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my serviio setup

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freaknik

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Post Sun Jun 29, 2014 11:42 am

my serviio setup

I put serviio on a windows laptop.
1.6 GHz 4gb ddr2
Most of my viewing is through Panasonic bdt230 bluray player.
The player and laptop have wired connections and stream local video fine.

My ISP is slow which limits what I watch online. And I can't get anything to work over wireless.

I think if I had dedicated server and faster connect speed serviio would be a lot more useful.

Also its worth mentioning my network has three routers. Two are used as switches. Serviio handles this fine.

I did have to get a modern ffmpeg for it to work though.

Besides my bluray I can stream to my phone or tablet., but if the source is online it only plays about 5 seconds. Then it stops.
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freaknik

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Post Tue Jul 01, 2014 9:30 pm

Re: my serviio setup

Here is a video of serviio playing on Panasonic bluray to HDTV and playing on my iPod touch 4th gen.
Last edited by freaknik on Thu Feb 04, 2021 10:46 am, edited 1 time in total.
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atc98092

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Post Wed Jul 02, 2014 1:05 am

Re: my serviio setup

You are not stating what your Internet speed is, so can't say for sure if it's an issue. However, most online streams that are not HD are around 2Mbps. I would suggest that 5Mbps is the minimum for successful streaming. I don't know if the device profile you are using transcodes online, and if so could it reduce the bitrate. Since that adjustment is usually necessary for the playing device, and not the incoming stream, it may have no effect.

You just may not be able to stream online sources, if your connection is too slow. Nothing Serviio can do about that, I'm afraid. :cry:

A faster server won't help with a slow connection, but it does wonders for streaming ripped HD video. The Roku player will not accept a bitrate above 12000bps, so everything have to be transcoded. My server can stream very high bitrate HD video to them with very little buffering, but it's working really hard. My test server has about half the power, and sometimes has issues with HD video to the Roku. For my Sony players, which don't need transcoding, Serviio just loafs along.
Dan

LG NANO85 4K TV, Samsung JU7100 4K TV, Sony BDP-S3500, Sharp 4K Roku TV, Insignia Roku TV, Roku Ultra, Premiere and Stick, Nvidia Shield, Yamaha RX-V583 AVR.
Primary server: Intel i5-6400, 16 gig ram, Windows 10 Pro, 22 TB hard drive space | Test server Windows 10 Pro, AMD Phenom II X4 965, 8 gig ram

HOWTO: Enable debug logging HOWTO: Identify media file contents
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freaknik

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Post Wed Jul 02, 2014 1:47 am

Re: my serviio setup

Serviio is great. My internet isn't fast.

http://www.speedtest.net/my-result/a/878724154

Watching online works with Netflix or hulu or YouTube.

But its not a problem I can overcome until someone gets fiber out to where I live.

But it plays local video perfectly.

I watched a mkv in 720p on my bluray with no problem. I could pause and play and it worked.

I tried serviio after

Plex
Xmbc
Ps3ms
Twonky
Wmp

And serviio was easier and worked better out of the box than all those.

With dedicated server and fast internet it would be amazing.
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atc98092

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Post Wed Jul 02, 2014 12:41 pm

Re: my serviio setup

Oh my goodness. How does Netflix even work with that connection? Ouch! :shock:

I notice you ran the speed test using your phone. Running the test from a wired computer might be a better test of the actual Internet speed, as sometimes even the best of phones have issues running such tests. Even my Roku, which is wired to my gigabit network, reports a far slower connection than my computer will show. It usually reports a top speed around 15Mbps, while the computer will show 45Mbps+.

