Raspberry Pi DLNA Client

[Ezra Pound]

I installed betaFTPd, but it won't connect. says 'Need account for login' Where do I set it up? Trying to start it in the services says an ftp server is already running

Before running betaFTPd you must turn off the FTP server supplied by Humax in the Humax >> Settings Menu

 

[Black Hole]

User name = "humax", password = "0000" (unless you've changed the default).

 

[damianiw]

Thought I'd post my recent advances here too, as it's the most relevant thread!
I had problems playing Hummy recordings from the Pi, until I found out that I hadn't unencrypted the recordings! nothing more to install (Don't need to install the app 'unencrypt', dont' need to install MediaTomb) Just browse your recordings and click Opt on the folders, and enable Unencrypt on each one. Don't forget to also go up one from your main directory so you can enable it on that to. Not sure the time frame for tr hummy to busy itself doing the conversion, but once a file has a bright green 'Dec' next to it, it's been decrypted and plays fine over the network.
I also attached my USB drive full of videos to the Hummy (Originally it was going to be attached to one of the Pis and shared). The Hummy runs SMB (aka 'Samba') which I tried installing on the Pi but it kept crashing. On the hummy it's perfectly stable, so the Hummy now acts as the media server for all my media, and on the Pi you 'Add Videos'>'SMB (Windows)' Network> And find your files there through the Hummy.

The Pi has a really nice interface in Raspmc the only gripe I have is fast-forward and rewind are useless, so instead I've remapped the remote so instead of fast-scanning through the video, the FF buttons skip 20 seconds. I find it works pretty good now.
I won't go into great lengths, but if anyone would like some Pi advice I'll try and help, but take a look at http://forum.stmlabs.com/forumdisplay.php?fid=7

My tweaks have been to remote.xml, (to remap remote buttons to do what I want) advancedsettings.xml (To change how far FF skips) and little overclock tweaks to config.txt (Though I havent noticed any difference! - just saw them online and thought it wouldn't hurt to add a few lines of code!) These changes can be made using SSH connection, (Using 'PuTTy') I'll try and advise on the syntax (with my limited knowledge) if anyone needs!

Hi have you tried adding network source as per my notes, if you access the humax via dlna no need to decrypt but you will need auto unprotected enabled for hd sources

Of course decrypt has its advantages if you want files ready and easy to transfer off the box but most our viewing is via streaming but the addition of a blackberry playbook in the house has changed this slightly as it has no dlna capability yet

 

[BenB]

I just re-read the first post!! Which package allows 'convert to MPG'? On the fly, or do I need to have pre-converted any files I want to share? Onthe Pi are you still choosing SMB or uPnP as the connection?

I've connected to my Hummy using BetaFTP amd I can see a whole load of files with the extension '.encrypted' These files exist even for video files I've long removed, and take up the same space! Hence loads of 3GB files taking up my space! Am I free to remove all these? Or will remaining recording stop working if I do?

 

[Black Hole]

As far as I know there is no automated facility for conversion to .mpg, it's just the WebIF OPT+ button, and no it an't be done on the fly either.

Are these .encrypted files in "_original" folders? If so they are the consequence of one-off OPT+ decrypt operations, and yet they can be deleted once the conversion is verified. Auto-decrypt or unencrypt should not leave any clutter (other than in the undelete folder if you have one), if they are being left behind as a result of those there is a problem somewhere.

 

[BenB]

What does Damian mean in the first post on this thread then?

I installed the pkg to allow convert to mpg option via webif, and once catalogued by the built in DLNA server this file works - streaming straight to my spare TV !

I guess you means one file at a time Damian?

The .encrypted files are sitting loose in every folder. Not one for every file, but some named as recordings that I've since deleted, and some that still remain.I guess they are temporary copies at some point of the decryption process, by the looks of it the same size as the original files. But yes, they appear to be clutter left behind in the decryption. I did suspect that my diskspace was getting suddenly used up pretty fast!

I'm safe to delete them aren't I? I assume so, but I don't want to stop any recordings from working if I do!!

 

[Black Hole]

The decryption renames the original .ts as .encrypted, but it should get deleted somewhere in the process. There may be a bug somewhere, but as long as they related to programmes you have watched and finished with there is no harm in deleting them manually.

You need the ffmpeg package installed to enable the WebIF convert to mpg option.

 

[damianiw]

Thanks for replying

Yes I had to convert one at a time via command line, I've since moved onto my raspberry pi so not pursued the tv dlna route much but I think there was the idea of enhancing the shrink / decrypt processes already in place to swap or strip the audio track which is believed to be causing the tv's to struggle but I don't know if it's still being worked on

 

[BenB]

Cheers Damian,
I've been working for ages on trying to get the Pi working reliably! I bought three of the things, one install works great (an old RC4 version), but when I try and use the working disk image on another SD card to put into another of the Pis it fails to play the .ts files. Although it plays movies from a USB attached to the Hummy fine.
Fresh installs I've tried, on RC4 or RC5 both fail to play .ts files.
Didn't realise there was a known problem- was it being worked on on here or stmlabs?

