DLNA linux server

[sathyan]

I want to put together a DLNA server using some old hardware I have laying around (ATA hard drives, 700MHz CPU, 768MB of RAM, 100Mb ethernet). This box will provide files to my DLNA-certified TV over 100Mbps wired ethernet. I figure since the TV will do the processing and the computer needs to do nothing more than make the files available, it should work. Or is this hardware too ancient? I need to replace the PSU on this box, so if this scenario is not going to work, I'll put the PSU $$ towards a NAS instead.

What OS should I use? I use Ubuntu on the desktop. Is Ubuntu Server a good choice? A different distro? I want the server to run headless and be controlled over the network.

What software to show up as a DLNA source? I'm thinking ushare.

 

[Khyron320]

It doesnt really matter what distro but i would go with something like CentOS but thats me. 700mhz should be plenty to share with samba at ~12mb sec. Im not sure what the performance of a DLNA server would be.

Install ubuntu server (because you are familar with ubuntu)
Install uShare (DLNA server)
http://www.spotht.com/2010/07/install-ushare-upnp-and-dlna-media.html

Let us know how it works.

 

[sathyan]

Ubuntu + ushare worked! Music played just fine. the DLNA player was able to find/list my videos but the playback was starts & stops. I experienced the same streaming from Win7 (on a faster computer) but playing the same file off USB works...must be something wrong with my network.

 

[SickBeast]

I've used MediaTomb, but I prefer PS3 Media Server. I found that the beta worked better, but YMMV.

 

[Fayd]

Ubuntu + ushare worked! Music played just fine. the DLNA player was able to find/list my videos but the playback was starts & stops. I experienced the same streaming from Win7 (on a faster computer) but playing the same file off USB works...must be something wrong with my network.

or your computer just isn't fast enough to be a DLNA server.

 

[joberly]

must be something wrong with my network.

Standard 10/100 ethernet is fine for streaming on a home network. How much traffic is there while you're streaming? What type of movie, 1080p, etc.? Also, you can check your resources while streaming a video with the 'top' command. See how much stress your system is under, and that's a good starting point.

 

[ravana]

I used to run PS3 Media Server, but have recently switched to a 2 TB USB hard drive & a Linksys E3000 running TomatoUSB.

It comes built-in with minidlna, not as nice as PS3MS, but definitely suits my needs.