In previous articles, I wrote about changing the conditions for connecting monetization: introducing a threshold of 10,000 and new requirements for YouTube media networks. Today, as promised, I am writing about how to connect to the media network on YouTube, regardless of its choice.
New YouTube requirements created in order to have time to test the channel as best as possible before monetization is activated. They include a mandatory connection to the direct affiliate program of the video hosting: linking the channel with an AdSense account and receiving approval from YouTube after reaching 10,000 views. You will have to send and receive applications manually; as you may have guessed, you will also need to control the entire process yourself.
Connecting to a media network: Preparing a channel
Connecting a YouTube channel to a media network begins with confirmation by phone. Please note that you can link no more than two accounts per year to one number. I will write more about this in a future article.
The next step is to connect to the YouTube direct affiliate program. If monetization is already enabled on your channel, you will be immediately prompted to create an account: 
If your channel is new and monetization has not been enabled, you will be prompted to connect an affiliate YouTube program, and then set up monetization. YouTube monetization may not be available for your channel when it has violations: 
Now you can proceed to linking the channel to AdSense. If you already have an AdSense account, linking a channel will be faster, but if you don’t, you will need to create AdSense account by following the instructions in this article.
The application is reviewed within 48 hours, then you will receive approval and connection to AdSense, provided that your channel fully meets the requirements.
Only after creating an AdSense account will you be able to automatically set up monetization on all your videos. 
If you want to create a home entertainment network based on your TV and computer, which will provide all the capabilities for playing content of various formats, then you should be interested in learning how to set up a home media server. Let's learn how to install the server creation software and then see what features it provides to users.
Connecting a computer and TV
Before you start installing a home media server, you need to resolve the issue of connecting your computer to your TV. It is better to make a wired connection between devices using a LAN cable and a router. Of course you can use wireless connection, however, then you become dependent on the antenna power and the presence/absence of obstacles.
To avoid possible problems When playing movies in Full HD format, it is better to use a LAN cable, carefully laying it between the computer, router and TV.
The router, of course, must be configured to access the network, otherwise no media server will work. If you have figured out the question of how to set up the Internet on Windows 7, then you can proceed directly to installing and configuring the program.
Program installation
Download the program distribution package to begin installing it. It is better to download from the official website, since the current and verified version of the utility is located here. You can choose two types of download - as a *.exe file or in an archive format. There is no difference between them, so choose according to your taste.
The installation process itself is extremely simple: you only need to specify the directory in which the application's executable files will be stored and decide whether to create a program shortcut on the desktop.
After assigning installation parameters, click the “Install” button. Wait until the installation is complete to begin setting up the program.
Setting up the program
When you first start the program, it should appear with initial settings where you need to select your media device. 
Depending on the type of hardware you specify, the Native Support field will display a comma-separated list of supported formats.
If your TV can play some formats that are not in the “Built-in support” field, then check the “Custom device” checkbox. Manually write the formats supported by your equipment and click “Next” to move to the next settings window.
In the “Media resource directories” window, you need to make directories visible to your device (“share”) either local or network drives. Open by default standard folders, but to avoid confusion with them, it is better to allow access to local disks. To perform this procedure, check the boxes of the drives that you want to make available through the media server and click the “Scan” button. 
You can also manually add directories or external media. To do this, click the “Add” button, select the directory you need and start the scanning process. 
After scanning local and removable drives in the program interface you can see full list audio, video and photos stored on your computer.
Remember that the more multimedia information the program has to check, the longer it will take to start, so do not overdo it with the number of “shared” directories.
The next setting item is parameters Reserve copy. You can specify your storage path backup copy, used to restore program data, or leave everything as is. 
After clicking the “Run” button, the backup process will begin. You can specify which parameters you want to save in the backup file by checking them. After completing the data backup procedure, click the “Close” button.
Starting the server
After setting up all the important parameters, you can proceed directly to enabling the DLNA server on your computer. To do this, click on the “Launch” button - a message will appear on the screen that the start was successful. 
After starting the server, you need to turn on the TV. If the connection is established correctly, it will appear on the “Playback Devices” tab in the program. If the list is empty, update it using the special button on the right panel. 
