pms-mlx (2014-09-24 v1.1.0)

[taconaut]

Pms works great to serve files but lacks some features for configuring what shows up on the ps3; like every other server of this type.
That's why I've created this modified version of pms, which lets you configure your folders and content the way you want. Nothing regarding file streaming has been changed, only the way files are being shown. It's built on top of a recent pms version (1.90.2). Builds are available for windows, linux and OSX.

Download, Wiki

Nightly build:
Want to always keep up to date? Download the latest nightly build.
From the above link, download pms-<xxx>-jar-with-dependencies.jar, copy it to your installation directory and rename it to pms.jar (after having renamed the contained pms.jar to e.g. pms-backup20110202.jar). Now you're using the most recent version of pms-mlx. Be aware that this is the version currently being developed and can be incomplete or contain bugs.
It is still recommended to install an official release, because it might contain new binaries (e.g. mencoder) and possibly other setting changes when it's being released.

Features:
- Import from imdb or tmdb (extensible through a plugin system)
- Configure what files will show up in a folder by setting conditions
- Set the way files will be sorted in a folder
- Show files either as single files or with more information in a folder (similar to transcode folder)
- Configure how the name of the file will look and what icon will show up
- Track the files you've played

Developers: Help making it better by creating plugins!

Quick start:
- You'll find a new tab called media library
- In the general tab, click on scan folder and add all the folders you want
-- As currently, only videos are working, the other check marks won't have any effect.

Now you're all set and can use it with the default configuration.
You can also configure the entire folder structure that will show up on the ps3 using about 50 parameters like size, languages, genres, plot...
All existing folders that are known from pms like the ones configured in shared folders or iTunes are also available.

Some limitations you should be aware of:
- Only a single instance can be ran. This is because the database only allows a single connection.
- For media library folders, only video works for now. You can still use images and audio the same way as before, by adding file system folders
- If you create folders that will show many files, it will take up a lot of memory when displaying them on the ps3.
- It has a built in user interface for configuration. If you want to use it in headless mode a tiny SOAP interface lets you configure the basics like scanning a folder



It's not finished by a long shot, but you can do fun stuff with it already and don't loose any functionality compared to the original one.

Hope you have fun with it

[lot2smile4]

Hi there,

not sure if I have done something fundamentally wrong, but I have just downloaded your linux version from the link above, and on starting the service I get the following in the debug.log

Code: Select all

[main] TRACE 02:50:48.095 Registering transcoding engine Raws Thumbnailer
[main] TRACE 02:50:48.107 java.lang.NullPointerException
[main] TRACE 02:50:48.108       at net.pms.medialibrary.dlna.RootFolder.<init>(RootFolder.java:14)
[main] TRACE 02:50:48.108       at net.pms.configuration.RendererConfiguration.getRootFolder(RendererConfiguration.java:89)
[main] TRACE 02:50:48.108       at net.pms.PMS.getRootFolder(PMS.java:160)
[main] TRACE 02:50:48.108       at net.pms.PMS.getRootFolder(PMS.java:153)
[main] TRACE 02:50:48.108       at net.pms.PMS.init(PMS.java:484)
[main] TRACE 02:50:48.108       at net.pms.PMS.get(PMS.java:1382)
[main] TRACE 02:50:48.109       at net.pms.PMS.main(PMS.java:1450)


Consequently the server doesn't run.

If I revert back to the previous version of pms.jar (r413), everything goes back to working correctly.

Are there any additional libraries that I need in linux to get this to work?

Thanks for your help.

EDIT: In case you need it, here is my PMS.conf file...

