Database Develop

Who else has setup your own server for streaming your video files?

I was wondering what everyone's personal setup for their tablets/phones or their new nexus 7 is streaming wise. Like do you use XMBC, Plex, Etc.
I personally have my own cheap dedi running just lighttpd (SSL secured and password protected) with the files in a directory served to me - I tap on the file on my kindle fire and it starts playing in mx player. What are your streaming solutions?

I use plex but I'm getting a synology 2 bay and and I'm thinking about doing just standard upnp. Plex is nice and all but I'm looking to keep it simple.
Sent from my EVO 4G LTE

I have an Ubuntu desktop downstairs in my basement acting as server. It's doing a whole array of tasks.... file/print/web/backup/disaster-recovery/owncloud/motion (video surveillance), etc. I'm running Samba on it and always have, as it's really convenient to be on a laptop and just pull a video file off the server accordingly. I also have a HTPC box running Ubuntu with XBMC (autostart). Due to hard drive space limitations, I keep all movies on the HTPC, and all important data/personal data (music, pictures, documents) on my server, so I could easily utilize both systems (server and HTPC) via Samba with the use of AndSMB so I can stream over the network. I'm hoping I can successfully stream as I expect, but we'll see how it goes. I thought I remember another using telling me it works fine.

I just started ripping DVD's and sharing them over a Windows network, and I'm using ES file explorer to view them.

Wireless G + 1080p = not fun.

Eagle1337 said:
Wireless G + 1080p = not fun.
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Streaming 1080p on wireless G worked on my old router. Is it possible you have a bottleneck elsewhere? I've since upgraded to wireless N and I didn't notice a wireless difference in regard to 1080 playback...

I use Serviio upnp server. Works with all my file formats and organises your tv into season/episode a bit like XBMC. App wise BubbleUPNP is pretty good for connecting to your server; you can also do remote streaming if you get the paid version (otherwise you're limited to half hour usage)
Plex is a more attractive solution and has the advantage of being able to stream outside your local network - but i've found the quality of streaming remotely to be quite poor; that's possibly cause i've got a max upload speed of 1mb. Connecting to the server and navigating through the screens is pretty slow/laggy - so for now Serviio's my choice.

I use Emit (http://emitapp.com). It works great most of the time and does on-the-fly encoding of videos, and is very easy to setup and use. For those familiar it's nearly identical to AirVideo for iOS.

I use PS3 Media Server to transcode and stream content to my xbox over my network, and it works well. Anything that would help an android device pick up on that service on the local network?

I'm planning on streaming stuff off my debian box, just waiting for my nexus 7 to turn up so I can work out the best way of doing it.

JaSauders said:
Streaming 1080p on wireless G worked on my old router. Is it possible you have a bottleneck elsewhere? I've since upgraded to wireless N and I didn't notice a wireless difference in regard to 1080 playback...
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I had all kinds of problems on wireless G as well, upgraded to N+ and even with a ~150mb connection high bitrate 1080p videos give me problems still.

Matto.stark said:
I had all kinds of problems on wireless G as well, upgraded to N+ and even with a ~150mb connection high bitrate 1080p videos give me problems still.
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where do you get the 150mb number from? If that's from the network status shown in windows then that's really not accurate. That only shows the max possible link speed at the time, it's a raw number. You can only find out the real speed by copy files across your network and measure the time it take for its size.
If your wifi connection speed is not consistent due to interference or other reason your might experience slow downs. Also, did you enable WMM in the router to prioritize for video?

PlayOn media server.
It will stream tons of stuff available on your desktop to your mobile. Hulu (desktop version), Netflix (really on useful before the Android app was released), CBS.com, any media files in folders you choose, and dozens of other channels. I purchased a lifetime license a couple years ago, it was a great move, I've used it a ton.

Thegreatheed said:
PlayOn media server.
It will stream tons of stuff available on your desktop to your mobile. Hulu (desktop version), Netflix (really on useful before the Android app was released), CBS.com, any media files in folders you choose, and dozens of other channels. I purchased a lifetime license a couple years ago, it was a great move, I've used it a ton.
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What did the lifetime license set you back?

