[gentoo-user] Steaming to iOs and Android from Gentoo

[gentoo-user] Steaming to iOs and Android from Gentoo

[James]

Hello,

One of the things I've been  rearching is how to configure
a gentoo server with local sports video so folks can
enjoy video on thier smart phones, where some video
is open to everyone and other video is limited (password
or device id) to only a select set of viewers....

XBMC is in portage. There is a package, loosely based on XBMC
 getting a lot of favorable reviews called "plex"; not in portage:

http://www.howtogeek.com/65590/how-to-stream-video-to-both-ios-and-android-devices-with-plex/


Plex for other linux distros can be found here:
http://www.plexapp.com/getplex/


Has anyone any experience with Plex?
Know of a (dev)hacked-package of Plex for Gentoo?
http://forums.plexapp.com/index.php/topic/30273-how-to-pms-with-gentoo/


Other, better approaches to video steaming to iOs/Android devices
from a (gentoo) Linux server? (wiki?)


curiously,
James

Re: [gentoo-user] Steaming to iOs and Android from Gentoo

[Alan McKinnon]

On 21/02/2013 16:54, James wrote:
> Hello,
> 
> One of the things I've been  rearching is how to configure
> a gentoo server with local sports video so folks can
> enjoy video on thier smart phones, where some video
> is open to everyone and other video is limited (password
> or device id) to only a select set of viewers....
> 
> XBMC is in portage. There is a package, loosely based on XBMC
>  getting a lot of favorable reviews called "plex"; not in portage:
> 
> http://www.howtogeek.com/65590/how-to-stream-video-to-both-ios-and-android-devices-with-plex/
> 
> 
> Plex for other linux distros can be found here:
> http://www.plexapp.com/getplex/
> 
> 
> Has anyone any experience with Plex?
> Know of a (dev)hacked-package of Plex for Gentoo?
> http://forums.plexapp.com/index.php/topic/30273-how-to-pms-with-gentoo/
> 
> 
> Other, better approaches to video steaming to iOs/Android devices
> from a (gentoo) Linux server? (wiki?)

Someone broke xbmc in the tree a while ago (cry...), something about
libav IIRC. Is it still busted?

Plex forked off xmbc about 4 years ago, the front end is still
xbmc-like, the back-end is proprietary. Do you have a special need to
use Plex over XBMC for the back-end?

I would say XBMC does everything you need. It supports profiles, which
give you the password protection you mentioned, and there are many
awesome front-end/remotes for android and i* in the markets. Just don't
use the so-called "official XBMC remotes", that one uses an obsolete
http API to XBMC, the current code base (Eden and Frodo) uses something
much better in json. The best remote/front-end currently for android is
Yatse IMNSHO

Other options:

Ditch gentoo entirely for this and use OpenElec instead (openelec.tv).
It's XBMC on an appliance, and all of the maintenance issue you will
experience (like broken libav or ffmpeg....) just ImmediatelyGoAway(tm)

minidlna (in the tree) is a nice minimal media server, you get none of
the xbmc awesomeness (like fanart and libraries and posters), but it's
quick and fast and delivers content nicely. There are many front ends
out there all speaking DLNA, and they support pushing and pulling
content to varying degrees.


-- 
Alan McKinnon
alan.mckinnon@gmail.com

[gentoo-user] Re: Steaming to iOs and Android from Gentoo

[James]

Alan McKinnon <alan.mckinnon <at> gmail.com> writes:

> Do you have a special need to use Plex over XBMC for the back-end?

No.

> I would say XBMC does everything you need. It supports profiles, which
> give you the password protection you mentioned, and there are many
> awesome front-end/remotes for android and i* in the markets. Just don't
> use the so-called "official XBMC remotes", that one uses an obsolete
> http API to XBMC, the current code base (Eden and Frodo) uses something
> much better in json. The best remote/front-end currently for android is
> Yatse IMNSHO

All good to know.

> Ditch gentoo entirely for this and use OpenElec instead (openelec.tv).
> It's XBMC on an appliance, and all of the maintenance issue you will
> experience (like broken libav or ffmpeg....) just ImmediatelyGoAway(tm)

This looks promising. I need to drill deeper into the Arm chips (SOC)
that support OpenElec, Geexbox and such application.

What about geexbox? How does it stack up in a comparision to what
you have tried? I just stumbled across it. In fact, is there
a good review somewhere that talks about many of these sort of HTPC
systems in a feature comparison?


