Using the Joggler as a video/media server with the Xbox 360

[gegs]

I recently bought an Apple TV2 and installed XBMC on it, which allows me to stream video from SMB shares - including the Joggler. It's fab!

Although a lot of people don't have an ATV2, they might have an Xbox 360 - there's a lot of them about. The Xbox 360 (being an MS product) tries to tie users to Windows by supporting streaming from Windows Media Centre or Media Player 11 only, but there's a way to circumvent this if you run Linux. I mainly run Ubuntu on the Joggler - my wife uses the stock OS. There's a great little server called ushare that can serve video in an Xbox acceptable format. It doesn't support all video types but it's better than no support at all and it will run most common file types (no mkv files - and mp4 videos need to have the extension changed to m4v; I've only read the last bit in forums but haven't tried it yet).
------EDIT------- The mp4 to m4v thing didn't work.

You can read more about it here: http://bit.ly/mCrwOf
I just added the geexbox repository mentioned on page 2 of the thread - "deb http://www.geexbox.org/debian/ unstable main" - to Synaptic and installed ushare. I didn't check if ushare is already part of the Ubuntu repositories first but it might be. Synaptic found and selected the dependencies I needed; a lot easier than installing everything separately.

You can read how to address your network interface here: http://bit.ly/iO8YUy
In the /etc/ushare.conf file I changed "USHARE_IFACE=eth0" to "USHARE_IFACE=wlan0" but what you do depends on your set up.

I'll edit this post to add my full ushare command when I get home tonight (it's a CLI tool but you can make a desktop launcher if you want).

Despite warnings when setting up my network that my router wasn't up to the job of high-def streaming to the Xbox 360 (it's a G router), it serves up 720p WMV music videos from my Joggler to my Plasma TV with excellent results.

File formats officially supported by ushare are:
* Video files : asf, avi, dv, divx, wmv, mjpg, mjpeg, mpeg, mpg, mpe, mp2p, vob, mp2t, m1v, m2v, m4v, m4p, mp4ps, ts, ogm, mkv, rmvb, mov, qt
* Audio files : aac, ac3, aif, aiff, at3p, au, snd, dts, rmi, mp1, mp2, mp3, mp4, mpa, ogg, wav, pcm, lpcm, l16, wma, mka, ra, rm, ram
* Images files : bmp, ico, gif, jpeg, jpg, jpe, pcd, png, pnm, ppm, qti, qtf, qtif, tif, tiff
* Playlist files : pls, m3u, asx
* Subtitle files : dks, idx, mpl, pjs, psb, scr, srt, ssa, stl, sub, tts, vsf, zeg
* Various text files : bup, ifo
Other formats can be added:

If you want uShare to support more file formats, simply add its properties in the src/mime.c table. Do not forget to send a patch to update uShare.

but that's beyond my capabilities, I'm afraid.

----------------------------EDIT--------------------------------

The ushare command I run in the terminal is:

ushare -n joggler -x -c /media/

The above assumes that /media/ is where your media files are stored. The location will be scanned for media files and the directory sub-folder structure will be maintained.

[hawsey]

Hi Gegs ,
love your idea , amazing what can be done with a pimped up picture frame .
A couple of questions ; how are you booting your joggler , mem sticks or hdd .
What sort of set up have you got for using your joggler as a server ( ethernet / usb ?) i am interested in this in particular
.Also did you use a mac to hack your ATV 2 ( if indeed you did ) and if so have you tried ice films (xbmc add on ) yet .
Many thanks
Gary

[gegs]

@hawsey - I boot my Joggler from USB HDD using an ext4 image of Ubuntu Maverick. I think ext4 has a more mature journalling/crash recovery system for hard disks than btrfs at the moment. It was a bit hard to set up the image on the hard drive at first because Windiskimager wouldn't recognise the device. I had to start Windiskimager with a USB stick in then, while the program was running, I removed the stick and plugged in the removable hard drive; It worked like a dream after that. Not all USB drives will operate on the limited power from the Joggler USB port; do your homework on this topic. This is the one I use - http://bit.ly/iSkBub

I used Gparted to increase the size of the ext4 partition and to create a FAT32 partition for transferable data (where I save my media files etc.)

I use Joggler's wi-fi to serve data to other devices. If you install ushare and run it as per my previous instructions, it will be seen as a device by Xbox 360; you can then browse folders and play (supported) media files.

I used Firecore's "SeasonPass" for Windows (free) to jailbreak my ATV2 and also bought their ATVFlash black product. ATVFlash black (the one for ATV2) also has its own media player that can browse SMB or AFP shares for supported media files; it struggles with some high-def files but an update due later this month is supposed to address memory problems and support more media types. I have tried the Icefilms plugin and it's great. With the ATV2 it's best to stream rather than save Icefilms stuff because the device only has 8gb of storage and no support for external storage. You could also, as I do, download files using the Joggler then stream them to the ATV2.

I don't want to get into too much discussion about Apple TV2, except where it relates to interfacing with the Joggler, because it's a bit off-topic. There are other forums with more comprehensive info on the device.

[hawsey]

@geggs thanks for the reply, that sounds like a nice little project for me. I have had my mother (mam) badgering me for a joggler since she spyed mine the other day. They have no interest in a full size computer but something like you describe which would stream movies to an Atv would be ideal ;would you mind if i pm you to save straying off topic.

[gegs]

No problem with PM but I'm more of a dabbler than an expert. Glad to be of help if I can.

If it concerns a project to interface the ATV2 with the Joggler though, it might be best to keep the info within this topic or to start another with a title like "Using the Joggler as a video/media server with the Apple TV2"; we could then share information with the group and draw on their expertise.

If serving/streaming video is what you're after, an alternative to the ATV2 is an Acer Revo that can run XBMC and Boxee. The new model costs a small fortune and has a blue-ray player but you might get one of the older models at a reasonable price.