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Serving Video to HUMAX HDR-FOX T2

PartyanimalPartyanimal Posts: 1,269
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in Humax #1
I recently treated myself to a wireless dongle for the HUMAX HDR-FOX T2. Having configured/connected to my home network I find that I'm getting spurious results when attempting to view Video stored on my PC via the HUMAX.

In particular the message "Cannot support format" is often displayed. I have tried both Windows Media Player (Win XP) and a product called Serviio to act as the DLNA server. Sometimes, this message is diplayed despite the fact that I can play the same video via WMP, and when copied to a USB stick, via the HUMAX - it only fails to play over the network.

At one time, the "Cannot support format" message came up 18 minutes into viewing the video!!

Does anyone know what causes this? Is this down to a "buggy" piece of server software, or on the client side, or maybe in the Router? (BT Home Hub 5). Does the HUMAX have a 'preferred' video format it processes?

Has anyone used other DLNA server products and how do they perform?

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    Mickey_TMickey_T Posts: 4,962
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    #2
    I've had a few problems with MKV's, so just convert them to MP4 which then always works perfectly over the network.
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    dragon-itdragon-it Posts: 465
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    #3
    You might be better off doing away with the DNLA feature for some. I tried this both ways with some success, and using a raspberry pi with xmbc amongst other things pointing at the Humax HDR but it does seem a bit random what it will play through DNLA.

    Have had most success keeping the files on the Humax end (actually I keep a 2Tb drive attached there and mainly FTP new stuff to it) and using a Humax HD-FOX to access them over the network in other rooms, but can also see it from PC etc.

    If you aren't already aware of the custom firmware for the HDR, have a look at the stuff here:

    http://hummy.tv/forum/forums/hd-hdr-fox-t2-customised-firmware.28/

    Steve
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    grahamlthompsongrahamlthompson Posts: 18,486
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    #4
    Using the native transport stream (.ts) container always works for me.
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    flagpoleflagpole Posts: 44,641
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    #5
    i ftp my stuff too. much more robust than streaming.

    i remux everything to mp4.
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    PartyanimalPartyanimal Posts: 1,269
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    #6
    A couple of other things to think about there, so thanks for your input & suggestions.

    It could be that mpeg4 format is the key here. I had a look at some of my video files last night and not all were mpeg4-encoded. I'll go through them all and re-encode to MP4 containers where necessary and see if I get more consistent behaviour when streaming.

    I hadn't really considered ftp; is this something you initiate from the HUMAX side, i.e you "pull" the files from the PC, or do you sit on the PC and "push" the files out? Would you need the custom firmware installed to enable this?
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    flagpoleflagpole Posts: 44,641
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    #7
    Partyanimal wrote: »
    A couple of other things to think about there, so thanks for your input & suggestions.

    It could be that mpeg4 format is the key here. I had a look at some of my video files last night and not all were mpeg4-encoded. I'll go through them all and re-encode to MP4 containers where necessary and see if I get more consistent behaviour when streaming.

    I hadn't really considered ftp; is this something you initiate from the HUMAX side, i.e you "pull" the files from the PC, or do you sit on the PC and "push" the files out? Would you need the custom firmware installed to enable this?

    firstly on the video side of things. the humax can play every h264 and h263 file i have managed to throw at it. what it can't handle is the mkv container.

    any h264/AVC files with aac audio should be basically fine if you just remux them in to an MP4 container. it's a quick operation, no transcoding.

    ftp. standard firmware, just go in to the settings and enable ftp. from the computer using an ftp client such as filezilla (client) you copy files to the HDD of your humax box.
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    PartyanimalPartyanimal Posts: 1,269
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    #8
    flagpole wrote: »
    firstly on the video side of things. the humax can play every h264 and h263 file i have managed to throw at it. what it can't handle is the mkv container.

    any h264/AVC files with aac audio should be basically fine if you just remux them in to an MP4 container. it's a quick operation, no transcoding.

    ftp. standard firmware, just go in to the settings and enable ftp. from the computer using an ftp client such as filezilla (client) you copy files to the HDD of your humax box.


    Excellent, thanks very much.
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