Version 3.0
New
Corrections
How to play files on your PC
Playing
media files on your PC can be done in two ways:
[1] Open file directly in Windows Media Player (Internet
Explorer only)
[2] Stream file from a web server using HTTP (all browsers)
Mode 1: Open
in Windows Media Player
The advantage of this mode of operation is that it does not require any installations, the disadvantage however is that this mode is restricted to Internet Explorer only; other browsers such as Firefox and Chrome do not allow the launch of executables locally on your PC.
The default security settings of Internet Explorer prohibit ActiveX activation and this needs to be changed first, otherwise the javascript engine will fail with the error message:
Automation server can’t create object
Change the Internet Explorer Security settings:
Your web site is now in the list of “trusted sites”. See the status bar at the bottom for verification, and program execution is permitted.
Mode 2:
Stream from web server
This mode
of operation requires the installation of a web server (not covered here).
Streaming of the content happens via regular HTTP protocol, this will work
out-of-the-box with any web server though it is not “true” streaming as
compared to a dedicated web streamer application. The advantage here is that
most browsers support this way of delivery (with the correct MIME settings).
The
difference between mode [1] and mode [2] is made in the file “locale.xml”, see below.
- Edit LOCALE.XML
Open the file “locale.xml” in notepad or another text editor and scroll to the PC player section. The settings look like this:
<player
model="PC"
application="c:\progra~1\window~2\wmplayer.exe"
server="localhost"
share="share-name"
dvd="DVD,DVD5,DVD9"
bluray="BD,BRD,BLU-RAY,BLURAY"
scan="last"
/>
model
This setting identifies the type of player; leave this on ‘PC’
application
This setting identifies the location of the executable to start. It points to Windows Media Player, which is present in most Windows installations. You may change this to your own preferred player, but keep in mind that anyone viewing your website needs to have this executable too. Also path notations must follow the ‘old’ DOS style.
Note: any video and audio codec to view your files must be pre-installed on the target machine otherwise WMP (or your own player) won’t be able to play the content.
server
This setting identifies the location of your media files. If your videos are stored locally on the PC from which you are viewing your web page then keep the setting “localhost” otherwise change it to the IP address of the server which holds your collection.
share
This
setting is used in several different ways:
<share
name> identifies the name of the
share which contains your video collection. Check the setting on your NAS to
find the name or in case you are using you own PC (localhost)
then you need to make the folder which contains your
collection shareable.
<local
disk> when you play files from
your local machine (localhost) and you do not want to
setup a share, then you can use an absolute path notation instead, e.g.
“D:\Movies”
http: when the share name is set to ‘http:’ (note the colon at the end) it will invoke the http streaming mode. In this case the server address points to your web server.
dvd
This setting identifies the media types which refer to a DVD disk. The script reads the AMC field “Media Type” to find the corresponding types. If a match is found then the extension “/VIDEO_TS/VIDEO_IFO” is automatically appended to find and start a DVD folder.
Note: this mechanism only works when your movies are in separate folders and DVDs are stored in their original format. If this is not the case, e.g. you don’t use sub-folders “VIDEO-TS” or you use ISO files then set the DVD section to empty (“”), this will prevent automatic appending.
bluray
This setting identifies the media types which refer to a BLURAY disk. Similar as the DVD setting the script reads the AMC field “Media Type” to append automatically the extension “/BDMV/INDEX.BDMV” to find and start a bluray folder.
Note: this mechanism only works when your movies are in separate folders and blurays are stored in their original format. If this is not the case, e.g. you don’t use sub-folders “BDMV” or you use ISO files then set the bluray section to empty (“”), this will prevent automatic appending.
scan
This setting identifies which Media Type entry to take when more than one value exists. For example you have the movie in different formats: DVD and MKV. The script will select the last entry as the one to play. This setting can be changed to “first”.
- Make File References in AMC
The layout.xml files have a new statement to make a ‘play’ action possible.
<play src="'images/play-button.png'" width="28" height="28"
url="movie.getAttribute('URL')"
title="movie.getAttribute('FormattedTitle')"/>
In this example the URL field (but any other field is allowed too) in AMC is used to make a reference to the file location and this information is parsed by the script for playing. The reference includes the path and file name, excluding the share name.
Some examples will clarify the usage!
Example 1: your video files are on a NAS server
Usage: different family members in your home have access to your local web site and each of them is able to play a video on his or her PC.
