Thread: router automated video torrent download, processing and streaming

Hey all,

This is my tutorial on how to automate the downloading and processing of tv show and movie torrents on a router. And have them available to be streamed to any DLNA compatible device (Windows media Player, xbox, PS3..etc.)

Goal
Basically, I want to come home at night and start my xbox 360 and be able to play the episodes for the TV series or movie I am interested in. I shouldn't need to touch my PC at all, except for maybe when I become interested in a new series.

How To Use this Tutorial:
1. Look at the status.
2. If it doesn't sound like I have tested what your are looking for, I would not try this out just yet. Close this thread and come back later.
3. If it looks like I have the answers you need. Start by looking at the references section. I am going to assume you are familiar with them.
4. Follow the tutorial.

Status:
Work In Progress. Steps 1-2 are complete and tested.Some later parts are working but need further testing. I'll update this as time allows.

References:
DD-WRT Seedbox at home :)
Optware, the Right Way - DD-WRT Wiki

Ric’s Tips & Tricks » DD-WRT
https://trac.transmissionbt.com/wiki/EditConfigFiles
https://trac.transmissionbt.com/wiki/ConfigFiles

http://sickbeard.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=3413

start-stop-daemon
https://forum.transmissionbt.com/vie...hp?f=4&t=11021

Requirements:
DD-WRT compatible router
External HDD drive/enclosure
TvTorrents.com account
xbox360

Tutorial:
1. Equipment
You need a DD-WRT compatible router. It also needs to be a beefy one, with a fast CPU and memory. See section 6.b.

2. Flashing DD-WRT and installing Optware and installing Transmission
Follow the guidelines in this post: DD-WRT Seedbox at home :)
I had mine setup already when I saw this post, so I don't know if the post is up to date. I included a link to the Optware installation guide on the dd-wrt website for further reference.

2.a Configuring transmission
we need to edit the tranmission startup script before we run it for the first time

TEST
At this point you should be able to do the following:
1. connect to the internet through your dd-wrt flashed router
2. Have /opt mounted to an external hard drive (you can check through df -h)
3. Have transmission running (http://yourrouterip:9091)
4. Be able to download and upload torrents on transmission (get a freeleech torrent file from your favorite tracker and open it with transmission)

2.a Setting transmission to automatically download torrents
See section 3.c

3. Installing and Configuring Sickbeard
3.a Sickbeard installation
based on http://sickbeard.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=3413
Installing sickbeard is pretty simple
3.a.1 Install python
ipkg install python26
3.a.2 Create sickbeard directory somewhere
mkdir /opt/share/Sickbeard
3.a.3. Install git
ipkg install git
3.a.4 get the sickbeard repository
git clone git://github.com/midgetspy/Sick-Beard.git /opt/share/Sickbeard
3.a.5 Create startup script
This is tricky, since I did this mostly from scratch
save the following code to a new file called /opt/etc/init.d/S95sickbeard

coming soon

make sure to edit the file according if you used different paths than I did
then create a shutdown link to it
ln -s /opt/etc/init.d/S95sickbeard /opt/etc/init.d/K05sickbeard




3.b Sickbeard configuration
3.b.1. General Settings
Nothing interesting here.
3.b.2. Search settings
i have download prospers checked, but this has not been tested.
Search NZB is unchecked.
Search Torrents is checked. Set to directory you want your .torrent files to go to. I picked /opt/Torrent/work.
3.b.3 Search Providers
The only thing I have checked is TvTorrents. I also filled in my digest and hash that I got from tvtorrents.com. Just login to your tvt account and find RSS feed. Then get the link for the latest release RSS. I believe to get any of the other links, you need to be a premium (paid) member.
3.b.4 Post Processing Configuration
This section needs a little explaining. After the torrent is downloadin, the torrent files can be "post processed." For me, this lets me automate the moving and renaming of the newly downloaded files to a directory that is shared on the network.
My tv downlaod directory is /mnt/Torrent/work
Keep existing files is checked so that I can seed and improve my ratio on tvtorrents
Rename episodes is checked - i like the new formatting
Move associated files is unchecked - Can't see those on the xbox anyways
Scan and process is checked. More to come on this.

3.c. Configuring Transmission to start downloading the file
In the current version of sickbeard that I have, it does not automatically tell Transmission to download the torrent file it just got from tvtorrents. Sickbeard actually doesn't know or care what bittorrent application you use. So instead, we can have Transmission watch a directory, so that if any torrents are placed in that directory, it will start downloading it.
3.c.1 Locate the transmission configuration file settings.json. For me, it was under /opt/home/transmission/.config/transmission-daemon. If it is not there for you, look at /opt/etc/init.d/S90transmission startup file in order to find out what configuration file it uses on boot up.
3.c.2. Edit settings.json to include the watch-dir and watch-dir-enabled settings as described in https://trac.transmissionbt.com/wiki/EditConfigFiles . For example, for me I added the following to the end of the list.

