WebGuide for WHS - Streaming media from WHS
Help test the first beta of WebGuide for WHS. As you would expect, most of WebGuide's features are carried over from the MCE platform - streaming music, videos, DVDs, picture browsing , etc. Left out is the program guide and live TV features. However, if you have an MCE/Vista machine running WebGuide, you can setup a "WebGuide Prism" connection to that machine to have access to recorded TV.
Features:
- Full music library, with streaming.
- Streaming videos/DVD's
- WHS Integration
- - Adds link to home and user pages
- - Uses WHS login
- Picture browsing with thumbnails, full-view, EXIF data, and downloading.
- Links to MCE/Vista machines via "WebGuide Prism"A few notes:
- WebGuide can't be installed via the WHS console. For now you have to login to the server via remote desktop to install.
- Music is still read from the Windows Media Player library. Thus, you need to login to the server via remote desktop and confgure WMP to access your music library (usually on "d:\shares\Music").
- There is no MPEG2 decoder included in WHS, so if you want to stream MPEG2's or DVD's, I'd suggest downloading and installing the decoders from the WebGuide download page.
- When creating user accounts in WebGuide, use the same username as the WHS account. WebGuide will then try to auto-login for you. If not, then you will be prompted to login.
- Mobile and Media Center pages should still work, although there has been less testing done.
- The "accounts" functionality is new to this build, so is still a bit rough around the edges. It does work, however, and makes it much easier to set the accounts that WebGUide will use to access your media.Chime in and let me know what you think and/or want from Webguide for Windows Home Server.
http://www.asciiexpress.com/webguide/forums/Default.aspx?g=posts&t=1519
Thanks.
Doug
All Replies
- Doug,
At the risk of sounding totally noobish and for not taking several hours to study exactly what this is.... I looked at the web link and this is what I understand of it:
- It seems that you must have either a Media Center PC and then any of it's content can be streamed to other pc's in the house over the net to another pc.
- Or a WHS where pictures, movies and music on the HD's could be streamed to other pc's in the house or over the net to another pc. But no TV.
At this point, I'm looking for a way to stream pics, videos, and music from WHS to my TV. Outside of building a Media Center PC and then use WHS as a storage bin, it seems that the only thing and best option for me is a Dlink Media Player. Or similar device....
I'm still interested in WebGuide. It has great potential and I bet a lot of WHS users will find it useful.. - It seems that you must have either a Media Center PC and then any of it's content can be streamed to other pc's in the house over the net to another pc.
Yes, you basically have the idea. WebGuide extends WHS to allow you to view and stream your media outside your house. If you have a Media Center, then it can do remote scheduling and live TV also. If not, then it will handle everything else - music, pictures, videos and DVD's. Both of these can feed content to a browser, mobile device (Windows Mobile device) or a Media Center via an add-in.
If you just want to view your media on your TV, then yes, the best option is to get a UPnP player. There are lots of them available, from low and to high-end, so you should be able to find one to suit your needs.
Hope that explains things...
FYI, I've created a quick "install guide" to walk through setting up WebGuide on WHS.
http://www.asciiexpress.com/webguide/forums/Default.aspx?g=posts&t=1519
I have you WEBGUIDE up and running and there is only the play Album feature is comming up with a Security error.
I am downloading you Install guide - get back to you if I cannot figure it out.
I like this products- you will be recieving my full registration.
Maybe you should post it in the Developers Section also.
Still testing and I do have a suggestion or two however I will wait a another day before posting.
Thanks for the post on this product it solves about 80 percent of what I was trying to do.
Very good step by step guide.
As I said I only have one issue that I was unable to fix-
Streaming audio works just fine however when I select "Play Album" I get the error message
"Windows Media Player encountered an error when connecting to the server. The security information from the server could not be validated."
Thanks for you help .
Glad you like it. I'll have to dig into the error you are seeing, but it seems like an SSL error coming from WMP. Are you connecting to the full "livenode.com" domain URL? That would explain it if you are not, since SSL keys are tied to an exact domain name and will give you a security warning if the domain doesn't match.
Thanks.
Doug
ROUZA wrote: Very good step by step guide.
As I said I only have one issue that I was unable to fix-
Streaming audio works just fine however when I select "Play Album" I get the error message
"Windows Media Player encountered an error when connecting to the server. The security information from the server could not be validated."
Thanks for you help .
Yes I am using the full https://XXX.livenode.com.
I can play in WMP once I am using a PC that is joined to the WHS if the PC is not part of WHS even on the same LAN the error is the same.
I can try my DNYDNS account in stead of .livenode and see what happens.
FYI
I am OK with the "Play Album" button not working - just tell me how to remove it as an option.
Streaming works fine with both Music and Videos I have tested, so I am not overly concerned with getting the feature to play in WMP.