I refuse to buy a piece of software which still require my subscription to other service as a service it self and expires. Which is why I use the free PS3 Media Server.

I use Qloud Media to stream from my laptop to my Gnex. Works great and plays everything.

One more vote for Plex! Its awesome and probably one of the most simple systems I've setup. Has support for local and remote streaming which makes it even more better! www.plexapp.com

Personally I use tvserity. I have not used a FTP server on my home network because Android fails to connect to it at all.. Normally I would use cerberus but ehh.

I just have a plain server running CentOS 6.3 with an NFS share. I prefer raw access anyway

I run an HP Proliant Microserver N36 with 4x 1TB HDs + Windows Home Server 2011 + Plex Media Server. The server streams to HTPCs in the lounge and family rooms + Plex for Android on my Galaxy Note.
Plex for Android works well now that I have ICS on the Note - ICS (or higher) is required for DirectPlay support in Plex - the Microserver is a little underpowered for transcoding.
Connectivity is via switched 1GbE for the HTPCs and 802.11n for the SGN.

Streaming local content

http://www.droid-life.com/2013/07/25/tip-you-can-play-local-video-files-through-chromecast/
We’re still playing around with the Chromecast, and will have some thoughts on it later, but we wanted to point out a feature that you may not have been aware of after watching yesterday’s demo from Google. Chromecast can play local video files from your computer to a TV. That means you aren’t stuck with YouTube or Netflix or uploading your current collection to a cloud service – you can grab files already on your computer and then stream them to a TV.
Outside of owning a Chromecast device (which is sold out everywhere), all you have to do is install the Chromecast extension on your PC, then find the file path of a local video file that you’d like to play, paste that path into the address bar in a Chrome browser, and then press the Chromecast button to cast it on over. It really is that simple.
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Nice!
I don't have my CC yet but I tried dragging a few videos into Chrome. An MP4 file worked. An MKV played video without audio. An AVI file did not play at all.

This is part way to what I really want. I'd like to be able to navigate to content on my phone and play it on the Chromecast. I would like it to properly play h.264 and still successfully play DD, DTS and so on through my receiver.
Hopefully we can somehow get this support.

You can also hit CTRL+O while a tab is focused to open a file dialog box

What would be the best way to show still images on my Android smartphone on the Chromecast? Can the image gallery show up on the TV?
Skickat från min HTC One via Tapatalk 2

I can imagine alot of chrome extensions that would make the Chromecast more useful. A VLC media player extension maybe?

Tuborg68 said:
What would be the best way to show still images on my Android smartphone on the Chromecast? Can the image gallery show up on the TV?
Skickat från min HTC One via Tapatalk 2
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I was thinking since they have this functionality built in to the gallery for other devices, that it would be a simple add on.

So... I have a rooted SII, when it get's 4.3 will I be able to use it with Chromecast?

ArchTrivium said:
So... I have a rooted SII, when it get's 4.3 will I be able to use it with Chromecast?
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I don't think you need a special OS version for Chromecast. The ability is built into Netflix, Google TV/Movies, Google Music apps from Play Store. Maybe you might need a minimum of ICS to get the versions of the apps that support Chromecast.

I got my CC today, and tried using the native file explorer in Chrome, which unfortunately sucks. I downloaded Plex media server, set up it quickly, and cast the tab I had it open in to my TV....Works like a charm, and I'm pleasantly surprised at how nice and neat Plex is. I think it's definitely the better of the two options, and only took about 15 minutes to set up.

Evo4gLI said:
I got my CC today, and tried using the native file explorer in Chrome, which unfortunately sucks. I downloaded Plex media server, set up it quickly, and cast the tab I had it open in to my TV....Works like a charm, and I'm pleasantly surprised at how nice and neat Plex is. I think it's definitely the better of the two options, and only took about 15 minutes to set up.
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Sweet, glad to hear! How powerful is the computer you streamed from? Did you try 720p video?

