Stream video from SPD8020 to Philips devices

[Hedwig]

Dear team, I am a new member of this (great) forum.

I am also a Philips employee for years, and it hurts when I read that Philips does a poor job on firmware (don't feel offended)...nevertheless
For years I use the SPD8020 for filesharing in my network, but now I am entering the arena of video streaming and I get stuck.
I use a Linksys e3000 router, have a netgear Gb switch, a BDP6000 and a BPD8000 Philips BlueRay players, both incl nettv, and some smartphones.
I face the issue that the devices have internet connection, however I cannot play the content of my SPD8020 on these.
My firmware on SPD8020 is 1.2.9.47 (fvdw 5.0), and I downloaded (but not installed) fvdw10.0, and am a bit reluctant, not sure that this solves the issue.
According to the menu Marvell DMS is running, but my devices do not detect the mediaserver, and the content of course.

Am I running the correct media server software from my NAS? (what is preferred)
And how should I setup the media server in order to view the A/V files from my SPD8020 on the devices?

Thanks in advance.

[fvdw]

welcome Hedwig

Can imagine that when you are working for Philips it hurts to read that about the poor firmware. When I bought this NAS I was so disappointed about the limited features of the software that I decided to try to improve it. And see the result. Think you must agree that Philips could have done better. It is in principle a very nice device but due to the too limited software people didn't want to buy it or were very disappointed about it, for sure it did not contribute to improving the NPS of Philips (Net Promotor Score). Think we have shown what is possible to do with this device and bring more value to the customer by adding some basic features. Think Philips could have sell this product in much larger numbers and would have generate more satisfied customers and promotors when they would have put some more effort in the software. A missed opportunity if you ask me. Think they must be grateful that some people enhanced the firmware so they could sell the remaining stock ;) and that disappointed customers have become happy users of this small box with great potential.

About the Marvell server. It only scans the "public" share and one subfolder level in that share. The other shares and sub folders of the subfolders of the public share will not be scanned. So if your music, video and pictures are not in the "public" share they will not be discovered by the Marvell media server.
Furthermore its a buggy mediastreamer and I can not really recommend it.

If you upgrade I advise to use fvdw-sl-10-1 and not 10-0 as 10-0 has some bugs that are solved in 10-1.
The upgrade will not solve the limitation of the Marvell media server, but you could consider to use one of the other mediaservers included in the firmware. For example minidlna, a free mediaserver, Or Twonkymedia another media server is present in the firmware but that is not freeware (needs a license after 30 days of trial)

[Hedwig]

Thx for your speedy reply fvdw,
I agree with your statements about Philips' performance in this respect, and I really adore your initiative. It is really impressive, I even think Philips always hopes for this kind of improvement and innovation on their products. As you might know, Philips is not a software company, we only invent, (sometimes make) and sell products with a "stekker"...
It is not an excuse, just reality...

The subfolder scanning limitation of Marvell explains for me, since I have a more complex folderstructure. I think I will go for the MiniDLNA.
Can I find somewhere in this forum how to configure this media server? for example how to address the video folders for scanning?
Is additional adapter loading required (or is it built in)?

thx

[fvdw]

Hi hedwig

I know Philips very well :) . On this forum there is also a member that was part of the team that did the marketing of this device, this member explained to me why its was done in this way. Remember the sense and simplicity. Think they aimed at the wrong target group and made it too simple. And the move to go into the direction to sell products "met een stekker" was wrong to my opinion, look what is happening to the TV part of Philips...very sad to see how we spoiled our position there.

About minidlna, the firmware contains a menu to setup for minidlna and to select the shares you want to scan for media (video, pictures and music)

[Hedwig]

Hi fvdw, I know, I heard. Again I agree with you, as I am even involved in TV disentanglement (IT-role).
I guess and hope board is knowing what they are doing, selling our sales pitch and pride....

I do not know why my upgrade to 10.1 failed. It says: File uploaded. Error!
I will restart SPD8020, and look what is happening.

[fvdw]

Hello hedwig

some more people had this problem when upgrading from an older version, somewhere I apparently made a change that causes this but I forgot about it. Need to check it. In any case there is a possibility to upgrade to the latest version but thats a little technical, will see if there is a more easy way. I will come back on this asap

edit
found the problem indeed I skipped a check in the latest versions that was no longer relevant and did no longer include a file for that check in the upgrade package :mrgreen: however the older firmware upgrade menu needs this file to pass all test to do the upgrade :o . i will add a special version of fvdw-sl-10-1 for spd8020 in the download section for those upgrading from an older version like version 5.0 it will be online this evening ;)

[fvdw]

the adapated file is added to the download section, please test it Hedwig and let us know if it now works to upgrade in one step from 5-0 to 10-1 Then I know what to include for future upgrades

[Hedwig]

Hello FvdW, the install procedure works excellent. Thank you very much. It was not clear to me what to do when it said: File uploaded. Rebooting. Waited for 15 minutes
After hard reboot of SPD8020 (30 sec power off) and restart of WinXP, login on via webinterface, I got the new firmware visible. I already saw that drive mapping worked, incl accessibility of data. I disbled Marvell (was running), and installed MiniDLNA. Went to config file of MiniDLNA, ticked on Public (the only share), and started the mediaserver.
I didn't change any of the settings of config. I assume it will start scanning within 900 sec (it is quite filled), and I will give it a night. Tomorrow I will see the result on the Philips devices, whether the server is seen...
Again thanks very much for your effort. I will submit my findings.

[fvdw]

Hello Hedwig

yes the firmware upgrade menu of the older versions was not very clear. The newer version have an improved one. There is also a help menu page available for each window (menu) just click the help button in the vertical menu or on the horizontal bar.

The minidlan server should be seen almost immediately, only the filling of the database take some time. On my LCD TV (Philips) minidlna works ok. This TV has LAN connector and is connected directly to my LAN on which also the spd8020 is present. On the TV it pops up in menu that you can open on the remote contriol to change TV settings. That also shows the media servers found on the LAN.
How do you access the spd8020 for video streaming ?

[Hedwig]

Hi FvdW,
I have connected my BDP8000 connected via wireless, and the BDP6000 is wired. The both tv's are via High Speed HDMI connected to the BD players. The BDP's have basically the same firmware, and via Configuration you can setup connection, whereas via Computers the content can be reached. It shows the mediaservers running, and after confirm it jumps into the folderstructures. The BDP firmware adds a kind of default folderstructure, in which the content becomes visible.
Also in this case the firmware of the BDP's is quite sloppy, to my honest opinion. For example the files can be executed separately, but in case of a Video-TS (normal DVD setup) it plays file by file, and neglecting the audio-TS setting. To my opinion selecting a media source (the movie directory) selecting and Play should be enough (like in PowerDVD).
In my setup I use my TV only as a video speaker. My BDP's do the content connection and the 5.1 audio. I am also creating a media room where I want to install a full HD LED beamer + a homecinema center (HTS3560). I am currently selecting the beamer, but sofar unsuccesfull because of price/quality (I am patient).

So far I can reach the NAS content, but I noticed I have to restructure the scan directories (as these are not in my root), to keep the non video/music separated from scanning.
Anyway, things enough to do, but this one is great step forward. Thx for your help FvdW. If I can be of any help let me know.