Hi all, I am looking for a media player for my Android tablet and phone to play movies from an in-house server. So, my first question: is there anyone here who does this? If so, how?
Because I keep having problems; tried to solve them years ago but gave up as experimenting took too much time. Yet it keeps bugging me, so I started again.
The situation:
I have two 'servers': a) a Windows10 PC, b) A (Humax) DVR. Both are connected to the LAN with wire. (I used to have a NAS-box; gave the same problems.)
As 'player', I'd like to use Android tablets and phones over WiFi.
The problems:
I tried different methods (described hereunder) but I always meet with the following problems.
1) Especially Hi-Res movies are almost always hampered by intermittend pauses; sometimes the picture freezes while only the sound goes on.
2) Using the 'progress bar' as a means to start a movie half-way works not at all or frustratingly erratic; impossible to re-start a movie at a certain place. This is especially annoying because
3) Interrupting the movie makes it start all-over next time. (Sometimes I'm asked "do you want to continue or re-start?" but the choice 'continue' nevertheless leads to re-start).
4) Some movie formats will not be played by some mediaplayers; but this becomes a problem only if and when the first 3 are resolved.
I tried two different methods:
- Method 1: using a 'filemanager' to connect to the Windows10 PC; then 'opening' the file in the same way as when the file was on the device itself.
- Method 2: the DNLA way, that is using a mediaplayer to directly connect to a UPnP-server.
Several FileManagers for Android (e.g. the ES-manager, but I tried others as well) allow me to connect to the Windows10 PC and navigate the folders. Selecting a movie presents me with a choice of the players I have installed (VLC, A+, Xtreme Player, Gallery, etc.). Some movies (not all) DO kind-of 'play' but with the problems mentioned above. With this method, the 'progress bar' can more-or-less be used to 'jump' part of the movie, but on the other hand problem 1) makes watching Hi-Res movies impossibly frustrating. (It kind-of works for Lo-Res movies.)
Many mediaplayers can directly connect to a DNLA MediaServer (without the need for a Filemanager in between) and this is advertised as 'the' way to do what I want.
Results with my DVR as server are deplorable, with all of the above problems playing up. So, I tried a whole range of MediaServers on the Win10 PC: Windows Media, VLC, MediaMonkey, Universal Media Server, Visiio, Plex and others. I connected to these with DNLA-capable MediaPlayers like VLC, Xtreme Player and others; I also tried 'DNLA-clients' like MediaHouse, BubbleUPnP and Dinkgo. So far, without much success: where problem 1) is absent, problems 2) to 4) are very much present.
Some extra info:
- Some issues seem to be related to the speed of the connection. My wired LAN is 100Mb/s; for WiFi I have a (TP-link) box supporting both frequencies and all hi-speed protocols.
- When using my windows notebook I have a lot less problems; I can navigate to the video folder on the Win10 'server' and start a movie by just double-clicking; it then plays without ANY of the problems mentioned above. (Although problem 4) required downloading codecs.)
Using a DNLA connection, though, remains kind-of problematic, but that of course has nothing to do with Android
Trying out various mediaservers in combination with the great number of mediaplayers available proved a laborious task - so I hope for some help or good advice here. At a pinch, I'm willing to change all my hard- and software, as long as the solution will work.
Thanks for any help,
Mabel
Because I keep having problems; tried to solve them years ago but gave up as experimenting took too much time. Yet it keeps bugging me, so I started again.
The situation:
I have two 'servers': a) a Windows10 PC, b) A (Humax) DVR. Both are connected to the LAN with wire. (I used to have a NAS-box; gave the same problems.)
As 'player', I'd like to use Android tablets and phones over WiFi.
The problems:
I tried different methods (described hereunder) but I always meet with the following problems.
1) Especially Hi-Res movies are almost always hampered by intermittend pauses; sometimes the picture freezes while only the sound goes on.
2) Using the 'progress bar' as a means to start a movie half-way works not at all or frustratingly erratic; impossible to re-start a movie at a certain place. This is especially annoying because
3) Interrupting the movie makes it start all-over next time. (Sometimes I'm asked "do you want to continue or re-start?" but the choice 'continue' nevertheless leads to re-start).
4) Some movie formats will not be played by some mediaplayers; but this becomes a problem only if and when the first 3 are resolved.
I tried two different methods:
- Method 1: using a 'filemanager' to connect to the Windows10 PC; then 'opening' the file in the same way as when the file was on the device itself.
- Method 2: the DNLA way, that is using a mediaplayer to directly connect to a UPnP-server.
Several FileManagers for Android (e.g. the ES-manager, but I tried others as well) allow me to connect to the Windows10 PC and navigate the folders. Selecting a movie presents me with a choice of the players I have installed (VLC, A+, Xtreme Player, Gallery, etc.). Some movies (not all) DO kind-of 'play' but with the problems mentioned above. With this method, the 'progress bar' can more-or-less be used to 'jump' part of the movie, but on the other hand problem 1) makes watching Hi-Res movies impossibly frustrating. (It kind-of works for Lo-Res movies.)
Many mediaplayers can directly connect to a DNLA MediaServer (without the need for a Filemanager in between) and this is advertised as 'the' way to do what I want.
Results with my DVR as server are deplorable, with all of the above problems playing up. So, I tried a whole range of MediaServers on the Win10 PC: Windows Media, VLC, MediaMonkey, Universal Media Server, Visiio, Plex and others. I connected to these with DNLA-capable MediaPlayers like VLC, Xtreme Player and others; I also tried 'DNLA-clients' like MediaHouse, BubbleUPnP and Dinkgo. So far, without much success: where problem 1) is absent, problems 2) to 4) are very much present.
Some extra info:
- Some issues seem to be related to the speed of the connection. My wired LAN is 100Mb/s; for WiFi I have a (TP-link) box supporting both frequencies and all hi-speed protocols.
- When using my windows notebook I have a lot less problems; I can navigate to the video folder on the Win10 'server' and start a movie by just double-clicking; it then plays without ANY of the problems mentioned above. (Although problem 4) required downloading codecs.)
Using a DNLA connection, though, remains kind-of problematic, but that of course has nothing to do with Android
Trying out various mediaservers in combination with the great number of mediaplayers available proved a laborious task - so I hope for some help or good advice here. At a pinch, I'm willing to change all my hard- and software, as long as the solution will work.
Thanks for any help,
Mabel