I dragged and dropped my media folders to my bookmark toolbar.
It's not a pretty interface like XBMC but it works and put's syncs to all my chrome browsers.
Now I have to finally set up my WD hard drive for streaming. It'll be nice to plug this in to a hotel TV and stream my collection to it instead of my laptop or tablet.
I'm stoked I ordered 2!

My computer isn't anything special. About 5 years old....Dell XPS 420, Quad-core Intel Core 2... I picked the highest quality, which is 720p with high bitrate, and it streamed without any lag whatsoever.

Evo4gLI said:
My computer isn't anything special. About 5 years old....Dell XPS 420, Quad-core Intel Core 2... I picked the highest quality, which is 720p with high bitrate, and it streamed without any lag whatsoever.
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OK. My desktop is even older, Pentium Dual-Core E5300 @ 2.60 GHz. That might meet the cutoff for standard def but unlikely for high-def. I guess I will find out.
And it turns out that Google says streaming video from a Chrome tab in Windows XP is not supported. All my laptops are still on XP and single-core... cause I stopped using my laptops regularly when iOS/Android came to prominence and never bought a new one.

Evo4gLI said:
My computer isn't anything special. About 5 years old....Dell XPS 420, Quad-core Intel Core 2... I picked the highest quality, which is 720p with high bitrate, and it streamed without any lag whatsoever.
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Nice, that was local content not a stream from the web?

This thing is awesome! I'm sitting at work and decided 'f it I'm going to try this thing out'. So I set up my HTC VIEW (the 4g version of the Flyer tablet) and had it run as a wifi hot spot. I connected my laptop to it and plugged the chromecast into one of the TVs we have in my office. I installed the Google Cast extension to chrome, set up the chromecast and was ready to go. Next I opened a new tab, dragged over an episode of Futurama and hit cast. With about a 1/2 second delay from when I hit play it started playing on the TV. Once it started playing it had zero lag and it worked flawlessly. Frankly I'm impressed.

StormMcCloud said:
This thing is awesome! I'm sitting at work and decided 'f it I'm going to try this thing out'. So I set up my HTC VIEW (the 4g version of the Flyer tablet) and had it run as a wifi hot spot. I connected my laptop to it and plugged the chromecast into one of the TVs we have in my office. I installed the Google Cast extension to chrome, set up the chromecast and was ready to go. Next I opened a new tab, dragged over an episode of Futurama and hit cast. With about a 1/2 second delay from when I hit play it started playing on the TV. Once it started playing it had zero lag and it worked flawlessly. Frankly I'm impressed.
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Of course it would work. Bender is 40% chromium!

Found this out on SlickDeals
On your PC in Chrome (u will want the Chromecast extension too)
Type D:/ into the navigation bar
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(or whatever path you want to see)
Then you'll be able to play local content from your PC to the TV (plays most formats well, MKVs not well tho)
edit:
Looks like its explained above but hopefully this will help someone

Yup, local content off one of my hard drives, but I've had the same results with streaming content.
Sent from my SGH-T889 using Tapatalk 2

If the android chrome app gets cast support that would be king! I love the device and I plan to use it alot. I wish the chrome brower could play avi files though

Evo4gLI said:
I got my CC today, and tried using the native file explorer in Chrome, which unfortunately sucks. I downloaded Plex media server, set up it quickly, and cast the tab I had it open in to my TV....Works like a charm, and I'm pleasantly surprised at how nice and neat Plex is. I think it's definitely the better of the two options, and only took about 15 minutes to set up.
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Evo - can you provide a little more info on how you set up your plex server to goto the Chromecast - I have a Plex server and would love to use this on the bedroom TV that is not a smartTV with the plex app.. This is ideal for me since the big Samsung already has Plex client and the server is already set up for that...

Chromecast and streaming videos

With chrome cast, are you able to stream videos from you PC using network tv websites such as abc.com or nbc.com? What about regular hulu, not Hulu plus.does it work with the network iphone apps such as the abc app or nbc app or watchespn?
Thanks!

for apps, the app itself has to add the ability to cast anything.
whereas using your desktop/laptop, all you need is Chrome and the Google Cast extension. then you can cast any tab you want. this feature is still in beta though.

