Choosing a file to play
Forum rules
Please make sure you follow the Problem Reporting Guidelines before posting if you want a reply
Please make sure you follow the Problem Reporting Guidelines before posting if you want a reply
Choosing a file to play
Can I just connect remotely with my phone and browse to a folder and choose a video to play from there?
Can I add users and assign them certain folders?
I got rid of Jellyfin because it's trying to be too pretty looking and it's got faults. I thought a simpler program like this was the answer. Turns out at first use it's too confusing to work out how to use. Where's a guide?
I want to access my video files remotely and play them and have them transcoded when required. I want to add users and have them access their own folders with their videos.
Can I add users and assign them certain folders?
I got rid of Jellyfin because it's trying to be too pretty looking and it's got faults. I thought a simpler program like this was the answer. Turns out at first use it's too confusing to work out how to use. Where's a guide?
I want to access my video files remotely and play them and have them transcoded when required. I want to add users and have them access their own folders with their videos.
Re: Choosing a file to play
Yes in theory you can connect remotely using your phone but it does require you to set up your network for this which I know little about and outside the general purpose of UMS.
There are several posts about this if you search for them but from what I remember you can use port forwarding but could be a security problem exposing then to the general internet. Some have used some DNS trickery and proxies. Probably the best way is to host your own VPN so wherever you are you phone will be seen by UMS as part of your local network.
You can set up user accounts to allow users to access certain folders. You can do this on the WebUI as long as authentication is enabled.
The knowledge base will have the guides for this although they could be improved.
There are several posts about this if you search for them but from what I remember you can use port forwarding but could be a security problem exposing then to the general internet. Some have used some DNS trickery and proxies. Probably the best way is to host your own VPN so wherever you are you phone will be seen by UMS as part of your local network.
You can set up user accounts to allow users to access certain folders. You can do this on the WebUI as long as authentication is enabled.
The knowledge base will have the guides for this although they could be improved.
Logs are important for us to help, Please follow This Link before asking for support. Just a forum cleaner, Will help if I can but no expert.
Re: Choosing a file to play
I already have UMS setup and running. I can access it remotely and login. That isn't the issue. The issue is how do I configure it? I can't find a guide. I want to setup another user and give them access to their own folders.
How do I access my files remotely on a mobile phone so I can cast them to a chromecast?
The only way I can see is to change the mobile browser to 'Desktop site' which makes controlling it difficult as the control icons are like 1mm wide.
How do I access my files remotely on a mobile phone so I can cast them to a chromecast?
The only way I can see is to change the mobile browser to 'Desktop site' which makes controlling it difficult as the control icons are like 1mm wide.
Re: Choosing a file to play
In the WebUI when you log in as admin you can set them up "Manage accounts"
(Will look a little different if not on V15)
You can make new users and groups and assign a user to a group.
Then in "shared content" you can edit the folders to assign a group that can access it
I had not tried this myself on mobile before but checking now it works well and easy to do.
- Screenshot 2025-10-13 231944.png (31.04 KiB) Viewed 56961 times
You can make new users and groups and assign a user to a group.
Then in "shared content" you can edit the folders to assign a group that can access it
- Screenshot 2025-10-13 232327.png (21.48 KiB) Viewed 56961 times
Logs are important for us to help, Please follow This Link before asking for support. Just a forum cleaner, Will help if I can but no expert.
Re: Choosing a file to play
cheers mik.
Ok I can do that but the only problem is you have to set the browser page on your phone to 'desktop site' because no files show up on the mobile site. If you set it to desktop site and browse you can access and play the files but the controls are way too tiny and navigating folders is difficult.
If there was an app for this it would be awesome. But I think navigating on a mobile phone is too fiddly.
Pity. Guess I'm going to have to go back to Jellyfin.
Ok I can do that but the only problem is you have to set the browser page on your phone to 'desktop site' because no files show up on the mobile site. If you set it to desktop site and browse you can access and play the files but the controls are way too tiny and navigating folders is difficult.
If there was an app for this it would be awesome. But I think navigating on a mobile phone is too fiddly.
Pity. Guess I'm going to have to go back to Jellyfin.
Re: Choosing a file to play
The mobile site works just fine even on my cheap crappy android phone using Firefox and Chrome, I did not have to show 'desktop site'
What phone and browser are you using?
Having said that I tried making a new user and group but on the user settings when I select the group dropdown box the page jumps up and the box does not work.
This works fine on the desktop so this is definitely a problem. I will report this.
When browsing the media library the side bar will take up the full screen in portrait view so you have to close this to see the files.
You also do not have to use the web interface on the phone to play the videos, there are many other DLNA/UPnP media apps that work well with UMS like Bubble UPnP and VLC.
What phone and browser are you using?
- Screenshot_20251014-110633-25%.png (14.77 KiB) Viewed 56933 times
- Screenshot_20251014-110653-25%.png (19.7 KiB) Viewed 56933 times
- Screenshot_20251014-110700-25%.png (12.32 KiB) Viewed 56933 times
- Screenshot_20251014-110722-25%.png (23.53 KiB) Viewed 56933 times
This works fine on the desktop so this is definitely a problem. I will report this.
When browsing the media library the side bar will take up the full screen in portrait view so you have to close this to see the files.
You also do not have to use the web interface on the phone to play the videos, there are many other DLNA/UPnP media apps that work well with UMS like Bubble UPnP and VLC.
Logs are important for us to help, Please follow This Link before asking for support. Just a forum cleaner, Will help if I can but no expert.