Anyway I have seen a suggestion in your forum for "Slideshow" and "Playlist" so I will just add my vote.
My main request is :
- Can you add a "Home" link back to WHS Home page
- or have WEBGUIDE launch in a seperate page or tab.
Question:
- I am running Sharepoint for My Contacts and Calender - is it possible for me to add a link to WEBGUIDE for my Sharepoint site.
- Can you have a similar rendering using the content in a WHS user folder ( I have a mix of Word docs, Excel and PDF content) and creating a webpage. So I will have a User Doc link on WEBGUIDE.
I am seeing WEBGUIDE be a sort of web overlay for content on WHS.
Thanks
- D Berrett,
Yes that confirms my ideas on this. I may try it out because it would be nice to see content already stored on WHS. Either on a remote pc or on my Treo.
I've been crunching the media player for some time and WHS really makes it a nice option for all the stored content my family has quired: pics, music, dvd's etc.
Thanks for the insight! I tried to grab this pdf, but kept getting "Please do not link directly to this resource. You must have a session in the forum."
I'm logged in, ererything else works, what am I doing wrong? (Running IE7 on Vista Ultimate)
TIA
bdoserr wrote: I tried to grab this pdf, but kept getting "Please do not link directly to this resource. You must have a session in the forum."
I'm logged in, ererything else works, what am I doing wrong? (Running IE7 on Vista Ultimate)
TIA
try selecting the original link
http://www.asciiexpress.com/webguide/forums/Default.aspx?g=posts&t=1519
it will take you to the PDF file
- That worked. Thanks!
- Ok, I got it to work but I two problems:
First, I did not install PowerDVD 7. Did not want to pay for it just yet. I did have a OEM copy of PowerDVD 5. This may be the problem...
Problems:
- Webguide will stream regular old plain codec AVI to the webguide view box. But it will not stream an Xvid or divix AVI to its own viewing box.
- No video of any type or codec will stream into WMplayer. Error=Windows Media Player cannot play the file because the specified protocol is not supported. If you typed a URL in the Open URL dialog box, try using a different transport protocol (for example, "http:" or "rtsp:").
- Music is the same problem. Will stream to Webguide's own stream box, but not to WMplayer. Error=Security Info from server could not be validated.
- I have WMplayer 11 on all my pc's. I left the default player on WHS.
- We may want to move all conversations to the Developers thread......
BTW, you don't have to purchase PowerDVD. You can just install it for the codecs. They don't expire.
When using the "play" button, you will need the codec on the client-box as WebGuide is just sending the raw bytes off disk. When using the "stream" button, WebGuide will pass the file through the transcoder and spit it out as a streaming WMV, so you will need to install the relavent codecs on the server.
I've never seen the WMP error you are seeing. Here's a quick blurb I found doing a search:
- D Berrett,
Ok, it would seem that no matter what I will have to install my K-lite codec pack on WHS. It has everyone known to man..LOL. Divx, Xvid, and many others. That would explain why those vids will not stream to either the WebGuide viewer or WMP.
Power DVD. Do you feel I should uninstall the Vs 5 and sub in the vs 7?
Also, I've tried to stream the non-divx and xvid vids but the higher the kbps the more it breaks up and stops and that is within my own 100 mb home network. I could see that issue over the net, but not at home on my network. HMM. I'll tinker and test then report back.
Thanks. - I got one vid to stream into the WebGuide vid box, but then another got this error:
Couldn't connect to the streaming service. Please ensure the WebGuide streaming service ("WebGuideTranscode") is running in the Windows Services list.
If it is not running, check the 'WGStream' logs in the app_data folder for more info.
Exception message:
"Failed to connect to an IPC Port: The system cannot find the file specified. "ouldn't connect to the streaming service. Please ensure the WebGuide streaming service ("WebGuideTranscode") is running in the Windows Services list.
If it is not running, check the 'WGStream' logs in the app_data folder for more info. FYI
WEBGUIDE has been up and running since Sat.
I am able to view pictures ,stream Music, Video and DVD-( installed powerDVD 7.0) both on the LAN and remotely.
My only issue is with opening files in WMP remotely .
I recieve the same securuty warning mentioned before.
I am satisifed with what WEBGUIDE has been able to do and It seems that the security error has somethig to do with WHS security settings and would suggest as I did before to remove the "Play ALBUM" button and work on this later.
Creating a MSI to allow installation as an WHS add in from the Console seem to me to be the best use of your skills for now.
I am not aware it your intention was to create a completely different user group for webguide, however I was able to create a user in WEBGUIDE only and have acess to all the functions via the web.
I do see some use for this and hope you do not disable it.
I mentioned this before - can you create a link back to WHS or force WEBGUIDE to open in a new window or tab.
