SMB/CIFS vs Upnp/DLNA for local streaming from router connected pen drive.

raksrules

raksrules

Elite
In order to be able to stream my local media which is stored on couple of pen drives, I have attached the pen drives to my ASUS RT AC68 Router which is actually TMobile Cellspot router with Tmobile firmware. I have no intention to flash this router with any ASUS or any custom firmware. I am ok with how it is and it all works fine.

Now this router has 2 USB Ports, one USB 3.0 and one 2.0 and I am using one pen drive in each of them. On my iPad / Android phone tablet etc, I use nPlayer to watch local videos and even for local streaming. In the app, this router shows in 2 modes...

  • SMB/CIFS
  • Upnp/DLNA

Both enable me to stream videos from the pen drives over wifi but is there any of these which is better than other? Does it matter? In the SMB/CIFS, it shows me contents of both the pen drives together and directly shows me the video folders which is great and in Upnp/DLNA, I have to navigate as If I am in Windows Explorer navigating each pen drive separately.
 
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UPnP and DLNA servers will index and often times rename files, so what nPlayer sees won’t always match what you have on your Pen Drive
When using SMB, nPlayer is able to see the actual files with their original names, so it’s a much more reliable option if your device supports it

There should be no effect on quality of stream between the two -
 
The only real advantage I see for UPnP/DLNA is that it provides a small amount of metadata with the file. The "client" doesn't have to maintain its own library, it will just get the metadata from the "host". There should not be any difference in playback.
 
plex ftw!
edit: i didn’t read about the router part. i think it should not matter. both should have same perf numbers. if you have a plex/pi in future you could mount the smb on it and run a server though.
 
I think SMB is better. Even VLC allows direct playback on iOS. The only hassle would be the authentication but if open read only I think would work fine.
 
booo said:
plex ftw!
edit: i didn’t read about the router part. i think it should not matter. both should have same perf numbers. if you have a plex/pi in future you could mount the smb on it and run a server though.
Click to expand...

I have thought about setting up Plex and I do even have a laptop without screen that I can use but I don't really see much use as I don't hoard stuff, I watch and delete so for now I use my android tablet and download torrents and transfer to USB stick via OTG and then connect the stick to router and then I can watch my stuff on any device (tablet, phone, tv connected to router).
 
I have the AC68U. UPnP is a security risk, so never turn it on. You can use SMB v2 for compatibility or try NFS if it works well for you.

I ended up using FTP for local streaming as it offers much more throughput. Also have JellyFin server running on an old tablet that works well across devices.
 
t3chg33k said:
I have the AC68U. UPnP is a security risk, so never turn it on. You can use SMB v2 for compatibility or try NFS if it works well for you.

I ended up using FTP for local streaming as it offers much more throughput. Also have JellyFin server running on an old tablet that works well across devices.
Click to expand...

Seems you have exact same router as mine. I will see how to turn off UPnP. How did you use FTP? Can you suggest what setup to change, though chances are I may be unable to d everything since mine has tmobile firmware.

About Jellyfin, I did try to install on my fire hd 10 but it never worked or didn't install or something and then tried on samsung galaxy tab a7 and it did install but I guess i couldn't make it wok. Did you just download the server apk and pointed to folder (or it found itself) the video files on your tablet?
 
raksrules said:
Seems you have exact same router as mine. I will see how to turn off UPnP. How did you use FTP? Can you suggest what setup to change, though chances are I may be unable to d everything since mine has tmobile firmware.

About Jellyfin, I did try to install on my fire hd 10 but it never worked or didn't install or something and then tried on samsung galaxy tab a7 and it did install but I guess i couldn't make it wok. Did you just download the server apk and pointed to folder (or it found itself) the video files on your tablet?
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Yep, my AC68U is 6 years old now and still going strong. I would suggest switching over to Merlin firmware if you can as it much better. You could directly upgrade to the AC68U firmware in the past but I think Asus half-blocked it. If you can follow it, there's a guide over here to flash Merlin on TM-AC1900.

