Channel Issues & Questions

[WilDD]

"ldr223" wrote:

"WilDD" wrote:

"ldr223" wrote:
Hi, A update a bit I finally got Mongoose web server working finally on my computer (Windows XP too) but now I don't know how to add stuff like my music or movies on it. I put one movie over on www folder and didn't show up on my Roku player (I even convert it to play it). I try to read the web site directions but I can't figure out what to put on the thing to show the movie to play over there. I try to take stuff off of it before and added stuff to it to get it to work and still couldn't get it to work so I took it off my Roku player and added back too. I want to get this to work because I'm losing my $10.00 if I can't figure this out to get it to work ($10.00 is a lot of money to me too). P.S. I'm not that much high tech savvy either.

Open a web browser on your computer and type in http://localhost. Then let us know what it says.

Hi, It says Index of /

Name Modified Size
Parent directory and under of it is the movie I put over there.

It looks like your video is directly under your web server root. Roksbox can be set up to play it from there, but it is not recommended. Here is what I would recommend.

Create the following directory structure on your PC with these folder names:

Your Web Server Root (possibly c:\www)
|
+--Media (c:\www\Media)
   |
   +--Videos (c:\www\Media\Videos)

You can create additional folders under your Videos folder if you want to categorize your videos, but at least have this type of structure. Put your video in the Videos folder, or in a folder below the Videos folder. With this structure, set up your Roksbox video media settings like this:

Location: your web server address (something like http://192.168.1.2)
Media Path: Media
Video Path: Videos

Delete the XML file name.

The folder names and the Roksbox settings are case sensitive, so make sure they are the same (PC Folder = Media, Roksbox Path = Media, or PC Folder = media, Roksbox Path = media).

Let us know how this works.

[hozedhead]

"midiwall" wrote:

"lborkey" wrote:
Does anyone use the CLI for HandBrake? I'm trying to automate my conversion process. If so, can you post your parameter string? I'm having a problem where the video appears compressed horizontally and black bands appear on the left and right sides of the screen. I'm converting previously ripped MP4 files that were saved using either the Apple Universal or High Profile.

You might wanna take a look at this:
http://hbencodermark2.codeplex.com/

It could save you from re-inventing the wheel.

Here is the Handbrake query I use for converting videos downloaded from the web (for use with hbencodermark2):
-i -t 1 -c 1 -o -f mp4 -4 -O --strict-anamorphic -b 1500 -r 29.97 -a 1 -6 dpl2 -R 48 -B 160 -D 0.0 -v 1

This uses ffmpeg instead of H.264 to encode, it is much faster but you may notice less quality. For my purposes it works fine. If you want to use H.264, add "-e x264" (no quotes). If your video has 5.1 ac3 sound, add "-E ac3" (again, no quotes) and remove "-6 dpl2". This allows you to pass through the 5.1 sound, mostly useful for converting DVDs.

[djshack]

I got Roksbox setup to show my Movies and iTunes Media/Music folders from my MacBook, which is working fine.

However, I'm wondering if there's a somewhat easy way to convert my iTunes library into a Roksbox-compatible XML file. The directory structure works, but I'm limited to the way iTunes does it, and I can't play multiple albums, artists, etc.

Any suggestions? If not, I'd pay someone to make some sort of application to convert the iTunes XML into a Roksbox XML.

[gbuell]

Hey all,

I'm pretty close to getting this working, but I'm stuck on making my alias work. I know I can get video to play if I put video into a Video folder under a main Media folder within my server, but I really don't want to copy all my video there - I'd much rather leave it in my iTunes Media folder, so I trying to get aliases to work. I'm using a Mac, and I've gone into the Apache config file (located at /private/etc/apache2/httpd.conf) and entered the following line:

Alias /Video /Users/Grant/Music/iTunes Media/Movies

Then I went into the Roksbox settings, removed the Media Root folder and called the Video Folder Path "Video". But when I try to play video, it just kicks me back to the menu. I suspect something's wrong with my alias. Any ideas? Thanks!

Grant

[djshack]

"gbuell" wrote:
Hey all,

I'm pretty close to getting this working, but I'm stuck on making my alias work. I know I can get video to play if I put video into a Video folder under a main Media folder within my server, but I really don't want to copy all my video there - I'd much rather leave it in my iTunes Media folder, so I trying to get aliases to work. I'm using a Mac, and I've gone into the Apache config file (located at /private/etc/apache2/httpd.conf) and entered the following line:

Alias /Video /Users/Grant/Music/iTunes Media/Movies

Then I went into the Roksbox settings, removed the Media Root folder and called the Video Folder Path "Video". But when I try to play video, it just kicks me back to the menu. I suspect something's wrong with my alias. Any ideas? Thanks!

Grant

I'm using Abyss Server and found symbolic links work perfectly. However, if there's a way to make aliases work with the OS X built-in Apache, I'd much rather do that.

[gbuell]

I'm trying Abyss Server and I can't get that working I'd like to stick with the built-in Apache server if possible, I got that to work.

[djshack]

Did you get aliases to work in the Apache server though? I tried aliases and symlinks, and neither work. Symlinks work in Abyss though.

[gbuell]

No, I didn't. I probably should spend some more time figuring out Abyss. But Apache should work!

[djshack]

Using a Mac, I'd much rather use Apache over Abyss, as Apache is built-in to OS X. However, symlinks work wonderfully in Abyss, and I'm having trouble getting aliases to work in Apache.

Can anyone here explain what to add to the "httpd.conf" file to make aliases work correctly in Apache for Roksbox? Thank you very, very much for your help.

[WilDD]

"gbuell" wrote:
Hey all,

I'm pretty close to getting this working, but I'm stuck on making my alias work. I know I can get video to play if I put video into a Video folder under a main Media folder within my server, but I really don't want to copy all my video there - I'd much rather leave it in my iTunes Media folder, so I trying to get aliases to work. I'm using a Mac, and I've gone into the Apache config file (located at /private/etc/apache2/httpd.conf) and entered the following line:

Alias /Video /Users/Grant/Music/iTunes Media/Movies

Then I went into the Roksbox settings, removed the Media Root folder and called the Video Folder Path "Video". But when I try to play video, it just kicks me back to the menu. I suspect something's wrong with my alias. Any ideas? Thanks!

Grant

Here's how I have aliases working in Apache. This is on a PC, but it should be similar on a Mac.

    #
    # Alias: Maps web paths into filesystem paths and is used to
    # access content that does not live under the DocumentRoot.
    # Example:
    # Alias /webpath /full/filesystem/path
#Alias /Videos "\\mybookworld\Public\WWW\WWW-pub\Media3\Videos"
Alias /Videos "Z:\WWW\WWW-pub\Media3\Videos"
    #
    # If you include a trailing / on /webpath then the server will
    # require it to be present in the URL.  You will also likely
    # need to provide a <Directory> section to allow access to
    # the filesystem path.
#<Directory "\\mybookworld\Public\WWW\WWW-pub\Media3\Videos">
<Directory "Z:\WWW\WWW-pub\Media3\Videos">
  Options Indexes MultiViews
  AllowOverride None
  Order allow,deny
  Allow from all
</Directory>