Streaming HD Video to Xbox 360

I’ve been experimenting with encoding HD videos using EncodeHD and then streaming them to an Xbox 360 via TwonkyVision from my QNAP TS-101. The QNAP TS-101 is a small NAS device with 64mb RAM so I think its a safe assumption that no transcoding is being done.

I first took a sample video from here and then encoded it using the various presets. The files were then copied to the QNAP, and then accessed from “Video Library” on the 360 (note: not via the Media Center Extender).

Original File
Resolution: 1440 x 1088
Bit Rate: 11035 kbps
Video: WMP v9 (VC-1 Simple/Main)
Audio: WMA v2 9 320 kbps, 44100Hz 320 kb/s tot (2 chnls)
File Size: 67.1 MB
Played wonderfully well on the 360.

Encoded with iPhone Preset
Resolution: 426 x 320
Bit Rate: 1490 kbps
Video: H.264/MPEG-4 AVC
Audio: MPEG-4 AAC LC
File Size: 10.1 MB
Played on the 360 but had to change display mode.

Encoded with Apple TV Preset
Resolution: 720 x 540
Bit Rate: 4959 kbps
Video: H.264/MPEG-4 AVC
Audio: MPEG-4 AAC LC
File Size: 33.7 MB
Played on the 360 but had to change display mode.

Encoded with Xbox 360 Preset
Resolution: 1440 x 1080
Bit Rate: 9385 kbps
Video: H.264/MPEG-4 AVC
Audio: MPEG-4 AAC LC
File Size: 63.8 MB
Played on the 360 but had to change display mode.

(For reference, PAL DVD resolution is 720×576)

All stats were taken from the video files with G-Spot.

Mounting QNAP from Linux

Accessing the QNAP from Ubuntu is fairly easy.

First install “smbfs”: -

sudo apt-get install smbfs

Then it’s just a matter of creating the relevant directories in /mnt

sudo mkdir /mnt/Qdownload
sudo mkdir /mnt/public
sudo mkdir /mnt/Qmultimedia
sudo mkdir /mnt/Qweb

…and then editing /etc/fstab

//192.168.0.2/Qdownload /mnt/Qdownload cifs credentials=/root/.credentials,directio,iocharset=utf8,noacl,noperm,nosetuids,rw
//192.168.0.2/Public /mnt/public cifs credentials=/root/.credentials,directio,iocharset=utf8,noacl,noperm,nosetuids,rw
//192.168.0.2/Qmultimedia /mnt/Qmultimedia cifs credentials=/root/.credentials,directio,iocharset=utf8,noacl,noperm,nosetuids,rw
//192.168.0.2/Qweb /mnt/Qweb cifs credentials=/root/.credentials,directio,iocharset=utf8,noacl,noperm,nosetuids,rw

You then need to create a file with your username and password in it: -

sudo vi /root/.credentials

and put the following in it: -

username=user
password=pass

A simple “sudo mount -a” will mount these filesystems ready for use.

rsync on the QNAP TS-101

rsync is a useful application which synchronizes files and folders between devices. The QNAP TS-101 supports this (with a bit of fiddling).

Setting up the QNAP

On the QNAP, go to the “Remote Replication” page, and turn on “Allow remote Rsync server to back up data to NAS”. (“Enable backup from a remote server to the local host.” should already be set, and the port should be the default of 873)

Fixing rsyncd.conf

Unfortunately, there seems to be a problem with the rsync configuration file – the master user is set as “admin” which doesn’t exist (the root user on the QNAP is “administrator”).

To fix this, edit /etc/rsyncd.conf and change: -

uid = admin

to

uid = administrator

Listing Remote Folders

To check that rsync is allowing connections, go to your client and enter: -

rsync 192.168.0.2::

You should get something similar to the following: -

Qmultimedia
Qdownload
Qweb
Qusb
Public

Backing up a directory

To back up a directory, its a simple matter of issuing an rsync command. For example: -

rsync -vrltz –progress –password-file=password.txt –delete –exclude-from=excludes.txt “/cygdrive/C/users/windows_user/Documents/” “qnap_user@192.168.0.2::qnap_folder/“

where: -

password.txt is a file containing your qnap password
excludes.txt is a file containing files not to synchronize
C/users/windows_user/Documents is the folder to copy
qnap_user is a QNAP user that has access to the remote folder
192.168.0.2 is the IP address of the QNAP device
qnap_folder is the destination

Twonky Supported Clients

The latest firmware for the QNAP TS-101 (Version 2.3.0-Build 080618) includes an upgrade to TwonkyMedia V4.4.5

Here’s a list of compatible clients from their website.