Preparation: have a SMB server running with a share called “Movies”
locale.xml
server=”192.168.1.254”
share=”Movies”
URL field in AMC
a) Armageddon/Armageddon.iso
b) Sci-fi/1995/Apollo 13.mkv
c) 12 Angry Men
a) This will play the file: //192.168.1.254/Movies/Armageddon/Armageddon.iso
b) This will play the file: //192.168.1.254/Movies/Sci-fi/1995/Apollo 13.mkv
c) This will play the DVD folder: //192.168.1.254/Movies/12 Angry Men/video_ts/video.ifo
Example 2: your video files are available by a WEB server
Usage: different family members in your home have access to your local web site and each of them is able to play a video on his or her PC.
Preparation: have a web server running which has access to your video & audio collection
locale.xml
server=”192.168.1.254”
share=”http:”
URL field in AMC
a) Movies/Armageddon/Armageddon.iso
b) Movies/Sci-fi/1995/Apollo 13.mkv
c) Movies/12 Angry Men
a) This will open the file: http://192.168.1.254/Movies/Armageddon/Armageddon.iso
b) This will open the file: http://192.168.1.254/Movies/Sci-fi/1995/Apollo 13.mkv
c) This
will open the DVD folder: http://192.168.1.254/Movies/12 Angry Men/video_ts/video.ifo
Example 3: your video files are on your own computer (using shares)
Usage: you are the only viewer and maintain the web site for personal use.
Preparation: share the folder on your PC containing the video content as “MyMovies”
locale.xml
server=”localhost”
share=”MyMovies”
dvd=”” ç no automatic appending
URL field in AMC
a) Armageddon/Armageddon.iso
b) Sci-fi/1995/Apollo 13.mkv
c) DVD/12 Angry Men/video.ifo
a) This will play the file: //127.0.0.1/MyMovies/Armageddon/Armageddon.iso
b) This will play the file: //127.0.0.1/MyMovies/Sci-fi/1995/Apollo 13.mkv
c) This will play the DVD folder: //127.0.0.1/MyMovies/DVD/12 Angry Men/video.ifo
Example 4: your video files are on your own computer (using absolute path)
Usage: you are the only viewer and maintain the web site for personal use.
Preparation: none
locale.xml
server=”localhost”
share=”D:\Movies”
dvd=”” ç no automatic appending
URL field in AMC
a) Armageddon/Armageddon.iso
b) Sci-fi/1995/Apollo 13.mkv
c) DVD/12 Angry Men/video.ifo
a) This will play the file: D:\Movies\Armageddon\Armageddon.iso
b) This will play the file: D:\Movies\Sci-fi/1995\Apollo 13.mkv
c) This will play the DVD folder: D:\Movies\DVD\12 Angry Men\video.ifo
Note1: Usage of ‘spaces’ is allowed in the name and path
Note2: Forward and backward slashes are
converted automatically to their appropriate usage.
Note3: Viewing your video content from the Internet is not supported due to security hazards.
How to play files on your Dune Media Player
People in the possession of a Dune Media Player are able to control its playback via the web interface. This feature requires the latest Dune firmware, which supports “IP Remote Control”.
- Edit LOCALE.XML
Open the file “locale.xml” in notepad or another text editor and scroll to the Dune player section. The settings look like this:
<player
model="Dune"
dune="ip-address"
server="none"
protocol="local"
share="drive-name"
none="file"
file="MKV,AVI"
dvd="DVD,DVD5,DVD9"
bluray="BD,BRD,BLU-RAY,BLURAY"
scan="last"
/>
model
This setting identifies the type of player; leave it on ‘Dune’
dune
This setting identifies the location of your Dune media player. Enter here the IP address that is assigned to your Dune media player.
server
This setting identifies the location of your media files. If your videos are stored on a locally attached drive to the Dune, then keep the setting “none” otherwise change it to the IP address of the NAS server which holds your collection.
protocol
This setting identifies the protocol used to retrieve the media content. If your videos are stored on a locally attached drive to the Dune, then keep the setting “local” otherwise change it to either “smb” or “nfs” to communicate with your NAS server. In this case a correct server IP address must be supplied too (see previous entry).
share
This setting identifies the name of the share which contains your video collection. Check the setting on your NAS server to find the name or in case you are using an attached drive (local) it is the name of your local storage device. For the ‘nfs’ protocol it represents the “export-path”.
