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Why not use straight UPnP (DLNA). Tons of open source there. The only problem was standardising codecs (also related to the Chromecast spinoff)

by riedel 2y ago

brnt 2y ago
I don't know that you can 'cast' using DLNA. Live streams and such.
- nsteel 2y ago
  I think it depends on the server. I believe serviio supports it. Mediatomb supposedly could (another project I thought was dead but turns out has been reborn under the 'Gerbera' name!). They transcode the original stream into something that a dumb DLNA renderer (i.e. your TV) supports.
  - brnt 2y ago
    How do they work with encrypted streams though (because aren't they all)?
    - nsteel 2y ago
      They work for simple online radio streams etc.
IshKebab 2y ago
UPnP/DLNA seems to be a bit of a disaster protocol wise. As you say the codec support is "eh whatever" which means whether it works or not depends on too many random factors. It's also a massively over-complicated design-by-committee relic. There also isn't a good open source DLNA server (presumably because of the above issues).
- nsteel 2y ago
  That's actually pretty fair. I was ready to jump in and say that miniDLNA is such a server but having looking I see it's actually been unmaintained for 10+ years! It has worked pretty well for me but I think I must have just gotten everything in the right formats years ago so I don't notice the issues I see reported now (I used to just restart it to avoid the notify issues). Presumably you still need some kind of media server for the fcast receiver to stream from when playing local media, I assumed that would be dlna based but what is the actual idea here?
  - ciupicri 2y ago
    What are you talking about? There's the "Wrap up version 1.3.3." commit from 2023-05-31 (see at https://sourceforge.net/p/minidlna/git/commit_browser https://sourceforge.net/p/minidlna/git/commit_browser).
    - nsteel 2y ago
      Oh, that's great, thanks. I didn't realise it changed its name to ReadyMedia.
      - JonChesterfield 2y ago
        You're not alone. apt install minidlna didn't work so I assumed it was dead. Just learned of the rename from your comment.
nsteel 2y ago
Yes, 100% this is what I've ended up doing. There's existing support on a lot of platforms for DLNA and if you're really lucky, it works. I'd be interested in hearing what the advantages of something like this is. Edit: And then there's stuff like Plex and Kodi too with existing servers and clients for numerous platforms. I'm fairly sure I can "share" a URI to the Kodi app on my phone and the Kodi server will stream it. I remember that working well but it's been a while.
paulryanrogers 2y ago
DLNA is okay if the receiver supported the codecs well enough to avoid playback stalling. Though it lacks search and dashboard features. I prefer having an app that can save progress and remember what I've already watched. (As a younger person I could recognize a show or movie from a glimpse while surfing. Nowadays I find myself rewatching for several minutes before recognizing the program.)

Why not use straight UPnP (DLNA). Tons of open source there. The only problem was standardising codecs (also related to the Chromecast spinoff)

by riedel 2y ago

Why not use straight UPnP (DLNA). Tons of open source there. The only problem was standardising codecs (also related to the Chromecast spinoff)

brnt 2y ago

I don't know that you can 'cast' using DLNA. Live streams and such.

nsteel 2y ago
I think it depends on the server. I believe serviio supports it. Mediatomb supposedly could (another project I thought was dead but turns out has been reborn under the 'Gerbera' name!). They transcode the original stream into something that a dumb DLNA renderer (i.e. your TV) supports.
- brnt 2y ago
  How do they work with encrypted streams though (because aren't they all)?
  - nsteel 2y ago
    They work for simple online radio streams etc.

IshKebab 2y ago

UPnP/DLNA seems to be a bit of a disaster protocol wise. As you say the codec support is "eh whatever" which means whether it works or not depends on too many random factors. It's also a massively over-complicated design-by-committee relic. There also isn't a good open source DLNA server (presumably because of the above issues).

nsteel 2y ago
That's actually pretty fair. I was ready to jump in and say that miniDLNA is such a server but having looking I see it's actually been unmaintained for 10+ years! It has worked pretty well for me but I think I must have just gotten everything in the right formats years ago so I don't notice the issues I see reported now (I used to just restart it to avoid the notify issues). Presumably you still need some kind of media server for the fcast receiver to stream from when playing local media, I assumed that would be dlna based but what is the actual idea here?
- ciupicri 2y ago
  What are you talking about? There's the "Wrap up version 1.3.3." commit from 2023-05-31 (see at https://sourceforge.net/p/minidlna/git/commit_browser https://sourceforge.net/p/minidlna/git/commit_browser).
  - nsteel 2y ago
    Oh, that's great, thanks. I didn't realise it changed its name to ReadyMedia.
    - JonChesterfield 2y ago
      You're not alone. apt install minidlna didn't work so I assumed it was dead. Just learned of the rename from your comment.

nsteel 2y ago

Yes, 100% this is what I've ended up doing. There's existing support on a lot of platforms for DLNA and if you're really lucky, it works. I'd be interested in hearing what the advantages of something like this is. Edit: And then there's stuff like Plex and Kodi too with existing servers and clients for numerous platforms. I'm fairly sure I can "share" a URI to the Kodi app on my phone and the Kodi server will stream it. I remember that working well but it's been a while.

paulryanrogers 2y ago

DLNA is okay if the receiver supported the codecs well enough to avoid playback stalling. Though it lacks search and dashboard features. I prefer having an app that can save progress and remember what I've already watched. (As a younger person I could recognize a show or movie from a glimpse while surfing. Nowadays I find myself rewatching for several minutes before recognizing the program.)