But you are right, until you get a higher connection speed, online resources are going to be limited for you. And I completely agree that Serviio works better than the others you listed. I still have Plex running on my server because the Roku did not have DLNA support until recently, and while the user interface is nice (seeing information about the movie), it still doesn't work as well as Serviio. Other DLNA servers just had issues here and there that made them more frustrating to use. Serviio just works. :D
Dan

LG NANO85 4K TV, Samsung JU7100 4K TV, Sony BDP-S3500, Sharp 4K Roku TV, Insignia Roku TV, Roku Ultra, Premiere and Stick, Nvidia Shield, Yamaha RX-V583 AVR.
Primary server: Intel i5-6400, 16 gig ram, Windows 10 Pro, 22 TB hard drive space | Test server Windows 10 Pro, AMD Phenom II X4 965, 8 gig ram

HOWTO: Enable debug logging HOWTO: Identify media file contents
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freaknik

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Post Wed Jul 02, 2014 4:17 pm

Re: my serviio setup

On netflix it detects the low bandwidth and adjusts video bitrate accordingly.

Here is the test from a wired pc, I knew that was coming as soon as I realized the test said from phone:

http://www.speedtest.net/my-result/3599927042

So a little faster.

Also, a bit about my network:

1 3g modem
2 switches
1 wifi router
8 devices (three laptops, one print server, tablet, phone, ipod, bluray)

So its a very convoluted network that doesn't have much bandwidth.

Even still, Serviio works sometimes with online stuff when all others fail. And for local files its very reliable.

I can even share off my usb drive.

I am going to pick up a cell phone booster at walmart soon and maybe that will help.
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atc98092

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Post Thu Jul 03, 2014 1:06 pm

Re: my serviio setup

Ah, using 3G for your Internet. Should be a little faster than that, and maybe that cell signal booster can help. I am assuming you must live somewhere that DSL and/or cable are unavailable. Even satellite based Internet would be faster than that, although there would be more latency.

However, I think you've hit it on the head. Netflix and Amazon can test your bandwidth and only feed it at a rate that you can accept. Other online sources cannot, and therefore feed it too fast. I think you are just stuck until you can get an Internet connection of at least 5 Mbps, preferably over 10. If your routers that are acting like switches are configured in bridge mode, they should be fine. I use a router in the same way as a Wireless Access Point with no issues. I see nothing on your network that would cause an issue. However, if those routers are still in normal mode, they could cause problems.
Dan

LG NANO85 4K TV, Samsung JU7100 4K TV, Sony BDP-S3500, Sharp 4K Roku TV, Insignia Roku TV, Roku Ultra, Premiere and Stick, Nvidia Shield, Yamaha RX-V583 AVR.
Primary server: Intel i5-6400, 16 gig ram, Windows 10 Pro, 22 TB hard drive space | Test server Windows 10 Pro, AMD Phenom II X4 965, 8 gig ram

HOWTO: Enable debug logging HOWTO: Identify media file contents
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freaknik

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Post Fri Jul 04, 2014 4:47 am

Re: my serviio setup

I hate the 3G speed but I need it because it's grandfathered unlimited data.

I use 20-45 gb per month so 2gb data cap with charges for each 100mb over is not financially sane.

That's the only way to get fast speed here is Verizon let 4g, but the rare unlimited plans are doubling in value as time marches on.

Currently $500-$700 for the right to own the plan and $90-$130 per month to Verizon.

Maybe later....

I like Serviio because I didn't have to buy anything for it to work, (other than the above online problem but I don't have $500 to drop like that).

Before I used tversity but it stopped working and Serviio is easier on CPU when transcoding.

My gear is old and so are the shows I am watching but it's nice to watch what I want on whatever I want with no bs commercials or fees.

Wish I knew of dlna sooner, it works awesomely.
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atc98092

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Post Mon Jul 07, 2014 1:12 am

Re: my serviio setup

Man, you are an awesome consumer of data! :o Completely understand the economics of it for you.

Agree about DLNA. I have seven hard drives in my server, about 14 TB in all, and have about 600 movies and over 1500 TV series episodes on there, so I'm well set even if the Internet fails, which fortunately almost never happens here. Spend a few bucks and add some hard drives and rip your discs to the server. Happy times for all! :D
Dan

LG NANO85 4K TV, Samsung JU7100 4K TV, Sony BDP-S3500, Sharp 4K Roku TV, Insignia Roku TV, Roku Ultra, Premiere and Stick, Nvidia Shield, Yamaha RX-V583 AVR.
Primary server: Intel i5-6400, 16 gig ram, Windows 10 Pro, 22 TB hard drive space | Test server Windows 10 Pro, AMD Phenom II X4 965, 8 gig ram

HOWTO: Enable debug logging HOWTO: Identify media file contents
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freaknik

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Post Mon Jul 07, 2014 5:43 am

Re: my serviio setup

That's wild, how does the server case have room for all the drives?

