what is the best server to stream to android in your opinion?

Hi,

I have a bunch of android devices, phones, tablets, etc. They provide me great mobility, however on the go, access to my media has been a problem. I am trying to figure out the best option for streaming my media to my android devices. (Think hotel rooms or family visits. I have access to relatively fast wifi, but my home upload cannot keep up with hd streams. Or possibly on the go over LTE)

First of all, my media player of choice is XBMC. That's what I use at home with mysql libraries hosted on unraid. I love it. Now it's available on android as well (even though still beta if not alpha). But when it comes to streaming over the internet, it falls quite short.

Following are the options I have identified and their advantages and disadvantages:

1) Air Video Server + Mirage Beta: Air Video works really well on ios, but there is no android client. Mirage was based on reverse engineering of the airvideo server-client communication. It can talk to the server app and play media.

Advantages are: It is free, supports transcoding, server runs on unraid (even 4.7), it can do upnp and send transcoded streams to other devices through upnp. 

Disadvantages are: It is quite buggy, most thumbs do not get populated, sometimes it crashes during playback, you can't stop it without force-closing application, and it results in the airvideo server keeping the file open indefinitely, preventing the hdd from spinning down and requires a restart of airvideo server.

Overall, it is a nice start, ideas are great but it needs more revisions. Unfortunately it wasn't updated in months so not sure about continued support.

2) Plex Media server and plex android client:

Advantages: Runs on unraid. Supports transcoding. Continued support. Supported on many other devices.

Disadvantages: Android client is not free. Unraid 5.0 only (I am on 4.7)

Overall, I hear it is a nice option that is constantly updated, but is not free.

3) BubbleUPnP server and client:

Advantages: Both the client and server are free. Very capable upnp controller. Server offers transcoding and ability to set transcoding profiles for different devices and connections.

Disadvantages: Server is not a upnp server, but only serves available upnp content over the internet to its client. So you need a separate upnp server. Does not run on unraid (it probably can if someone creates a plugin, which won't be me)

Overall, the need for a separate dlna server is annoying, but free is good.

4) Serviio:

Advantages: transcoding, client on android as well as web player for pc's. existing plugin for unraid. uses saved metadata including synopsis and such (huge plus over dlna servers that support only a single image)

Disadvantages: dlna server part is free, but for api access through android and web client, you have to pay. Unraid 5.0 only.

Overall, a very interesting option. The server comes with 15 day trial api access to test the apps. I would check it out if I was running 5.0.

5) Subsonic:

Advantages: Transcoding. Free web client.

Disadvantages: For api access, you have to pay (android client requires it). It is great for music, but videos are still experimental. Web player interface for videos left much to desire.

Overall, it is great for music, but video part needs more polish and it is not free.

I personally prefer a free option. I am thinking about maybe setting up serviio along with open vpn, so I can receive transcoded streams through upnp on android possibly through bubbleupnp client. (Assuming openvpn works properly on android, because corporate vpn sure does not work)

What do you guys think? Any options I might have missed? What are you guys using?

OpenVPN will work on Android if the build you are using supports it (I realize that may not be particularly helpful). Anything ICS or newer should work. For anything earlier, you may need to be rooted, but there should be compatibility information available via various search terms (I recommend checking xda-developers and rootzwiki). If you let me know what specific android devices you have, I may be able to better point you in the right direction. I have used OpenVPN successfully in the past on my Nexus One and I'll shortly be configuring my One X to use it as well.

Having said that, Plex is by far the best choice of those listed. I know it's not free, but it's 100% worth the small cost because of the ease of use (myPlex to manage discovery and handshake) and the superior transcoding engine. Not to mention the fact that their user interface is much better than any of the others you listed. I have purchased the Plex app twice (once for me and once for my wife) and we both get a lot of use out of it (huge WAF since it allows her to easily find and pull up all our videos for our kids when they're unhappy away from home). They also continue to make frequent updates with bug fixes as well as new features. The progress they've made over the past 8 months has been pretty remarkable. They are also very responsive via their support forums (something I think you can appreciate being an Unraid user). I've helped a friend setup his own Plex server and he's purchased both the Android and iOS apps and been very happy with both as well.

Plex also works well for me, no real complaints.  Good value app in my book since it just works.  Caveat is... I only use it on wireless (including remote) never tried over cellular.

I use Plex over 3G and feel that cellular bandwidth is more of a bottle neck than my home upload. It works pretty well when I am stationary with a good signal.