I am using JellyFin server on a Windows tablet but I assume the idea is the same. You have to manually add a path to each library and then it automatically sorts everything out.
 
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t3chg33k said:
Yep, my AC68U is 6 years and still going strong. I would suggest switching over to Merlin firmware if you can as it much better. You could directly upgrade to the AC68U firmware in the past but I think Asus half-blocked it. If you can follow it, there's a guide over here to flash Merlin on TM-AC1900.

I am using JellyFin server on a Windows tablet but I assume the idea is the same. You have to manually add a path to each library and then it automatically sorts everything out.
Click to expand...


Oh windows tablet? In that case it would work but unlike Emby which has APK for android for Emby server, Jellyfin does not have one from what I know.

Also what advantage I would have with Merlin firmware? Is there any place those are listed? Because honestly, I am super scared to do this flashing thing, that too on one of the primary routers in home and this is actually a relatively expensive router (although I got from mobile for $50 long back).
 
raksrules said:
Oh windows tablet? In that case it would work but unlike Emby which has APK for android for Emby server, Jellyfin does not have one from what I know.

Also what advantage I would have with Merlin firmware? Is there any place those are listed? Because honestly, I am super scared to do this flashing thing, that too on one of the primary routers in home and this is actually a relatively expensive router (although I got from mobile for $50 long back).
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That's true. Jellyfin is an open-source fork of Emby, but the Emby server apk came up after it went closed-source. Hence, server on Android is not a priority for them due to the niche use case.

I have linked the Merlin website in my earlier post. You can try uploading the *.trx file directly from the admin panel and see if it works, though it is likely it will not. I have been using Asuswrt-Merlin since I first got the router, so actually don't have any idea about the current Asus interface. On Merlin, all the servers including NFS and FTP are listed under USB Application > Servers Center.
 
raksrules said:
Oh windows tablet? In that case it would work but unlike Emby which has APK for android for Emby server, Jellyfin does not have one from what I know.

Also what advantage I would have with Merlin firmware? Is there any place those are listed? Because honestly, I am super scared to do this flashing thing, that too on one of the primary routers in home and this is actually a relatively expensive router (although I got from mobile for $50 long back).
Click to expand...
Jellyfin has an Android app now

play.google.com

Jellyfin - Apps on Google Play

Your media, on your terms.
play.google.com play.google.com
 
raksrules said:
That may be client..I was planning to see if I can run jellyfin server on a tablet which I guess is not possible.
Click to expand...
No. For android, this is not yet possible (as far as I can see). If it is a windows tablet, you can run the normal Jellyfin installation and setup the server.
 
raksrules said:
That may be client..I was planning to see if I can run jellyfin server on a tablet which I guess is not possible.
Click to expand...
Another point to note is that it is always optimum to have a wired connection to a server as it is basically going to serve all your clients. I have a USB 3.0 to ethernet adapter connect to my Windows tablet.

In case of an Android tablet, you are connecting from the router to the server over WiFi and then again from the server to client over WiFi through the router which significantly impacts performance. Also, the cheaper tablets will probably all have USB 2.0 charging ports, so even if they support a dongle your LAN speed will be limited to 100 Mbps.
 
vivek.krishnan said:
Why dont you get a Pi4? It also has HW acceleration using OMX
Click to expand...


All that will require me to put money in things I would say are hobby project and I cannot even justify the cost. Currently, I have a 64GB USB Pen drive on which I download stuff using torrents. The torrents too are being run on an android tablet and using USB OTG I transfer content. Now once I have sizeable data in the drive (50 GB types), I don't see myself needing to download stuff until I have watched the stuff available on pen drive.

Also, I have a lenovo laptop with good config (16GB RAM, 256GB SSD and Ryzen 7 Processor) but without screen that I did consider once setting up for PLEX / Emby / Jellyfin (one of these) servers and also setting stuff like radarr, sonarr etc and such for automatic downloads and such. But then I thought that even that may incur me extra electricity bill for the 24x7 running laptop which I only will use and no one else.

That is why this USB Pen drive connected to Router (which anyways stays on all the time) works better.
 
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