Need elegant MPlay solution for browsing movies on 2 drives

Bill123 · Sun Oct 22, 2006 7:34 pm

Bgrubb1

I have also used this method - I think the problem is having may be related to not having enabled sharing (using windows) on the drive that is being mounted into the folder. At least, that is the problem I had with similar symptoms. I found that if you don't give the drive a letter and enable file sharing, it won't work as a share mounted within a folder for the Roku.

In XP a drive can have a letter and be mounted in a folder at the same time. If you set it up this way, it should work.

CaminoFrancisco

I have tried your method without success - it looks very powerful.

When you say the script has evolved, can you post the new changes?

thanks

Bill

CaminoFrancisco · Fri Oct 27, 2006 7:47 pm

Hey Bill,
Sorry it took so long to get back to you. Since Roku ditched us, I only drop by occasionally. Flexable is right. This script links all of the files from three different servers and colates them into three (although it could be any number) folders for easy consumption for my family. Anyway, here is what you asked for:

#!/bin/sh

# Remove any existing temporary links
rm /tmp/Volumes/*

# Create Mount Points
mkdir /mnt/smb/demonserver-2
mkdir /mnt/smb/programs
mkdir /mnt/smb/demonserver-1
mkdir /mnt/smb/demonserver-3

# Mount Servers
smbmount //192.168.0.202/media /mnt/smb/demonserver-2 -o password=
smbmount //192.168.0.201/Roku /mnt/smb/programs -o password=
smbmount //192.168.0.201/media /mnt/smb/demonserver-1 -o password=
smbmount //192.168.0.203/media /mnt/smb/demonserver-3 -o password=

# Remove and rebuild current program links
rm /mnt/flash0/home/*
ln -s /mnt/smb/programs/* /mnt/flash0/home


# Add Target Directories
mkdir /tmp/Volumes/Childrens
mkdir /tmp/Volumes/Keepers
mkdir /tmp/Volumes/New

# Make links to our files on DemonServer-2
ln -s /mnt/smb/demonserver-2/Videos/Childrens/* /tmp/Volumes/Childrens
ln -s /mnt/smb/demonserver-2/Videos/Keeper/* /tmp/Volumes/Keepers

# Make links to our files on DemonServer-1
ln -s /mnt/smb/demonserver-1/Videos/Childrens/* /tmp/Volumes/Childrens
ln -s /mnt/smb/demonserver-1/Videos/Keeper/* /tmp/Volumes/Keepers
ln -s /mnt/smb/demonserver-1/Videos/New/* /tmp/Volumes/New

# Make links to our files on DemonServer-3
ln -s /mnt/smb/demonserver-3/Videos/Childrens/* /tmp/Volumes/Childrens
ln -s /mnt/smb/demonserver-3/Videos/Keeper/* /tmp/Volumes/Keepers
ln -s /mnt/smb/demonserver-3/Videos/New/* /tmp/Volumes/New

# Reset the GUI
killall taskview

# sleep and let the gui catch up
sleep 15

# Remove the mounts from the left pane
/usr/local/bin/dispatchmountmessage mountType="unmount" mountPath="/mnt/smb/demonserver-2" mediaType="kSMBMount" mediaDesc="demonserver-2" readOnly="false"
/usr/local/bin/dispatchmountmessage mountType="unmount" mountPath="/mnt/smb/demonserver-1" mediaType="kSMBMount" mediaDesc="demonserver-1" readOnly="false"
/usr/local/bin/dispatchmountmessage mountType="unmount" mountPath="/mnt/smb/programs" mediaType="kSMBMount" mediaDesc="programs" readOnly="false"
/usr/local/bin/dispatchmountmessage mountType="unmount" mountPath="/mnt/smb/demonserver-3" mediaType="kSMBMount" mediaDesc="demonserver-3" readOnly="false"

Keep in mind this script is run on my Roku only once after a reboot. It lives in:

/mnt/flash0/home/root

This allows it to show up as one of my programs upon reboot.

If you want some detailed instructions I could be coerced ;-)

This forum and the members have done so much for me, I am glad to give back.

Camino

Interactive · Sat Oct 28, 2006 1:00 pm

TekChicLaurie wrote:
right click on the text to the left of the graphic bar of the boot drive (in your case probably "Disk 0" with the word "Basic" below it. Select "Convert to Dynamic Disk.

Can this only be done on the boot drive? I have three drives in my machine. My primary drive is a FAT32 drive and my other two are NTFS. I don't recall why I changed the other two drives to NTFS but whatever the reason, I didn't need to do it on my primary drive. Either way, I want to use this feature but I don't want it to apply to my boot drive, just drives 1 and 2. Is this possible?

Currently, I'm not getting the option on any of my drives (to convert to "dynamic"). In the case of drive 0, it's probably because it's a FAT32 drive. I'm guessing that drives 1 and 2 aren't giving me the option because this can only be used on the boot drive. Am I guessing correctly?

dericw · Mon Oct 30, 2006 5:44 pm

Have you looked at Viper as a front end for MPlay? I believe development has stopped, but it is still pretty good in it's current state. All my media is on one share currently, but since you put the path to the movie in the movie config file (html file), all your movies show up in the list regardless of which share they are on.

