Install Latest Readymedia miniDLNA on Ubuntu

readymedia-minidlnaInstall latest ReadyMedia miniDLNA on Ubuntu home server to stream your media to any DLNA clients. Some DLNA clients are: Bluray players, XBOX 360, XBOX One, PS3, PS4 and some Smart TVs. ReadyMedia miniDLNA has a low memory footprint too which makes it popular on ARMv7 processor devices. The latest miniDLNA in the Ubuntu repository is almost never the latest. To ensure the latest minimal bug experience, you will easily compile ReadyMedia miniDLNA from source on any Ubuntu version regardless of whether it uses upstart, systemd or sysvinit for managing autostart scripts.

Pi Unit
Processor
RAM
RAM Bus
Network
WiFi
USB
SATA
Cost
Raspberry Pi 3
1.2 GHz ARMv8
Quad Core
1 GB DDR2
450 MHz
100 Mbit
Yes
4
No
$35
Raspberry Pi 2
900 MHz ARMv7
Quad Core
1 GB DDR2
450 MHz
100 Mbit
No
4
No
$35.00
Raspberry Pi
700 MHz ARMv6
Single Core
512 MB SDRAM
400 MHz
100 Mbit
No
4
No
$25
Banana Pi
1 GHz ARMv7
Dual Core
1 GB DDR3
432 MHz
Gigabit
No
2
Yes
$36.99
Banana Pi Pro
1 GHz ARMv7
Dual Core
1 GB DDR3
432 MHz
Gigabit
Yes
2
Yes
$45.00

Install Latest ReadyMedia miniDLNA on Ubuntu

Update your Ubuntu repositories

sudo apt-get update

Install the ReadyMedia miniDLNA dependencies so you can compile it

sudo apt-get build-dep minidlna -y

If you get any errors this list should cover the miniDLNA dependencies

sudo apt-get install build-essential autopoint debhelper dh-autoreconf gcc libavutil-dev libavcodec-dev libavformat-dev libjpeg-dev libsqlite3-dev libexif-dev libid3tag0-dev libogg-dev libvorbis-dev libflac-dev -y

Download the latest miniDLNA source into the /tmp directory

cd /tmp
wget http://sourceforge.net/projects/minidlna/files/latest/download?source=files -O minidlna.tar.gz

Unpack the miniDLNA source

tar -xvf minidlna*.tar.gz

Enter the miniDLNA directory

cd minidlna*

Configure, compile and install miniDLNA, it will take 5 minutes.

./configure && sudo make && sudo make install

Copy the miniDLNA default configuration file

sudo cp minidlna.conf /etc/

Copy the miniDLNA init.d script to autostart ReadyMedia miniDLNA on boot

sudo cp linux/minidlna.init.d.script /etc/init.d/minidlna

Make the miniDLNA init.d startup script executable

sudo chmod +x /etc/init.d/minidlna

Update rc to use the miniDLNA defaults

sudo update-rc.d minidlna defaults

Edit the miniDLNA configuration

sudo nano /etc/minidlna.conf

Edit the following to point to your media shown as shown below.

  • V stands for Video
  • A stands for Audio
  • P stands for Photos/pictures

inotify autoupdates your library but does require resouces. If you do not use inotify you iwll need to restart or reload the miniDLNA service to refresh the library

The friendly name is how your miniDLNA server will show up to its streaming clients

media_dir=V,/media/Movies
media_dir=V,/media/TV
media_dir=A,/media/Music
media_dir=P,/media/Pictures

# Names the DLNA server
friendly_name=HTPCGuides Media Server

# Tells the DLNA to update the library when there are changes
inotify=yes

Ctrl+X, Y and Enter to save and exit

Start the miniDLNA service

sudo service minidlna start

Now make sure it starts on boot

sudo reboot

Your Ubuntu miniDLNA server will now be accessible to stream media to your DLNA clients: PCs, XBOX, PS3, Phones, TVs and more.