none
This setting identifies the default media type in case no value or a unknown value for the media type is specified.
file
This setting identifies the media types which refer to a single file. The script reads the AMC field “Media Type” to find the corresponding types. The script uses this entry to construct the correct command to be sent to the Dune media player.
dvd
This setting identifies the media types which refer to a DVD disk. The script reads the AMC field “Media Type” to find the corresponding types. The script uses this entry to construct the correct command to be sent to the Dune media player.
bluray
This setting identifies the media types which refer to a BLURAY disk. Similar as the DVD setting the script reads the AMC field “Media Type” to construct the correct command to be sent to the Dune media player.
scan
This setting identifies which Media Type entry to take when more than one value exists. For example you have the movie in different formats: DVD and MKV. The script will select the last entry as the one to play. This setting can be changed to “first”.
Note: it is important that the field “Media Type” in AMC is correctly filled in otherwise the script can not send the correct command to the Dune media player.
- Make File References in AMC
The layout.xml files have a new statement to make a ‘play’ action possible.
<play src="'images/play-button.png'" width="28" height="28"
url="movie.getAttribute('URL')"
title="movie.getAttribute('FormattedTitle')"/>
In this example the URL field (but any other field is allowed too) is used to make a reference to the file location and this information is parsed by the script to the Dune media player for playing the content. The reference includes the path and file name, excluding the share name.
Some examples will clarify the usage!
Example 1: your video files are on a NAS server using SMB
Usage: you have a centralized storage which the Dune can access to play content
Preparation: have a NAS server running with a SMB share called “Movies”
locale.xml
dune=”192.168.1.5”
server=”192.168.1.254”
protocol=”smb”
share=”Movies”
URL field in AMC
a) Armageddon/Armageddon.iso
b) Sci-fi/1995/Apollo 13.mkv
c) 12 Angry Men
a) This will play the file: //192.168.1.254/Movies/Armageddon/Armageddon.iso
b) This will play the file: //192.168.1.254/Movies/Sci-fi/1995/Apollo 13.mkv
c) This will play the DVD folder: //192.168.1.254/Movies/12 Angry Men
Example 2: your video files are on a NAS server using NFS
Usage: you have a centralized storage which the Dune can access to play content
Preparation: have a NAS server running with a NFS export path called “Video”
locale.xml
dune=”192.168.1.5”
server=”192.168.1.254”
protocol=”nfs”
share=”Video”
URL field in AMC
a) Movies/Armageddon/Armageddon.iso
b) Movies/Sci-fi/1995/Apollo 13.mkv
c) Movies/12 Angry Men
a) This will play the file: //192.168.1.254:/Video:/Movies/Armageddon/Armageddon.iso
b) This will play the file: //192.168.1.254:/Video:/Movies/Sci-fi/1995/Apollo 13.mkv
c) This will play the DVD: //192.168.1.254:/Video:/Movies/12 Angry Men
Example 3: your video files are on an attached hard drive
Usage: you have your collection together with the Dune media player
Preparation: have the local storage called “MyHDD” (use dune_folder.txt)
locale.xml
dune=”192.168.1.5”
server=”none”
protocol=”local”
share=”MyHDD”
URL field in AMC
a) Armageddon/Armageddon.iso
b) Sci-fi/1995/Apollo 13.mkv
c) DVD/12 Angry Men
a) This will play the file: //storage_name:/MyHDD/Armageddon/Armageddon.iso
b) This will play the file: //storage_name:/MyHDD/Sci-fi/1995/Apollo 13.mkv
c) This will play the DVD folder: //storage_name:/MyHDD/DVD/12 Angry Men
Note1: usage of ‘spaces’ is allowed in the name and path
Note2: Controlling the Dune media player from the Internet is not supported due to security hazards.
Advanced XML Usage
There are several ways to define the playing of content in the XML layout files.
1. Using the PLAY command
This is commonly used when the play action is associated with an image. In other words clicking on the image initiates the playing. See for an example layout1.xml
2. Using the PLAY function
This is commonly used when the play action is associated with text. In other words clicking on some text initiates the playing. See for an example layout2.xml
3. Using the “play:” directive
An alternative way to associate the play action with either an image or text is to prefix the URL entry in AMC with the directive “play:”. For example: play://12 Angry Men.mkv will initiate the playback of the file “12 Angry Men.mkv”.