miniDLNA, no media shown under WMP

[Patrick18]

I have installed miniDLNA plugin, put my video in a folder, in miniDLNA point to this folder in the jails/media. I see the video in the jails/media folder, I see the the FreeNas library in WMP but without any files...

I have restarted the plugin.

Thanks

 

[a.iredigo]

same kind of problem here. I installed minidlna, I see the minidlna server on a TV (sharp), I see the folders tree as well but no files.
FYI, I am able to see files and play them on that TV with the dlna server of windows media player, so it should not be a problem of compability with the type of video format used.

 

[joeschmuck]

Guy folks need to post what version of FreeNAS you are running. What video file formats are you using becasue remeber, MiniDLNA does not transcode, and any other additional information.

@Patrick18 I would suspect your video files format is incorrect for the viewing device since you can see the files in the jail media folder. The only thing that bugs me is WMP does not see them.

An alternative solution to MiniDLNA is the DLNA service provided in the Plex Plugin.

 

[Patrick18]

I run Freenas -9.2.1.9-RELEASE-x86.
I have found a walkaround, however it has to be done everytime I add new files: I stopped the plugin, delete jails/minidlna_1/var/db/minidlna/files.db, restart the minidlna plugin, then the files are seen either in WMP or my PS3... It seems like the database is not updated, even after a restart, if the files.db is not deleted...
Any suggest?

thanks for help

 

[a.iredigo]

Hi again,
I run FreeNAS-9.2.1.9-RELEASE-x64 , TV is a sharp Aquos, that normally can play MPEG2 / AAC, H.264 / AAC, and H.264 / AC3 formats. As told above, the TV actually does see and play these formats with WMP. With MiniDLNA, it only sees the server and its folders but not the files (H264/AAC) in them.

Thank you

 

[Patrick18]

Did you try to delete the files.db as mentioned?

 

[joeschmuck]

@Patrick18 You do not need to manually delete the files.db, all you need to do is check mark the "Rescan on (re)start" box and when you restart MiniDLNA, it will rescan and rebuild the files.db for you.

 

[joeschmuck]

Hi again,
I run FreeNAS-9.2.1.9-RELEASE-x64 , TV is a sharp Aquos, that normally can play MPEG2 / AAC, H.264 / AAC, and H.264 / AC3 formats. As told above, the TV actually does see and play these formats with WMP. With MiniDLNA, it only sees the server and its folders but not the files (H264/AAC) in them.

Thank you

I'm sorry but you have confused me a little, which is fine. You will have to explain it to me again and pretend like I'm a complete idiot becasue that is the best way to obtain enough information to assist you.

What I think I understand is you have a TV which can absolutely play the files you have. My question will be to ask you to place one of those videos on a USB Flash drive and plug that directly into the TV and verify that you can play it. This will tell me for certain your TV can play it and that your windows media server is not transcoding the video into a format the TV can use.

So, lets assume the video does not play back on the USB drive, then I would recommend you reformat the video files into a format your TV can play.

If the video does play, use only that one video for all further testing, keep it simple and do not add any other videos into the testing environment.
Now I need a screen shot of your MiniDLNA configuration and a screen shot of (on left column of the GUI) Jails -> minidlna -> Storage -> /media screen. I would suspect that you didn't setup the directory structure properly which is why I need the screen shots.

 

[Patrick18]

The "Rescan on (re)start" box is checked since the beginning, and even after the miniDLNA restart, the media files were not seen. I had to delete the files.db to force it to rescan. I have to delete it each time I add new file to force a rescan.

 

[joeschmuck]

The "Rescan on (re)start" box is checked since the beginning, and even after the miniDLNA restart, the media files were not seen. I had to delete the files.db to force it to rescan. I have to delete it each time I add new file to force a rescan.

There is obviously something wrong, that is not normal behavior. Which version of MiniDLNA are you running and you said you are running the 32 bit version of FreeNAS, which I assume means you have less than 4GB of RAM, true? If you confirm this then I will setup a test to validate your results.

 

[Patrick18]

I run MiniDLNA 'minidlna-1.0.25_1-i386 ' and you're right, I have 3GB of RAM, running on Pentium 4 that is 32 bits.

 

[joeschmuck]

I run MiniDLNA 'minidlna-1.0.25_1-i386 ' and you're right, I have 3GB of RAM, running on Pentium 4 that is 32 bits.

I am setting up a VM running FreeNAS 9.2.1.9 32 bit and installing MiniDLNA. I should know shortly if it works for me or not.

EDIT: It's taking too long to install the plugin, I'll catch up with it in the morning and then I'll finish the testing.

 

[solarisguy]

[...] What I think I understand is you have a TV which can absolutely play the files you have. My question will be to ask you to place one of those videos on a USB Flash drive and plug that directly into the TV and verify that you can play it. This will tell me for certain your TV can play it and that your windows media server is not transcoding the video into a format the TV can use.