Yes, most of that stuff works when you cast from Chrome running on your desktop. But it requires Chrome running on the desktop to re-encode and re-transmit the video stream continuously to your Chromecast rather than handing the stream over as happens with the native apps like Youtube and Netflix. That puts a heavy load on your desktop system, and all but the highest performing desktop systems will produce some frame dropping and video stuttering on the Chromecast. I have an overclocked quad-core i5-3570K running at 4.3 GHz, and it misses some frames and jerks a little even on the best streams. My old Core2 Duo dual-core E8400 running at 2.29 GHz can't even manage to stream 480p for more than a few seconds of jerky frames before it loses sync.

My Core 2 Duo doesn't have that problem at all with regular Hulu.
I don't know why, the C2D is far below their minimum hardware requirements so I have some sort of fluke.

Casting a tab?

okay, so when I try to cast a tab and play a local video file.. the video freezes on the TV, but continues to play on my computer.. the sound also still comes through the TV while its frozen. Why is this? And is there anyway to cast a local file from your phone?

bewpy said:
okay, so when I try to cast a tab and play a local video file.. the video freezes on the TV, but continues to play on my computer.. the sound also still comes through the TV while its frozen. Why is this? And is there anyway to cast a local file from your phone?
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What kind of local file (container format, compression type and bitrate) is it? It sounds like maybe the local file has a "glitch" in it or the file is using variable bitrate compression and the video bitrate exceeds what Chromecast can handle at the point it freezes.
Local file casting currently requires a rooted Chromecast, KyoCast installed on the Chromecast, and an un-timebombed AllCast/AirCast installed on your phone... The phone-local file needs to be a format Chromecast can play, and must be played in an app that allows Share to the AllCast/AirCast app.

Me too the issue happened on my chromecast even on youtube ... other pc work with me but one pc is showing this behaviour

bhiga said:
What kind of local file (container format, compression type and bitrate) is it? It sounds like maybe the local file has a "glitch" in it or the file is using variable bitrate compression and the video bitrate exceeds what Chromecast can handle at the point it freezes.
Local file casting currently requires a rooted Chromecast, KyoCast installed on the Chromecast, and an un-timebombed AllCast/AirCast installed on your phone... The phone-local file needs to be a format Chromecast can play, and must be played in an app that allows Share to the AllCast/AirCast app.
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So do you think this would work or help cast the Showbox app?
Sent from my HTCONE using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

bewpy said:
okay, so when I try to cast a tab and play a local video file.. the video freezes on the TV, but continues to play on my computer.. the sound also still comes through the TV while its frozen.
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That can happen if the transcoding performance of your computer is not sufficient for tab casting. I get that symptom if I attempt tab casting from my 2 GHz dual-core laptop, but not from my 4 GHz quad-core desktop. Google's beta tab-casting code just isn't very efficient.

DJames1 said:
That can happen if the transcoding performance of your computer is not sufficient for tab casting. I get that symptom if I attempt tab casting from my 2 GHz dual-core laptop, but not from my 4 GHz quad-core desktop. Google's beta tab-casting code just isn't very efficient.
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I have an i5.. with 8 gigs of ram..

It'll still depend mainly on how CPU-intensive the decoding of the video you're watching is. Whatever its left over needs to be enough to compress to whatever Chromecast needs.

It's more than that though. My system runs at only 12-18% CPU utilization while tab casting (depending on resolution), but the video is still a bit jerky, noticeably dropping frames about once a second. Dropping the resolution to 480p doesn't affect that at all. When I play the exact same internet stream via Plex running on the same computer and casting it to a Plex client, the video is perfectly smooth. The only explanation I can see for the poor performance along with low average CPU utilization is that Google isn't using enough buffering, and every time it gets overwhelmed by a momentary peak in transcoding, it stumbles and drops some frames. You can easily see and hear that the lag between the stream on the computer and the stream coming out of the Chromecast is only a fraction of a second, so that would support the insufficient-buffering theory.