Re: Choosing a file to play
Thanks so much for the time and effort mik.
I can see how all that works now.
I gave it a run on my phone at work today casting to chromecast. Internet at work is 25/5 speed. ok for casting SD but HD struggles and lags. I tried playing a 1080p file. it automatically played it at 240p and it streamed without a problem. I cast it to a 24" monitor.
I had to cast the whole screen and while the video filled the phone screen, it didn't fill the monitor screen.
Also if I had to pause the video for a few minutes, when I tried to resume it it just showed the spinning wheel and it would never restart. I had to go back out to the main screen and find the video that said In Progress Videos and play it from there. Even then it didn't always resume.
If there was an app for UMS I think I'd be in. I can't honestly see the point of a streaming server if you're just going to use it on you home network. You can just connect your file storage up to your tv and browse the files and play them? All it seems is people want to look at the poster of the move or tv show with these servers. Plex and Jellyfin and the like. I mean do you want to watch the shows and movies or sit there looking at the pictures in your library?
Seems UMS just doesn't do what I want it to. Which isn't much. Just browse my files at home and play them remotely and transcode when required. So my search for a basic file based media server continues.
I can see how all that works now.
I gave it a run on my phone at work today casting to chromecast. Internet at work is 25/5 speed. ok for casting SD but HD struggles and lags. I tried playing a 1080p file. it automatically played it at 240p and it streamed without a problem. I cast it to a 24" monitor.
I had to cast the whole screen and while the video filled the phone screen, it didn't fill the monitor screen.
Also if I had to pause the video for a few minutes, when I tried to resume it it just showed the spinning wheel and it would never restart. I had to go back out to the main screen and find the video that said In Progress Videos and play it from there. Even then it didn't always resume.
If there was an app for UMS I think I'd be in. I can't honestly see the point of a streaming server if you're just going to use it on you home network. You can just connect your file storage up to your tv and browse the files and play them? All it seems is people want to look at the poster of the move or tv show with these servers. Plex and Jellyfin and the like. I mean do you want to watch the shows and movies or sit there looking at the pictures in your library?
Seems UMS just doesn't do what I want it to. Which isn't much. Just browse my files at home and play them remotely and transcode when required. So my search for a basic file based media server continues.
Last edited by kotton on Thu Oct 16, 2025 9:50 am, edited 1 time in total.
Re: Choosing a file to play
Something like Plex has large teams and finances to develop apps for TVs then they only need to focus on a standard format for all videos that their app can play.
UMS has to work with the basic capabilities of the media player on your device which varies a lot even within the same brand.
This means a conf needs to be made to tell UMS what that device can play.
The Web player is the closest thing to what Plex does as UMS can transcode to one standard format that should work on all web browsers but is not the ideal way to play most videos and is only a recent addition, and is dependant on things like how fast the computer running it is and network speed.
Getting a good conf set up for a device will help a lot by telling UMS what it can play and how to transcode if the video is in a format that your device does not support.
To be able to help with this I will need to see logs of how it currently plays.
I don't use the web player myself and just stream to my PS4.
UMS has to work with the basic capabilities of the media player on your device which varies a lot even within the same brand.
This means a conf needs to be made to tell UMS what that device can play.
The Web player is the closest thing to what Plex does as UMS can transcode to one standard format that should work on all web browsers but is not the ideal way to play most videos and is only a recent addition, and is dependant on things like how fast the computer running it is and network speed.
Getting a good conf set up for a device will help a lot by telling UMS what it can play and how to transcode if the video is in a format that your device does not support.
To be able to help with this I will need to see logs of how it currently plays.
I don't use the web player myself and just stream to my PS4.
Logs are important for us to help, Please follow This Link before asking for support. Just a forum cleaner, Will help if I can but no expert.
Re: Choosing a file to play
Can you suggest one that you just browse the files and plays with transcoding? All the ones I see that can transcode want to rely on metadata so you get pretty pictures in the folders of the video that you browse. To me that's just pointless. It's my home server , I know what the fuck they are.graceadamm5 wrote: ↑Wed Oct 15, 2025 11:24 pm Yes. Usually, most lightweight media servers allow you to connect remotely via a phone app or browser. Also, browse folders and play videos with instant transcoding.
Basically, user management and access to specific folders are configured in the server settings.
Transcoding is important to me because most shows now ae only being done in 1080p and for some connections here it's too difficult to stream them like that. My server can send them, but some of the places I want to watch them don't have the greatest internet.
Re: Choosing a file to play
Honestly I'm over all this. I just want something that's simple to setup, browse files and have it play and transcode if required. Plex and Kodi seem like they are offering way more than I need. Jellyfin has a stupid folder structure that you have to setup. Basically if you don't want metadata you have to initially setup your video folders as 'pictures' so it won't go searching. The fact that you have to have metadata attached to the file for it to play is absurd. When I tried it out it wouldn't even recognize new files added to a folder, even after a scan. That's when I ditched it and tried this. And now UMS won't recognize an entire folder in my root folders. It was setup as the same time as the others, same permissions, same location, same everything, but UMS just doesn't see it.
It also can't see another folder full of files that I downloaded. Again, same everything, it just doesn't exist as far as UMS is concerned. Everything else sees it though?
I couldn't be fucked trying to work it out. I actually have a life and I don't want sitting at my laptop trying to solve this shit be a part of it.
Again I appreciate the advice from you guys. But UMS just isn't for me.