Test the server by running files from your computer on your TV screen:
If the Home Media Server program is configured correctly, the file you launched from your computer will appear on the TV screen. But opening media files from a computer is not always convenient, so you need to learn how to additionally run them directly on the TV. 
To prevent the program from disturbing you on your computer, close it by clicking on the red cross. The work of the home server will not be completed, since the application will not turn off completely, but will only be minimized to the system tray.
Viewing files on TV
After setting up the server on your computer, you can go to the TV and try to open “shared” folders through it. On different models The TV connects to the created server in its own way. For example, LG devices have a built-in Smart Share app. 
Select the created home server as the signal source. If this item is not on the list, update the list of sources.
Don't forget to configure your firewall by temporarily disabling it; otherwise, the firewall will block the TV's attempts to connect to the home server.
After selecting the signal source, you will see a directory of folders, among which there will be directories “shared” on the computer. You can launch available files and watch them on your TV screen.
Possible applications
The Home Media Server program provides users with several interesting features that allow them to expand the functionality of a regular TV into a true home entertainment center.
Interactive television
To enjoy all the benefits of interactive broadcasting, you can set up Rostelecom television. But there is another option that allows you to do without concluding an additional agreement with the provider - download the playlist interactive television and run it through your home media server.
For IPTV to work, you need to install the VLC Player program. Installing this application will not be difficult even for a novice user, since the convenient installation wizard does everything automatically - all you have to do is click the “Next” button.
The next step is to restart the home media server, which is done by pressing a special button on top panel programs. 
After this, you can go to the TV and select the “Internet Television” folder in the media server directory. If you downloaded the working playlist and installed it correctly, you will see a list of channels presented in it. 
Of course, this is not the most convenient option for playing interactive television, especially if the user has a Smart TV or has configured the IPTV function from the provider. However, if you have nothing but a home server, then using the “Home Media Server” program can be called the most adequate solution.
If your TV does not support Smart TV, but you want to be able to watch online broadcasts, then you can delegate some smart TV functions to the Home Media Server program using installed podcasts.
Podcasts in this case are files that allow you to directly launch online cinemas on your TV. For example, on the forum of the official website of the Home Media Server application, it is possible to download a podcast to play and manage video files from social network In contact with.
Download the desired podcast to your computer and drop it into the main program window, as you did with the interactive television playlist file. 
Expand the “Podcasts” section and select the application you downloaded for online broadcasting. Right-click on it and select “Update”. 
Wait for the update process to complete and go to your TV. Find the “Podcasts” folder and select the application downloaded through the media server inside it. 
Surely, many of you have a certain number of media files and would like to watch them comfortably on your TV. Surely, many of you even set up your own home network for these purposes. This is exactly what I did, and I would like to talk about my experience in this area. If you are interested, welcome to the podcast!
Task
Let's start by stating the problem. I have a fairly large media library at my disposal, which contains quite weighty files. The main goal is that on any device in home network(primarily, of course, on TVs) it would be possible to comfortably display media content. It is important that all heavy files go smoothly, that the maximum number of formats is supported, that it all works quietly and stably. Not the least factor is the ease of operation of the system, because not all of its users want to rummage through tons of settings and figure out what went wrong if it happens. All problems should be solved by rebooting and nothing more.
In this article I would like to talk about past, current and future options for solving the above problem, about the problems that I encountered and about my vision of the ideal system.
Beginning of work
To begin to implement our plans, it was necessary to decide on the components in the network and how they should communicate with each other. The preliminary diagram looked something like this:
Let's talk about each of the components in detail.
NAS
In the absence of a separate device for these purposes, it was decided to use a desktop as a NAS (Network Attached Storage), on which, in fact, the entire media library was stored. The PC coped and copes with the task assigned to it quite well, but this solution has its drawbacks:
- the desktop thing is quite noisy and the constant buzzing can be quite annoying;
- the desktop consumes quite a lot of energy, which is not very economical when operating 24/7;
- Constant load on HDDs can have a detrimental effect on them if they are not specially designed for this.
As an alternative, I tried to use an external screw connected to the router via USB, but this option was rejected almost immediately for three reasons. Firstly, I didn’t have an external screw of the required size, secondly, transferring new content to the screw would have been quite inconvenient (only according to the scheme of disconnecting, connecting to the desktop, connecting back), thirdly, for some reason large files they flatly refused to reproduce. As I later found out experimentally, the speed bottleneck was between the disk and the router. Apparently, the router's processor simply could not support the required flow.
