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Remote Access to Media?

robotartfashion said:
First, thanks so much for taking the time to respond Vivid, you're a great resource on these forums and I appreciate assistance (ok all sycophantic comments aside)

So I don't want to have to download the files, just stream them, so I'm assuming the web sharing is the way to go? I'm not sure if you use Plex/Boxee/XBMC but what I would like to do is list these files as sources, which would mean that they could be flagged in the programs just like local media, and then streamed appropriately

Will the above option allow that? I know its all down to the size of the file and the upload/download speed of the clients at its core. My upload speed averages between 4-7 Mbps (depending on the hours of the day) and I'm wondering if that would be adequate to allow streaming without stutter?

Now that I think about it that may be inadequate for anything over 480p, 720p and 1080p may choke that connection? I'm so confused haha

Any additional thoughts?
Click to expand...

For that kind of sharing it'll be a little different. You can probably use Hamachi and do it as if it's local, but you said you didn't want to install any additional software on the client.

I don't think webhosting will work either... by itself at least. From what I've gathered looking into Plex and the way it gets shared you'd have to write a plugin to do this in a very integrated way, but I think I may have a workaround for you.

You can combine Web Hosting with WebDAV. Basically, through the web you'll be able to mount a folder from your server as a remote drive on your client computer. Then you should be able to set Plex, Boxee, XBMC or whatever to get files from there.

I found a pretty simple guide for setting up WebDAV on a Leopard Mac. Just ignore the part about where they set up that Omni Focus program :D
http://manas.tungare.name/blog/howt...os-x-leopard-for-syncing-omnifocus-to-iphone/

This link also tells you about setting up port forwarding and DynDNS if you haven't done that yet either.

When you have WebDAV set up you can mount the drive by opening finder, then from the Menu Bar on the top or your screen click Go>Connect to Server then put in your WebDAV server info and then it should mount the drive.

At that point you should be good to go.

Oh... I forgot about the upload speed issue. :D

Yea, you'll definitely have some problems doing HD video. It should play but you may have to wait a while. WebDAV is not the fastest service, but without writing your own plugin I'm not sure if there's a better way.
 
robotartfashion said:
First, thanks so much for taking the time to respond Vivid, you're a great resource on these forums and I appreciate assistance (ok all sycophantic comments aside)

So I don't want to have to download the files, just stream them, so I'm assuming the web sharing is the way to go? I'm not sure if you use Plex/Boxee/XBMC but what I would like to do is list these files as sources, which would mean that they could be flagged in the programs just like local media, and then streamed appropriately

Will the above option allow that? I know its all down to the size of the file and the upload/download speed of the clients at its core. My upload speed averages between 4-7 Mbps (depending on the hours of the day) and I'm wondering if that would be adequate to allow streaming without stutter?

Now that I think about it that may be inadequate for anything over 480p, 720p and 1080p may choke that connection? I'm so confused haha

Any additional thoughts?
Click to expand...

check out orb
 
ViViDboarder said:
Did you get a chance to check out the WebDAV method I mentioned?
Click to expand...

Why is it that I'm stuck on Step 2? haha

Enable WebDAV support in Apache. Edit the file /etc/apache2/httpd.conf, (remember to use sudo to edit it) and locate this line:
LoadModule dav_module libexec/apache2/mod_dav.so
Make sure it is not commented (there should be no "#" at the beginning of the line.) Then locate this line (towards the bottom of the file):

Include /private/etc/apache2/extra/httpd-dav.conf
Again, make sure it is not commented out. It is disabled by default, so you need to remove the "#" from this line.
Click to expand...

Can't find that file, not where what they're talking about it or what the terminal command might be, if that matters?

Edit - Nevermind, found it using Terminal. This could take a while.
 
JonHimself said:
Why is it that I'm stuck on Step 2? haha



Can't find that file, not where what they're talking about it or what the terminal command might be, if that matters?

Edit - Nevermind, found it using Terminal. This could take a while.
Click to expand...

You can download TextWrangler and I think you can find those files and open them in there.

I'm assuming the tough thing for you is using VI or command line editors...

You can even just do 'open /etc/' and that will open the folder in finder and then you can edit it with any app.
 
bump

Any solutions since the last post? PLEX seems to be the best route... but currently you can only access the iLife media over the net not videos/movie folder (see: http://forums.plexapp.com/index.php...l__internet stream__fromsearch__1&#entry81845)

Any other ideas? I'm in the same boat as the OP. Air Video for iphone rocks, but that's only for iphone. Orb is really lousy in my opinion, and I get sync problems even with great bandwidth.

Thanks
 
OMGWTFBBQ said:
Any solutions since the last post? PLEX seems to be the best route... but currently you can only access the iLife media over the net not videos/movie folder (see: http://forums.plexapp.com/index.php...l__internet stream__fromsearch__1&#entry81845)

Any other ideas? I'm in the same boat as the OP. Air Video for iphone rocks, but that's only for iphone. Orb is really lousy in my opinion, and I get sync problems even with great bandwidth.

Thanks
Click to expand...

Would the WebDAV solution I mentioned work for you?
 
OMGWTFBBQ said:
Any solutions since the last post? PLEX seems to be the best route... but currently you can only access the iLife media over the net not videos/movie folder (see: http://forums.plexapp.com/index.php...l__internet stream__fromsearch__1&#entry81845)

Any other ideas? I'm in the same boat as the OP. Air Video for iphone rocks, but that's only for iphone. Orb is really lousy in my opinion, and I get sync problems even with great bandwidth.

Thanks
Click to expand...

Hey, since I posted this I've tried lots of stuff, including serving media by using remote desktop software and VLC streaming.

I've settled on ORB as a temporary workaround. I have had good success with it for DVD quality video. Anything 720p and up has not been so functional. I currently have Cox internet's highest upload speed (for consumers).

That post you listed from PLEX forums is me as well! BenjiAshley is my forum name over there! Small world haha.

Anyways, that post has me salivating for PLEX Alexandria because in the .9 release they're saying that remote access to ALL media will be possible. So HUZZAH! for PLEX. If we wait a little longer here we may end up with some great news.
 
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