DLNA... what a mess

[pfarber]

So I swapped my router from DD-WRT to OPEN-WRT because it was easier to implement a simple DLNA (media streaming) server with OPEN-WRT and adding a USB HDD off my routers USB port.

Cool! I'll upload some videos and watch them anywhere... HAHAAHAHAHAHAHA sure.

Well, DLNA and the only dlna available in open-wrt(minidlna) is a shitstorm of nothing fucking works. OPEN-WRT cannot transcode (change from one video format to another on the fly) as it doesn't have the CPU/RAM so do it. So I had to figure out a common media format and bitrate that works. The Amazon Fire Stick likes one format, my VIZIO tv another, my Galaxy S4 another and my Sony Blu-ray another... and Windows Media Player is a pile of shit that likes almost nothing. VLC took everything I threw at it so I simply stopped testing it because it just fucking worked.

So 3 days later I FINALLY get a common format. The biggest issue was pure bitrate. A file sent over my 2.4Ghz b/g/n wireless has to be optimized much more than anything sent over the 1Gbps Ethernet.

Using ffmpeg I found that:

ffmpeg -i input.mkv -c:v libx264 -b:v 1M -maxrate 1M -bufsize 2M -minrate 1M output.mp4

Is the most liked format. The kicker was getting ffmpeg to obey the 1Mbps bitrate limit.

MP3 and JPEG files needed no massaging and were universally accepted.

The next shitstorm is trying to get 40 DVDs worth of 'Friends' ripped, converted, indexed and stored. The next person who says 'I just popped in a disk and it all just worked' if a fucking LIAR.