Question about accessing Video Files from Nas

[UNi]

I have a Core installed and connected to my TV.  Further I've got FreeNAS installed in a desigated room and I can pull up Video files using Kbuntu and watch them, no problem.  Shouldn't I be able to pull up Videos from the Core box connected to my TV?  I can't seem to see how...

Thanks,
Uni

[tkmedia]

if your network is set up the lmce way it will just detect the freenas and add it as a file server. All media will then all media be added to your system.
Use LMCE directory structure will speed the cataloging of your media.



HTH


Tim

[ivanp]

I have a Core installed and connected to my TV.  Further I've got FreeNAS installed in a desigated room and I can pull up Video files using Kbuntu and watch them, no problem.  Shouldn't I be able to pull up Videos from the Core box connected to my TV?  I can't seem to see how...

If NAS is in internal network Core should auto-detect it. Take a look here http://wiki.linuxmce.org/index.php/FreeNAS, especially Troubleshooting part.
If it is in external network, there is a way to make it work, i think tschack or tottalymaxed have done it. I suggest You put it in internal network and save Yourelf any troubles. Also, if You have may files syncing can take a lot of time.

[UNi]

I think it catalogued it properly...I just don't know how to get to it, pulling it up on the Core. 

[colinjones]

Did the core prompt you that it had detected the nas? I should have said that it detected it and do you want to add it as a File Server. To which you had to say Yes. Then it will ask if you want to use the LMCE folder structure, to which you need to say Yes. It will then create a set of folders on the NAS - public->data->video|documents|audio|pictures.... once it has created those, you need to move your media into the appropriate folders it created. It will then scan this media and add it to the database. If there is a lot of media, this can take several hours to complete.

Now, on the core, you go to the media menu and choose, Audio, for instance. If your media is not yet meta-tagged (generally it won't be unless you do it manually) you will not see it in the Performer|Genre|Title|etc Sort modes. You can choose sort by Filename, and browse your media by folders/files to confirm it is all there. Now, you should add meta-tags using the web admin so that you can use the other sort modes.

[UNi]

Okay, so I had to manually add the FreeNAS since it did detect it once but I had to reinstall and it didn't seem to the second time.  Is there a way to add the Public path for it manually?  I see how to run manual File Sync now and I've got stuff showing up finally. 

Thanks
Uni

[colinjones]

No. You really need to remove it and allow it to discover it again.... only that way will everything sort itself out automatically.

Delete the device, make sure it doesn't appear in the Advance-Configuration-Unknown Devices (unlock it, if it does). Reload the LMCE router, then reboot the NAS. Let it detect it, add it as I described, then move your media into the correct folders and let updatemedia scan them in.

Never, under any circumstances, try to map, mount or symlink anything into LMCE... LMCE has a sophisticated automount and symlinking system, if you interfere you will break it. Trust me, do it the way it is supposed to be done (ie address the root cause, rather than try to treat the symptoms) and it will all work seamlessly.

[Lexje]

Collin,

Just hopping in;
Over the past year and a half I've been testing around with LMCE on various machines and devices.
Overall I've come to the conclusion, in my case, to avoid having media hanging around about everywhere, with the risk of losing some, when just forgetting it and reusing the machine for a new test, for me the best way would seem to put ALL of my media on some NAS system.

If I understand your previous post correctly, one would be unable to re-use a previous existing 'public' LMCE file structure... Is that correct?
Indeed I experienced that LMCE set up a new 'public' folder structure within an existing 'public' folder structure...

So what would be the best way then?
rename the existing 'public' structure, and afterwards moving it into the 'new' public structure??

Also, suppose you have mythrecordings from a different or previous setup, if you were to move or add those files into the new and existing 'tv_shows_xx' file structure, would they be recognized and added into the media database?

Thanks for your advice,

Erwin

[totallymaxed]

No. You really need to remove it and allow it to discover it again.... only that way will everything sort itself out automatically.

Delete the device, make sure it doesn't appear in the Advance-Configuration-Unknown Devices (unlock it, if it does). Reload the LMCE router, then reboot the NAS. Let it detect it, add it as I described, then move your media into the correct folders and let updatemedia scan them in.

Never, under any circumstances, try to map, mount or symlink anything into LMCE... LMCE has a sophisticated automount and symlinking system, if you interfere you will break it. Trust me, do it the way it is supposed to be done (ie address the root cause, rather than try to treat the symptoms) and it will all work seamlessly.

Well its perfectly ok to add a new device manually in the 'devices tree' in Web Admin... thats all the detection scripts do... automate that process. As long as you know the devices details then adding it is not complicated at all... do a reload and its there and working as it would have been if it had been auto detected. What is not a good idea is to 'manually' mount a drive and place a symlink to it in the /home/public/data/videos directory for example... thats a recipe for chaos!

All the best

Andrew

[colinjones]

No. You really need to remove it and allow it to discover it again.... only that way will everything sort itself out automatically.

Delete the device, make sure it doesn't appear in the Advance-Configuration-Unknown Devices (unlock it, if it does). Reload the LMCE router, then reboot the NAS. Let it detect it, add it as I described, then move your media into the correct folders and let updatemedia scan them in.

