MediaTomb

Introduction

MediaTomb is an open source (GPL) UPnP MediaServer with a nice web user interface. It allows you to stream your digital media through your home network and access it on a variety of UPnP compatible devices.

Preparation

Kernel Configuration

Inotify Support

MediaTomb supports Inotify which is a file-monitoring mechanism that allows MediaTomb to be notified about changes to files immediately. Please consult Section 2.1.5 of the MediaTomb UI documentation for more information.

To enable Inotify support build your kernel with the following options.

File systems --->
  [*] Inotify file change notification support
  [*]   Inotify support for userspace

Package Configuration

Unmask the Ebuild

# echo "net-misc/mediatomb" >> /etc/portage/package.keywords

Configure the USE Flags

# echo "net-misc/mediatomb use" >> /etc/portage/package.use

Installation

To install MediaTomb:

# emerge mediatomb

Configuration

Network Interface

MEDIATOMB_INTERFACE="interface"

MySQL Support

To enable MySQL support open the MediaTomb configuration file and set the mysql tag enabled attribute to yes.

      <mysql enabled="yes">

You need to set the sqlite3 tag enabled attribute to no.

      <sqlite3 enabled="no">

You need to specify values for the host, database, username and password tags.

        <host>host</host>
        <database>database</database>
        <username>username</username>
        <password>password</password>

You also need to login to MySQL and create the MediaTomb database and user.

mysql> CREATE DATABASE database;
mysql> GRANT ALL ON database.* TO 'username'@'host' IDENTIFIED BY 'password';

Transcoding Support

MediaTomb allows you to transcode unsupported media files to formats that are supported by your UPnP device. MediaTomb's transcoding support is very flexible and any application capable of transcoding can be used. The following configuration uses VLC to transcode FLAC, Flash, Theora and Vorbis files. Please consult the MediaTomb Transcoding documentation for more information.

Edit the Configuration File

To enable transcoding support open the MediaTomb configuration file and add the following section in between the </import> and </config> tags.

  <transcoding enabled="yes">
    <mimetype-profile-mappings>
      <transcode mimetype="application/ogg" using="audio-common"/>
      <transcode mimetype="application/ogg" using="video-common"/>
      <transcode mimetype="audio/x-flac" using="audio-common"/>
      <transcode mimetype="video/x-flv" using="video-common"/>
    </mimetype-profile-mappings>
    <profiles>
      <profile name="audio-common" enabled="yes" type="external">
        <mimetype>audio/L16</mimetype>
        <accept-url>yes</accept-url>
        <first-resource>yes</first-resource>
        <hide-original-resource>yes</hide-original-resource>
        <accept-ogg-theora>no</accept-ogg-theora>
        <agent command="mediatomb-transcode-audio" arguments="%in %out"/>
        <buffer size="1048576" chunk-size="131072" fill-size="262144"/>
      </profile>
      <profile name="video-common" enabled="yes" type="external">
        <mimetype>video/mpeg</mimetype>
        <accept-url>yes</accept-url>
        <first-resource>yes</first-resource>
        <hide-original-resource>yes</hide-original-resource>
        <accept-ogg-theora>yes</accept-ogg-theora>
        <agent command="mediatomb-transcode-video" arguments="%in %out"/>
        <buffer size="10485760" chunk-size="262144" fill-size="524288"/>
      </profile>
    </profiles>
  </transcoding>

You also need to add the following section in between the <mimetype-profile-mappings> and </mimetype-profile-mappings> tags for every additional mimetype that requires transcoding.

      <transcode mimetype="mimetype" using="profile"/>

AVI FourCC Support

MediaTomb allows you to restrict AVI file transcoding to certain FourCC's. There are three FourCC configuration modes: disabled, process and ignore. The disabled mode will transcode all AVI files. The process mode will transcode AVI files that have their FourCC listed. The ignore mode will not transcode AVI files that have their FourCC listed. The following configuration will transcode all AVI files except those with the DX50 FourCC. Please consult Section 3.3 of the MediaTomb Transcoding documentation for more information.

To enable AVI FourCC support open the MediaTomb configuration file and add the following section in between the <profile name="video-common" enabled="yes" type="external"> and </profile> tags.

        <avi-fourcc-list mode="ignore">
          <fourcc>DX50</fourcc>
        </avi-fourcc-list>

Create the Transcoding Scripts

VLC Transcoding Scripts

The VLC audio transcoding script will produce a RAW formatted PCM audio stream, while the VLC video transcoding script will produce a PS formatted MPEG-2 video stream. You can adjust the output stream by modifying the relevant transcoding script variables. Please consult Chapter 3 of the VLC Streaming HOWTO for more information.

To enable VLC audio transcoding create the following audio transcoding script.

#!/bin/bash

VLC_PATH="/usr/bin/vlc"
INPUT="$1"
OUTPUT="$2"
AUDIO_CODEC="s16l"
AUDIO_BITRATE="192"
AUDIO_SAMPLERATE="44100"
AUDIO_CHANNELS="2"
FORMAT="raw"

exec "${VLC_PATH}" "${INPUT}" -I dummy --sout "#transcode{acodec=${AUDIO_CODEC},\
ab=${AUDIO_BITRATE},samplerate=${AUDIO_SAMPLERATE},channels=${AUDIO_CHANNELS}}:\
standard{mux=${FORMAT},access=file,dst=${OUTPUT}}" vlc:quit >/dev/null 2>&1

You also need to make the audio transcoding script executable.

