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mikempet
Visitor

Can I stream a MP4 file from my network drive?

I'm trying to modify mySimpleVideoPlayer to play local MP4 videos stored on my network drive (WD Passport Drive). The NAS drive is visible from my Win 7 development machine running Eclipse with the BrighScript tool. The drive is attached to my Netgear wireless router USB port.

Is this possible?

The original mySimpleVideoPlayer call is:

'Swap the commented values below to play different video clips...
'urls = ["http://video.ted.com/talks/podcast/CraigVenter_2008_480.mp4"]
'qualities = ["HD"]
'StreamFormat = "mp4"
'title = "Craig Venter Synthetic Life"
'srt = "file://pkg:/source/craigventer.srt"

My modified call is:

'Swap the commented values below to play different video clips...
urls = ["file://READYSHARE/USB_Storage/media/IMG_0081.MOV"]
qualities = ["HD"]
StreamFormat = "mp4"
title = "Test Video"
srt = ""

When I export (side load) the application I receive an invalid URL error in the console window:

Button pressed: 2 0
------ Running ------
Type args = roAssociativeArray
Type args.url = Invalid
showSpringboardScreen
Screen closed

As shown, I substituted "http" with "file" in the URL address. I also changed SRT to an empty string. Is this type of streaming from file supported?

Thanks

------ Running ------
Type args = roAssociativeArray
Type args.url = Invalid
showSpringboardScreen
Screen closed
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5 REPLIES 5
Arwen
Channel Surfer

Re: Can I stream a MP4 file from my network drive?

Is there a reason why you are not using one of the other existing local media streaming channels?

I use Roksbox, but there are others.
Arwen Evenstar
Middle Earth
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greubel
Visitor

Re: Can I stream a MP4 file from my network drive?

Chaneru should detect the NAS
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mikempet
Visitor

Re: Can I stream a MP4 file from my network drive?

Yes, I am not using the existing media channels because I would like to develop my own. For me, this is an exercise in learning the BrightScript APIs (e.g. roVideoScreen) and substituting my own local media for development.
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gonzotek
Visitor

Re: Can I stream a MP4 file from my network drive?

Rokus can't access SMB(samba) shares, so you can't use a file:// url. They can only playback videos over the network via HTTP/HTTPS. You'll have to implement at least a partial DLNA client to access the file, assuming your router/network drive implements a DLNA server.

/edit: Or possibly there are other (non-dlna) ways to access the files via a http. Some of the personal cloud type products provide web interfaces, I think. I'm not familiar with what WD/Netgear offer.
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mikempet
Visitor

Re: Can I stream a MP4 file from my network drive?

Thanks for the information. I have a second post going after setting up Win7 Media Player on a networked PC to stream to the Roku. I can now select and play my streams using the Roku Media Player and Plex channels. However, I am having trouble with the URL specifier to my video for the roVideoScreen call in the BrightScript sampleVideo example.

http://forums.roku.com/viewtopic.php?f=34&t=66795
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