Serviio

When I first got my Qnap TS-453A (v4.2.4) about 2 months ago I was happy to find that Serviio was available in the App center and quickly installed it. But now for some reason it is no longer available, and according to Qnap support "the developer removed it".....

Can anyone shed some light on why this is, and if/when Serviio might make a return to the App Center?

The reason I'm so interested is recently I upgraded my NAS drives, and during the process I decided to rebuild the config, which means all my apps were removed. I'd really like to get Serviio reinstalled, and have tried using some 3rd party repositories to get the qpkgs, but can't haven't been able to get it running in the few attempts I've made.

When I first installed it from the App Center it was a piece of cake, so it would really be nice if it were available again.


Thanks!

That's correct. It's due to some codec licensing issues QNAP are dealing with. If / when they resolve the situation Serviio will return to the store.

I might just offer the downloads on serviio.org in the meantime.

If you could/would offer the downloads it would be much appreciated!

It's on serviio.org/download now

Is there anyway i can get an earlier serviio qnap qpkg that will install on qts4.2. My older nas (ts459) does not support qts4.3 so I can't install Serviio 1.8.

Cheers

Hi there,
I currently have Serviio 1.8 installed on my nas which is running qts v4.2 so it should also run on yours too.

Try installing qts v4.2.4 if you haven't already.

Thanks for the reply. You are correct it does work. Appears i made a rookie mistake, checked my nas (uname -m) and thought it was 64bit.. i tried installing the 32bit version of serviio and it worked. happy times.

Thanks appreciated.

yeah, I think 4.3 is 64-bit, anything before is 32-bit

Hi zip,
If I update to qts 4.3 will I also have to install the 64-bit version of Serviio as well?

Glad you were able to get it working.

Yes, if I understand it well... It's all a bit confusing

I'm just a bit hesitant as last time I tried to update to Serviio 64-bit, it failed and trashed my Serviio installation completely ie. It removed it completely from my apps list.

Has anyone else already tried to update to qts 4.3 and installed Serviio 64-bit? Did it work?

@ DEJ710

I have updated to qnap os 4.3.. It said the JRE needed to be updated so I did that. I tried to run Serviio that I have installed, but it wouldn't work. I uninstalled the 32-bit Serviio, installed the 64-bit version that is on the Serviio download page, configured it and it works like a charm.

So to answer your question, yes, go ahead and do the os update, then uninstall your 32-bit Serviio and install the 64-bit Serviio.

@RMcV

Thanks for your response.

I updated to qts 4.3.3, JRE 8.101 and Serviio 1.8.64 last night and here's what I did:
1. Update to qts 4.3.3
2. Update JRE to 8.101
3. Upgrade Serviio to 1.8.64 (Install over the top) using download from serviio download link

Serviio is still functioning and my library is still in tact

@DEJ710

I was hesitant about installing the 64-bit version over the 32-bit version. I'm glad that it works and keeps the media catalogue intact, thanks for the tip.

After many messages send for help on this and to developers i reached out to Qnap for help.

they came back with the below.

"We have temporarily removed the Serviio app from App center due to lack of cooperation from Serviio developers. We are in talks with them, not sure when it will get back.
Many thanks for your understanding."

Can we please have a elaboration on the reason serviio was removed from QNAP?

The issue is they now require Serviio to be licensed with Dolby for the use of ac3 codecs. Removing this from Serviio would make it basically useless. As far as I know, being a European company Serviio is not obliged to pay royalties for the Dolby patents (see VLC for example). But I assume the Qnap store is located globally so they play by different rules.

Anyway, I'm waiting for their deal with Dolby (apparently they are negotiating it now) and then it should be possible to return Serviio back to the store.

I will reach out to them again to see what the status is now.

I assume the "lack of cooperation from Serviio developers" is the fact I cannot remove ac3 from Serviio, nor am I willing to spend absurd amount of money for the royalty fees.

@Zip

I saw a post from a user on the QNAP forum saying that the patent for AC-3 (Dolby Digital) had expired. True or not I don't know.

"on 19.3.2017 last pattent from Dolby US5890106 has expired, so AC-3 is now free and QNAP is able to compile new codex pack with full transcoding support, crossing my fingers for that"

RMcV

No wonder i couldn't use Serviio after Firmware 4.3.3 update!

I was relying on App Center to auto update Serviio until i saw this post... JRE auto updated to 8.101.1
I installed the 64 bit (from Serviio download page) over existing installed 32 bit and worked fine for me!

Hope Serviio QPKG comes back to App Center again

I'm aware of this, and am asking Qnap. I could just remove TrueHD and eac3 support. But it depends what their legal team says, so I'm not keeping my hope high.