Displaying and playing local photos and videos?

Dev Community Dev/API Corner
1

Is there any example of displaying/playing photos and videos from the local file system? If this is not possible, is there a way to use files that are in the Plex library? That is, if my channel has a list of photos (local file paths) can I create an ObjectContainer with PhotoObjects that represent the files in the library matched by path? Thanks for any help.

2

Channels are not meant to display a local content, your library is for that purposes. You could set up a simple local web server and get the media from it, but it would still be tricky, because the Plex client reading from that channel will also need access to that web server, so you’ll have to either make the web server accessible to the same network intended for the channel users (and potentially make your server more vulnerable) or relay the media through the channel itself (which may also be tricky).

Much easier to use the library, in my opinion.

3

Thanks for the reply. How does one create a PhotoObject or VideoClipObject representing media in the Library given a matching file path?

4

You can view the library directly, without having to develop a channel for it, can’t you? :slight_smile:

But if you insist on having a channel, you’ll have to use the Plex Media API. You don’t just have access to your file system from a channel*. I’ve seen a topic discussing related issues recently. You’ll also have to solve the playback: Plex clients will require access to the media via a network protocol, it wouldn’t work if you just use local file path.

  • Actually you can, but it’s unconventional. That involves setting Elevated code policy for the channel and adding a Shared Library to it, which is free from Plex sandbox restrictions.
5

Unfortunately, the Plex photo library is not sufficient for me. I need a channel since I need to use an external database to support custom browsing and searching of my photos and home videos based on embedded keyword tags which Plex does not currently support.

It sounds like local files and matching library files will not work from a channel. I have it kind of working by serving up the files over http but have run into a problem explained in another thread where the photos are not displaying in the Web interface but are in Plex Media Player. Maybe you have some ideas to share with me about this: https://forums.plex.tv/discussion/253182/photoobject-not-displaying-in-web-interface-but-is-in-plex-media-player

Thanks.

6

Sorry, I don’t know about photos. Maybe Plex Web doesn’t support them. Recently @dane22 has been advising in other threads on different levels of Plex framework support by different clients, maybe he would know. Generally you could try another photo channel and see if works any differently than yours. I know there is a photo channel for a site named 500px.

7

@cncb said:
I have it kind of working by serving up the files over http but have run into a problem explained in another thread where the photos are not displaying in the Web interface but are in Plex Media Player.

Same issue reported in the Plex Web client forum https://forums.plex.tv/discussion/253383/bug-channel-photos-not-loading

Seems to be an issue localized to the Plex Web client.

8

Thanks for pointing me to this bug report. I am hopeful that that is the problem :).