Streaming from NAS to Android or Iphone

[firwareslut]

I am keen to get my mobile working with the NAS and so far have come up with very little in the way of variety to stream music from my NAS to the mobile.

Here is what I have come up with so far.

Successful way
============

- Login with PPTP VPN to the NAS or your home router
- Use BSPlayer free and create an SMB connection to the NAS (Android)
- Use Buzz Player with SMB connection (Iphone)
- XMBC (Ipad, iphone, android)

The results of this are variable. Buzz player on the iphone is the most stable but it is quite annoying to use (especially with many directories). It doesn't work very well as a background player and is not optimal in the UI for music playback.
BSplayer on Android is much the same but is better at browsing large collections.

XBMC works pretty good on the idea as a music collection browser. The android version I cannot get to run the iphone is flaky. At least you can create SMB/NFS connections with this app though. Unfortunately, XBMC is quite intensive and heavy on the GUI. It can become very slow and unresponsive and also does not play nicely in the background. The music stops if you dont have focus.

The problem with most of these players is keeping the music running or moving onto the next item in the playlist if the screen goes black.

What doesn't work
===============

uPNP/DLNA over PPTP does not work. It cannot find any devices. This is a flaw in PPTP (as far as I understand).

Unsuccessful tries
===============

I have tried OpenVPN but this doesnt work with iphone and I have had zero success getting openvpn working on Android (requires compiled kernel/modules). I suspect it might get uPNP/DLNA to work but I don't know. Unfortunately, 98% of the music players for Android are all based on upnp or direct music access.

I have also tried a permanent samba mount on the Android but have suffered the same problem as getting openvpn to work. I have had zero success getting a working kernel or installable module on my Samsung phone. This would have allowed me to create a file mount and then use a decent media player to create a library from the "local" files.

Other solutions
============

There is a solution from BubbleUpnp that allows you to install a java server on the NAS and stream to your phone. Unfortunately, it seems unlikely we can get Java working on the NAS.

QNAP/QMobile has a solution but it seems this is proprietary and not installable on our NAS.


Anyone else come up with anything?

[fvdw]

did you try the webinterface of Twonky it has a html and flash browser possibility ?

I can access it using http://10.5.1.2:9000 in which 10.5.1.2 is the vpn addres of pptp server running on the nas
The standard htm version is then directly available

twonky-interface.JPG

To connect to the flash version of html browser you need to enter in the configuration menu first, or use this url http://10.5.1.2:9000/resources/remote/remoteaccess.html
(this is assuming you use twonky 6)
It looks like this

twonky-flash-interface.JPG

ps I don't think it is pptp issue that it cannot find upnp players, all ports are available and accesible on the vpn addres of the server.

[firwareslut]

I will have a look at twonky and see.

Broadcast/multicast is not carried over PPTP which is why it doesnt find any upnp server. I am not the only one experiencing this problem. Unfortunately, i havent come across any phone app that gives access by url.

[mdi]

Hi, for Android, I just configured MINI DLNA on the NAS and I used HomeDia app on my smartphone or tabled, both Android powered.

HomeDia is very simple and it just access MINI DLNA content easily. Just open it and select REMOTE DEVICE.
Then you can browse your shared media.
Over the network I never get any delays on my home LAN.

Cheers,
MDI

[firwareslut]

Oh , i can access DLNA locally connected with WIFI that's not a problem. The problem has been connecting using 3G and logging into the network with VPN. It cannot find remote UPNP/DLNA shares over PPTP. :dontknow

[Jocko]

Hi firwareslut,

Just a question. When you are connected via 3G and logging into the vpn network, are you still able to access into the WAN ?

(If not, try to disable the default gateway on vpn network)

[firwareslut]

I bought an ASUS router and the custom firmware for it supports VPN so I have been using that instead and I can access the WAN.

[Jocko]

Other idea :

In minidlna.conf file (in the minidlna share), option "network_interface" is not set. I read from several sites that you must handle this option to resolve some issues (at least with the version 1.18). So maybe, minidlna uses a default value which it's not right with the pptp network (not sure).

[firwareslut]

PPTP just does not support the finding of devices for upnp/dlna, that's why no one has it working :p