When asked to start the server, answer "Yes":
The program will start and its icon will appear in the system tray:
After that, a window with a list of found devices will be displayed. Find the TV and click on the red icon on the left in the form road sign "No entry":
It should now look like a green checkmark. This means that the TV and the server understand each other and are ready to work over the network.
After that, all found devices should be displayed on the "Devices" tab. Select the TV again and click the "Settings" button:
If you want to access the server from any device on your home network through a web browser, select the "Advanced" tab and check the "Web navigation" item:
I recommend disabling the option "Create playlists of media resources in Web-navigation mode".
You can now access the program through your web browser:
We check if this is so:
As you can see, everything works.
To view media resources on a computer, you need a VLC player.
If the program interface does not open, go to the "Settings - Server" path and check if the port number is correct:
Also turn off the firewall on your computer and try again.
Therefore, blog not to miss interesting material.
Now I will briefly talk about the "Transcoder" tab:
For example, you downloaded a movie in a format that your TV cannot play.
In this case, you can select a transcoding profile that transcodes the video into desired format... Moreover, the whole process takes place during startup, without any preliminary actions user.
It is worth noting that in the program you can set transcoding settings according to three main principles:
First: for all movies (example in the screenshot above).
Second: for certain types of video file extensions.
To do this, follow the path "Settings - Media resources - File types - Change":
Third: for a specific movie.
In the main window of the server, select the desired video file, click on it right click mouse and select "Transcoding Profile":
At first glance, a beginner might not understand all these profiles, encodings, and so on. It's very easy to get confused. To be honest, the author of the article, too, did not immediately get to the bottom of the matter. But it's actually pretty simple.
Look, at the very beginning of setting up the Home Media Server program, we specified the type of our media device, in our case, a Samsung TV:
After that, the application itself determines which formats of audio-video files your TV set supports.
And if, for example, you run a movie with a resolution that is not in the above list, transcoding will start for it in order to convert it into a format readable for TV. I hope the essence has become clear to you.
As a rule, nothing needs to be changed for Samsung TVs, so leave all the settings here as they are. We will solve all problems as they arise, since the topic of setting up transcoding in HMS is very extensive.
Now we move on to the final stage. Go to the "Advanced" tab and set the settings as in the screenshot below:
Now the program will automatically load and quietly "hang" in system services Windows.
Let's go back to the main program window again. Let's describe the main control buttons:
The "Movies - Music - Photo" buttons are used to select folders with corresponding resources.
The buttons "Start - Stop - Restart" control the server. In working condition, the start button must be pressed (inactive).
That's all. The question of how the Home Media Server program can be downloaded, installed and configured can be closed.
