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The Mac media server project

Jul 27, 2008 | Comment | Tags: , , , ,

Over the past few weeks I’ve spent dozens of hours trying to setup my Mac desktop to serve my music, videos and pictures to my UPNP player, a D-Link DSM320.

The D-Link is a set top box that connects to your video output (tv, projector, lcd screen) and allows you to control the content using a remote.

The basic premise is that you have libraries or folders on your Mac containing media files – UPNP compliant software then runs on the Mac, and pushes out the folder structure to your player(s).

The player then gets those files and folders and displays them on your television using a nicely laid out menu system.

The D-Link DSM320, for instance, comes with Windows based software that is functional but not very good, to be frank. When serving my media from my old Windows machine, I used an open source and free program called TVersity that was simply perfect.

But on the Mac platform, the software choices are limited. I’ve tried numerous programs ranging from free to $50 (trials, but fully functional).

My needs for my UPNP software were simple:

  • display my videos using my pre-defined folder structure (eg; Movies\Genre)
  • allow file system folders to be added – some software only uses iTunes/iPhoto, which do not support some file types or video codecs.
  • run as a system service and be securely accessible from outside my home network
  • be inexpensive and easy to configure

So how did it work out? Not well…below is a quick overview of the apps I tested, and the end result – at least for now.

  • Elgato EyeConnect – met many of my criteria by having a PrefPane based setup and a great method of adding folders, but even when connected via ethernet, EyeConnect was slow – buffering to the point of making video unwatchable and even amusing. Their online support for the product is anemic and there are no visible advanced options like changing ports, buffer sizes or on-the-fly encoding.
  • OSXMBC Plex – never launched fully. Gave me a white window and a menu. That’s it. Meh.
  • MyiHome – ugh. Never launched, caused me to have to reboot after it locked up the system.
  • Allegro MediaCenter – only supports iTunes style libraries…does do PS3 integration though.
  • CyberMedia Gate – never even launched, despite numerous attempts to tweak Java and system settings.
  • MediaTomb – requires an install of Fink (Unix package manager) – never fully worked despite my best intentions to utilize something free and configurable. Also has the worst documentation ever for their Mac version.
  • CynicalPeak Rivet – if it could be seen by my D-link, it would have been perfect. it could see my player over the network, but the Dlink never recognized it as a server. Too bad.
  • TwonkyMedia – web based, easy to configure – but terribly unreliable. Server failed repeatedly and it was a bitch to uninstall. Also, no discernible way to keep my file system structure.

So, after about 8 straight hours of messing with it yesterday, what did I end up with as my media server software?

TVersity, running in Windows via Parallels.

Yep…in order to use my Mac as a media server I had to resort to using Windows, Not my ideal solution, but it works perfectly. I have everything I need running just right. It’s fast – even going through the Windows > virtual machine > Mac > network > wireless method.

As I continue to find a native Mac solution to this project, i will update this post. Until then, feel free to offer your solutions to make the Mac the center of your multimedia world.

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  • JH
    Check out NullRiver Medialink. Its designed to integrate directly with iTunes, iPhoto and Aperture. Although its designed to connect to the PS3, the PS3 can only see UPNP servers, so I assume your D-Link should see it just fine.

    http://www.nullriver.com/products/medialink
  • George
    I can get you an invite to Boxee... go to inviteshare.com and register there, I will try to serve everyone I can this weekend.
  • Great post! Yup, shamefully it looks like TVersity under Parallels is still the best option for us Mac users. And this is from a guy who even managed to get Mediatomb working after spending days in the Terminal window...but I couldn't in my life recommend it to anyone due to the install process, and it still doesn't fully deviler what I want anyway...although at least it's free, but to be honest, I'd pay $100 for someone to enable streaming MKV files to the PS3 from the Mac.

    I also ended up buying MediaLink from Nullriver, $20. It was good when it first came out, but seems to have gotten worse and worse performance wise over the various releases, I now cannot stream 10 seconds of video without the PS3 losing the connection. Mediatomb on the other hand is solid connection-wise...and I'm on wired gigabit with my computers and my PS3, can't get faster than that!

    What I really want is "transcoding", but this seems to be the elusive holy grail for now. Mediatomb sort of has transcoding, but it's pretty difficult to configure. I've actually got it to the point where my PS3 can see and play my .mkv files through Mediatomb, but it'll play about 4 seconds, pause for 4, play for 4, etc. Close, but so far. I'm trying to tweak the buffer settings, but I've no idea what to try. Well, and it also doesn't read my .mkv files with 5.1 audio, as the transcoding settings are set to transcode everything to 2 channel. I'd assume that can be fixed through more configuring of text files, but I dunno where to start with that either.

    So yeah, it would be great if one of the better Mac developers could step up and fill the huge gap in the Mac media-serving world. Like I said, easily worth $100 to me.

    For now, it's TVersity, or more likely, converting everything with MPEGStreamclip. Maybe Sony will add MKV support in a future firmware update...LOL...

    Anyway, thanks for your time, have a good day!
  • Martin
    Hi.. I have now tried numerous medaservers as well.. it has however not been successfull.. I haven't even gotten tversity to work.. I can't see the server on my PS3.. Am I doing something wrong? I would think it was quite easy..
  • Håkan
    I have a mixed LAN with Macs and PC:s and a NASduo. I have an external drive connected to my iMac with Firewire and a DSM-320 unit.
    I would like to be able to play my Aperture photos through the DSM-320.
    I have tried several mediaservers, Twonky, Tversity, Orb etc with bad luck. Now I found Medialink, which seems as the perfect option. However, my DSM does not see the Medialink server.
    Should a DSM be able to play from Medialink?

    So far I find as the second best option is to use Orb from a PC, but I cant access my Aperture Library with it.

    Is there anyone out there with a godd solution?
    Cheers,
    /Håkan
  • DNO
    I use vuze (Azureus) as a torrent client, my PS3 discovered automatically as a media server, i was able to read music and video files after I enabled the "Publish media to local network" option. Go to Vuze Menu -> Preferences -> Plugins -> Media Server to enable it.

    It only will publish the files under the Vuze Library, for the files that are not there you will need to drag and drop the files (not able to share an entire folder) into the library. That will add your files under the "Classic Shares"

    I'm using the latest Vuze version, some sharing features where disabled, with older versions you where able to share folders.

    The bad thing is that your files will be shared over the internet, be careful with that, I believe you can unshare the files clicking on the stop button, but not sure.

    The streaming works perfectly! Hope this helps.
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