So, lets assume the video does not play back on the USB drive, then I would recommend you reformat the video files into a format your TV can play.

If the video does play, use only that one video for all further testing, keep it simple and do not add any other videos into the testing environment. [...]

I had to download the help manual for my 2 year old TV when trying to learn subtle differences in handling of media files between built-in USB and DLNA. These 200+ pages are supposedly available as an on-line help inside the TV itself, but somehow reading the PDF was way easier :)

 

[a.iredigo]

I'm sorry but you have confused me a little, which is fine. You will have to explain it to me again and pretend like I'm a complete idiot becasue that is the best way to obtain enough information to assist you.

What I think I understand is you have a TV which can absolutely play the files you have. My question will be to ask you to place one of those videos on a USB Flash drive and plug that directly into the TV and verify that you can play it. This will tell me for certain your TV can play it and that your windows media server is not transcoding the video into a format the TV can use.

So, lets assume the video does not play back on the USB drive, then I would recommend you reformat the video files into a format your TV can play.

If the video does play, use only that one video for all further testing, keep it simple and do not add any other videos into the testing environment.
Now I need a screen shot of your MiniDLNA configuration and a screen shot of (on left column of the GUI) Jails -> minidlna -> Storage -> /media screen. I would suspect that you didn't setup the directory structure properly which is why I need the screen shots.

Sorry I got you confused Joe,

I am not familiar with the transcode process, hence my naive questions. Only now do I understand that the fact that files can be played via WMP on the TV is no proof of compatibility. I will run the USB test asap (am out of USB sticks right now) and send you the screenshots then. FYI, I tried installing plex media server. It works fine on other devices but same problems on TV as with MiniDLNA. I guess there is no transcode with mediaplex either ?

Thank you again for the help

 

[joeschmuck]

Plex media server will transcode, that is a significant part of its features. I cannot say that you set it up properly, especially if WMP allowed you to share to the TV. Now I am assuming that when you are playing to the TV using WMP, that you do not have a computer directly connected to the TV but only connected via an Ethernet cable.

 

[joeschmuck]

I run MiniDLNA 'minidlna-1.0.25_1-i386 ' and you're right, I have 3GB of RAM, running on Pentium 4 that is 32 bits.

I have tested FreeNAS 9.2.1.9-x86 (32 bit) with the MiniDLNA plugin and it all works fine, meaning that if I have a single movie in my Movies folder, it is available for viewing. When I add a second video the files.db is not automatically updated which is normal behavior. When I turn off MiniDLNA, wait 15 seconds, then turn MiniDLNA back on, the files.db is recreated and now I have two movies available to view.

If you want automatic updating well there are two courses of action you can take...
1) Create a CRON job to restart MiniDLNA at a designated time.
2) Create a script that detects a change in the /media directory within the jail and force MiniDLNA to rescan.

Both of those options are here in the forums, I wrote several scripts to do just that. I have not updated the threads in a long time to account for the minor changes in some of the jails commands but if you are willing to do the work, that may be all you need. The alternative is to just manually stop and start MiniDLNA.

 

[a.iredigo]

Plex media server will transcode, that is a significant part of its features. I cannot say that you set it up properly, especially if WMP allowed you to share to the TV. Now I am assuming that when you are playing to the TV using WMP, that you do not have a computer directly connected to the TV but only connected via an Ethernet cable.

Yes, I play WMP on a laptop connected by cable to the modem router. The TV and Freenas server also are connected to the same hub.

 

[Patrick18]

Both of those options are here in the forums, I wrote several scripts to do just that. I have not updated the threads in a long time to account for the minor changes in some of the jails commands but if you are willing to do the work, that may be all you need. The alternative is to just manually stop and start MiniDLNA.

Thanks for trying on your side. I don't mind manually stop and start miniDLNA after adding files, my concern was that the files.db didn't update until I delete it...

 

[joeschmuck]

Thanks for trying on your side. I don't mind manually stop and start miniDLNA after adding files, my concern was that the files.db didn't update until I delete it...

Just curious, what happens when you add or change a file and then reboot your FreeNAS server? Do the files then change?

Also, how are you viewing the DLNA content, on a TV or Computer? I ask because when I was testing MiniDLNA in the past perfecting my scripts, I used WMP to display the DLNA content. I had to close WMP for at least 30 seconds, sometimes longer and then open it up so it could reload the DLNA content properly, otherwise it never updated properly.

I'm trying to figure out what the issue is because in my mind, there must be something else wrong, not MiniDLNA.

 

[Patrick18]

I was using WMP, but without closing it, I'll try to close it fo one minute after adding files and closing/starting miniDLNA. After, I'll try to reboot the NAS server to see if it help.

Thanks,