Direct Download in Media Browser

Hi,

When I showed the Media Browser to a friend last night she asked if she could download the file just to put it on a USB Stick and watch it on her TV.

So I thought I put in a feature request

I believe such a feature might not be too hard to implement. Just a "download" button beside the play button when you have opened a video-tile.

Thanks

[atc98092]

For one, you may have copyright issues doing this. For every video I have on my server, I have the DVD or Blu-ray disc, so by US law I am (I believe) within my rights to keep a digital copy. Giving someone a copy of that file is not legal, assuming we are talking about something that is protected.

Beyond the legal problem, another issue is what format you would export it as. Media Browser is very likely not showing it in the same format it is on your server. Most of my files are in the MKV container, with either MPEG-2 or H.264 video. Media Browser has to transcode them before showing.

If the video in question is coming from an online source (You Tube, Crackle, etc.), you not only have the legal issue above, but since the file isn't stored locally, you'd have to stream the entire video to be able to save it.

Again, ignoring the legality issue, why not just copy the file from your Serviio machine directly to the USB stick? Why go through something that will likely only slow down the process? A straight file copy would go much faster.

Thank you for you answer.

I am of course not an expert, but where is the difference between direct streaming and downloading and then watching on a device that is not able to stream ? (In my case they are only television series, but I guess thats not the point )

Regarding the technical side: I only meant download of the original file (which is stored on my computer - so no online sources) without any transcoding what so ever.

And of course I can just copy the file to an USB Stick (I do this now sometimes), but my post was just a features request, as I simply had the question yesterday when I showed the mediaserver roughly 45 min away from home

[atc98092]

Thank you for you answer.

I am of course not an expert, but where is the difference between direct streaming and downloading and then watching on a device that is not able to stream ? (In my case they are only television series, but I guess thats not the point )

Regarding the technical side: I only meant download of the original file (which is stored on my computer - so no online sources) without any transcoding what so ever.

And of course I can just copy the file to an USB Stick (I do this now sometimes), but my post was just a features request, as I simply had the question yesterday when I showed the mediaserver roughly 45 min away from home

Streaming a movie you own for your own enjoyment in your home is one thing. Offering a streaming across the Internet to others could be construed as a service (no matter if you charge or not) and copyright laws can get nasty. Even TV shows broadcast over the air have copyright protection.

I understand now that you weren't in your home when the download question was asked. It makes sense now, but unless you have a very high speed (uplink) Internet connection it would take a long time to even download a relatively small video file. Remember, most home Internet connections have very restricted upload speeds. I have 50Mbps download, but only 5Mbps upload. Before my last upgrade my upload was only 768Kbps. The technical side wouldn't be difficult, but because of the potential legalities, I have my doubts it would be added.

I can't see there being any "legal issues" really - providing the functionality to download my files (from my server) isn't illegal, it only becomes so if those (hypothetical) files are illegally obtained - or if I make them available to others. None of those offences could possibly be blamed on Serviio.

Plugins might be another matter, I imagine it would depend on the T&Cs of each website. Perhaps if it is an issue, the download feature could be disabled for plugin-derived content?

Personally, being able to remotely download files would be really useful, and I can imagine others have similar use cases (for me, its travelling without a steady data connection ).

[atc98092]

I can't see there being any "legal issues" really - providing the functionality to download my files (from my server) isn't illegal, it only becomes so if those (hypothetical) files are illegally obtained - or if I make them available to others. None of those offences could possibly be blamed on Serviio.

Plugins might be another matter, I imagine it would depend on the T&Cs of each website. Perhaps if it is an issue, the download feature could be disabled for plugin-derived content?

Personally, being able to remotely download files would be really useful, and I can imagine others have similar use cases (for me, its travelling without a steady data connection ).

Under US law, it would be illegal to give someone a digital copy of your legally obtained commercial movie, unless you also gave them the physical disc and deleted your digital copy. So in reality, they are not "your" files to disperse. If you were downloading them onto another device that you own, that would be one thing. But for someone besides yourself downloading the file, nope. That is what caused Napster to go under the first time, file sharing between owners of the files and others. And I have no doubt the big guns would go after anyone that was offering the downloads, and very likely Serviio as well, for offering the software that would provide the framework to make it work.

Now if we are talking about non-copyrighted material, such as videos or photographs that you created, none of this applies. I am only referring to commercially produced media, such as movies and music.

Disclaimer: I am not a lawyer, or have any legal training. These are my opinions, based on what I saw happen to Internet file sharing over the last couple of decades.

Under US law, it would be illegal to give someone a digital copy of your legally obtained commercial movie, unless you also gave them the physical disc and deleted your digital copy. So in reality, they are not "your" files to disperse... I have no doubt the big guns would go after anyone that was offering the downloads, and very likely Serviio as well, for offering the software that would provide the framework to make it work.

Note - paraphrased quote to save time...

Ahh, see here's where I see the distinction being drawn. Should a download option be added, Serviio would offer you a way to stream and download "your" files over LAN/WAN, but would have no way to know whether you owned the copyright and were allowed to distribute them. The software itself is clearly designed to be a media server and not a file host, so realistically there is no way anyone would seriously believe zip is responsible for any potential illegal file sharing which may or may not be taking place with his software.

In contrast, Napster's sole purpose was to facilitate the sharing of files (illegal or otherwise) between different people, they had direct control and visibility over what was shared, and by all accounts they were terrible at responding to takedown requests. They ignored a number of valid legal requests to remove copyrighted material from their service, and they did nothing about them - so they were sued and promptly lost.

Realistically I can't imagine anyone in law enforcement U.S. or otherwise even worrying about a user sharing the odd film with friends, never mind thinking Serviio was the next Hotfile. In contrast, a download option would be amazing next time I find myself facing a rather long flight without access to my DVD collection!