[SOLVED] Can't Play Video over Samba

NotAComputerGuy · 06-14-2013, 06:38 AM

I'm using a Raspberry Pi with Raspbmc on it to hold my media files, and then I'm using samba to play it over my network from my Mint Debian machine.

I can see all my files through samba, and they all have the permission of:

Code:

-rwxrwxrwx 1 pi pi 348684902 Jun  6 07:45 Watchdog_Series_31_-_Episode_6_b02vzftn_default.mp4

But when I open it through VLC I get the follow message, over and over again until I clock stop:

Code:

Your input can't be opened:
VLC is unable to open the MRL 'smb://raspbmc/devices/Video/11iPlayer/Watchdog_Series_31_-_Episode_6_b02vzftn_default.mp4'. Check the log for details.

The VLC log shows the following repeated:

Code:

main debug: TIMER module_need() : 0.252 ms - Total 0.252 ms / 1 intvls (Avg 0.252 ms)
main debug: creating access 'smb' location='raspbmc/devices/Video/11iPlayer/Watchdog_Series_31_-_Episode_6_b02vzftn_default.mp4', path='(null)'
main debug: looking for access module: 1 candidate
qt4 debug: IM: Deleting the input
main debug: TIMER input launching for 'smb://raspbmc/devices/Video/11iPlayer/Watchdog_Series_31_-_Episode_6_b02vzftn_default.mp4' : 108.925 ms - Total 108.925 ms / 1 intvls (Avg 108.925 ms)
qt4 debug: IM: Setting an input
main debug: incoming request - stopping current input
main debug: dying input
access_smb error: open failed for 'raspbmc/devices/Video/11iPlayer/Watchdog_Series_31_-_Episode_6_b02vzftn_default.mp4' (Connection timed out)
main debug: no access module matching "smb" could be loaded
main debug: TIMER module_need() : 94.484 ms - Total 94.484 ms / 1 intvls (Avg 94.484 ms)
main debug: dead input
qt4 debug: IM: Deleting the input

Thanks

TobiSGD · 06-14-2013, 08:55 AM

Why not just mount the share and give VLC the path to the file? Works every time for me.

schneidz · 06-14-2013, 09:23 AM

i find it ironic that you are using a kludgy software that was designed to fool microsoft servers into believing a linux machine was actually a windows client so it could connect and share. as well as fooling windows clients into believing a linux server is actually a windows server so they would connect and share.

since you are going linux to linux i would cut out the buggy middle-man and just use something like nfs or sshfs.

TobiSGD · 06-14-2013, 09:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by schneidz

i find it ironic that you are using a kludgy software that was designed to fool microsoft servers into believing a linux machine was actually a windows client so it could connect and share. as well as fooling windows clients into believing a linux server is actually a windows server so they would connect and share.

since you are going linux to linux i would cut out the buggy middle-man and just use something like nfs or sshfs.

Not at all ironic if you have a heterogeneous network. Or when a friend with a Windows computer visits you and wants to connect to that share.

Cultist · 06-14-2013, 10:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TobiSGD

Not at all ironic if you have a heterogeneous network. Or when a friend with a Windows computer visits you and wants to connect to that share.

Not just that either - I use nothing but Linux and I still go with samba for my file shares because it's all but impossible to mount an NFS share on an Android device, but samba support is built into Android itself as well as nearly all apps that could possibly need it.

NotAComputerGuy · 06-14-2013, 10:36 AM

Hi TobiSGD, what I am doing is using Caja to mount the device via 'Network' and going in through that way. I then double click on the icon to play the video and that's where this error starts. See the screen shot below for what I'm doing. I hope you can see it appears to be mounted within Caja and it might point to what I'm doing wrong?

https://www.dropbox.com/s/6nes0ugawe...Screenshot.png

There are two reasons as to why I'm using Samba, the first is ease of setup, this is the one time I've ever had a problem with Samba, NFS I tried for years with no success. Secondly, my work laptop runs Windows and without Samba I'd have no music to listen to.

TobiSGD · 06-14-2013, 10:51 AM

I mount my Samba shares using the fstab. No GUI tool for that and works without a hitch. AFAIK, VLC should support Samba, but since I am not using it that way I can't comment on that.

NotAComputerGuy · 06-14-2013, 12:07 PM

That's a fantastic idea you gave me, it's VLC's problem with the video on the Pi. It works fine with Totem, and VLC works fine accessing another computer with Samba and playing videos.

Edit: Right, mounted through the command line and it works fine in VLC! I'm just looking at how to add it to fstab now. For everyone elses record, as well as mine, the following worked for me.

Code:

sudo mount -t cifs //192.168.0.176/devices /mnt -o guest

Thanks for the fantastic inspiration!

NotAComputerGuy · 06-14-2013, 12:48 PM

Right, for now (at least, using umount and mount) this appears to be solved. Massive thanks to TobiSGD for giving me a different view on how to solve it, which using his view, made it fairly simple and straight forward to solve.

Overview of my solution:
Forget mounting samba in Caja (file manager)
Mount through the command line!
For ease of access, add to fstab.