DJames1 said:
It's more than that though. My system runs at only 12-18% CPU utilization while tab casting (depending on resolution), but the video is still a bit jerky, noticeably dropping frames about once a second. Dropping the resolution to 480p doesn't affect that at all. When I play the exact same internet stream via Plex running on the same computer and casting it to a Plex client, the video is perfectly smooth. The only explanation I can see for the poor performance along with low average CPU utilization is that Google isn't using enough buffering, and every time it gets overwhelmed by a momentary peak in transcoding, it stumbles and drops some frames. You can easily see and hear that the lag between the stream on the computer and the stream coming out of the Chromecast is only a fraction of a second, so that would support the insufficient-buffering theory.
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The flip side to the coin would be that the Cast extension isn't using enough compression. More buffering would create additional lag between what's on the computer and out from the Chroemcast. There's already a fair lag.
More compression would mean higher CPU requirements but lower network bandwidth
More buffering would mean more lag
Being that the Cast extension is still in beta, I'm hoping Google either lets us adjust these settings (the previously-discovered hidden settings would be reasonable) or they are trying to determine the best compromise given the target market. The parameters are narrow enough that a Q&A optimizer would probably work.
My video is lagging: decrease buffering & use looser compression
My video is pausing, skipping or jumping: increase buffering
My video is still pausing, skipping or jumping: decrease compression

bhiga said:
What kind of local file (container format, compression type and bitrate) is it? It sounds like maybe the local file has a "glitch" in it or the file is using variable bitrate compression and the video bitrate exceeds what Chromecast can handle at the point it freezes.
Local file casting currently requires a rooted Chromecast, KyoCast installed on the Chromecast, and an un-timebombed AllCast/AirCast installed on your phone... The phone-local file needs to be a format Chromecast can play, and must be played in an app that allows Share to the AllCast/AirCast app.
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Actually I have been able to stream local content from my Plex Server using the Chrome Browser Tab Cast feature...
Open Plex Media Manager in the browser, Cast the tab to the Chromecast, Play the video, make it full screen and all is good.
Perhaps because the Plex Server does transcoding and his local file does not.
Most of my files are H264 MP4 files and AVI and other containers won't work like you said.

Asphyx said:
Actually I have been able to stream local content from my Plex Server using the Chrome Browser Tab Cast feature...
Open Plex Media Manager in the browser, Cast the tab to the Chromecast, Play the video, make it full screen and all is good.
Perhaps because the Plex Server does transcoding and his local file does not.
Most of my files are H264 MP4 files and AVI and other containers won't work like you said.
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Actually it's two-fold in your case.
Plex Server is making sure Chrome can play it (ensures it's browser-friendly)
and
because you're tab-casting, the source doesn't really matter because the Cast extension is recompressing what appears on the screen to a Chromecast-compatible format. The Cast extension doesn't care whether it's video or PowerPoint or an animated GIF - at the point the Cast extension sees it, it's just a series of images for it to compress and send to Chromecast

bhiga said:
Actually it's two-fold in your case.
Plex Server is making sure Chrome can play it (ensures it's browser-friendly)
and
because you're tab-casting, the source doesn't really matter because the Cast extension is recompressing what appears on the screen to a Chromecast-compatible format. The Cast extension doesn't care whether it's video or PowerPoint or an animated GIF - at the point the Cast extension sees it, it's just a series of images for it to compress and send to Chromecast
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Ahhh IC...SO the fact that it is playing well has more to do with the file being compatible with the browser...Got it!

Plex Server with AVIA or Plex App

I've been accessing Plex Server via DLNA using AVIA, and it's been ok. However I've noticed with larger video files, the Chromecast seems to stop for a few seconds every 10min or so. It's not always, but I don't want it to be any.
Would I have better success using the Plex App instead of AVIA or is this more of a hardware issue? (Plex Server is running on an old Dell p4 )
thanks.

