Media Soup Part I - About Part II - Components Part III - Hardware Part IV - System Part V - Server Part VI - Client Part VII - Miscellaneous Part X - Examples

Part VI - Client 1. SqueezeBox 2. XBMC / Kodi 3. MediaPortal 4. GameEx 5. VLC 6. MediaMonkey

SoftSqueeze

... is the oldest of the bunch. It emulates an old SqueezeBox device.

After installation you will have to set the SqueezeBox Server information in SofttSqueeze Preferences / Networking. The software may or may not autodetect your server name or IP address. Although it is supposed to be able to find your server by its 'name' it won't always do so, in which case you can try the IP address of the server.

As far as I know, you cannot use SoftSqueeze to control other soft- or hardware players.

SoftSqueeze is no longer supported, or updated. It still works on my Windows XP box though.

SqueezeSlave

SqeezeSlave is a small, console only program. It doesn't offer a fancy GUI. It's typically used on computers where you cannot or do not want to run SoftSqueeze.

To start SqueezeSlave with a simple build in user interface, assuming your SqueezeServer is at 192.168.0.72, enter the following at the command prompt:

C:\> squeezeslave -D 192.168.0.72

C:\> squeezeslave -D 192.168.0.72 --mac 00:00:00:00:00:22 

For a list of all options:

C:\> squeezeslave -h

It is possible to launch SqueezeSlave as a service. I've used runassvc.exe (google for it) using the following command line:

runassvc -i --displayname "SqueezeSlave" --description "squeezebox player" --exe "c:\software\squeezeslave\squeezeslave.exe" --workingdir "c:\software\squeezeslave" --params "192.168.0.72 -m 00:00:00:00:00:22" --quiet

SqueezePlay

SqueezePlay is probably the best (software) player of them all. It's a bit harder to find (baffles me why there isn't a simple download button for it, with Logitech having abandoned SqueezeBox and all) but do a bit of googling and you'll end up with a working version. I (obviously :-)) googled for "where can I download a windows build of squeezeplay"... As a matter of convenience, I've added one copy of such a build to this website (nope, I did not build it myself): download SqueezePlay v7.8.

Install SqueezePlay and you'll end up with (something) like this:

Some notes:

• a 'short click' obviously selects something, but a 'long press' might show other options
• there MUST be a WORKING AND RECOGNIZED audio device
• there is no full sceen option :-(

MP3 streaming to VLC

Actually, anything that can handle a stream just might work, as the SqueezeBox server is also sending out an MP3 stream to anyone interested. Here's a quick example:

1. start up VLC, go to Media / Open Network Stream, then enter http://192.168.0.72:9000/stream.mp3
2. VLC will show something like 'Welcome to Logitech Media Server'
3. start up a browser and visit the SqueezeBox controller page at http://192.168.0.72:9000 (you may have to hit refresh)
4. select a SqueezeBox player in the drop-down list, your VLC machine should be listed (though it's name may be weird, you can recognize it by its IP number)

select your player, then feed it some music

There is a streaming client available on the Google Play app market, but it isn't free :-(

Still, there is a way to feed your Android phone with some SqueezeServer goodness, by using the same stream mentioned above. As a player I've tried MX Player, the same player I've used to stream videos to my Android phone.

1. start up MX Player, Open Network Stream, then enter http://192.168.0.72:9000/stream.mp3
2. start up a browser and visit the SqueezeBox controller page at http://192.168.0.72:9000 (you may have to hit refresh)
3. select a SqueezeBox player in the drop-down list, your Android phone should be listed (though it's name may be weird, you can recognize it by its IP number)

1. open the browser, surf to http://192.168.0.72:9000/stream.mp3
2. select execute, then pick stream player

2. XBMC / Kodi

XBMC is an all in one app, turning your HTPC into a full featured media center. It's origins date back to a media front end for the old (hacked) X-box. It is a nice front-end, even though my first encounter with it was marred by crappy (menu) performance on an (otherwise) perfectly well working XP box. After upgrading to Windows 7 (something I'd been planning for a while now) and loading the latest 'Eden' release of XBMC it worked fine.

Update 1. The problem may be related to codec inconsistencies... On some XP systems I managed to fix the problem using a newer codec pack. Not on all systems though.

Update 2. A complete reinstall of the OS fixed two machines. I wonder how long it takes until XBMC starts complaining again :-)

Update 3. XBMC is now called Kodi. Whenever you see a reference to XBMC you can read Kodi instead.
 

The good

• XBMC/ Kodi supports DLNA / UPNP devices (TVersity) as well as regular file shares, so it will give you access to whatever you have on your network.

The bad

• I haven't been able to figure out the menu entries 'Movies' and 'TV Series', so I simply disabled them. You can access your regular shares and files through the menu Video anyway.
• Why is there no decent Jukebox function?
• I found listing folder contents sometimes slow, and playback not always fluid on lighter hardware / older versions of XBMC.

The Exit menu

If you simply want to exit XBMC by pressing the XBMC on/off button then modify the home.xml file of the skin of your choice.

There's one occurence of the following string:

<onclick>ActivateWindow(ShutdownMenu)</onclick>

<onclick>XBMC.Quit()</onclick>

Kodi on Android with SMB v2

If you run Kodi on an Android device it will NO LONGER be able to access files on Windows 7 / Windows 10 servers. It can still access them via DLNA with TVersity, UMS or Servio.

Kodi (on Android) only has the older SMB v1 protcol implemented. Because SMB v1 is insecure Microsoft has decided to take out support for this older protocol. You may be able to re-enable this as the cost of security.

3. MediaPortal

Sorry. Not done yet.

4. GameEx

Sorry. Not done yet.

5. VLC
 

VLC is the player of choice on a regular PC, best of all perhaps is the lack of need for coded packs, pretty much everything essential is on-board. It doesn't feature any 'on board' navigation tools that would make it a suitable all-in-one HTPC solution. In some cases VLC can be used as the 'backend' player, with another application acting as frontend.

The good

• Plays pretty much everything without the need for installing a codec pack.

• Doesn't buffer well. If your feed is not 100% smooth, playback may not be fluid. Where XMBC would run fine and play back some movies over wifi, without any problems, I noticed VLC to 'stutter' a little. I've not been able to find a 'buffer' option anywhere but perhaps there is one that I overlooked.

Sorry. Not done yet.