Win how do i access my video files from anywhere?
#1
Hi, I have Xbmc Frodo installed on my windows 8 and i would like to be able to watch my shows on my mobile phone, or another computer, while not on my home network.
I tried looking around but everything i find is only for the same network or not suitable to stream videos.
I already opened a Dyndns domain and opend my ports for Xbmc, but other then that i dont know what to do.
does anybody knows what to do? thanks.
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#2
Its relatively simple to setup but unfortunately the end results are often poor unless you have great bandwidth.
Most home setups have great download speeds but very poor upload speeds hovering around 1mb.

To be able to access your files remotely you need to A: decide how to receive your content. B: setup a sort of tunnel to your xbmc.

A:
Because most of the files that you have are probably SD or HD they need high throughput ie bandwidth and so literally just opening your ports to the outside world and attempting to access the content just wont work due to retraints placed on the outside network so you may need to look for a suitable decoder/converter depending on what device you are streaming to.

B:
Ok basically you need to setup up a NAT or port forwarding rule that basically tells traffic from the outside world where to go to get content. Most internal routers support port forwarding or have a virtual server.
You need to setup up a rule to allow traffic comming in on port 80(General internet port) to forward to your xbmc internal port and ip address.
Make sure your firewall also allows this port open and just make sure that the xbmc is set up ready.
On your router write down the WANSIDE ip address (The address the outside world sees) and make sure that remote access is enabled.

WAN Computer to xbmc -

share the folder to your movies/content etc.

same rules apply with regard to port forwarding , I cant remember the VPN tunnel port so you may need to google it, Once setup on your internal router, point the forward port and ip address to your machine with your content on.

On your mobile machine/pc now go to network settings and create a new connection , Vpn tunnel, type in the ip of your wanside address of your router(pray your not on dhcp leasing from your isp)

now you should be able to by typing in the internal ip address and a command switch be able to see the content folder eg \\223.23.4.55\media\tvshows
this method will probably be the worste as you have direct access to the files and no converting will be done so either it would take ages for the file to play or you may get constant stutter.

The method i use is Airplay, google it, It will convert your files on the fly to a lower bandwidth for streaming over the net.

As long as you have setup port forwarding on your lan then all you need to do is put in your routers wan address.
You should also be able to access the xbmc html browser and play files remotely.

XbmcMIke
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#3
Just setup a vpn. Openvpn is pretty nice and safe
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#4
vpn is still dependent on network speed to stream video. It's not going to work for most people.

However many people use Plex for this, it is a bit like XBMC but has a server which does all the scraping and serving. Importantly it will transcode your video files to a lower bandwidth so you can watch them on your phone over the relatively slow internet speeds you will be traversing.

Of course transcoding will take CPU and RAM on your server. Plan accordingly.
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#5
good point nickr i had forgotten about plex.

until 4g is running at 97% thoughout the uk its really not worth trying to stream videos from home, believe me ive tried it on a few devices, iphone 5, galaxy note 2 and a laptop. All with varying results but non worth watching,
Only thing i do with streaming is to my media server NAS with all my albums on via airplay stream it which works seemlessly and takes about 15 seconds to connect.
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