files Create a File Browser Through a WebAPI

[Mauricio G. B.]

Hello Guys so i recently wanted to start a project of my own to solve a problem, you see im living with my 2 siblings at the moment, and i hold a large collection of movies (arround 8TB ) that are Stored on my Personal rig and several external hard drives,
the problem is that its a hassle to disconect and wait for files to transfer
i wanted to create a webapi and a client that could function as an explorer (just like windows explorer) to browse the directory of the hard drives and strema the data to the computer using the browser while the files remain on the main computer
i havent been able to found anything like that aside from webstorage and streaming, i only want it to be locally 0 internet
im familiar with Javascript and some lable languages for web development, but im at a loss with APIs like NODE.JS and such, any starters?

[BigDamn]

I mean, you could always just share the folders on your network. This can be found under the folder properties. On your siblings computer you could map a network drive with all the movies.

[Mauricio G. B.]

5 minutes ago, BigDamn said:

I mean, you could always just share the folders on your network. This can be found under the folder properties. On your siblings computer you could map a network drive with all the movies.

ye that could work, but thing is that i also want to export to mobile devices later, such as tablets and phones, ive tried the network thing and 99% of the time doesnt work

[BigDamn]

3 minutes ago, Mauricio G. B. said:

ye that could work, but thing is that i also want to export to mobile devices later, such as tablets and phones, ive tried the network thing and 99% of the time doesnt work

If you're on Android I believe ES File Explorer has the ability to connect to Windows shared folders and stream video. Not sure about iOS

[mariushm]

A FTP server is really easy to set up. On Windows, there's Filezilla FTP server which takes minutes to set up ... with gigabit network cards, you're transferring files at 100+ MB/s so it doesn't take long for a file to download. Web browsers generate folder listing for ftp addresses automatically.

 

You can access everything from a browser, you simply say ftp://ip  or ftp://userame:pass@ip  (you can bookmark it in your browser) and use save as to dowload the file locally.

Music and some content (mp4 files mostly) you can probably play directly if a player is smart enough, for example drag the link into the video player and the player will stream (for mkv files the player may try to buffer a big chunk of it or dowload it completely in order to give you seek capability, mp4 files have seek info at the start most of the time)

 

[Ralphred]

Just set yourself up as a UPnP DLNA server, either nativity through windows (though this can be hit and miss) or with a dedicated server program.

There are a whole host of clients and servers for any kind of device you can think of, and some of the native windows stuff even works.

[Mauricio G. B.]

interesting, thing is i dont want any kind of file transfer, i only want streaming from the host to the client,

[mariushm]

Then set up a media server, try Plex for example , the server is free: https://www.plex.tv/media-server-downloads/

 

[Mauricio G. B.]

11 minutes ago, mariushm said:

Then set up a media server, try Plex for example , the server is free: https://www.plex.tv/media-server-downloads/

 

it seems to be a paid service, but it also seems to be what im looking for, is the paid service mandatory for the streaming features?, if its i would go back to my first idea since i dont want to spend on it, ill review it later when im off work

 

[mariushm]

The server is free, but some applications (that you can use to access the server) cost money. You can use other free applications to access the server, and in some cases you don't need anything (for example a smart tv will just work)

 

See https://support.plex.tv/articles/200350536-dlna/ and see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_UPnP_AV_media_servers_and_clients#UPnP_AV_clients

 

you could just try it out ... download virtualbox and install windows 10 in a virtual pc (you can leave win 10 in evaluation mode)  and then setup the media server ... this way you won't affect your pc's functionality in any way until you're sure about it.

 

[Franck]

Just use network share and ES explorer for android. When you play media file from network it does stream it. Shared folder also visible on SmartTV (on DLNA option) and Playstation 3 in the network menu (some MP4 codecs are screwed on PS3 but that's PS3 fault)

[FlappyBoobs]

One option is also Kodi UPnP for the server and Kodi for the clients, it's what XBMC turned into and is a content aggregater. You will not only be able to stream all your local files to any device (TV, Phone, Tablet or PC) but you can also mix in online sources as well (in Germany you can get the southpark stream legally for free for example). The interface is great and works well on all devices. Also streams 4K without any issues and supports 5.1 surround sound. 

[Umberto]

As others have mentioned, a web app really isn't the best solution but if you really want to you can set up a webserver with your folder with everything you want to share as the root folder and allow directory listing.