Serviio

Hi all,
just a little question... to know your opinion as DLNA experts.

In order to manage my multimedia files I actualli use a Netgear NV+ NAS unit (MiniDLNA) together with a LG BD-570 (DLNA compliant) bluray player.
This solution works fine... except for the lack of information that are available about every single item (media file) in the database.

In other words: when my wife is choosing a film to watch, the only thing that she can count on is the film's poster... that's not a great help.

She always ask me "...why don't you give me the chance to press a button and obtain some info about the film I'm choosing? Genres, actors, storylines... and so on?"

To better explain her idea: even without involving databases, search options etc... it would be enough a behaviour like this:



I've tried to find a trick, but still no luck. It's incredible that the DLNA protocol, born to manage media files, doesn't provide the option to pass something like an <ALT> file, containing info about the actual (ready-to-play) file.

In your opinion, is there a way to get a solution for the above issue...?

Thank you in advance for your help (...even if it will probably be just a shoulder to cry on )

Regards

DLNA protocol does provide it, it's the devices that choose to ignore that and not have the UI for it, probably based on the fact most media servers don't supply the data. Serviio does.

Thank you for your quick answer, zip.

Not sure I've understood.

I'm looking for a way "...to pass something like an <ALT> file, containing info about the actual (ready-to-play) file", and you say that


...Are you talking about posters (images to usa as icons for media files, already OK on minidlna too), or are you saying me that Serviio already can do what I mean, that is "linking" an item -the movie- to another item -a .jpg image containing infos about thhe movie, to be shown in full screen before the movie- ?

...(or are you thinking about a playlist, or something like that?)

Than you again

Regards

Serviio gets movie matatada from the internet, so it knows about the actors, directors, genre, plot summary, etc. It sends it to the devices, as per DLNA protocol spec. But I don't now about any device that actually uses this data for showing them to the viewers in any meaningful way.

I believe what Zip is refering to is that the Serviio database already contains information such as actors, director, plot synopsis, etc as well as the DVD cover image. I've looked within the database and have seen all the stored data available. But to view this data is entirely dependent on your playback device. Neither my Panasonic TV or Blu-Ray player has any method to display this information. I also have a Sony media streamer box, and I have seen it display this info from on-line sources but I have not attempted to see if it works from my Serviio stream.

EDIT: I checked the Sony N200 media box and it also will not display any of the metadata. It does however allow selecting subtitles and alternate audio tracks (if available), as does my new Panasonic BDT220 Bluray player.

There's nothing that can be done from the stream provider's (such as Serviio) side to allow you to see the information. It has to be built into the stream receiver.

OK... it's clear that

...but they're not useful, because

In other words, there's no

(...and that's the reason why many people hate DLNA, in my opinion...)

But my idea is different. Try to better explain.
I'm looking for a "trick" to push a .jpg file (...just to let you understand: think to a screenshot of an IMDB's page...) as a "header", before the delivery of the choosen file (the movie).
How to obtain those .jpg is a different step (...but thinking to generate them on the fly using the information stored on the db, instead of having pre-generated files for all videos, is possible.)
The above could be done working on the server-side only.

...Should it be possible to work on the concept of playlist? Maybe.
...Should it be possible to think to a particular container (filetype), allowing a "preswentation screen" (a menu?) that could be used for displaying info? Maybe.

I would like to know your opinion... in other words: do you think it's possible? And what's the way you consider the most promising to (try to) achieve a result..?

Thank you in advance for your answers

Regards

It probably would be possible, but I don't think I'll be implementing this. Sorry.

Ok... these are my final results about the above stuff.

- playlist: not usable, because the playlist is not considered (...at least by minidlna) as a file, but as a container. The playlist is served to the player exactly as a folder, and this means (i)no thumbnail and (ii) no way to jump (at least on my player) from the first file (the info screen, a .jpg) to the second (the movie itself, a .avi).

- container: I tried using divx container, that (theoretically) supports menu. It seemed to be a promising way... but my player -even if it's "DivX certified"- doesn't (correctly) play a divx file containing menus (...it simply plays the first avi track).

No luck, in any way. But... I can say to my grandchildren that I've tried

Regards

Pierro -- very sporting of you to post a followup on your question of nearly a year ago. I also struggle with the horribly bland interfaces that are presented by most devices that advertise their support for DLNA. There are at least a couple of ways to get better information from your collection:

1. if your device supports the "get meta data" command for a given track or movie, then Serviio _will_ give you the details: genre, description, actors, etc. from the database.
2. could use the ServiiGO android app to browse the collection to find what you want to watch -- it does provide a more rich UI with covers and plot summaries -- then use the DLNA client to actually connect and watch the show

Thank you for your suggestions, zachofalltrades... but

unfortunately no



...that's exactly what I was trying to avoid

I'll wait for some new player (and/or some DLNA protocol enhancements), since I don't want to migrate to NMTs or HTPCs (I don't like to hear fans & disks running).

As the final chapter, I asked DivX labs a question: "I have a LG BD570 BR player, that's DivX certified (...or at least: it has the "DivX HD" logo printed on its case). Why can't I see the main menu, which is at the beginning on most of my DivX files...?"
...this is their answer:



Regards

Hi Piero,
I totally agree - Selecting what movie to view based on the limited metadata that most players provide is highly unsatisfactory - and in my opinion really limits the Serviio experience - and that's one reason why I believe Serviio is a great "enthusiast's product" but some way off a "consumer product".

When I add a new movie to my library, I create my own "stub" video file and place it alongside the movie file in the same folder.
see discussion here -> viewtopic.php?f=6&t=11240
and example here -> https://www.dropbox.com/s/r4vh5vn4n9pln ... mation.mkv

This works very well for my family - but sadly the code is not easily portable :/

======================================================================================================================================================

I also have an Android/tablet based alternative. I can access my own (non Serviio) movie database from my tablet then use Panasonic's "TV Remote 2" to push DLNA content from Serviio to the TV. This is OK if one or two people are making the selection, but its hard to share a tablet with more than one other. That's why we need a TV/player based method of presenting metadata.