Both work well for me. I have zero issues with the plex. Avia has only given me a couple issues because of streaming from other sites. The developers are all working very hard, so it more than likely will get smoothed out in time. I still want to get a NAS setup as well and see how that goes too.
Sent from my SCH-I500 using Tapatalk

IMO plex is much better than avia. Plex server automatically transcodes incompatible file formats for CCast plus it has subtitle support. However plex transcoding on pc needs very high cpu so it may not work properly on older hardware.
Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk

Hard to say if Plex will solve that pausing problem or not. Could be happening for any number of reasons not related to the app or casting method being used and be all about bad network and CCast connection.
Plex being the better option with Plex server for all that transcoding goodness still suffers from the same Pause and buffering issues from time to time that aVia will suffer from, the only improvement being it should happen less and it won't be because the source file is incompatible.
But lets be clear, both Plex and aVia will seem very much like Beta software at times because both are still working out the kinks on the CCast side of things with their systems. aVia has already released a number of updates to their Player and Plex has mostly focused on the Server/Transcoding side of things.
Plex still suffers with bugs in the control protocol where the control device will lose connection but not pick it back up properly without restarting the media from beginning and then manually going back to where you left off, and the Transcoder on the server side is still not at 100% as far as the CCast profile is concerned. Surround is not working properly for CCast in the Transcoder and it may still be having some issues with source files that are at such a high VBitrate that the transcoder can't really keep up. Plex Devs are aware of these problems and are working on them and I suspect thats Reason #1 why they are limiting CCast support to PlexPass users right now as those users are much more familiar with the system and don't want to deal with the onslaught of complaints they would get if these bugs were released to a wider audience as is.
aVia on the other hand is probably a bit more mature in regards to control and connection since their methodology doesn't require a lot because it merely takes in data and spits it back out to the CCast. But this is also why some files simply won't play well on it when sent to a CCast. I'm not sure what plans the aVia Devs have but they could really improve the CCast support if they did some minimal transcoding in the same way the GoogleCast Ext (Chrome) does to make any stream coming in fully CCast compatible. Not sure if most mobile units could handle the task of transcoding without burning through your battery but it would make aVia much more flexible in what it can send to the CCast.
It's apparent that for the $35 price point that the CCast has a very narrow window on what it can play problem free and it certainly is not robust enough to play from content libraries that have very high quality content without transcoding. Most people with large libraries also tend to favor MKV containers due to the fact they can support subs, Multitrack Audio and any Video or Audio Codec.
It is this ANYTHING GOES capability in MKV that always makes it difficult to get transcoding right. and unfortunately it's that same versatility of MKV that makes it impossible to support those container types natively in Hardware. There are just too many Codecs that it would need to have onboard for it to be practical.
That said I would love to see a NextGen CCast support MKV/H264/AAC natively and regardless of container type if the video is H264/AAC just play it without the need to transcode. It probably supports those files now but there is no option (save maybe aVia) to play them to CCast without Transcoding as I write this.

Thanks for the replies! I'm not huge into media and all the codecs and containers. Typically I just rip everything to mp4 since it seems the most compatible for devices. All I want is to be able to stream the occasional movie and TV show that I have ripped, and typically those are shows for my son, so I don't need 1080p or anything, lol.
I do think the majority of my issue might be the network. I played about 3 hours consecutively of tv shows/movies fine last night with no issue. It wasn't until I started streaming the football game on my laptop at the same time that I started to get the pausing in the CCasted video again. Once I switched to streaming the football game over 4g connection instead wi-fi, the pausing stopped after a little while. At least I know networking and hardware a lot more than I do media encoding

walmartman said:
Thanks for the replies! I'm not huge into media and all the codecs and containers. Typically I just rip everything to mp4 since it seems the most compatible for devices. All I want is to be able to stream the occasional movie and TV show that I have ripped, and typically those are shows for my son, so I don't need 1080p or anything, lol.
I do think the majority of my issue might be the network. I played about 3 hours consecutively of tv shows/movies fine last night with no issue. It wasn't until I started streaming the football game on my laptop at the same time that I started to get the pausing in the CCasted video again. Once I switched to streaming the football game over 4g connection instead wi-fi, the pausing stopped after a little while. At least I know networking and hardware a lot more than I do media encoding
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MP4/H264/AAC should have no issues playing on CCast. If it stops or stutters then the cause is likely Network related.
Laptop streaming is probably connecting via Wireless. Thats half your Wireless Radio Bandwidth out the door.
I suspect thats all going to change if what I'm reading coming out of CES sees the market soon. Netgear has a new Router that claims to have 115Mps throughput on 2.4Ghz and into the 300s on 5Ghz.
Something that might help in your situation is to configure the Laptop to only connect to the 5Ghz side of the router. Then your Wireless traffic should not eat into the 2.4Ghz throughput. No Guarantees mind you but it's worth a try the next time you want to stream to both a CCast and some other device.