Never seen a motherboard with more than 6 sata ports either.

I am curious as how to set it up and a ballpark figure (I guess $300 if I use drives I have?)

I was thing about a raid enclosure with my extra drives and plugging that into my laptop with USB.

Serviio plays movies over my USB flash drive and externally powered hard drive effortlessly even on wireless so I think the enclosure idea would work and be cheaper.

Those enclosures don't have fans though, which seems sketchy.

But today it was taking too long to download a file. When the download choked to 14kB/s I turned it off and got it from a windows share on my wired land. It averaged 11mB/s.

Night and day difference. So I am going to try and get all my local files on serviio, its just some are on my laptop, some are on external, some on bare drives. Some are on CD/DVD's (even some vcd's) [I feel old please know what vcd is]

So I don't know what to do.

Cheapest option is 2tb nas and copy what I want on it but 14 sounds better than 2.
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atc98092

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Post Tue Jul 08, 2014 12:57 pm

Re: my serviio setup

My case is designed for a server, so it's a tall tower. I added an additional SATA card for four ports. If I add any more drives I'll have to get another card! :lol: guess I can't add. Since my MB has 6 ports and my add-on card has four, and they are all in use, that means I have nine hard drives and one optical drive. :o

RAID would be nice, but that doubles your hard drive count for the same space (assuming RAID 1, mirroring). That also means a larger power supply and more heat. I already have to leave the case side off with a small fan blowing into it. Noise isn't an issue because I have my servers (a second server is used for workstation backups) on a shelf in the garage, along with all my CAT5 cable connections and switch. I am going to have to get a gigabit switch with more ports. Eight isn't hacking it any more.

Remember that an external hard drive enclosure connected via USB could be a bottleneck for data flow. Even using USB 3 or E-SATA, if you have more than one external drive (or RAID array) they all have to come over the one cable. If the drives are all connected to their own SATA (or RAID) port, they don't have to share the connection.
Dan

LG NANO85 4K TV, Samsung JU7100 4K TV, Sony BDP-S3500, Sharp 4K Roku TV, Insignia Roku TV, Roku Ultra, Premiere and Stick, Nvidia Shield, Yamaha RX-V583 AVR.
Primary server: Intel i5-6400, 16 gig ram, Windows 10 Pro, 22 TB hard drive space | Test server Windows 10 Pro, AMD Phenom II X4 965, 8 gig ram

HOWTO: Enable debug logging HOWTO: Identify media file contents
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freaknik

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Post Tue Jul 08, 2014 2:51 pm

Re: my serviio setup

Thanks man, I had never heard of a sata card.

Gonna look into building a server myself.

I have always wanted to.

I was looking at prebuilt nas systems online and even the $400+ ones have puny ram.

Something custom seems like the way to go.

I have never built a custom pc but have taken many retail ones apart and am confident I can do it.

My ideal setup would be to run Serviio 24 hours on the server and also have file shares set up so that I can add videos whenever from wherever and they will be ready to play anywhere in the house.

Thanks for all the advice.
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atc98092

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Post Thu Jul 10, 2014 12:52 am

Re: my serviio setup

Your ideal setup is exactly what I have. 24/7 operation feeding multiple media players in the house. All file locations are shared so I can rip from any computer in the house. As I said before, my biggest worry is keeping the thing cool, since it's in my garage and it's been in the mid-80s here in Seattle for some time with no relief in sight.