> minidlna (in the tree) is a nice minimal media server, you get none of
> the xbmc awesomeness (like fanart and libraries and posters), but it's
> quick and fast and delivers content nicely. There are many front ends
> out there all speaking DLNA, and they support pushing and pulling
> content to varying degrees.

Another interesting offering.

Do any (all?) of these video servers mearly work over wired ethernet
or the HDMI output port, or do some of them broadcast locally over wifi,
which can be picked up by apple and android phones?

My video camera can stream into a linux device via the the usb or the
mini HDMI port. I'm not sure how to set up a hdmi port on a linux host
to receive input from the hdmi output on the camera?  What I want to do is 
then rebroadcast over wifi so every phone in the local (wifi) area can
 watch the video live on their phone as well as playback and other 
intersperced content (player stats etc).

What would you recommend ?

Which apps would the iphone or the android phone run to receive the 
wifi re-broadcasts?

Re: [gentoo-user] Re: Steaming to iOs and Android from Gentoo

[Alan McKinnon]

On 21/02/2013 20:52, James wrote:
> Alan McKinnon <alan.mckinnon <at> gmail.com> writes:
> 
>> Do you have a special need to use Plex over XBMC for the back-end?
> 
> No.
> 
>> I would say XBMC does everything you need. It supports profiles, which
>> give you the password protection you mentioned, and there are many
>> awesome front-end/remotes for android and i* in the markets. Just don't
>> use the so-called "official XBMC remotes", that one uses an obsolete
>> http API to XBMC, the current code base (Eden and Frodo) uses something
>> much better in json. The best remote/front-end currently for android is
>> Yatse IMNSHO
> 
> All good to know.
> 
>> Ditch gentoo entirely for this and use OpenElec instead (openelec.tv).
>> It's XBMC on an appliance, and all of the maintenance issue you will
>> experience (like broken libav or ffmpeg....) just ImmediatelyGoAway(tm)
> 
> This looks promising. I need to drill deeper into the Arm chips (SOC)
> that support OpenElec, Geexbox and such application.
> 
> What about geexbox? How does it stack up in a comparision to what
> you have tried? I just stumbled across it. In fact, is there
> a good review somewhere that talks about many of these sort of HTPC
> systems in a feature comparison?
> 
> 
>> minidlna (in the tree) is a nice minimal media server, you get none of
>> the xbmc awesomeness (like fanart and libraries and posters), but it's
>> quick and fast and delivers content nicely. There are many front ends
>> out there all speaking DLNA, and they support pushing and pulling
>> content to varying degrees.
> 
> Another interesting offering.
> 
> Do any (all?) of these video servers mearly work over wired ethernet
> or the HDMI output port, or do some of them broadcast locally over wifi,
> which can be picked up by apple and android phones?
> 
> My video camera can stream into a linux device via the the usb or the
> mini HDMI port. I'm not sure how to set up a hdmi port on a linux host
> to receive input from the hdmi output on the camera?  What I want to do is 
> then rebroadcast over wifi so every phone in the local (wifi) area can
>  watch the video live on their phone as well as playback and other 
> intersperced content (player stats etc).
> 
> What would you recommend ?
> 
> Which apps would the iphone or the android phone run to receive the 
> wifi re-broadcasts?

My setup:

Content on an HP microserver with regular consumer SATA drives
(5400rpm). Network is 100mb FastEthernet (it's a gig nic but the switch
is 100m). It runs FreeNAS and serves content over NFS, SMB and DLNA.

XBMC is latest OpenElec Frodo RC3 on an Xtreamer Ultra2, HDMI 1.4
straight into the TV. Sound is plain 2.0 into the the TV. Network is
802.11n locked to 145mb (the AP is too unstable at 300 at my house).
Uses NFS to get to backend storage.

I went with this setup as I'd been burnt trying to go cheap. A
RaspberryPi just barely managed to run 1080p and would stutter badly
with any audio it couldn't just pass through direct to the TV. And
there's the MPEG-2 license thingy as well.My research showed that even
the latest ARM chips from 6 months ago were still not quite there yet
(hopefully that will change real soon now), and the XBMC gui was
annoyingly sluggish. Chaps at work had Popcorn hour boxes and other
similar ARM based devices, with without the rich XBMC experience - the
gui on all of them sucked. Probably because the device didn't have spare
resources for a GUI.