$5 seemed to be very good bargain, given all the consistent work they have been putting in and free desktop clients that drives my home TV.

I use Air Video and Plex on my iOS devices but since Air Video isn't an option, I agree with others and just pony up for Plex. $5 bucks is nothing. Skip eating lunch out one day and you've more than paid for it. The developers put a lot of work into it and deserve the small compensation their mobile apps bring in.

For the small fee that Plex charges, it's definitely the best of the bunch by far.  To be perfectly honest, I'd pay 4 times that for the app without hesitation.

And the verdict is.... Gotta pony up the cash for plex.

One thing I will say, they should offer a free trial version to test(maybe they do, isl) because while plex transcodes just fine for remote PCs, it doesn't do well at all for my android devices. This very well may be because of my processor but it is something good to know before spending the cash, no matter how cheap it is. I have already bought it and without upgrading my CPU it is a useless app for me.

And the verdict is.... Gotta pony up the cash for plex.

 

One thing I will say, they should offer a free trial version to test(maybe they do, isl) because while plex transcodes just fine for remote PCs, it doesn't do well at all for my android devices. This very well may be because of my processor but it is something good to know before spending the cash, no matter how cheap it is. I have already bought it and without upgrading my CPU it is a useless app for me.

That's not plex fault.... You sould have known that 1080p trascoding needs beefy cpu ..... Plex totally worth the bucks

Another solution I have test is dice player its free and support subs and another approach is splash top, with remoted control

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2

Who said it was a 1080p video? Let me clarify, plex doesn't transcode any file well when streaming to my android devices.

I didn't say plex wasn't worth it, and I do know very well that a beefy cpu would be needed. And regardless of what is known, I didn't say they should offer the app for free, but a free trial version to let the user see if it is a good fit for them, both from a hardware standpoint as well as for personal tastes.

Who said it was a 1080p video? Let me clarify, plex doesn't transcode any file well when streaming to my android devices.

 

I didn't say plex wasn't worth it, and I do know very well that a beefy cpu would be needed. And regardless of what is known, I didn't say they should offer the app for free, but a free trial version to let the user see if it is a good fit for them, both from a hardware standpoint as well as for personal tastes.

I remember when the android client were released they did say playback was problematic with some devices. I thought they had a known good device list on their website. Not sure. Just another reason I love iOS devices, not having to worry about crap like that.

Who said it was a 1080p video? Let me clarify, plex doesn't transcode any file well when streaming to my android devices.

 

I didn't say plex wasn't worth it, and I do know very well that a beefy cpu would be needed. And regardless of what is known, I didn't say they should offer the app for free, but a free trial version to let the user see if it is a good fit for them, both from a hardware standpoint as well as for personal tastes.

For what's it worth, I believe Darrin, their Android lead, has stated that they are willing to refund your app purchase for any reason for a significant amount of time (rather than the 15 minute refund window the Play store provides) if you contact them directly. A little bit of a hassle, but it gives you an option.

I've tried it on a Nexus One, a B&N Nook Color (running CM7 admittedly), a Kindle Fire (stock), an Asus Transformer, a Galaxy S2, and an HTC One X, all with pretty decent success, so I suspect there's a pretty wide array of highly compatible devices. If you have a specific device with sub-par results, I'd say to ask on their forums, as they've progressively included more and more settings logic to optimize performance on different devices (Kindle Fire being one example that was massively improved by a software update many months ago).

I suspect my problem is my CPU, I don't use plex except to test some stuff, and I tried the android client. Overall, I'm happy to let them keep my money, they do a great job. Android devices will be hit or miss because of the wide array of platforms.

Good to hear they are so easy to work with, I never looked into it much because I have very little need for it. I usually am not somewhere I can really stream a movie at and actually watch it. If I'm going somewhere that ill want it I have the VPN for that, and will probably have my laptop. Last movie I watched on q mobile device was 1 hour and 45 minutes long, and it took me over a month to watch catching bits of it when I had downtime.

Let me clear the air again, I'm not saying plex isn't worth the money, it most definitely is, all I was saying is a free trial, even if limited to a few shows or movies, would be good from a buyer's standpoint. I consider plex to be one of the best, and the fact that the software is mostly free is amazing.

Thanks a lot for sharing you opinions and experiences. I guess Plex is the way to go.

Now I really can't wait until 5.0 stable is released

5.0 is more than stable enough for prime time now. No need to wait to upgrade.

True, but the kernel keeps changing, so I would have to keep recompiling virtualbox (AFAIK)