Bill123 · Fri Nov 03, 2006 7:11 pm

CaminoFrancisco

Thanks for posting the updated script - I am only confused (at the moment) by your statement about where the script lives - do you mean that you load the script from a CF card? Can it be loaded from a regular share?

thanks

Bill

CaminoFrancisco · Fri Nov 03, 2006 10:22 pm

Hey Bill,
It can be loaded from a regular share. However, that requires you have a share somewhat permanently mounted on your Roku. I don't like that as my family finds the clutter distracting and they actually have to navigate to that share to run the script after a reboot (then remember to leave the share alone the rest of the time).

I put the script in the root directory on the roku's internal storage space for the above reason and, as it turns out, that location is not wiped during a reboot, and any script named *.roku will show up on the main screen, so no navigation is necessary. This does have the drawback of always displaying pretty much no matter what (anybody have a way of hiding a script?) I find that a very small price to pay for the payback.

Anyway, the script (I name it "Setup Network.roku" just so it is obvious what it does) mounts all your shares/directories links to each and then cleans up after itself so your main screen only displays your active scripts (like MPlay).

You need to FTP this script to your roku. When you login as root, you are already in the right directory to place this script. Once in place, reboot your roku by holding the power button for > 10 sec. Then you should see your new script.

If you need help customizing your script, reply with your server name(s) and directories and I will work with you to make it look the way you want.

Camino

Bill123 · Mon Feb 12, 2007 3:45 pm

Thanks for your help - it has been a while, but I am finally getting back to this.

I think I understand what to do but am not sure how to ftp into the Roku - I can login using telnet, but get a connection refused when I try to ftp in. Is there some trick I am missing?

thanks

Bill

Bill123 · Mon Feb 12, 2007 9:00 pm

Nevermind - figured out how to tranfer the file in.

Two questions, though - is there a way to hide the builtin "Setup" icon and the icon for this script after it has run?

Also, most times the icons on the left for the shares do not automatically hide - I have to re-run the script to get them to go away (always works the second time.) Any ideas why this would be (I've tried putting a longer "sleep" command in but it doesn't seem to do the job).

thanks again

Bill

CaminoFrancisco · Tue Feb 20, 2007 8:56 pm

Hmmm the longer sleep should work. I had to juggle mine around depending on the number of links made.

As far as hiding the script after using it, I have not found a way to do that and make sure it is there following a reboot. I am sure there is a solution, maybe if I get a wild hair this weekend...

If I find one, I'll post a solution.

jayerndl · Fri Apr 27, 2007 11:12 am

Camino,

Thanks for above script. I am using a modified version of it and it works great except for one thing. After running the script the only icons I have on the left are the "builtin" and "compactflash". The problem is that I can't see the Mplay icon to run it. In your script you create links for the programs (i.e. Mplay) in the /mnt/flash0/home folder but it seems as if the system is looking for them in /mnt/flash0/home/root. How are you able to run Mplay? Thanks again for the great script.

Jay

jayerndl · Sat Apr 28, 2007 2:54 pm

I have discovered another problem when using this method of using links to organize smb shares into categories. For some reason when trying to play a file over 2GB using Mplay I get the following error: " File open failed". If access the same large files using the normal method (i.e. not using the script above) then the files play fine. Does anyone have any ideas on why this is happening or how to fix it? I also see this same error message when I do an "ls" command in any folder with files > 2GB. This error happens whether I am accessing the folder via a link or the mounted share directly. From another post it appears that busybox (where the ls command comes from) needs to be compiled with large file support. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

**edited**
I have put in the correct error message received via Mplay.

Jay

CaminoFrancisco · Sun Jun 10, 2007 9:53 am

jayerndl wrote:
Camino,

Thanks for above script. I am using a modified version of it and it works great except for one thing. After running the script the only icons I have on the left are the "builtin" and "compactflash". The problem is that I can't see the Mplay icon to run it. In your script you create links for the programs (i.e. Mplay) in the /mnt/flash0/home folder but it seems as if the system is looking for them in /mnt/flash0/home/root. How are you able to run Mplay? Thanks again for the great script.

Jay

Hi jayerndl,
Anything with the .roku extension in the /mnt/flash0/home or below directories *should* show up as runable commands. Are you positive you are linking to the *.roku scripts correctly?

CaminoFrancisco · Sun Jun 10, 2007 9:55 am

jayerndl wrote:
I have discovered another problem when using this method of using links to organize smb shares into categories. For some reason when trying to play a file over 2GB using Mplay I get the following error: " File open failed". If access the same large files using the normal method (i.e. not using the script above) then the files play fine. Does anyone have any ideas on why this is happening or how to fix it? I also see this same error message when I do an "ls" command in any folder with files > 2GB. This error happens whether I am accessing the folder via a link or the mounted share directly. From another post it appears that busybox (where the ls command comes from) needs to be compiled with large file support. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

**edited**
I have put in the correct error message received via Mplay.

Jay

I rip my DVDs in regular file mode so I never get a file that large. Sorry, but is sounds like a limitation of one or another of the OSs involved.

Let me know if you work it out.

Mon1018 · Tue Apr 08, 2008 7:42 am

Sweet. I'm looking forward to this... :lol:

dgburns · Mon May 05, 2008 9:48 am

Mon1018 wrote:
Sweet. I'm looking forward to this...

Looking forward to what part of "this"??? This thread died almost a year ago...

Need elegant MPlay solution for browsing movies on 2 drives

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