So I went for Intel based with a good nVidia card, and the XBox is the
backup (also wireless at 145) if the Xtreamer goes south - that's what
the DLNA is for :-)

Network performance is great, even when playing full 1080p Bluray rips
or .vob rips off dvd. I can get the network to max out, but have to do
much crazy stuff at the same time as watch a movie to pull it off :-)

I haven't looked into Geekbox at all, I understand it's a nicely
packaged XBMC so all the same performance comparisons should hold.

The way I use it on the tablets and phones is to use the functionality
of the remote. AFAIK it asks xbmc for stuff and it comes over the
network as uPNP, but I'm a little fuzzy on the details. It works for me,
that's what I care about :-) I have a Samsung10" first gen tablet and an
S2 phone, both cope well. XBMC doesn't transcode, so the device has to
be able to deal with the content as delivered. Or, just download the
file and watch later (that's why the content server supports smb)

As for your camera, maybe OpenElec isn't the solution for that - it's a
barebones appliance and might not support everything you need. Check out
XBMC Live (it's also an installer) which is Ubuntu based, and you could
use v4l to deal with the camera's video stream and broadcast that way.
You would have to give up emerge in favour of apt-get thoguh....

Which did I go with FreeNAS and OpenElec? Because I got sick and tired
of dealing with gentoo on what is essentially a single-purpose
appliance. I want the NAS and media front end to work like a DVD player
- switch on, wait 10 seconds max, be good to go. It must also update
like a DSL router - upload a 70M single image, reboot, be good to go. My
notebook is Gentoo because it does 100s of things and it must work *my*
way, the media server does 1 thing and it must JustWorkRight always


-- 
Alan McKinnon
alan.mckinnon@gmail.com

[gentoo-user] Re: Steaming to iOs and Android from Gentoo

[James]

Alan McKinnon <alan.mckinnon <at> gmail.com> writes:


> My setup:

Alan, thanks for your information. I just purchased a cab over
camper from my 4x4 pickup. Also will be towing a boat
and traveling extensively. Freelance videoing and web site
creation is the business goal. As usual, you have given me ample 
to muse over as I go from for the ultimate low power, 
off-
grid rig possible.

I have to completely rethink-redesign the electrical systems
and hence the network for video, security, 12VDC (when possible),
entertainment, internet, and general hackery. Kids and I
will be traveling  round-a-bit.

Once I get something plausible on paper, I'll post back for
review/enhancement ideas.

Going OFF_GRID dis summa! (can't get away from petro  through).




PS, I'm also looking for a portable fold up ceramic smoker
that mounts over an open fire, cause I like to smoke up
some chow in the envenings; in case you know of any superstrong
lightweight cerramic materials (good insulator, strong, hi temp
resistant) to build a portable smoker. Nothing like seafood
or game hot out of a smoker for 3-5 hours........

Hell, I just might not return home, if I get this right....!

James

Re: [gentoo-user] Re: Steaming to iOs and Android from Gentoo

[Alan McKinnon]

On 22/02/2013 22:55, James wrote:
> Alan McKinnon <alan.mckinnon <at> gmail.com> writes:
> 
> 
>> My setup:
> 
> Alan, thanks for your information. I just purchased a cab over
> camper from my 4x4 pickup. Also will be towing a boat
> and traveling extensively. Freelance videoing and web site
> creation is the business goal.

That changes things a lot :-)

I assumed you had a mostly-regular HTPC setup in mind, this is obviously
not the case.

[...]

> Going OFF_GRID dis summa! (can't get away from petro  through).
> 
> 
> 
> 
> PS, I'm also looking for a portable fold up ceramic smoker
> that mounts over an open fire, cause I like to smoke up
> some chow in the envenings; in case you know of any superstrong
> lightweight cerramic materials (good insulator, strong, hi temp
> resistant) to build a portable smoker. Nothing like seafood
> or game hot out of a smoker for 3-5 hours........

I'm South African, we do things different here. The core of our camping
community are serious hard-core campers - we use whatever we have to
accomplish whatever we need to do :-)

Barbeques are a flat wire grid on two blocks of whatever happens to be
around - bricks, rocks, you name it.

A smoker is often the cardboard box the chow was packed in! Wrap the
outside bottom in aluminium foil, put another layer inside, spread wood
chips on inside, place on cool fire, close box. Hey, it works :-)

The big problem is not the material, it is how much space the thing
takes up and I don't think I've ever seen a collapsible smoker.



-- 
Alan McKinnon
Systems Engineer^W Technician
Infrastructure Services
Internet Solutions

+27 11 575 7585


-- 
Alan McKinnon
alan.mckinnon@gmail.com