Code: Select all

folders = \/shared\/USB\/Films\/Movies,\/shared\/USB\/3D\/3DMovies

vfolders = @vfolders.json
hide_media_library_folder = false
language = en
network_interface = eth0
thumbnails = true
use_mplayer_for_video_thumbs = true
thumbnail_seek_pos = 45
nbcores = 2
turbomode = true
minimized = true
hide_extensions = true
hide_enginenames = false
chapter_support = true
hidevideosettings = true
usecache = true
maxvideobuffer = 600
charsetencoding = 850
# engines = pmsencoder,mencoder,tsmuxer,avsmencoder,mplayeraudio,ffmpegaudio,tsmuxeraudio,vlcvideo,mencoderwebvideo,mplayervideodump,mplayerwebaudio,vlcaudio,ffmpegdvrmsremux
engines = pmsencoder,mencoder,tsmuxer
pmsencoder.script.poll=60
http_engine_v2 = true
autoloadsrt = false
avisynth_convertfps = true
avisynth_script =
#AviSynth script is now fully customisable
#You must use the following variables (\"clip\" being the avisynth variable of the movie)
#<movie>: insert the complete DirectShowSource instruction [ clip=DirectShowSource(movie, convertfps) ]
#<sub>: insert the complete TextSub\/VobSub instruction if there's any detected srt\/sub\/idx\/ass subtitle file
#<moviefilename>: variable of the movie filename, if you want to do all this by yourself
#Be careful, the custom script MUST return the clip object
transcode_block_multiple_connections = false
tsmuxer_forcefps = true
tsmuxer_preremux_pcm = false
tsmuxer_preremux_ac3 = false
audiochannels = 6
audiobitrate = 640
maximumbitrate = 0
skiploopfilter = false
enable_archive_browsing = false
mencoder_fontconfig = true
mencoder_font = subfont.ttf
mencoder_forcefps = false
mencoder_usepcm = false
mencoder_intelligent_sync = true
mencoder_decode =
mencoder_encode = keyint=1:vqscale=1:vqmin=1
mencoder_nooutofsync = true
mencoder_audiolangs = eng,en
mencoder_sublangs = eng,en
mencoder_audiosublangs =
mencoder_subfribidi = false
mencoder_ass_defaultstyle = true
mencoder_ass_scale = 1.0
mencoder_ass_margin = 10
mencoder_ass_outline = 1
mencoder_ass_shadow = 1
mencoder_noass_scale = 3
mencoder_noass_subpos = 2
mencoder_noass_blur = 1
mencoder_noass_outline = 2
mencoder_subcp = cp1252
mencoder_ass = false
mencoder_disablesubs = false
mencoder_yadif = false
mencoder_scaler = false
mencoder_scalex = 0
mencoder_scaley = 0
ffmpeg = -g 1 -qscale 1 -qmin 1


[taconaut]

Hehe, usually with null pointers, there's something dead wrong, just don't know yet what it is.

First off, I've basically tested this release (checked that the application starts properly on ubuntu 10.10 with java 6_22 and didn't notice any problems either by launching the jar itself or the shell script.

Now I'd be curious to know what goes wrong on your side
- How did you install the application? Extracted all the files contained in the zip to a new folder?
- How did you launch the application? jar, script?
- What jdk/jre are you using with your suse installation? Oracle?

Could you have a look in the media library logs (app dir/logs/info/*.log) to see if there is an error?

And finally have you tried the official 472 code?

Anyone elese having tried the linux version with positive or negative feedback?

[lot2smile4]

Hi there,

thanks for the response, I shall try and fill in the blanks

Firstly, I may have spotted the problem... I am using b20 release of Java, so that may be the first point of call, but I am not sure what else that will break! lol

In answer to your questions:
- I extracted the resources folder (and subfolders), renamed the old pms.jar > pms.jar.backup and extracted the new pms.jar in it's place also extracted the logxxx.xml file into the same folder as pms.jar
- I launched it via a service, which calls the script (I run PMServ-based linux distro, see my sig)
- I am using SUSE with b20 version jre

When I get home I will take a look at the logs you have suggested.

No, I haven't tried the official 472 build yet... I have been waiting for some Samsung-specific stuff to be released before upgrading my SVN version

Is there any documentation on the structure of the pms.conf file (if different) for shared folders?

What I am trying to achieve can be seen here http://www.ps3mediaserver.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=9357, so will I need to do anything to create the 'feed' folder?

Thanks for your efforts with this... looking forward to seeing the results.

[taconaut]

Firstly, I may have spotted the problem... I am using b20 release of Java, so that may be the first point of call, but I am not sure what else that will break! lol

I've tested with 22 and 23 and both worked. I don't think the problem lies here, but who knows!?

