this post was submitted on 01 Aug 2024
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Greentext

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[–] [email protected] 145 points 3 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 13 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (4 children)

I prefer NGINX with autoindex. Lightweight, no JavaScript, looks like every Linux ISO mirror, filenames already have all the required info, can be quickly searched with CTRL+F, fits perfectly to my laziness.

If you want some improvement, you can use FancyIndex module.

But the files need to be in codecs supported by your browser(s). I prefer AV1+Opus in WebM container which have been supported by Firefox for a while. At this point it's really only Safari not fully supporting AV1 because it relies on hardware decoding and Apple wants you to buy new hardware.

[–] [email protected] 41 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (2 children)

Sorry, your favorite media server is just files you play on a browser?

I mean, not shaming, I just had never heard of that being preferable to Plex/Emby/Jellyfin.

[–] currycourier 13 points 3 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 7 points 3 months ago (1 children)

"If it works, it ain't stupid" ¯⁠\⁠_⁠(⁠ツ⁠)⁠_⁠/⁠¯

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 months ago

It can definitely work and be stupid

[–] [email protected] 5 points 3 months ago

Yeah, I am too lazy to set up something like Jellyfin. It only makes sense for me with music, for which I use Navidrome. But again, my setup is mostly directory/filename based, so it's really being carried with m3u playlists as opposed to proper metadata.

I mean, maybe I'll use Jellyfin if I'll do something in a proper way, but currently I don't see the point of it. And anyway, I can always copy the URLs to VLC, which will even accept DVD ISO files.
e.g.:

vlc --no-dvdnav-menu http/dvdnav://192.168.49.1:8080/media/ISOs/Interstellar.iso

let's me play entire copy of a DVD, properly with menus and bonus features, just as if I used the DVD directly.

Although I don't do this anymore because of storage limitations, but I'll likely return back to it once I'll have a proper media server and LAN.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 3 months ago

That's absolutely ridiculous. I'm into it.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 3 months ago

The biggest issue with that is it requires all of your media to be in a flat folder for search to work right.

Auto index has a mode to return results in json. With a touch of html and js you can make a page that will crawl the directory tree and build a simple searchable cache of name to path, and then you can play it from there. It ends up making a request per folder, but in realistic terms it's not gonna be enough to actually be noticable.

You can then use something like this on a cron to convert anything your browser can't play and you're pretty close to a minimalist media server with only static files.
The one I used to use was just a bash script so I didn't have to wrangle python modules, but I can't seem to find it.

I ended up dropping it when I bought a nas with all that stuff built in and it generally made my life easier. Worth the money if you can afford it.

[–] tan00k 1 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Do you just remember where you are in every show (or movie that you only partway watched)? That's the biggest appeal of jellyfin/plex to me, so I can go in and continue from where I left off without keeping track.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 months ago (1 children)
[–] tan00k 1 points 3 months ago (1 children)

You always finish an entire TV series?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 months ago

Not a series, but then yes, I remember where I ended. Or I can just write it on a note if the series is still being made and it will take some time.