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Visitor
rvfgod
Posts: 2
Registered: ‎04-11-2012
0

Media sharing via DLNA from GFH to XBox 360

Hello All,

 

I have a Go Flex Home 1TB connected via an ethernet cable to a Virgin Superhub which is in turn connected via an ethernet cable to my XBox 360.

 

I have around 50 movie files stored (and enabled for media sharing) in the correct folder within the hard drive. I can see these files via my laptop and my Ipad (using the Go Flex app) but when I try to look at the files via my XBox 360 I can only see 9 files?

 

I have rebooted, reformatted and disabled/enabled the media sharing but consistently can only see 9 files?

 

The hard drive is up to date firmware wise, I have toggled FTP settings, port forwarded the hard drive through the router and tried so many other things but to no avail?

 

Am I wasting my time (all the other complaints it would seem so) with this or has a fix been released yet?

 

DNLA should work no matter what 2 manufacturers implement it in their devices.

 

Thinking of just going to buy something else TBH!

 

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

Thanks guys!

Megabyte
ntpntpntp
Posts: 165
Registered: ‎09-08-2011
0

Re: Media sharing via DLNA from GFH to XBox 360

[ Edited ]

It's difficult to throw my teenage lad off our XBox 360 for long enough to check properly, but he says he can see "most" of the movie files that we have shared on DLNA from our GF Home.   I believe that a small number don't show up because they're not in a format that the 360 will play.  Certainly no problem with any of the 1000's of music files also shared.

 

I also have a little Viewsonic media player which uses DLNA, and no problems seeing everything that's shared from the GF Home.

 

When you look at the files via your laptop, are you using the Seagate Dashboard or a DLNA client (eg. Windows Media Player)?  Try using Media Player to view the GF Home as a UPnP-AV library - can you see all your movie files that way?

 

It seems that the miniDLNA service used by the GF Home sometimes gets upset by certain files or folder names and this causes the database refresh to stop at the same point after every reboot, with only some of the files listed.  If you know how to gain root access to the GF Home and can look at the service log this can reveal what's going on.  Otherwise you can pinpoint the bad files by removing everything from the GF Home then adding things back one at a time until something fails to show up in DLNA.

 

I placed all our media files in appropriate subfolders within "public" and set up media sharing only on the top level folders, and have had no problems getting the DLNA service to find everything without having to set up any additional media shares.  New stuff gets picked up automatically within a few minutes.   On the rare occasions that I reboot my GF Home, it can take 30-45 minutes to completely rebuild the entire DLNA list of all media files (something like 400 video files, 22000 music tracks, 7000 photos)

 

From what I've read on the 'net, although lots of devices out there are DLNA compliant it's not uncommon for clients and servers to have compatability problems here-and-there.

Megabyte
ntpntpntp
Posts: 165
Registered: ‎09-08-2011
0

Re: Media sharing via DLNA from GFH to XBox 360

Further to my previous post, I've just sat down with my lad, his XBox 360 and my laptop, and compared what's missing on the 360 versus Windows Media Player 12, both using  UPnP-AV library connection (DLNA):  It seems to be mainly .X264 encoded MKV files that the XBox refuses to list or play, but which are listed ok on WMP.

 

So in my case it seems to be a deficiency of the XBox's streaming media player not the GF Home's  DLNA service that's causing some files to be unlisted.

Visitor
rvfgod
Posts: 2
Registered: ‎04-11-2012
0

Re: Media sharing via DLNA from GFH to XBox 360

Hello mate! I did think it was the Xbox but every file I have is an .avi file that used to play on the Xbox fine via DLNA. How do I get into the root logs? It does make sense that a file I have added recently is causing the refresh to trip up! I regularly add to the movies library! Thanks again!
Megabyte
ntpntpntp
Posts: 165
Registered: ‎09-08-2011
0

Re: Media sharing via DLNA from GFH to XBox 360

[ Edited ]

Follow this link for how to gain root access (pay attention to the bits which are specific to the GoFlex Home!) 

 

http://www.openstora.com/wiki/index.php?title=Easy_Root_Access

 

The log file for the miniDLNA service is /tmp/minidlna/minidlna.log

 

Naturally I think you should assume that if you do this is kinda invalidates any warranty or support if you break something!

Seagate Network Specialist
robyb
Posts: 429
Registered: ‎08-09-2010
0

Re: Media sharing via DLNA from GFH to XBox 360

Don't worry about warranty stuff, we're there for ya!  You can reflash to factory if stuff goes haywire anyways!  If you're not Linux savvy and you need help trying to locate what's causing this issue, e-mail your GoFlex Home name, an admin username and password to support@axentra.com .  We're always there to lend a hand.

 

Cheers,

Roby!

Regular Visitor
CptSternn
Posts: 4
Registered: ‎08-19-2012
0

Re: Media sharing via DLNA from GFH to XBox 360

I too had the same problem. First, many files as mentioned are not supported by the Xbox 360. Check this article here:

 

http://support.xbox.com/en-US/xbox-360/settings-and-initial-setup/watch-dvds-movies

 

Per your issue with files not showing up, the DNLA server has 'issues' sometimes and the media just does not refresh.  You have to log in manually and kick off a refresh.  Check out this article here:

 

http://blog.johnjcamilleri.com/tag/minidlna/

 

It's a bit of a pain, but sure, every time my ISP goes wonky and the router resets it brings down my DNLA database and I have to go through the process to sort it out.  After a while you will be able to do it in your sleep.  I am hoping one of these days Seagate puts a REFRESH MEDIA LIBRARY button on the web interface that will do this for us and save us from having to manually do it ourselves.

 

Also, if this helps, use the article above to log into the device.  Read the article as it has some tips for when things are really bad, but sure, all you need to enter are three commands once you log into the console -

 

sudo -s
/etc/init.d/minidlna.init stop
/usr/sbin/minidlna -f /etc/miniupnpd/minidlna.conf -R -d

 

That will refresh the database.  It might take it a while but it will find the missing files and put them where they need to be.  Those commands above will also output all responses to the screen and if there are any problems with any files you will be able to see that as well.