[SOLVED] Adapting Snakeoil for general media streaming

[patricia1066]

I have ripped many BR recently and have saved them to the same drive as holds my music managed by Snakeoil.

I installed plexmediaserver (snap) and was unable to get a response until I removed it. Prior to that I looked for plex on the Software page on SO, and tried to install it without snap. If plex isnt suitable for SO, does anyone have a dlna suggestion for .mkv files?

patricia@mac:~$ sudo systemctl start plexmediaserver
Failed to start plexmediaserver.service: Unit plexmediaserver.service not found.
patricia@mac:~$ sudo snap remove plexmediaserver
2023-07-19T11:22:01Z INFO Waiting for "snap.plexmediaserver.plexmediaserver.service" to
stop.
plexmediaserver removed

[agent_kith]

I have ripped many BR recently and have saved them to the same drive as holds my music managed by Snakeoil.

I installed plexmediaserver (snap) and was unable to get a response until I removed it. Prior to that I looked for plex on the Software page on SO, and tried to install it without snap. If plex isnt suitable for SO, does anyone have a dlna suggestion for .mkv files?

patricia@mac:~$ sudo systemctl start plexmediaserver
Failed to start plexmediaserver.service: Unit plexmediaserver.service not found.
patricia@mac:~$ sudo snap remove plexmediaserver
2023-07-19T11:22:01Z INFO Waiting for "snap.plexmediaserver.plexmediaserver.service" to
stop.
plexmediaserver removed

Plex should show up as a player if you install it I believe. At least I added that a while back (but may have removed it in newer versions). Will have to double check.

For plex, it's best to avoid Snap... (Actually it's best to avoid snap altogether ). Go to this site (https://www.plex.tv/en-au/media-server-downloads/), click on the drop down to change it to Linux, download the deb file, transfer to your snakeoil machine, and run

Code:

dpkg -i /path/to/plexmediaserver.deb.file

If you see plex now showing up in the list of players, run this:

Code:

systemctl disable plexmediaserver

Above command just means you're using Snakeoil to control start/stop of Plex, and not systemd.

[Snoopy8]

There are many other media player options available. Zidoo produces very good and cheap media players. Plex can be added as well.  You can install Plex, JellyFin etc on NAS's from Synology are QNAP.

 Sorry, but I think SnakeOil should remain for stereo music only.

[patricia1066]

If you see plex now showing up in the list of players, run this:
 

Code:

systemctl disable plexmediaserver

Above command just means you're using Snakeoil to control start/stop of Plex, and not systemd.

Thanks AK
Plexmdiaserver is not showing up on SO, nor on the network. This is the install dialog. I have not disabled systemctl as the plex server is not running, even when called in terminal.

Code:

sudo dpkg -i plex-amd64.deb
Selecting previously unselected package plexmediaserver.
(Reading database ... 146669 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to unpack plex-amd64.deb ...
PlexMediaServer install: Pre-installation Validation.
PlexMediaServer install: Pre-installation Validation complete.
Unpacking plexmediaserver (1.32.5.7328-2632c9d3a) ...
Setting up plexmediaserver (1.32.5.7328-2632c9d3a) ...
PlexMediaServer install: PlexMediaServer-1.32.5.7328-2632c9d3a - Installation starting.
PlexMediaServer install:
PlexMediaServer install: Now installing based on:
PlexMediaServer install:   Installation Type:   New
PlexMediaServer install:   Process Control:     systemd
PlexMediaServer install:   Plex User:           plex
PlexMediaServer install:   Plex Group:          plex
PlexMediaServer install:   Video Group:         render
PlexMediaServer install:   Metadata Dir:     /var/lib/plexmediaserver/Library/Application Support
PlexMediaServer install:   Temp Directory:      /tmp
PlexMediaServer install:   Lang Encoding:       en_US.UTF-8
PlexMediaServer install:   Processor:           Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-4278U CPU @ 2.60GHz
PlexMediaServer install:   Intel i915 Hardware: Found
PlexMediaServer install:   Nvidia GPU card:     Not Found
PlexMediaServer install:  
PlexMediaServer install: Completing final configuration.
Created symlink /etc/systemd/system/multi-user.target.wants/plexmediaserver.service → /lib/systemd/system/plexmediaserver.service.
PlexMediaServer install: PlexMediaServer-1.32.5.7328-2632c9d3a - Installation successful.  Errors: 0, Warnings: 0

[patricia1066]

There are many other media player options available. Zidoo produces very good and cheap media players. Plex can be added as well.  You can install Plex, JellyFin etc on NAS's from Synology are QNAP.

