HDR not serving video files over local network

[Ted Roberts]

Dear experts,

Problem: My HDR appears not to be playing video files over my local network to my (oldish, pre-Android) Sony Bravia smart TV, nor to the the Media Player on my new Roku Streaming stick.

VLC on my iPhone can play the files. Also using the latest Roku software I can mirror the videos on my TV using AirPlay 2. That seems a high-tech Heath Robinson solution, with a bit of stuttering on pay back.

I have the latest version of the Custom Firmware, I have MediaTomb installed. Content sharing is on.The HDR has auto unlock and auto decrypt running. The webif shows the files with icons as decoded and indexed by the Humax DLNA (Media) server.

The TV and Stick can both navigate to the video files, using the built in DLNA server and the MediaTomb server, and show the file details, but neither will play them.

The HDR is connected to my home network using TP-LInk Powerline adapters. The other kit is connected by WiFi.

Occasionally I find a file that will play; I was able to watch the recent Name of the Rose series. I cant recall if that was an HD transmission or not.

I've searched and searched the forums using different keywords, but have not found an answer yet.

I hope someone can point out what I'm doing wrong, or not doing at all.

Fingers crossed in anticipation.

Ted

 

[Black Hole]

A few questions/comments:

1. Why are you using Mediatomb? That package is primarily intended for the HD-FOX and FOXSAT-HDR, which do not have their own media servers. The HDR-FOX has its own native media server, which is enabled by setting Menu >> Settings >> System >> Internet Setting >> Content Share = On. Media sharing this way is by DLNA, and is not dependent on decryption, but HiDef recordings will not share to non-Humax devices unless the protection is removed by Foxy or auto-unprotect.
   
   
2. Smart TVs have never been very good at playing back the .TS recordings (M2TS), even though that is what it transmitted. The media players tend to expect non-broadcast formats such as .MP4. This might be because the actual encoding in a broadcast stream can change on the fly, and a broadcast decoder is designed to cope with this but a media player is not. TV broadcast decoders are implemented in hardware; possibly media players decode in software. You could try using the CF WebIF option to convert the recording to .mpg, and you could serve that with Mediatomb (but probably not the native DLNA server).
   
   
3. I suggest using network file sharing rather than DLNA (native or Mediatomb) - install the samba and/or nfs-utils package, and then you will be able to access any file (regardless of type) on the HDR-FOX drive as if it were a network storage device.
   
   
4. See here for notes about networking: Configuring IP Address (click), Content Sharing 101 (click).

 

[Ted Roberts]

Thank you for your response.

I have been trying to view my Humax recordings on a second TV for quite a while (the first Covid lockdown re-galvanised my enthusiasm), chipping away at the obstacles with tips/hints from the forum. Originally my smart TV did not list the Humax or its files. So I installed MediaTomb which was listed on my TV's Video viewer.

I did tried converting TS files to MPEG but without a lot of success, and with a plethora of versions of the original file, (ts, decrypt, mpeg) which cluttered up the directory when viewing recordings on the main hdmi-attached tv, and complicated the deletion process of watched programs. I guess I could have used Sweeper to move the various types of files to more appropriate folders; those of interest to me, those of interest to my better half, and those of interest to us both.

I was hoping that the new Roku stick would have a more tolerant client.

I will try the samba package.

I will also investigate the links you included.

Once more unto the breach!

Regards

Ted

 

[Black Hole]

I have been trying to view my Humax recordings on a second TV for quite a while

By far the most capable way is to obtain a second HDR-FOX or HD-FOX for connection to the second TV.

 

[prpr]

Smart TVs have never been very good at playing back the .TS recordings (M2TS), even though that is what it transmitted.

188 byte packets (.TS format) are what gets transmitted. 192 byte packets (.M2TS format) are what the Humax saves to disk and (incorrectly) calls .TS

 

[Ted Roberts]

Thank you for your interest & suggestions. However I’m not really any further forward.

I've removed MediaTomb, as superfluous.

I've tried to set up both an smb & nfs server, but am unable to connect either from my iMac (High Sierra) or my iPad (iOS 14). I get a message about contact my System Administrator! C’est moi! Incompatible versions of samba or need to define/use correctly a user & password.

I did switch sharing on. Mistake! Performance on the webif became glacial.

I enabled mpeg extraction, but trying to view from my Sony Bravia TVs causes it reliably(?) to crash & restart. I’ve not got my Sweeper rule to move the mpg files elsewhere to declutter the main video folder. Oh, the irony - I used to work in IT.

I don’t need to view video not stored on the HDR using the HDR. I just want to stream video stored on it using a tv wirelessly connected to it.