"watch-dir": "mnt/Torrent/work",
"watch-dir-enabled": true

Test
1.Copy a .torrent (freelech) into your watch folder.
2. Verify transmission picks it up and starts downloading

Note: For me, this test worked, but .torrent files added by sickbeard were not picked up by Transmission. I am looking into it and may implement the cron solution found at https://forum.transmissionbt.com/vie...hp?f=4&t=11021


4. Installing and configuring streaming server
This is a server that will stream your files to your network.

4.a. Ushare
At first I tried Ushare, but it was unsupported in my version of dd-wrt. I think its also not actively developed. So i gave up on this.

4.b. ccxstreamer
I tried this and it also did not work. I don't remember why, but I gave up on it.

4.c. miniDlna
This is what I am currently using. In order to get this to work, I had to get a special version of dd-wrt called King Kong mod. In other words, this is not currently supported as an optware package. It is actually built into the dd-wrt firmware binary.

4.c.1 Configuring miniDlna
Like i mentioned, this was already included in the firmware binary, so there is no installation involved.
1. Go to your router web gui
2. Go under Services->NAS
3. Check enable under MiniDLNA section
4. Type in somethign for server identification, for example ddwrtDLNA
5. Fill in the location of your media files, for example for videos, they may be located in /mnt/videos
6. Set your update interval (seconds). Default is around 900. I put in 240. So for me, if I put a new video in mnt/videos, it may not show up on my dlna server for up to 4 minutes
7. The DB path is where you want the database for your files. For example, /mnt. This will create a folder under /mnt/minidlnadb with the database. The location should have enough space to hold the list of your files. For instance, if you have thouands of pictures or videos, you want to store this in your hard drive (usb drive). If you leave this blank, this will use RAM space, which could slow down your system considerably.
8. Hit apply settings

Testing
1. In windows (mac?) open up windows media player2. In the left hand side under "current libraries" locate your routers library.
3. Look under Videos->All videos and verify all your videos are there and that they can be played

5. Setting up Xbox 360
This is an easy step. If you tested your streaming server correctly, then all you have to do is connect the xbox to your network and go to the video app.

6. MISC NOTES
6.a DD-WRT version
I started out with the recommended version for my router. It was a year or two old and did not support what I needed. However, I did not know what until I started trying out things. So in the end I ended up going with a custom dd-wrt build called Kong mod. Unfortunately, it does not support a lot of routers. So if you find you get stuck on a certain step, it could be because what you are doing is not supported in that build yet. You should look for custom mods for your router. Another mod I looked into but never tried was called Toastman, which is a tomato based build.

6.b Router hardware requirements
Unfortunately, this setup requires a beefy router. What I mean by that, is a router with a good amount of flash space, a fast CPU and a lot of RAM. There are several things that impose these limits. First, the dd-wrt firmwares out there that support usb drives and minidlna are usually the big ones, that ones that require a lot of flash space. Secndly, these services use up a good amount of ram and in order to keep things running smoothly, you'll need to accommodate them. Finally, some of these services like sickbeard are CPU hogs. Even with a fast CPU, the performance hit is sometimes noticeable.

In summary, I don't know exactly what will work for your router and your situation. I suggest you make a backup of what you have and start experimenting. Nothing ventured , nothing gained.

6.c Tested DLNA devices
Xbox 360
Android 3.0 (will post app name later)

7. Q & A
Q1. Shouldn't be sickbeard be used with Usenet instead of torrents?
A1. Probably, but why make your life easier?

Was out the last couple of days working on this. Unfortunately, I killed my internet for hours at a time and I could not update this while working on it. I added some more info. I'm about 90% of the way to a fully automated system. The guide is maybe 50% done, but there is enough information on there to get most of it working! I'll keep updating as time permits.

---------- Post added 02-09-2012 at 09:58 AM ---------- Previous post was 02-08-2012 at 01:04 PM ----------

i expanded my scope. This won't just work for xbox360. It'll work for any DLNA device such as PC and PS3. I also want to automate the processing of movies so that they can be streamed to any device. However, I don't think I want to automate the downloading of movies, since I don't want to download genres I don't like.

I've been pretty busy lately. I got everything working right now, except for boot up scripts. It's nice not missing any TV shows anymore and being able to watch them on any device at home :)

So hard work is done, its just a matter of finishing the tutorial. Don't think anyone is using this, so I'll update it sometime in the future when I get a chance.

Originally Posted by teinv

... [deleted]. It'll work for any DLNA device such as PC and PS3. I also want to automate the processing of movies so that they can be streamed to any device. ...[deleted].

Check out Mezzmo. http://www.conceiva.com/products/mezzmo/default.asp

I haven't played with it yet, but I've seen quite a few posts indicating that it is the only solution that reliably transcodes on the fly for any DLNA device. Of course, you need a beefy CPU to handling the higher bitrates like 1080p or multiple simultaneous streams.

I'm doing pretty much the same thing you are, so I'm glad you posted your progress. I'll post something as well when I get farther. Right now, I'm just speccing a fairly high-end box for my media server (and uTorrent host to admin remotely). I'm figuring i7 and a decent size (9 TB to start) RAID 5.

Mezzmo is for windows though. I do wish they had a better media server for DD-wrt. But I like to save energy. My router is like 400 MHZ and uses so little power :P.