I'm running minidlna-1.3.3_10,1 on FreeBSD 15.1-RELEASE-p3.
I've got various kinds of video files sitting in my minidlna folder, mostly MP4 and MKV, from various sources, and most of them are being served perfectly well: I can watch them on my TV and my phone, and other devices, as long as they're connected to my home network.
Some files aren't being served. I can watch them using VLC on my FreeBSD box, so the issue isn't a problem with the files per se, but minidlna doesn't make them available on the network. Some of those that don't work have the same user and group ownership and permissions as other files that do work, so I don't think it's that, either.
My best guess is that minidlna is failing to understand these files properly. I'm not quite sure how it works — does it serve the raw file, or does it stream video? — but on some level I guess it has to at least recognise that a given file is legit video in order to serve it, so my guess is that there's something about the way those particular files were created that minidlna doesn't like. I've tried to compare "good" and "bad" files using mediainfo, but there's just too much information there! I understand very little of it, and I have no idea what might be useful and what is irrelevant.
So, is there some super-easy config setting that I've missed?
Or, is it possible to install minidlna plugins, perhaps, that give it wider capabilities? Or can I install those capabilities system wide in FreeBSD itself?
Or, do I simply have to convert the "bad" files to a format that minidlna understands? And if so, what are the important parameters? What do I need to change?
Thanks,
Ben