 

[damianiw]

Ah hold on - don't forget for the SD you need the license for the mpeg2 and that is tied to the serial number of the pi so that sd won't be swappable between (well it will but the license will need amending)

 

[BenB]

I bought multiple keys together and they told me to put all three together with commas (but no spaces) between so any sd install will work in any of my Pis

 

[damianiw]

I bought multiple keys together and they told me to put all three together with commas (but no spaces) between so any sd install will work in any of my Pis

I only have 1 pi so cannot test but I'd like another

Have the keys worked previously like this, would be handy to know, maybe

for testing I'd try:

Copying a small .ts recording of 10 mins sd from you humax to usb - check it works on pc / mac with vlc player then.

try changing serial on pi sd to one for the pi you're using

Boot pi see if file will play from usb, then you'll know if key is working,

Try multi serial and on each pi - if it doesn't try singly for each to validate the keys then get back in touch with them and ask why.

My first set of serials were sent to me twice and the second email apologised for a system issue causing invalid keys to be sent, I guess someone had to find out before they knew.

Regards

Damian

 

[RedEarth]

I had my licence keys resent too, my understanding was that the original ones weren't wrong, but one or both may have been a negative number and lots of people were missing out the minus sign. The new codes they sent were a hex representation of the same value but without the minus sign. I never found out if my original key for VC-1 would have worked or not because I don't have any content that needs it.

 

[BenB]

Yeah, I don't have any VC-1 content either! Bought it anyway!!

I'm pretty sure all my keys work, RC4 of raspbbmc seems to be working on all Pi's now. As long as the files have been decrypted they share OK most of the time.

There's something going on with the sharing of the files somewhere though, there are times when all my Pi's seem to function correctly, playing Hummy recordings and movies off the USB through the hummy. Other times the movies play but the recordings don't. I must admit though it gets very confusing when you've got three of them!

I've spent so many evening obsessing over getting the things set up, I'm pretty much there now but I'm losing interesting! lol

 

[damianiw]

How are you accessing shares as I don't have to decrypt, I add from upnp source and select dlna.

I have found issues when the humax dlna obviously indexes the file then auto shrink / dedup runs and I try and access before it reupdates the dlna index (which can take a while if people turn the box off!) Sorry the last bit is an issue in my house!

I'm just curious why you decrypt

Regards

Damian

 

[BenB]

When playing an undecrypted file I noticed the 'time' kept changing, creeping up as more of the stream arrived as it were. When playing an undecrypted file it shows the correct time to start with, so you can FF to the right place if you need to.
I chose SMB as the source. I'll retry all using uPnP

 

[BenB]

I did find the autodecrypt left about 70GB of hidden files taking up disk space! Also, some of the files have glitches and skips in playback. If I didn't even need to that would be annoying!! The wife keeps asking what i've done that's messed up all her Emmerdales!!!

 

[BenB]

Does auto shrink affect sharing? They still stream well enough if they are being unshrunk? I've never tried it.

I was always using smb access from the Pi but it fails to play encrypted files completely! Just tried upnp instead and still-encrypted files do stream fine! Its better that all files do play, but the downside is with uPnP you cant skip through the recording or even pause it without messing up the playback completely. With the SMB connection you could navigate through the recording (pausing and skipping, xbmc has always had a problem doing regular fast-forwarding or rewinding!) But need all files to be decrypted.

Think I will continue to auto-decrypt, I'll just keep an eye on hidden files taking up space on the hummy.

Now I know uPnP access has more luck I'll retry the versions of xbmc that didn't work for me and see if they work now.

 

[Black Hole]

AF needs to comment, but a problem I perceive with Autoshrink is that if you are accessing the original file at the same time Autoshrink has finished processing it and wants to rename or delete the original file, it will fail because the file is locked by the OS as "in use".

You do not need to shrink a file you intend to watch and then delete, unless you find it makes the file more compatible with a particular media player. Its value is in reducing the storage required for archived recordings.

 

[damianiw]

Does auto shrink affect sharing? They still stream well enough if they are being unshrunk? I've never tried it.


Now I know uPnP access has more luck I'll retry the versions of xbmc.

I may be misreading but shrinking just removes unecessary info from the ts which is broadcast but isn't the video / audio stream, its not like zipping you don't unshrink to play it back.

Indeed ff or rewind is an issue via upnp but it works via vlc so perhaps there is hope that it may be fixed in later xbmc builds for the pi, my very old xbox 1 has no problem with the ff / rewind via upnp from the humax but its a very old build.

Someone possibly you on this thread suggested mapping remote buttons to skip forward / back like the buttons on the humax remote - I still need to do that

Regards

Damian