# chmod +x /usr/bin/mediatomb-transcode-audio

To enable VLC video transcoding create the following video transcoding script.

#!/bin/bash

VLC_PATH="/usr/bin/vlc"
INPUT="$1"
OUTPUT="$2"
VIDEO_CODEC="mp2v"
VIDEO_BITRATE="4096"
VIDEO_FRAMERATE="25"
AUDIO_CODEC="mpga"
AUDIO_BITRATE="192"
AUDIO_SAMPLERATE="44100"
AUDIO_CHANNELS="2"
FORMAT="ps"
SUBTITLE_LANGUAGE="eng"

exec "${VLC_PATH}" "${INPUT}" -I dummy --sout "#transcode{vcodec=${VIDEO_CODEC},\
vb=${VIDEO_BITRATE},fps=${VIDEO_FRAMERATE},acodec=${AUDIO_CODEC},ab=${AUDIO_BITRATE},\
samplerate=${AUDIO_SAMPLERATE},channels=${AUDIO_CHANNELS},soverlay,audio-sync}:\
standard{mux=${FORMAT},access=file,dst=${OUTPUT}}" --sub-language=${SUBTITLE_LANGUAGE} \
vlc:quit >/dev/null 2>&1

You also need to make the video transcoding script executable.

# chmod +x /usr/bin/mediatomb-transcode-video

FFmpeg Transcoding Scripts

The FFmpeg audio transcoding script will produce a RAW formatted PCM audio stream, while the FFmpeg video transcoding script will produce a PS formatted MPEG-2 video stream. You can adjust the output stream by modifying the relevant transcoding script variables. Please consult Section 3 of the FFmpeg documentation for more information.

To enable FFmpeg audio transcoding create the following audio transcoding script.

#!/bin/bash

FFMPEG_PATH="/usr/bin/ffmpeg"
INPUT="$1"
OUTPUT="$2"
AUDIO_CODEC="pcm_s16le"
AUDIO_BITRATE="192k"
AUDIO_SAMPLERATE="44100"
AUDIO_CHANNELS="2"
FORMAT="s16le"

exec "${FFMPEG_PATH}" -i "${INPUT}" -acodec ${AUDIO_CODEC} -ab ${AUDIO_BITRATE} \
-ar ${AUDIO_SAMPLERATE} -ac ${AUDIO_CHANNELS} -f ${FORMAT} - > "${OUTPUT}" 2>/dev/null

You also need to make the audio transcoding script executable.

# chmod +x /usr/bin/mediatomb-transcode-audio

To enable FFmpeg video transcoding create the following video transcoding script.

#!/bin/bash

FFMPEG_PATH="/usr/bin/ffmpeg"
INPUT="$1"
OUTPUT="$2"
VIDEO_CODEC="mpeg2video"
VIDEO_BITRATE="4096k"
VIDEO_FRAMERATE="25"
AUDIO_CODEC="mp2"
AUDIO_BITRATE="192k"
AUDIO_SAMPLERATE="44100"
AUDIO_CHANNELS="2"
FORMAT="dvd"

exec "${FFMPEG_PATH}" -i "${INPUT}" -vcodec ${VIDEO_CODEC} -b ${VIDEO_BITRATE} \
-r ${VIDEO_FRAMERATE} -acodec ${AUDIO_CODEC} -ab ${AUDIO_BITRATE} -ar ${AUDIO_SAMPLERATE} \
-ac ${AUDIO_CHANNELS} -f ${FORMAT} - > "${OUTPUT}" 2>/dev/null

You also need to make the video transcoding script executable.

# chmod +x /usr/bin/mediatomb-transcode-video

Install the Transcoder

If you're using the VLC transcoding scripts:

# emerge vlc

If you're using the FFmpeg transcoding scripts:

# emerge ffmpeg

PlayStation 3 Support

To enable PlayStation 3 support open the MediaTomb configuration file and set the protocolInfo tag extend attribute to yes.

    <protocolInfo extend="yes"/>

PlayStation 3 DivX Support

To enable PlayStation 3 DivX support open the MediaTomb configuration file and add the following section in between the <extension-mimetype ignore-unknown="no"> and </extension-mimetype> tags.

        <map from="avi" to="video/divx"/>
        <map from="divx" to="video/divx"/>

You also need to add the following section in between the <mimetype-contenttype> and </mimetype-contenttype> tags.

       <treat mimetype="video/divx" as="avi"/>

PlayStation 3 Thumbnail Support

To enable PlayStation 3 thumbnail support open the MediaTomb configuration file and change the <transcoding enabled="no"> to yes, then add the following section in between the <profiles> and </profiles> tags.

      <profile name="video-thumbnail" enabled="yes" type="external">
        <mimetype>image/jpeg</mimetype>
        <accept-url>yes</accept-url>
        <thumbnail>yes</thumbnail>
        <resolution>128x128</resolution>
        <agent command="ffmpegthumbnailer" arguments="-i %in -o %out -s 128"/>
        <buffer size="524288" chunk-size="512" fill-size="1024"/>
      </profile>

You need to add the following section in between the <mimetype-profile-mappings> and </mimetype-profile-mappings> tags for every mimetype that requires thumbnails.

      <transcode mimetype="mimetype" using="video-thumbnail"/>

You also need to install FFmpeg Thumbnailer.

# emerge ffmpegthumbnailer

Starting

To start MediaTomb:

# /etc/init.d/mediatomb start

To start MediaTomb at boot:

# rc-update add mediatomb default

See Also

• FUPPES

External Links

• MediaTomb
• Gentoo Forum