I did read this thread https://hummy.tv/forum/threads/network-shares-automount-package-released.1126/. A veritable saga!

I looked at second hand HD/HDRs, but would also need a wireless dongle. A bit of a pig and a poke for something to be used occasionally, and I’m running out of shelf space.

If at first you don’t succeed...

best wishes

Ted

 

[Black Hole]

I did switch sharing on. Mistake! Performance on the webif became glacial.

What? Content Sharing = On is essential for decryption, without which you won't be able to do things like mpg conversion. Sounds to me like you have a network problem. My WebIFs are certainly not glacial, or perhaps I'm used to it because I've always had content sharing turned on.

am unable to connect either from my iMac (High Sierra) or my iPad (iOS 14).

In what way do you expect to connect with iOS? You would need an app able to access NAS, eg File Explorer - there's no native ability.

My view is that your general knowledge of networking is not adequate to the task. It really shouldn't be that difficult, but we can't see what you're doing and you don't know what your not doing to be able to ask the right questions.

 

[Ted Roberts]

Hi Black Hole,

Sorry for the confusion, I meant to say I'd switched shareFolder = on in the ModSettings folder for smb.

You are probably correct about my networking knowledge. I tried adapting the mod settings for the HDR to HDR connections fro my HDR to act as a server.

On my iMac when trying to connect to the Humax using its fixed IP address via smb or cifs, I get this error:


Like other forum members have experienced, it may be a compatibility problem between my Humax server version and my iMac's client version.

Thank you for your help. I do appreciate it.

Regards

Ted

 

[MartinLiddle]

Like other forum members have experienced, it may be a compatibility problem between my Humax server version and my iMac's client version.

There is no doubt that the version 1 SAMBA on the Humax isn't compatible with the version on the Mac. The custom firmware experts did look at installing a later version of SAMBA on the Humax but judged it wasn't feasible because it required too much resource. You might do better to try NFS; there is a tutorial for getting NFS working at https://www.cyberciti.biz/faq/apple-mac-osx-nfs-mount-command-tutorial/ which might help (I can't comment as I don't own a Mac).

 

[Black Hole]

I meant to say I'd switched shareFolder = on in the ModSettings folder for smb.

That is to do with connecting to a NAS from the HDR-FOX, not connecting to the HDR-FOX as a NAS from another device. network-shares-automount is totally irrelevant to your wishes, and even if it wasn't you need to be aware of the potential problems of setting shareFolders=on (which will include expanding the HDR-FOX's file system into external shares, and can indeed slow everything down).

In case the information has not been clear enough so far:

For accessing the HDR-FOX recordings from elsewhere across your home network, you have the non-custom method of DLNA by setting Menu >> Settings >> System >> Internet Setting >> Content Share = On. With that in place, any DLNA-compatible player device on your network (including smart TVs, and media player software on PCs etc) can play unprotected* recordings stored on the HDR-FOX, and the HDR-FOX's DLNA server streams the material to the player device on demand. This should be your first port of call, and should "just work".

* By "unprotected" I mean StDef recordings, and HiDef recordings that have been unprotected using the CF auto-unprotect package. Recordings served by DLNA do not need to be decrypted.

Installing network file server software using CF means external devices (with the capability) can treat the HDR-FOX as ordinary network storage, almost like plugging in a USB drive. There shouldn't be any need to connect specifically, all modern OSes will auto-discover network storage. However: 1. The recordings will need to have been decrypted; 2. The player software will need to "understand" the file format of HDR-FOX recordings.

Installing the samba package confers SMB sharing. This is supported by Windows, but Win10 uses SMB3 while samba is SMB1. To support the HDR-FOX SMB1 in Win10 requires turning that on in settings (google how).

Installing the nfs-utils package confers NFS sharing. This is supported by Linux and Mac. I am not aware of any version incompatibilities.

I would not expect you to have to explicitly state "cifs://" in an address bar (I am not at all sure that is correct, and it would not be appropriate for Mac anyway). Network file shares should appear in your file manager, or at worst you might need to map a network drive in your file manager.

 

[Ted Roberts]

Thank you both for your suggestions.

Using DLNA I can view the unprotected decoded files from the Media server app on my TV, and on my Roku Streaming stick. If I am lucky occasionally a selected file will play, but more often than not they do not. I understand that the TS files created by the Humax do not follow the strict rules for such file types/folders/packages. I also understand that broadcasters do not always fully the rules when they transmit media files correctly/accurately. So that the videos stored on the Humax may be incompatible with a media player's understanding of the rules.

I investigated the NFS and Mac link, but my version of the Mac OS did not offer the Disk Utility options described. The Mac sees the Humax on its Network screen, but I cannot open it.


I shall investigate further the nfs-utils package.