Never, under any circumstances, try to map, mount or symlink anything into LMCE... LMCE has a sophisticated automount and symlinking system, if you interfere you will break it. Trust me, do it the way it is supposed to be done (ie address the root cause, rather than try to treat the symptoms) and it will all work seamlessly.

Well its perfectly ok to add a new device manually in the 'devices tree' in Web Admin... thats all the detection scripts do... automate that process. As long as you know the devices details then adding it is not complicated at all... do a reload and its there and working as it would have been if it had been auto detected. What is not a good idea is to 'manually' mount a drive and place a symlink to it in the /home/public/data/videos directory for example... thats a recipe for chaos!

All the best

Andrew

Andrew - I agree it is easy to add manually, however my general principle is that doing so is ignoring the obvious implication that something is probably wrong with the setup causing the autodiscovery not to work. And rather than address the symptom, fixing the cause will leave you with a healthier system and end up getting the drive in as a device automatically. win-win! I think that is particularly important for a newbie. And yes, I agree mounting and symlinking is bad, and I regularly push that point

[colinjones]

Collin,

Just hopping in;
Over the past year and a half I've been testing around with LMCE on various machines and devices.
Overall I've come to the conclusion, in my case, to avoid having media hanging around about everywhere, with the risk of losing some, when just forgetting it and reusing the machine for a new test, for me the best way would seem to put ALL of my media on some NAS system.

If I understand your previous post correctly, one would be unable to re-use a previous existing 'public' LMCE file structure... Is that correct?
Indeed I experienced that LMCE set up a new 'public' folder structure within an existing 'public' folder structure...

So what would be the best way then?
rename the existing 'public' structure, and afterwards moving it into the 'new' public structure??

Also, suppose you have mythrecordings from a different or previous setup, if you were to move or add those files into the new and existing 'tv_shows_xx' file structure, would they be recognized and added into the media database?

Thanks for your advice,

Erwin

Lexje

I think you may have the wrong end of the stick there... I wasn't talking about existing/new public structures at all. They are just folders, so you won't have any difficulty reusing an existing one as long as you are still sharing out the same folder in the hierarchy and haven't changed that hierarchy LMCE will find them and not recreate new folders.

I cannot advise at all on Myth, I have never used it.

[Lexje]

Collin,

Thanks for your answer;
I realize the end of the stick :-)
That's why I started out with "just hopping in"

My problem/question with dealing with "existing" public folder structures on windows shares or NASes for that matter, is that they don't seem to get recognized, and LMCE just creates a new public structure within the existing one.

Mind - I'm talking about public folders that have belonged to or have been connected to previous LMCE setups.

Also, perhaps one mistake might be that the share or mount point was a folder called public (in this case on FreeNAS) was called public, so I guess it's not recognized as a folder / directory. Perhaps I should change it to e.g. data and leave the folder 'public' within this share...

Thanks for replying, at least I know now that LMCE should recognize pre-existing LMCE public folder structure.

Erwin

[colinjones]

It does.... you must be targetting the wrong level in the hierarchy with your share because it isn't possible for LMCE to create a new folder structure... if it did, you would end up with 2 folders called public in the same folder (one being the original public and the other being the new one), which isn't possible!

[totallymaxed]

No. You really need to remove it and allow it to discover it again.... only that way will everything sort itself out automatically.

Delete the device, make sure it doesn't appear in the Advance-Configuration-Unknown Devices (unlock it, if it does). Reload the LMCE router, then reboot the NAS. Let it detect it, add it as I described, then move your media into the correct folders and let updatemedia scan them in.

Never, under any circumstances, try to map, mount or symlink anything into LMCE... LMCE has a sophisticated automount and symlinking system, if you interfere you will break it. Trust me, do it the way it is supposed to be done (ie address the root cause, rather than try to treat the symptoms) and it will all work seamlessly.

Well its perfectly ok to add a new device manually in the 'devices tree' in Web Admin... thats all the detection scripts do... automate that process. As long as you know the devices details then adding it is not complicated at all... do a reload and its there and working as it would have been if it had been auto detected. What is not a good idea is to 'manually' mount a drive and place a symlink to it in the /home/public/data/videos directory for example... thats a recipe for chaos!

All the best

Andrew

Andrew - I agree it is easy to add manually, however my general principle is that doing so is ignoring the obvious implication that something is probably wrong with the setup causing the autodiscovery not to work. And rather than address the symptom, fixing the cause will leave you with a healthier system and end up getting the drive in as a device automatically. win-win! I think that is particularly important for a newbie. And yes, I agree mounting and symlinking is bad, and I regularly push that point

Well as I said Colin the only thing that is different between an autodetected storage device and a manually added one is the detection scripts have triggered. Auto-Detection can fail to happen for many reasons - these are not necessarily bad at all...and jumping to the conclusion that lack of detection is inherently indicative of some broader problem is usually incorrect. We install dozens of NAS's a month and on exactly the same system one NAS (indentical in every respect) can be detected almost immediately...while the next may take an hour or more. There really is zero difference between manually creating it and 'waiting' for auto-detection to trigger...except for the wasted time! Of course even if you allow your NAS to be auto-detected if it is configured with a username/password then these will still need to be added manually in any case.

All the best

Andrew