Right now my quasi-NAS is running standard Win7. At first I implemented sharing using standard Windows tools (with a media server added there), but this was associated with a sufficient number of problems. So now I'm using a rather interesting open source product called HMS and standard folder sharing. HMS is a completely sane piece of software, not without its drawbacks, but so far I’m quite pleased.
Data transfer
The choice, naturally, was between wired and wireless communication. Of course, ideally, all stationary components would be connected to wires, but, unfortunately, this is not always convenient. The original infrastructure of the home was not well suited to this, and pulling wires around the house so that it would come out neatly turned out to be not the easiest task to accomplish. Therefore, a strong-willed decision was made to put all clients on WiFi (only the landline-router link managed to avoid such a fate).
For these purposes, the Asus RT-N16 router was first purchased, because was one of the top devices supporting WiFi N standard at the time of purchase. Excellent workhorse, quite a strong signal, does not fail. But due to the peculiarities of concrete floors, and therefore a poor signal in some areas, I recently purchased an Asus RT-N10P in addition to use it as a repeater. The choice fell on this model because it was almost the cheapest of the models with the necessary functionality, and devices from the same manufacturer, as a rule, are easier to integrate into one network.
Clients
I have used and still use several different clients to play media content. They all had their pros and cons. The further story will be about the experience of their operation.
WD TV Live
I already reviewed this piece of hardware once, you can read it. In short, this is the most successful device for home streaming that I personally have owned. The piece of iron is nimble, convenient and omnivorous. It can communicate both with media server programs and directly with shared folders on Windows or Linux. 1080p over WiFi works great, even quite large files of 30GB+. Supports the WiFi N format. Among the disadvantages noticed over a fairly long period of use, we can highlight a rather average quality remote control and periodic freezing (once every 3-4 days), which must be treated with a reboot.
Overall, for the money, WD TV Live is an excellent device that does its job quite well. Surely, no less, and perhaps more interesting and productive options have now appeared on the market, which in no way detracts from the merits of the Western.
Xbox 360
The small-soft console has built-in applications that allow you to work with media servers. The main problem with Xbox is that it is extremely picky with formats. I partly solved this problem with the help of the above-mentioned HMS software, which does a bunch of tricky things, including transcoding. But, nevertheless, you have to fight with the fastidiousness of the console quite often. In my experience, Xbox often loses the network, refuses to read some formats that it previously read (cured by rebooting), refuses to rewind many files, etc.
To sum it up, I wouldn't recommend getting an Xbox for media streaming purposes. But if you already have one, or you like to game, but you don’t want to place another device near the TV, then the console can perform the task quite well (but far from perfectly). Sometimes, however, you may really need a tambourine and you have to put up with it.
Smart TV
Personally, I had the pleasure of using a SmartTV made by Phillips, but I suspect that the situation is similar with other manufacturers. Oh, this is where I would like to pour out a ton of negativity. Not only is it now almost impossible to buy a TV without this functionality, i.e. We are forced to pay for this thing, and it just works so badly. The interface itself is scrolled so strained that it seems that the contacts inside the boards are so thin that the electrons have to squeeze through one at a time. Glitches, bugs, freezes - all this is about SmartTV. Almost everything about it is terrible - from displaying folders only in a vertical list in one column and the reluctance to display this list in full (sometimes it gets stuck at a certain moment and that’s it) to the inability to normally play heavy files without lags, even when they are connected locally.
Thus, if your TV is labeled Smart, I would strongly recommend that you abandon this functionality in favor of a separate device if you want fast and stable operation.
Good old PC
The only thing better than a Western in my experience was the good old PC. Windows communicates with Windows, the interface and functionality are familiar to everyone, the absence of any crutches and ethnic percussion instruments during setup... grace. This option seems almost ideal to me, although in normal mode I cannot yet use a PC as a media streamer due to the lack of a separate device for this purpose. Now I limit myself to connecting the laptop via HDMI, but even this, IMHO, is more convenient than all of the above. So, everyone PC!
What's in your plans?