My guess is that it's the cpu. I run plex on a minimum spec machine and it runs okay until the computer does something the background. Then I see skips
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda app-developers app

I use Avia more because it can see the USB flash drive on my router and stream media from it. The only thing I don't like is that Avia does not show thumbnails of each file - only a default music note symbol for mp3 and video reel symbol for mp4. However, Avia does show thumbnails of media files on the device and on Plex Media Server on my PC. Plex is nice, but I don't want to turn on the high power PC just for it, unless it's necessary.

ETFoneHome said:
I use Avia more because it can see the USB flash drive on my router and stream media from it. The only thing I don't like is that Avia does not show thumbnails of each file - only a default music note symbol for mp3 and video reel symbol for mp4. However, Avia does show thumbnails of media files on the device and on Plex Media Server on my PC. Plex is nice, but I don't want to turn on the high power PC just for it, unless it's necessary.
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That's very strange that you don't see thumbnails of your movies/video files using Avia. I have the paid version of Avia and it's up-to-date with all the recent app updates and mine shows each and every thumbnail with no problem...hmmmmm...man, that's really odd. Have you tried updating it? Is it the most current release? Have you tried clearing the app data/cache?

jsdecker10 said:
That's very strange that you don't see thumbnails of your movies/video files using Avia. I have the paid version of Avia and it's up-to-date with all the recent app updates and mine shows each and every thumbnail with no problem...hmmmmm...man, that's really odd. Have you tried updating it? Is it the most current release? Have you tried clearing the app data/cache?
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Yea I tried clearing everything. I think since Avia is not showing thumbnails for the USB flash drive on the router it's a router firmware issue. I don't think the DNLA feature is certified.

sherdog16 said:
My guess is that it's the cpu. I run plex on a minimum spec machine and it runs okay until the computer does something the background. Then I see skips
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Yes that could be the issue, I'm going to make a Feature request at Plex to see if they can't add a priority setting for the transcoder which should help in cases like yours.
ETFoneHome said:
I use Avia more because it can see the USB flash drive on my router and stream media from it. The only thing I don't like is that Avia does not show thumbnails of each file - only a default music note symbol for mp3 and video reel symbol for mp4. However, Avia does show thumbnails of media files on the device and on Plex Media Server on my PC. Plex is nice, but I don't want to turn on the high power PC just for it, unless it's necessary.
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Plex can see those files as well you just have to map the flash drive to some section in PMS and you may need to refresh whenever you change the Flash drive.
In my PMS setup I have my main Media NAS (Roughly 12TB RAID) for most of my media and also have Two 4TB USB Drives plugged into the NAS and a Router for content I probably won't watch often. I use the same Folder structure I do on the NAS for each external drive and add the appropriate folder of each drive to the Sections that content should be added to. The Router tends to keep the same drive Letter no matter what drive I plug into it so my Router USB port is my sort of wildcard Media location I can plug any media into and with a simple refresh can see that media in Plex.
jsdecker10 said:
That's very strange that you don't see thumbnails of your movies/video files using Avia. I have the paid version of Avia and it's up-to-date with all the recent app updates and mine shows each and every thumbnail with no problem...hmmmmm...man, that's really odd. Have you tried updating it? Is it the most current release? Have you tried clearing the app data/cache?
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It really depends on the server aVia is connecting to. Some make Thumbnails others do not. Plex will actually send you Posters while other might send you screen caps.

I didn't know you can use the avia app to access the plex media server. After I saw this thread, I immediately went into the avia app to try it out. I went the the "ADD MEDIA" and found my plex server and added it. When I click on the plex media server, it doesn't show any of my movies. I just see two top categories: ADD MEDIA and the name of my Plex server.
My plex server is installed in a notebook. And the movies are in the default video folder in libraries. Do they need to be in a specific folder?
---------- Post added at 03:16 AM ---------- Previous post was at 03:12 AM ----------
Sorry, nevermind.. My notebook was asleep. LOL! Everything works. WOW!

