I have a new TV that plays video and music files over the home network. The TV can find the stand-a-lone backup disk drive and my wifes windows pc but not the Linux computers.
The Linux boxes do not see the TV but the windows box can see the TV. Is it possible to get the TV and Linux boxes to see each other?
Thanks in advance.
I haven’t the foggiest (but most likely yes) … we’ll need more info …
Make/Model of TV … So I can try get the manual.
Make/Model of “stand alone backup drive” … I take it you mean a NAS drive ? … which is probably running Linux, and maybe a media streaming service.
When you say the Windows box can “see” the TV, how ? … in a supplied application, or in the network neighborhood thingy ? … and what does it “see” ?
Which version(s) of Windows ? … eg. Win7 home premium, etc.
TV that plays video and music files over the home network
Does that mean the TV can access shared folders on the Windows PC and play the contents ? … as in streaming media from the Windows box ?
Can the Windows and Linux boxes see each other on the network ?
Oh, and erm … Which Linux distro(s)/version(s) are we talking about ?
I’m fairly sure this is just a network config issue, and/or that you need to install/configure a media streaming service such as Ushare.
I’m using ushare to share files with the TV and x box but the TV tells me that even mp3 files are “not supported” so gave up in the end.
@ galaxytdm … are you talking about a networkable TV, or the Xbox, or both … the Xbox is VERY choosy about video and mp3 sampling/bitrates.
So if they’ll play on the PC, but not on the TV/Xbox, it’s highly likely re-encoding them to a standard the TV and/or Xbox supports will work.
It’s unlikely (though I suppose possible) to be a problem with Ushare … more likely a limitation of the device itself.
An mp3 can be encoded using many different sampling and bit rates
Devices like Xboxes and Network TV’s only support “certain” rates … PC’s support MANY more.
mp3’s are not all created equal … but this is nothing to do with streaming and/or Linux.
That said, it’s usually easier (if you have one) to just store video and tunes on a NAS drive that has a media server, then share them from that to everything (PC’s included) … even in Windows.
You can also try installing the Rygel DLNA server on the Ubuntu box:
sudo apt-get install rygel rygel-gst-renderer rygel-playbin rygel-preferences
then configure it by starting rygel-preferences (menu’s or command line)
and starting it with:
rygel
you’ll then find an extra device listed on the xbox called 's media
Rygel seems better for music, as it transcodes the mp3’s on the fly.
Ushare seems to be better at the pictures.
Can’t say which is better at Video, as I haven’t tried rygel for video.
But nothing to stop you running both at bootup (neither use much memory), and only using Rygel for sharing the ~/Music directory, and Ushare for ~/Video and ~/Pictures … or whatever variation suits best.
The problem with the Xbox is that it doesn’t fully adhere to any standard (such as UPnP or DLNA) … a Network TV probably does.
OK The network drive is LACIE Network Space connected to the LAN Router by cable and is about 5 years old (this model is no longer produced).
The Windows box is operating Vista Home Premium connected by cable to the LAN Router the TV (shown as TV) and the Linux boxes all show up in Network connections.
The TV is a Phillips 6000 series and is connected to the LAN Router by cable on selecting browse the network the windows PC and Network drive are listed can be selected. Video and music files on the network drive and the PC along with photos can be directly streamed through the TV.
Linux box operating Ubuntu 11.04 - the Natty Narwhal all boxes can see and share files but the TV can not see the Linux box and Linux can not see the TV.
According to this page:
http://www.supportforum.philips.com/en/showthread.php?1306-0-10-how-you-rate-your-DLNA-streaming-experience/page2
Phillips TV’s seem to work with the MiniDLNA media steaming server 
Though an earlier page suggests they have problems if the TV has firmware version 140.xx … see here:
http://www.supportforum.philips.com/en/showthread.php?849-7605-8605-9705-DLNA-problem
I’m about (tonight) to do a writeup of how to install/configure MiniDLNA in Ubuntu as it works perfectly with an Xbox 360, and is supposed to support more TV’s than the other UPnP/DLNA servers in Linux.
I’ll post a link to the tutorial later.
I’m a bit baffled ATM as to why the TV shows up in Windows (Network Connections), but not in Linux (Network) … but this is probably fixable by giving the TV a static IP, then creating a bookmark to its IP.
Is this necessary … is there any benefit to the Linux box having a “shortcut” to the TV … as long as the TV sees the Linux media steamer ?
No I can not see any advantage to the Linux box of have a short-cut to the TV.
Will look out for your posting.
OK … here you go:
http://linuxforums.org.uk/index.php?topic=9822.msg70375#msg70375
BTW, it looks more daunting than it actually is … I had to add different sections for different versions of Ubuntu.