DVDCatalyst: I set everything up for the MP4 Streaming. On my Droid if I use wi-fi I don't have any problems with bringing it up. But if I go to 3g (which is what I would use when out and about) it will not load. Any suggestions of what I need to do? I was so excited about this so that my grandson could watch his movies while we were out and I would not have to store them on my phone. I would greatly appreciate any input./
3G is a different network than your own wifi network at home, so you will have to set up port forwarding on your router. It's not for the average computer user to set up though.
This is what needs to be done to make it work (I strongly recommend to have someone with some networking experience do these steps):
*Step 1* Your computer has to be set up with a fixed IP address.
this link will give some details
hotComm FAQ: Assign Static IP Address (Windows XP)
I would mention to not use the exact same IP as what your computer has now, because it might conflict with a different computer in a few days. If your computer shows 192.168.1.101 as your IP, (or 102, 103 etc) I would suggest to use 192.168.1.50 or something along those lines. if your IP ends with a number in the 100 range, the router probably gives IP's out between 100 and 200 so do not pick one in between those. The router usually has a xxx.xxx.xxx.1 number, so dont use that either. Some routers use 192.168.2.x or 192.168.0.x When you set a fixed IP, make sure the first 3 parts are identical. only the last part can be different.
Once you have changed your IP, make sure you test if you have internet on your computer before you continue (visit
Google and search for something). If you dont have internet access, go back to where you made the change, and look over the settings. To make it the way it was, set it to dynamic again, and restart your computer.
*Step 2* enable port forwarding on your router.
In most cases you can just type in the router IP (192.168.1.1, 192.168.0.1 or whatever it shows as a gateway in step 1) in internet explorer/firefox/safari (where you would normally type the website you want to visit like
Google)
Then there should be a section for advanced, portforwarding or something along those lines. In there you have to set up portforwarding of port 80 to the IP you gave your computer in step 1.
This might help :
PortForward.com - Port Forwarding Guides Listed by Manufacturer and Model
*Step 3* you have to use your external IP (the IP of the routers internet connection to visit the website on your Droid. Rather than the
http://192.168.x.x you use on wifi, it will be some other number. You can get this number by visiting
What Is My IP Address - Shows Your IP Address on your computer (not on your Droid over 3G, that will be different.
Keep in mind that this number can change when you restart your router, power loss etc.
You can use a website like
DynDNS.com - Free Domain Name, Managed DNS, Email Services which lets you run a little program on your computer that would link to this website, and rather than the IP, you get to use something like "http://gavinsnana.dyndns.org" as a website name instead of the ip number. the little program will update your IP to that name, so you dont have to keep track of it.
Unfortunately this whole process is a little complicated and not for the faint of heart. It's pretty straightforward, however, you will have to understand some of the basics of networking to be able to set this up. Due to the enormous amount of different router brands/models, computer configurations, its impossible for me to provide a more detailed step by step guide.
Lastly, as mentioned in the manual of the streaming server app, as well as on the information page on the website, (note, this applies to streaming in general, not just to mp4 streaming server) do keep in mind that the quality is directly tied to your upload speed at home. Your download speed (watching videos on the web on your computer) is usually considerably higher than your upload speed, but when you stream from your PC to your Droid over 3G, it uses the upload connection of your internet. For best results, run a speedtest on your computer to see what the upload speed is, and then adjust your videofile quality accordingly. (use a slightly lower total quality to be safe) If you play a 1500Kbps video on a 256kbps upload speed, you can watch 1 second of video then wait 3 seconds, making a 2 hour movie last 8 hours.