I'm looking at this Qnap TS-112P model. It looks promising with the ability to install Plex Media Server. I don't need transcoding and the specs look good: 1.6GHz; 512MB. But it's a new model and I can't find any reviews.
http://www.qnap.com/en/index.php?lang=en&sn=822&c=351&sc=514&t=524&n=19949

ETFoneHome said:
I'm looking at this Qnap TS-112P model. It looks promising with the ability to install Plex Media Server. I don't need transcoding and the specs look good: 1.6GHz; 512MB. But it's a new model and I can't find any reviews.
http://www.qnap.com/en/index.php?lang=en&sn=822&c=351&sc=514&t=524&n=19949
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That unit has some great reviews on Newegg but the low RAM scares me...
As for Transcoding, you never need it until you need it! LOL

The one on Newegg is 112 - not 112P. Got a PC with Plex ms to transcode, should that ever arises. So far no need.

ETFoneHome said:
The one on Newegg is 112 - not 112P. Got a PC with Plex ms to transcode, should that ever arises. So far no need.
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Wow, subtle difference in model number, but significant spec difference:
TS-112P
CPU Marvell 6282 1.6GHz
DRAM 512MB DDR3 RAM
Flash Memory 16MB
TS-112
CPU Marvell 6281 1.2GHz
DRAM 256MB DDRII RAM
Flash Memory 16MB
I would expect the TS-112P to be significantly better than the no-P model.

ETFoneHome said:
The one on Newegg is 112 - not 112P. Got a PC with Plex ms to transcode, should that ever arises. So far no need.
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The model Iooked at has 512K of Ram (I would think a Gig would be minimum for a NAS serving media and transcoding....
And if what bhiga posted is correct then the one I saw was the P model.

bhiga said:
Wow, subtle difference in model number, but significant spec difference:
TS-112P
CPU Marvell 6282 1.6GHz
DRAM 512MB DDR3 RAM
Flash Memory 16MB
TS-112
CPU Marvell 6281 1.2GHz
DRAM 256MB DDRII RAM
Flash Memory 16MB
I would expect the TS-112P to be significantly better than the no-P model.
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Click to collapse
Yeal, the 112P is not listed on Newegg but is on Amazon but no reviews. http://www.amazon.com/TS-112P-Perso...8&qid=1389746673&sr=8-1&keywords=Qnap+TS-112P
I was looking at the Synology DS213j too. It's seems popular but doesn't have support for Plex server. http://www.amazon.com/Synology-Disk...id=1389747041&sr=8-1&keywords=Synology+DS213j
For under $200 they're not bad as entry level NAS.
Anyone who needs 1gb ram and transcoding should look for something like this: http://www.amazon.com/Synology-DiskStation-Diskless-Attached-DS713/dp/B009TPDDFG
Though at that price range I may as well build a desktop server like this: http://www.amazon.com/Lenovo-ThinkS...8066&sr=1-1&keywords=Lenovo+ThinkServer+TS140

Quite lost here guys, would appriciate some help.
I'm having a lot of trouble casting my local content. I can stream it using the chrome extension, but when trying to cast from the actual web app - I get media unavailable shown on my tv.
Also - I seem to have the oppertunity to cast to my nexus 7, what exactly does it means? I tried to do that and it simply did nothing.
Last, I can't seem to sync it to my tablet, I see that some media was added but N7 sais "not sync" and nothing is displayed at my tabs.
Oh, and also - I thought I would be able to cast content from my tablet and phone (content that "sits" on them), but how can they do that if they have no server installed?
I'm really lost, getting more and more annyoed with this chromecast - a lot of workarounds for things that should be trivial.

edoson said:
I'm really lost, getting more and more annyoed with this chromecast - a lot of workarounds for things that should be trivial.
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What app(s) are you using, and where does the media you're trying to cast to Chromecast live?