Of course, for the system to work perfectly, I will have to change much of what I have, if not all. I definitely need:
- separate NAS with specialized software
Why am I leaning toward a ready-made option rather than “self-assembly”? Firstly, it's simple and works out of the box, and ease of setup and troubleshooting is important to me. Secondly, there will be no need to engage in the rather tourist-intensive and time-consuming process of selecting components. Thirdly, with NAS I buy not only hardware, but also specialized software, which will distribute a media library, make backups, operate a personal cloud, and much, much more. Again, this is all out of the box. Of course, this solution has its drawbacks, such as a higher price and low upgradeability, but I personally like it. On this moment I like the Synology DS1513+ for a number of reasons, but it’s not a fact that I’ll choose it.
- a lot of twisted pair
Whatever good WiFi, but if it is possible to make a reliable wired connection to a stationary component, it is worth doing. Of course, this means a lot of installation work, because... It’s not convenient to pull the cable anywhere, but you’ll still need to do this if you really want a stable connection.
- nettops or something like that
As I already said, I like the option with a PC as a media network client most of all. It is convenient to use, it has the widest range of capabilities, it is easy to configure, etc. I see this option as a small, low-power PC (nettop), which is placed/hung behind the TV. Its tasks boil down to network communication, video playback and browsing. By the way, adequate browsing on TV is only possible using a PC - the rest is just darkness, which is another significant plus in its piggy bank. Considering the tasks, it doesn’t turn out to be very expensive, because... The option with built-in graphics is enough, and even the power supply can be powered by an external one, which will only increase the level of miniaturization of the design. As a remote control, I plan to use a wireless keyboard with a touchpad, for example, Logitech K400. It seems to me that this will be very convenient.
conclusions
Creating your own media network is easy. Most likely, this can be done using the tools you already have. But if you want to achieve truly ideal operation of the system, especially if you need to broadcast to more than one device, it is very likely that you will have to work hard with ritual dances.
In this article I shared my own experience of creating a home network and working with various devices, as well as a vision of how everything should be ideally. I hope that this material was useful to you. I do not claim to be an expert and I fully admit that I did something wrong, so I will be glad to hear your opinion on this issue in the comments.
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In this article, I want to once again talk about how to create on a computer (laptop, netbook) DLNA server. This will allow you to watch movies and photos on your TV, as well as listen to music that is on your computer.
You just need to connect the TV to your computer via a network cable, or simply to one network, start a DLNA server on your computer and start watching a movie or photo.
But, as it turned out, there are many problems with the Smart Share application. Either it does not start, then it produces various errors, or it closes on its own. You can read about this in the comments that visitors left on the article, the link to which is above.
There is a very good and absolutely free program “Home media server (UPnP, DLNA, HTTP)”, which is an excellent analogue of Smart Share from LG, or for example AllShare from Samsung.
“Home Media Server (UPnP, DLNA, HTTP)” is a universal program with which you can launch a DLNA server and connect to it from almost any TV that supports DLNA technology (and if your TV has Wi-Fi or a network connector, then it most likely supports this technology). In principle, a DLNA client can be not only a TV, but for example a game console.
This manual is suitable for TVs different manufacturers: LG, Samsung, Toshiba, Sony, etc. Compared to branded applications, such as Smart Share, “Home media server (UPnP, DLNA, HTTP)” has a large number of settings.
We will not delve into all the nuances, but will only consider how to open shared access to the necessary folders or drives. How to create a server and how to start watching a movie using DLNA technology on your TV.
Connecting a TV to use DLNA technology
Before we start setting up the program, we need to connect the TV to a computer or laptop. If you already have everything connected, for example through a router, then you can move on to the next step.
We need to connect the laptop and TV to the network. If you have a router installed at home, then just connect your computer to this router, via cable or via Wi-Fi, it doesn’t matter. And you need to connect the TV to the same router. You can connect your TV the same way, or via Wi-Fi (see connection instructions ) .
Our task is to ensure that the TV and computer (in my case laptop), were connected to the same router. I have a TV connected to my router via Wi-Fi LG 32LN575U and laptop Asus K56CM. This instruction will be based on their example.
What to do if you don't have a router?
In this case, you can connect the computer to the TV via a network cable directly. Just take the required length of network cable (it can be crimped at almost any computer store), and connect the TV to the computer.
