myCLOUD DLNA Server

As you might expect, DLNA hardware is designed to work on a home network. It doesn't matter whether READ MORE...

Add-on APP to myCLOUD

  • Digital home entertainment has come a long way in a fairly short time, and it's now easy to stream music, video and other media around the house without any hassle.
  • The DLNA technology (Digital Living Network Alliance) is a big part of it.
  • This tutorial is to build DLNA upon the Raspberry Pi 4 already running myCLOUD services.
  • SOFTWARE - MiniDLNA is server software with the aim of being fully compliant with DLNA/UPnP clients.
  • OPERATING SYSTEM - Raspberry Pi OS with desktop.
  • RASPBERRY PI - Raspberry Pi motherboard model 4B 2GB. But you can use Raspberry Pi models 4B 4GB/8GB, 3A+, 3B, 3B+ instead.
  • Wi-Fi 6 MESH ROUTER - You need two units of M18 to form a back haul broadband Internet access
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DLNA needs a network

As you might expect, DLNA hardware is designed to work on a home network. It doesn't matter whether that network is wired or wireless, although with Wi-Fi you'll need to ensure that your network has sufficient bandwidth for what you want to do. We'd recommend M18 Wi-Fi 6 MESH router pair for serious home sharing.

You've probably got DLNA kit in your home already.

There are a lot of DLNA devices out there, and by "a lot" we mean "440 million": that's the installed base of DLNA as of January 2012. DLNA devices include PS3s and home media servers, Windows PCs, Android phones (like the Sony Xperia U) Blu-Ray disc players, tablets, wireless printers, camcorders, flat-screen TVs and routers, and odds are that at least some of the kit in your home is DLNA Certified.

This tutorial provides step-by-step instructions for configuring a DLNA server on the Raspberry Pi 4 2GB motherboard.

What is DLNA?

The Digital Living Network Alliance is a non-profit trade organisation, and it was started by Sony way back in 2003.

The DLNA defines standards that enable devices to share stuff - photos, video, music - with each other, and it has more than 200 members responsible for more than 9,000 different DLNA devices.

DLNA brings all your tech together

DLNA is designed to act as a bridge between your various bits of kit, so you can watch a film from your PC on your big-screen TV, play an MP3 from your smartphone on your stereo, or send shots from the family photo album to your wireless printer via your tablet.

Think of it as a kind of home cloud: it shouldn't matter where your media is or what device you're currently holding; with DLNA, whatever you want should come to wherever you are and whatever you're using.

Power up and get your Raspberry Pi online

Click on the wireless icon then choose the WiFi network name and enter the its secured password.

sudo apt update

sudo apt upgrade

That should be enough for the Raspberry Pi preparation.

sudo fdisk -l

you would expect to see /dev/sda1 at the bottom of the command response.

sudo apt install minidlna

Once the installation process has completed, we can now proceed to configure it for our media folders.

Before we begin this section, you should already have your media set up somewhere. That can be on your Raspberry Pi myCLOUD NAS Server.

Find ↡
# * "A" for audio (eg. media_dir=A,/var/lib/minidlna/music)
# * "P" for pictures (eg. media_dir=P,/var/lib/minidlna/pictures)
# * "V" for video (eg. media_dir=V,/var/lib/minidlna/videos)

# * "V" for video (eg. media_dir=V,/var/lib/minidlna/videos)

Media Directory Format ↡
media_dir=[TYPE],[PATH]

For [TYPE], we have three different letters that we can use. Each letter specifies a different media type.

  • The letter A for audio files
  • P is used to specify pictures
  • Finally, V is used for folders containing videos

Example Media Directories ↡
media_dir=A,/myCLOUD/shared/dlna/audio
media_dir=P,/myCLOUD/shared/dlna/pictures
media_dir=V,/myCLOUD/shared/dlna/videos

The next thing we might want to configure is the name our DLNA server presents to its clients.

Find ↡
#friendly_name=
Replace with ↡
friendly_name=myCLOUD_DLNA

You should now have finished configuring your MiniDLNA server on your Raspberry Pi.

You can save this file by pressing CTRL + X, followed by Y, then ENTER.

As we have made changes to the configuration of the MiniDLNA software, we will now need to restart its service.

sudo systemctl restart minidlna

At this point, you should now be able to see your Raspberry Pi’s MiniDLNA server pop up on your smart TV (connected to the same network).

Checking the Status of your MiniDLNA Server

First, we will need to find out what the local IP address of our Raspberry Pi is.

hostname -I

With your Raspberry Pi’s IP address, you can go to the following address in your favorite web browser.

http://[IPADDRESS]:8200

This page shows you the number of files available in your media library, as well as a list of all the currently connected clients.

Packing List

myCLOUD NAS DIY Kit ↺ GO BACK
  • 1 x USB3.0 Dual Harddisk Docking Station (See Note*)
  • 1 x Aluminum Case Enclosure = Heat Sink
  • 1 x USB WiFi dongle
  • 1 x 5dBi Omni Antenna
  • 1 x micro htmi to hdmi 6 FT cable
  • 1 x 5V 3.5A Power Supply Module
  • 1 x myCLOUD NAS installer
  • 1 x User guide

M18 MESH Router ↺ GO BACK
  • Compliant to IEEE 802.11ax International Standard
  • 3 WAN/LAN Gigabit Ethernet Ports
  • Power supply unit
  • 中文 menu supplemented with English user guide

Note* : Two drive slots - harddisk not included. You may fit a 3.5in SATA or 2.5in SATA on each slot. Max 16TB each drive. Total max storage capacity 32TB. The Harddisk Docking Station also comes with CLONE feature. Simply insert the master harddisk in the SOURCE slot and the slave harddisk in the TARGET slot, then press the CLONE button to clone.


:: Copyright ® 2020 DataCom Network Limited
The registered trademarks and logos belong to the respective companies.
:: Copyright ® 2021 DataCom Network Limited. The registered trademarks and logos belong to the respective companies.