Stream a movie to a thin client???

[scottw]

Do anyone here stream movies to a thin client?? I have a XL server with all of the movies on it and connect various thin clients to it. I know if I had fat clients this would work but I was trying to figure out a way to get it to work with the thin client, I just don't want to install XL to all of the computers in the house (mainly laptops) but want to stream movies to them.

It appears the "execute file on client" has not worked for some time if ever but this sounds like what I would need.


Thanks for any advice.

[Marbles_00]

you can't use a thin client in that sort of term. Since they are only running a simple executable and not a full version, they are very limited.

If you indeed want to run video on a PPC, or other "thin client" that has the ability to play streaming video, you should look into using Orb. Install the Orb server on the Xlobby server, then you can be anywhere in the world and connect up to it and stream all your music, pictures and video. You can even setup a TV tuner card for watching TV and recording (though I haven't done that). Pretty cool software I must say. It will even wake the server in the event the server is asleep.

[scottw]

Thanks Marbles. I have tried ORB before and that is an option, but I was hoping to be able to use the "front end" everyone in the house is familiar with

Thanks for the reply.

[dalanik]

I used ORB and decided against it, only because it doesn't allow one to have permanant database, but creates database all over again on each start. Let me explain. I have 3 NASes, 2 are mostly offline and I turn them on only when I need them, 1 is "storage router" (Wl700gE) which is always online.

Now, with Orb, if my 2 NASes (or 1) is offline, it would scan all over again for data (media). This simply uses CPU and HDD to 100%, so is unacceptable. I just want to have static database, and if my NAS is offline, i want it to tell me media is unavailable, not rescan whole DB from scratch.

ORB was made for regular PC users which use and keep all media on 1 PC. Not for complex setups with external drives, HTPC and NASes.

That's why I decided to try VideoLAN (VLC). It can stream to Windows Media Player, and supports command line, is very flexible and powerfull, even though the learning curve is... well, If I lived through Xlobby...

I'll let you guys on the progres. Right now I'm just considering the idea and still playing with "now playing" banners for Free Lobby

D.

[scottw]

I used ORB and decided against it, only because it doesn't allow one to have permanant database, but creates database all over again on each start. Let me explain. I have 3 NASes, 2 are mostly offline and I turn them on only when I need them, 1 is "storage router" (Wl700gE) which is always online.

Now, with Orb, if my 2 NASes (or 1) is offline, it would scan all over again for data (media). This simply uses CPU and HDD to 100%, so is unacceptable. I just want to have static database, and if my NAS is offline, i want it to tell me media is unavailable, not rescan whole DB from scratch.

ORB was made for regular PC users which use and keep all media on 1 PC. Not for complex setups with external drives, HTPC and NASes.

That's why I decided to try VideoLAN (VLC). It can stream to Windows Media Player, and supports command line, is very flexible and powerfull, even though the learning curve is... well, If I lived through Xlobby...

I'll let you guys on the progres. Right now I'm just considering the idea and still playing with "now playing" banners for Free Lobby

D.

Sounds cool.....are you launching the movies thru XL??? If so is it a fat or thin client?

Thanks,

[dalanik]

I'm still not lounching anything, just examining the possibilities With ORB, I just used Dell Axim as a client, it was the only cool thing about PDA, but then only to impress friends - just sit at a pub with WiFi access and show them movies/music/pics from your hard drive

I want to be able to use any PC in my LAN or from the internet to stream audio/video. I'm thinking of making some sort of HTML interface (web page) which would read XLobby XML database and display it, and then you should somehow be able to click on a link to open stream (sort of duplicating what ORB does). But it's only an idea right now.

VLC has a plugin for FireFox which does something like this, but it is dependent on FireFox. I want to be able to do it from as many different platforms if possible, i.e. PC's browser (any) and PDAs, Windows Media Player, etc.

But it looks to me rather complex, so it might take some time

D.

[scottw]

Cool, that sounds like exactly what I am looking for. I want to be able to goto any PC in my house and be able to watch a movie on that PC without having to install XL. I don't mind copying the thin client to each pc but don't want to have to install/manage XL on each PC. I know I can do this with just browsing the share and launch the movies but I was hoping to use the XL interface since my wife and daughter are already use to it.

Please keep us posted on your progress if you don't mind.

[Marbles_00]

I`m just so curious about thin client,but still don`t understand what is thin client.

Within the xlobby subdirectory there is a directory called client. In there is an executable that you copy over to your computer or ppc you wish to connect to the xlobby server. There is also a text file called server.txt in which you define your client parameters....this also needs to be copied over.

Once you have XNET running on the server, you can connect to it via this client. All it is, is a shell of xlobby where you command xlobby to do everything as if you were sitting at the server. If you have "Mimic" turned on, then the server will follow the client screens.

There are no databases copied over, no screens, no plugins...just that executable is run (and xlobby running on the server).

To let you know, a "FAT" client is a client that is running xlobby independently that when started, it connects to the server and copies over all the required databases, and can act as a zone for mutli-zoning purposes.

Hope this helps.

[scottw]

I used ORB and decided against it, only because it doesn't allow one to have permanant database, but creates database all over again on each start. Let me explain. I have 3 NASes, 2 are mostly offline and I turn them on only when I need them, 1 is "storage router" (Wl700gE) which is always online.

Now, with Orb, if my 2 NASes (or 1) is offline, it would scan all over again for data (media). This simply uses CPU and HDD to 100%, so is unacceptable. I just want to have static database, and if my NAS is offline, i want it to tell me media is unavailable, not rescan whole DB from scratch.

ORB was made for regular PC users which use and keep all media on 1 PC. Not for complex setups with external drives, HTPC and NASes.

That's why I decided to try VideoLAN (VLC). It can stream to Windows Media Player, and supports command line, is very flexible and powerfull, even though the learning curve is... well, If I lived through Xlobby...

I'll let you guys on the progres. Right now I'm just considering the idea and still playing with "now playing" banners for Free Lobby

D.

I know this is old but just wondering if dalanik got anywhere with this.

Thanks,

[dalanik]

Nope, I was testing VLC on my LAN and I had different results, sometimes it worked, sometimes it just wouldn't connect and stream.... so I decided it was not worth the effort if it's so unreliable...