How do I connect to the server on another mac?

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nikkigrace
Posts: 2
Joined: Sun Sep 01, 2019 6:23 am

How do I connect to the server on another mac?

Post by nikkigrace »

Hi everyone,

I've never done this before so I'm not sure if I'm missing something simple but I'm having trouble connecting to Universal Media Server on my macbook. Can you even connect from one mac (hosting) and browse using a different mac?

Here is my set up:
-1 Mac Mini (Successfully hosting via Universal Media Server)
-1 Macbook pro (UMS also installed, running Mojave)

The UMS server is working perfectly. I can connect automatically using my ps4, and even android phones without any set up or drivers and its playing the files smoothly, so I know it's not a problem with the mac mini. But there doesn't seem to be any obvious way to access it via my macbook. Its not showing up in the finder sidebar. I've tried Finder>Go>Connect to server, but its asking for a number (I don't know what to put in) and it also doesn't show up when I click browse. I've tried looking for it in VLC (This is found simply with VLC on android, but not on mac) and tried the UMS app but it seems to only be for sharing folders and not accessing them. Obviously all connected to the same wifi network, ethernet for mac mini,and have tried restarting several times.

Last question: If it is possible to access, is it also possible to add files remotely via my macbook pro (over to the mini)?

Sorry if its an obvious question, tried to look for the answer several times and had no luck. Thank you
Nadahar
Posts: 1990
Joined: Tue Jun 09, 2015 5:57 pm

Re: How do I connect to the server on another mac?

Post by Nadahar »

UMS is only a server, it doesn't render/display/play content. To do that, you need a UPnP AV/DLNA player. While many hardware devices supports UPnP AV/DLNA, support in software is somewhat lacking. There are options, but none that really has a complete, solid implementation that I'm aware of.

The two most obvious choices are Kodi and VLC - they can both connect to UMS. It's also possible to use UMS' web interface to play media from any browser, although format support is somewhat limited with the web interface, and I'm not sure if Safari works at all.
nikkigrace
Posts: 2
Joined: Sun Sep 01, 2019 6:23 am

Re: How do I connect to the server on another mac?

Post by nikkigrace »

I understand that the server is not a player, I am just looking for a way I can even view any of the files/folder names on my macbook, so far I haven't even been able to detect the server.

You say VLC and Kodi and maybe the web browser can do this, but my question is how can I access it using these methods?

I've tried VLC, they have a Universal Plug n'Play option on the sidebar, but the UMS doesnt show up there. I've tried File>open Network and can't figure it out without any instructions.

The only 'web browser' option I've been able to find is if I open up UMS on my macbook pro and click 'Web interface' which opens up the browser, but when I browse through these files they are only showing the LOCAL files on my macbook, when I am looking to view the server files from my Mac Mini.
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mik_s
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Location: UK

Re: How do I connect to the server on another mac?

Post by mik_s »

I don't know much about macs but have just tried this myself on my pc and laptop using firefox. just point your web browser to the machine's ip with the content you want to play and the port UMS is using. eg for me I would use 192.168.1.74:9001 to connect to the web interface.
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atamariya
Posts: 146
Joined: Sun Aug 11, 2013 1:15 am

Re: How do I connect to the server on another mac?

Post by atamariya »

nikkigrace wrote: Sun Sep 01, 2019 8:38 am I understand that the server is not a player, I am just looking for a way I can even view any of the files/folder names on my macbook, so far I haven't even been able to detect the server.

You say VLC and Kodi and maybe the web browser can do this, but my question is how can I access it using these methods?

I've tried VLC, they have a Universal Plug n'Play option on the sidebar, but the UMS doesnt show up there. I've tried File>open Network and can't figure it out without any instructions.

The only 'web browser' option I've been able to find is if I open up UMS on my macbook pro and click 'Web interface' which opens up the browser, but when I browse through these files they are only showing the LOCAL files on my macbook, when I am looking to view the server files from my Mac Mini.
If you intend to browse mac mini from macbook, you can safely remove UMS from macbook since UMS is just a server. To access mac mini via browser, you need to find out it's ip address. Then hit http://<ip address>:9001 . For UPnP detection, you would need a UPnP capable player as pointed out by @Nadahar.
Nadahar
Posts: 1990
Joined: Tue Jun 09, 2015 5:57 pm

Re: How do I connect to the server on another mac?

Post by Nadahar »

Regarding VLC, UMS is supposed to show under UPnP in the sidebar. VLC have several issues with its implementation though, and they vary a lot with the different versions. From my experience, you need to be on a 3.x version for it to work at all. Even within VLC 3.x there are variations/bugs. I don't know them all, but I've come across one bug that makes VLC not work with UPnP at all: If your network interface name contains any non-ASCII characters. I don't know how macOS handles this, but under Windows these are localized. On English Windows versions, wireless network interfaces will be named "Wireless connection <n>", while in Norwegian for example, they will be named "Trådløs tilkobling <n>". This is enough to break UPnP support in VLC (bot "å" and "ø" are non-ASCII), and the only workaround I've found is to rename the network interface to something containing only ASCII.

I'm sure there are other similar bugs as well.
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