The "security" error you are seeing in WMP appears to be caused by the certificate on WHS. When you load IE on the remote machine and connect to the WHS machine, do you get a certificate warning?
ROUZA wrote: FYI
WEBGUIDE has been up and running since Sat.
I am able to view pictures ,stream Music, Video and DVD-( installed powerDVD 7.0) both on the LAN and remotely.
My only issue is with opening files in WMP remotely .
I recieve the same securuty warning mentioned before.
I am satisifed with what WEBGUIDE has been able to do and It seems that the security error has somethig to do with WHS security settings and would suggest as I did before to remove the "Play ALBUM" button and work on this later.
Creating a MSI to allow installation as an WHS add in from the Console seem to me to be the best use of your skills for now.
I am not aware it your intention was to create a completely different user group for webguide, however I was able to create a user in WEBGUIDE only and have acess to all the functions via the web.
I do see some use for this and hope you do not disable it.
I mentioned this before - can you create a link back to WHS or force WEBGUIDE to open in a new window or tab.
yes
I do get the cert. error.
I imported the WHS Certificate to a remote computer and now the streaming to WMP works.
I have tested all the features and I am satisfied with the functons.
Excellent product.
I would advise that everyone take a look at the Webguide for Vista or Windows Media Cente and a grreater appreciation will be had for this version of Webguide for WHS.
Thanks
- I don't know, I've used (and bought) WebGuide on a Vista computer, and the WHS version needs a lot more work in my opinion. The biggest problem is its setup, really. I am a very technical user, and yet the instructions to setup the WHS version are overly complicated, with all the different user names its telling you to use, and one of them has to be the same as the WebGuide name, and things like that. I don't see why its necessary to create extra user names just for the purpose of this, I want everything to just work on its own under the administrator account if necessary. I realize its only an early version of it, but its not worth the time for me to waste getting it set up properly yet.
You do not need to create any special usernames.
I used the "admin" account and password and everything works.
I guess the advice about creating a special username is only valid if you have not made all the Administrator Account on your network and assigned them the same password as the admin account on the WHS.
Sure I would like to see an option to import usernames and password from the WHS but its not so differcult to create the usermnes in webguide.
As to following the userguide - I was able to set it up before the userguide was available and I found when I reviewwd it the instruction be very detailed.
This product needs only an installer and configuration fron the console and its good to go.
Just my opinion.
- Okay, got it to work using the administrator usernames and everything is working well.
Thanks for that info. I love this product from what I have seen and I have only tinkered a bit. Unfortunately with Doug getting a job for MS we might not see additional work on this.
. I do have some hiccups with video playback on my lan. I imagine it is the hardware in the WHS. 2.0 P4 and 512 of SDram. I have a 160,400,400,500 and SATA 750 gig drive in the box. So I think with them being newer that that isn't the problem and I also am using a gigabit connection.
Any tips for optimizing performance? I also have my movie collection ripped to mpgs. But I lose chapters that way. Should I put them in Iso format and mount them with Daemon tools.
I imgaine transcoding the video is what is the killer. Audio works great.
Thanks again for a killer app. Let's hope MS supports this in a future version or service pack for WHS.
Setting it up is easy enough and ultimately this isn't a enduser setup mroe of an OEM option.
Hi!
I have an empty music library
. I installed Webguide according to the pdf installation doc. and ALL worked just fine! then I installed webguide on a vista mcahine to create a prism connection. after setting up the prism I could see recordings on the WHS Webguide screen BUT my music library was now empty?!?!!? I removed the prism connection with no luck. (should not really be related byt what a heck 
). I uninstalled Webguide, deleted the directory in program files, reinsatlled from scratch, the only difference being WMP now is set up already. no luck, music library still empty?!? I even did an uninstall of webguide, deleted remaining folders under program files, deleted the library from WMP, not deleting the files of course..., rebooted, configured WMP under the Administrator account, installed webguide, configured webguide with users and stuff. No luck still!!what next? what can I do next to make music work again? I REALLY MISS MY MUSIC AT WORK
EDIT:
I have solved my issue!! For some reason when I looked at the logon account for the COM + objects they missed .\ OR WHSSERVER\ before the username. Even a complete reinstallation and reconfiguration didn't change this value. I got suspicious when looking at the entry in the services list for the transcoder service, where teh username in the logon properties had a leading .\ before the username. That made sense.
IE. the logon account name field should look like this: .\administrator OR WHSSERVER\administrator where WHSSERVER is the name of YOUR WHS server
.Now my music is accessible again from EVERYWHERE
Great product, both WebGuide and WHS. Love them!/Hasse
Did you ever find a solution to your error:
Windows Media Player encountered an error when connecting to the server. The security information from the server could not be validated.
I am getting the same error and do not have a solution for it. I could help some help.
I get the same error when trying to play Music that has DRM
