Stream external hard drive through XBMC? Worth it?

Basq

OK.. i have a 250GB external hard drive connected to my PC chock full of my music / films / games.

Is it possible to have XBMC detect it and stream this media from it? I've read it is but can't get a definitive guide on how to do it.

But also is it worth it? With my network experience using a crossover to stream large files would most definantly result in a fair amount of lag unless a good deal of pre-buffering was done.

Thanks in advance!

zAbbo

you shouldn't have a problem, and certainly no lag.

What version of XBMC, something recent from a CVS build, Tech does nice builds.

You can also change buffer options, if needs be.

I've streamed eps/movies with no problems.

Sneaky_Russian

i stream from my PC over a wireless 54g connection and it's grand.....no probs.....


as for how to do it, go to settings->network->smb server and bang in the ip address of your PC. as far as i can remember i also set up a user on the PC and put the username and password in on the smb setup too.

then set up a share on the pc with all the good stuff in it.
you can then browse to it by clicking my files-> smb network and you should see your share.

that descripton maybe a bit rough around the edges but look on the XBMC manual and it details how to do it.....

Sneaky_Russian

actaully now that i think of it, i was having some problems when streaming video from the web. It would play for a half hour maybe then freeze..... i thought it was the wireless bridge acting up but i haven't had an probs since i upgraded to the 21/05/06 build of xbmc....

maybe coincidence.....

Basq

Excellent.. i assumed it was possibly and little or no lag means good news for me!

Funnily enough just read somewhere in the FAQ on XBOXScene that it was not and never will be possible to do it!

Will give it a go later on

Sneaky_Russian

That was probobly refering to plugging the hard drive directly into the Xbox.....

Basq

Sneaky_Russian wrote:

That was probobly refering to plugging the hard drive directly into the Xbox.....

Ah possibly..!

silverlining

Sneaky_Russian wrote:

actaully now that i think of it, i was having some problems when streaming video from the web. It would play for a half hour maybe then freeze..... i thought it was the wireless bridge acting up but i haven't had an probs since i upgraded to the 21/05/06 build of xbmc....

maybe coincidence.....

I get that problem all the time, it's really annoying. I've tried increasing the cache and it didnt help at all. If anyone else has a solution for playing stuff without the freezing (especially in Youtube and google video browsers in XBMC) then please let us know

po0k

Boston, there's streaming(SMB/CIFS/FTP) and then there's streaming

Basq

Successfully set up a share of my drive but don't seem to be communicating with it from the XBOX.. but that's more than likely due to the difficulties i'm having with the IP Addressing scheme.

Added details of the share to the XBOXMediaCenter.xml file and i can see it in the XBMC Browser but just won't connect. Will retry when i get the nasty ip address f-up of mine sorted!

Basq

Just an update: now have my share fully connected and working!

Thanks everyone!