Video and audio streaming with Samba

[Acaides]

I have a samba server running on my FC3 desktop. I have a number of video (.avi, .asf, .mpeg, etc.) and audio (.mp3, .ogg, etc. ) files shared. I have had the server up and running successfully for a number of months, with no problems. I am able to download/upload files from the server, as well as stream any media file on the server to any windows XP machine on the network.

Recently, I installed FC3 of my notebook PC, and tried to stream the files as I have done in windows XP (from the same notebook). It failed. I use the gnome file browser to get to the file on the samba server, works fine. I can download the file just fine and play it (in mplayer). But when I try to open the file from the server directly, mplayer opens up and immediately closes. XMMS does somehing similar when I try to stream .ogg or .mp3 files. I have all the necessary codecs (as I can play the files if I download them).

What am I missing?

[ghenry]

Is the share password protected?

[Acaides]

Yes, the share is password protected. I enter the password to access the shared files in nautilus.

[blammo]

I think your problem is the way mplayer and xmms handles the buffering of the file. You don't actually have a streaming server, but instead a shared directory. You need a web server or a real streaming server like Helix or VLC. I think the way to get around this is to actually mount the shared directory first like so:

smbmount //desktopFC3/media /mnt/media

and then open the file from /mnt/media directory on the local machine.

[ghenry]

Also, mplayer and xmms can't provide a password prompt when you browse for the files, unless nautilus caches them?