In answer to your questions:
- I extracted the resources folder (and subfolders), renamed the old pms.jar > pms.jar.backup and extracted the new pms.jar in it's place also extracted the logxxx.xml file into the same folder as pms.jar
- I launched it via a service, which calls the script (I run PMServ-based linux distro, see my sig)
- I am using SUSE with b20 version jre

Could you try extracting all the files to a clean directory and try starting it from there just to make sure no copy/paste/rename mistake has been made? And finally launch it directly (not through a service)? Possibly something goes wrong with paths there. I haven't got much experience with linux demons, but know that under windows the local dir will be System32 if launched by local service; this could mess up paths.
Trying to figure out what happens here

Is there any documentation on the structure of the pms.conf file (if different) for shared folders?

the shared folders aren't used by the mlx mod anymore. All the configuration is being stored in the database. There aren't any changes to the current conf file (except some parameters that aren't used anymore, going to describe this in the wiki at some point).

What I am trying to achieve can be seen here http://www.ps3mediaserver.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=9357, so will I need to do anything to create the 'feed' folder?

I don't quite get what you're trying to achieve; specifically what do you want to sort by which date?
With the mlx extension you can sort all your local files by date inserted and last modified (or any other field available for video files). If you want to sort content from the web.config by date, it will need some changes. As the web config has been converted into a plugin (new and proper to mlx), this plugin would have to be improved. Anyway it would be a good thing (and not that much work) to be able to configure each instance of a 'web plugin' with its own file. Probably you don't get what I'm talking about if you haven't been able to launch the file

No, I haven't tried the official 472 build yet... I have been waiting for some Samsung-specific stuff to be released before upgrading my SVN version

If the above tips don't help and you feel comfortable with svn, you could check out the entire trunk, load all projects into the eclipse workspace and it should build and run out of the box. this could help figuring out if it's a platform, java or whatever-relate issue.

Thanks for your efforts with this... looking forward to seeing the results.

You're welcome and thanks for beta testing. I had this project in the pipe for quite some time, have been using it as the primary DLNA server for about 3 months and am rather curious to see if others also see the benefits

[lot2smile4]

Hi there,

I will try your suggestions when I get home this evening, I shall keep my fingers crossed

If all the folders settings are stored in the database... I run a headless box, is there a way that I can tell it where all my movies are?

The thing that I am trying to achieve is a folder that has a chronological list of movies and web content, so I can see what is new (a bit like the standard media library, but for all content, including web)... by the sounds of it pms-mlx is going to do the job, just a case of testing it. Hope that it will run ok on a headless box

I have tinkered with SVN and recompiling code before... but I don't have it set up in a linux environment... but we shall see, perhaps it will work with some of your suggestions.

Thanks again for your help

[taconaut]

I run a headless box, is there a way that I can tell it where all my movies are?

Don't look any further, the issue lies here.
In order to have as few changes as possible in the original pms code (because of maintenance reasons), the initialization of the media library components is being done where it shouldn't be. That's when loading the tab visible in GUI. This explains the null pointer, you've never gone through this part of the code.
It would be pretty simple to do the initialization somewhere else, but there is no way to configure your folder layout, except directly through the database (you don't want to do that..).
Would you be happy if the functionality could be exposed through a web service? (viewtopic.php?f=14&t=9595&start=10#p44680)

[lot2smile4]

ahhh... that will be why then

Code: Select all

Would you be happy if the functionality could be exposed through a web service?

abosolutely! I already manage this remotely from another machine on the network via putty, and also do the 'scan folders' through the web interface already

I shall hold off doing anything more then, but let me know if you get any further with the web interface and I will give it another test!

Good luck, and thanks for your efforts so far

[taconaut]

I'll certainly add a way to scan folders and make it start up properly in headless in the next release. The rest will be more complicated though

[lartomar2002]

taconaut, i do not know what you did but this version of pms is working great for me. i can now get plots for my movies. all of my movies play on both ps3 and wdtv live hd of course they are all avi so there is no transcoding necessary. once again thank you very much.
if you had a donation button i would send you a little something.