It looks something like this:
Connecting this way should work fine. But my TV refused to see the server created on the laptop. But, in the “Home Media Server (UPnP, DLNA, HTTP)” program, the TV was displayed and I could start viewing photos from the laptop itself, and the photo appeared on the TV.
She also has an idea on how to connect them without a cable and without a router. But I’m not sure what will work and this method is only suitable for TVs that have the ability to connect to Wi-Fi.
You can try to create a computer-to-computer connection on a laptop, which I wrote about in the article ““. Then, connect the TV to the created access point and try to access files on the computer.
I think we have sorted out the connection. Let's move on to setting up the server.
Setting up the “Home Media Server (UPnP, DLNA, HTTP)” program
First, we need to download and install the program itself. I recommend downloading from the official website: . There's always a new version and it's safer that way.
Save the archive to your computer. To install, simply run the setup.exe file, which is located in the archive. I will not describe the entire installation process, it is simple. Follow the instructions.
After installation, launch the program with a shortcut on the desktop.
Let's go straight to the program settings. We won't do anything special there. We'll just point out local disks, flash drives, external HDD and, or folders, the contents of which we want to see on the TV. For example, you can open only a few folders with movies, photos and music.
A settings window will open. In the first category, Media resources, we need to indicate which drives or folders we want to see on the TV. By default, standard folders with photos, videos and music are open there.
The program is trying to sort everything. And in order not to get confused in all these folders on the TV, I advise you to open shared access to local drives. By default, if I'm not mistaken, access to them is already open. Check if the checkbox next to Local disks.
If installed, this means that you can open any file on your TV that is stored on these local drives (drives C, D, E, etc.).
You can also specify individual folders, or, for example, an external hard drive. To do this, click on the button on the right Add, and select the desired folder, flash drive, or hard drive in Explorer.
We can see which folders and drives we have opened access to. We can delete selected folders. These are the basic settings, if you look, there are a lot of settings there, I won’t go through them all. To save, click on the button Ok, and agree to scan media resources.
We wait while the program scans the folders and disk. Next, you can start the DLNA server itself. To do this, simply click on the “ Launch“.
We see a message stating that the server is running.
Now, just turn on the TV. If everything is connected correctly, it should appear in the “Home Media Server (UPnP, DLNA, HTTP)” program. To do this, go to the tab Playback devices (DMR), and on the right, click the button Update.
If our TV appears, then everything is fine. You can try to start viewing photos directly from the program.
If the TV does not appear in the program, and the server we created is also not visible on the TV, then first of all, check the connection. Is the TV connected to the network and is the laptop connected.
Then, completely disable antiviruses and firewalls. They can block access to the server.
To do this, in the main program window (above), select one of the tabs: movies, music, or photos.
In the left window, media content will appear that is located in those folders and drives to which we have opened access. Right-click on a photo, for example, and select “Play on“, then select our TV.
The photo should immediately appear on the TV screen.
In the same way, you can start playing video and music. This means that we can start playback on the TV screen from the “Home Media Server (UPnP, DLNA, HTTP)” program.
But this is not always convenient. It's much better to go through the TV and open necessary files. To do this, leave the server running. You can hide the “Home Media Server (UPnP, DLNA, HTTP)” program. Click on the red cross (close the program), and it will hide in the notification panel.
At the same time, the server will work and you will be able to access your computer from the TV.
We start viewing files via DLNA from the TV
This means the server is running on the computer, files are open for viewing.
Now, on the TV, we need to go into the program that is responsible for working with DLNA technology. For example, in LG, this is Smart Share. On other TVs, this application may be called differently.
For example, to launch Smart Share in LG, go to Smart TV (blue button on the remote control) and select Smart Share. If your TV does not have Smart TV, but does have DLNA, the process may be different.
Open the folder My computer, and we see our local drives there, and other folders to which we have opened access.
Afterword
“Home Media Server (UPnP, DLNA, HTTP)” is actually a very cool program, with a lot of settings. We only considered the opening public access to files, and starting the server. When I started watching the movie through Smart program Share, the laptop went into sleep mode and playback was interrupted. “Home Media Server (UPnP, DLNA, HTTP)” has a lock that prevents the computer from going to sleep when it is being used as a server.
We configure the DLNA server using the “Home Media Server (UPnP, DLNA, HTTP)” program. View files from your computer on your TV updated: February 7, 2018 by: admin
