Remote access on Android

Hi,

I'm using Serviio PRO. It works like a charm on LAN, and so does remote access with Serviigo on Android.

What I would like to do is run a DLNA server on my Android phone that accepts my home Serviio server as a source. Basically, there is on the one hand Serviigo, which is able to remotely access my Serviio but is not a server, and on the other hand a myriad of DLNA server apps that can only access Serviio on LAN. I'm looking for an app (or any kind of way, really) to run a DLNA server on my Android phone that can access Serviio remotely.

I've looked everywhere I could so any advice is much appreciated!

Thanks.

EDIT: Also, how does remote access to Serviio actually work ? What protocol does it use ?

[atc98092]

I can't think of any reason you'd want to run a DLNA server on your phone. If you are using your data plan, you would exceed most plan allowances with a single movie, or two at the most. And you'd kill the battery in no time. What reason would you want to do this for?

The idea is to use an old phone as a portable way to stream what's on my home server, at a friend's or when travelling for instance -- using WiFi and charging.

But I'm beginning to think that the best way to achieve this would simply be to run an FTP/WebDAV/whatever server and use that as a source for my DLNA server phone. So not a Serviio-related inquiry then.

I am however still interested in how Serviio streams remotely. VPN ? SSH ? I have no idea (and my knowledge in this area is quite limited).

[atc98092]

With Pro you get MediaBrowser, so you can access your media from any web browser connected to the Internet. One of the Pro advantages is "API for accessing content over the Internet". It's required for ServiiGo as well. It just takes a one-time port forwarding configuration of your Internet router, and Serviio can do it automatically for some routers.

Of course, you already have Pro, so you have that functionality. Based on what you describe, I don't think any sort of DLNA server would work on the phone, because the DLNA standard is restricted to non-public networks. So there's no method of connecting to your media. Now, a VPN from a remote computer/phone into your home network would give you access, but you would need a pretty good Internet upload speed for that. The DLNA server will need a faster stream than what it is making available to players. For my Internet, I only have 5 Mbps up, so I'm limited to 720p at the best when I'm outside my network.

One other trick about using VPNs is that the network on both ends have to be a different IP address range. Since the vast majority of non-business networks are using 192.168.0.x, you'd have to make serious network changes on one end.

FTP might also be possible, if your playback device can use such a source. But you still run into not only your Internet speed at both ends, but Internet latency as well. Not trying to be a gloomy gus, just pointing out potential issues.

I have one other suggestion, but it doesn't use Serviio. If you had a Roku Stick (or one of their other players) or an Amazon Fire TV Stick, you could use Plex to access your remote media from wherever. That's the only purpose I have Plex on my server, but because of my Internet speed (or lack of) I rarely use it. Plex has its strong points, but I am much more partial to Serviio.

I have used ServiiGo on my personal phone, but again I could kill my data plan if I used it much. When I travel, I just use my Roku Stick, connect it to the hotel wireless, and then choose to watch something from home, YouTube, or Amazon. I use Netflix so seldom anymore, I'm probably going to just cancel it.