 Sorry, but I think SnakeOil should remain for stereo music only.

I do have a Panasonic UB400 which plays mkv from USB 3.0 if I want a local player for rips. I am reluctant to add another local player to the TV.
Can you recommend a zidoo less than £150 for serving 2TB bluray rips?

[Snoopy8]

Can you recommend a zidoo less than £150 for serving 2TB bluray rips?

The cheapest Zidoo is the diskless Z9X, but more than your budget. It is much easier to use than Plex, Kodi and does an excellent job of identifying movies and organising them. And way, way, way better than the Pana player.

Once you have used a Zidoo, you will not want to go back to another option...

[agent_kith]

If plex is running (sudo systemctl status plexmediaserver),  and you're not seeing anything, make sure to go to the server settings and check if you have enabled DLNA server. 

Yet to double check if I removed Plex player from the list. I do have Plex running in my home setup. But not on the network where my music is sitting. I have a complex network setup at home, and Plex is sitting on the IoT network. I'm using something called "Promox", and running Plex in a container that's on the IoT network. Music on my Hifi is on it's own network and they don't interfere with each other.

On this IoT network I have various players around the house (Nvidia Shields) and running the Plex App. I also have PlexAmp installed on my phone (plex pass required) where I use to play music when I'm driving.

As snoopy said Plex isn't really that good as a hifi music player. However, it does an OK job streaming movies around the house, for android auto driving, or when I'm in the middle of nowhere looking for some entertainment (I don't have netflix).

[patricia1066]

Thanks @agent_kith and @snoopy for your help.

I agree that the UB400 wont be as nice an experience as the zidoo ( and I can see that theres a 2nd hand one on ebay for about £150 which is tempting). I am trying to stop buying more boxes, which clutter up my room, so I am going to get Plex set up just to see if it is usable.

I checked samba on Ubuntu server, it wasnt on the windows network, so I updated that and added a video share. 

Plexmediaserver starts but on Roku 4k express the plex app sees the ubuntu server, but doesnt access it. On Panasonic UB400 the network sees the LMS and Minimserver shares but cannot see any content (mkv or mp4)
The manual says that it does have mkv codec so that is a puzzle. 

I feel I have almost cracked it.

Code:

patricia@mac:~$ sudo systemctl status plexmediaserver
[sudo] password for patricia:
● plexmediaserver.service - Plex Media Server
     Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/plexmediaserver.service; enabled; vendor preset: >
     Active: active (running) since Fri 2023-07-21 08:59:18 UTC; 41min ago
   Main PID: 756 (Plex Media Serv)
      Tasks: 44 (limit: 9240)
     Memory: 116.4M
        CPU: 23.603s
     CGroup: /system.slice/plexmediaserver.service
             ├─ 756 "/usr/lib/plexmediaserver/Plex Media Server"
             ├─ 952 "Plex Plug-in [com.plexapp.system]" /usr/lib/plexmediaserver/Resources>
             └─1154 "/usr/lib/plexmediaserver/Plex Tuner Service" /usr/lib/plexmediaserver>

Jul 21 08:59:18 mac systemd[1]: Starting Plex Media Server...
Jul 21 08:59:18 mac systemd[1]: Started Plex Media Server.
lines 1-14/14 (END)

[patricia1066]

I followed this guide, and allowed plex through ufw. I am accessing mkv via the roku 4k express

https://linuxize.com/post/how-to-install...ntu-20-04/

[agent_kith]

Plex kind of works differently from any other players (video or audio). It's like a home version of Netflix, as such you don't share content from Plex via  NFS/Samba. Plex is doing it's own thing when serving content. From Plex setup, you add in the directories (video, music, pic, etc) and then use a Plex client (App or web browser) to play the content.

So the plex client should have all the codecs capability (provided the hardware itself also supports it)..

For the most part most TVs these days have the Plex App. Try it from there first. Or alternatively download the plex app on your phone and then cast the video to your player of choice.