Media Players

Buffalo LinkTheater (needs firmware update to version 8.32 or higher)
Buffalo LinkTheater Wireless (PC-P4LWAG)
Digital Rise Xstream Player (video problems with latest firmware)
D-Link DSM-320 / DSM-320RD
D-LInk DSM-520 Wireless HD Meda Player
Fujitsu Siemens Activy Media Player 150
I-O Data AVeL LinkPlayer2 *
iTheater DMS 110
Kodak EasyShare EX811/EX1011
Loewe Connect TVs
Microsoft Xbox 360 (Video streaming supported from TwonkyMedia 4.2 onwards)
Netgear MP115
Netgear EVA 700 Digital Entertainer
Nokia N770
Nokia N800
Philips Streamium SLM5500 Wireless Multimedia Adapter
Philips Streamium SL300i
Philips Streamium MX6000
Philips Streamium SL400i
Roku Photobridge HD1000
Siemens Gigaset M740 AV
SnaZio Digital Media Player
Sony PS3
Sony STR-LV700R
Telegent TG100 Air Media (TwonkyMedia also enables playing videos which are larger than 4GB)
Viewsonic Wireless Media Adapter WMA 100 *
Zensonic Z400 Media Player*
Zensonic Z500 Series
Ziova CS505/510
Zyxel DMA-1000

Music Players

Allnet ALLSOUND WDAP*
Denon AVR-4306
D-LInk DSM-120
Freecom MusicPal
Grundig Ovation 2i
Joybien WorldRadio
Linksys WMLS11B
Macsense MP-100 HomePod
Medion Internet Radio
Netgear MP101 (MP3 only)
omnifi DMS1 Digital Media Streamer (MP3 only)
Philips Streamium MCW770
Philips SLA5500 / SLA5520
Philips WAC3500D
Philips WAK3300
Philips WAS7000
Pinnacle SoundBridge M1000 / Home Music
Pinnacle SoundBridge Radio
Roku SoundBridge
Sagem My Dual Radio 700
SMCWAA-B EZ Stream 11Mbps Wireless Audio Adapter *
SMCWAA-G EZ Stream 802.11g Wireless Audio Adapter
Sony NAS-CZ1 (Music formats are restricted to LPCM and MP3 – needs LAME plugin)
Sony PSP (only MP3 via RSS feeds)
Sony Vaio WA1
Teac WAP-5000
TechniSat InternetRadio 1
Terratec Noxon Audio
Terratec Noxon2
Terratec Noxon Radio
Terratec NOXON 2 radio for iPod
Transtechnology APX-300
Yamaha RX-V2700 (TwonkyMedia 4.2 onwards, limited to 5000 songs)

Software Players & Control Points

Windows Media Player 11 (Windows Vista)
Nokia N95
Cidero Java Control Point
Nero ShowTime
On2share plugin for the Windows Media Players
Rudeo Control
Sony’s VAIO Media Player version 3.1.01.07260

Hard Drive for QNAP TS-101

QNAP TS-101 Telnet Access

The latest firmware (2.3.0 Build 080618) for the QNAP TS-101 has telnet enabled by default.

To access the device, use something like PuTTY to connect via port 13131. The user name is “administrator”, and the password is the administrator that you set via the QNAP web interface.

QNAP TS-101 Introduction

I’ve just received my new I’ve just acquired a QNAP TS-101 from ebay. It’s main features are: -

• File Server (Supporting Windows and Network file sharing)
• TwonkyMedia software that supports UPnP and DLNA
• Supports SATA Drives
• BitTorrent, FTP and HTTP Download Manager
• Mirrors data to external USB or eSATA hard drive..
• Remove backup over internet/local network to another device
• Web Server (with PHP and SQLite)
• Printer Server (supports USB printers)
• FTP Server
• Telnet Access

I’m looking forward to looking at this device more closely….