If you understand the basics of computer hardware, assembling your own isn't difficult. Get as large a case as you can fit in your planned space, with multiple fans. A dedicated server doesn't need a fancy video card, graphics built into the motherboard is fine. Just get a minimum of 8 gig of ram and a quad core CPU and everything else should be no problem. Make sure the MB and hard drives have SATA III ports (6Gb/s) for reduced data bottlenecks. My add-in card is only SATA II, and I thinks it's a bit of an issue for me with multiple streams at one time. I'm partial to AMD processors simply based on value, but Intel makes some mighty fine parts as well. Also make sure you get a good power supply. Those cheap $30 jobs may be OK for a while, but paying a little more for higher efficiency unit usually means a higher quality product. Just make sure it has enough power for any potential future additional drives you may add, or you'll just end up having to replace it before its time! :D
Dan

LG NANO85 4K TV, Samsung JU7100 4K TV, Sony BDP-S3500, Sharp 4K Roku TV, Insignia Roku TV, Roku Ultra, Premiere and Stick, Nvidia Shield, Yamaha RX-V583 AVR.
Primary server: Intel i5-6400, 16 gig ram, Windows 10 Pro, 22 TB hard drive space | Test server Windows 10 Pro, AMD Phenom II X4 965, 8 gig ram

HOWTO: Enable debug logging HOWTO: Identify media file contents
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freaknik

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Post Sat Jul 12, 2014 7:48 pm

Re: my serviio setup

That is how I'll set it up then when the time comes where I have the loot.

Most likely I will shop piece by piece: case, then mobo, then chip, etc etc.

That way I can get better stuff then if I bought all at once.
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freaknik

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Post Mon Dec 22, 2014 6:45 pm

Re: my serviio setup

I got a 2tb external hard drive and filled it with movies and set it up as a network share (plugged into my router in the closet)

Serviio is working AMAZINGLY well.

To make it blazing fast all I had to do was turn down the bitrate for the transcoding in the profile I was using.

I turned it way down and now serviio menus show up in 10 seconds maximum and movies play and pause and seek immediately and seamlessly.

All weekend I have been enjoying whatever i want on my tv.

Very happy and grateful for such a cool program and the help of this board; much has been learned about codecs and dlna.

I only have 500 GB filled on my drive so really looking forward to collecting more movies and tv shows and never watching commercials and only seeing content I like from now on.

Even my small videos that are formatted for an ipod screen looked ok and filled my 32 inch widescreen in 16:9. (exactly what i wanted).
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freaknik

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Post Fri Mar 13, 2015 6:18 am

Re: my serviio setup

Since version 1.5 it has worked perfectly.

Great job guys.

Right out of the box all I did was run the installer and set the paths and wait for indexing and everything is there and plays within a second or two.

No touching the profile or any gui setting other than paths to my share.

The only thing extra I had to do to make it work was run the serviio service as admin so it can get to the share.
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atc98092

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Post Fri Mar 13, 2015 12:49 pm

Re: my serviio setup

Yeah, remote share permissions can be a hassle. Changing the user the service runs under is probably the easiest way to handle it.

Glad it's all working for you. 8-)
Dan

LG NANO85 4K TV, Samsung JU7100 4K TV, Sony BDP-S3500, Sharp 4K Roku TV, Insignia Roku TV, Roku Ultra, Premiere and Stick, Nvidia Shield, Yamaha RX-V583 AVR.
Primary server: Intel i5-6400, 16 gig ram, Windows 10 Pro, 22 TB hard drive space | Test server Windows 10 Pro, AMD Phenom II X4 965, 8 gig ram

HOWTO: Enable debug logging HOWTO: Identify media file contents
<<

freaknik

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Joined: Thu Mar 27, 2014 2:05 pm

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Post Sat Mar 14, 2015 4:44 am

Re: my serviio setup

It plays any kind of file, pause, fast forward, with subtitles, all fine. All I do is boot the pc and my device on the tv and go.

Image

There is a clip from a snowboarding movie.

It played in 1080 and when I loaded it the progress bar only appeared on the screen for 2 seconds then the movie plays without interruption or stuttering.

Soooo much better than previous versions, I'm very grateful and have been using it a lot.
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freaknik

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Post Sat Feb 15, 2020 3:44 pm

Re: my serviio setup

I started using vlc now to stream to chromecast from serviio server and its banging!

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