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Knowledge document #274

Setting up FRITZ!Box media server

As a media server, the FRITZ!Box can transmit images, music, and videos as well as internet radio stations and podcasts to playback devices or software in the home network (media streaming). This allows you to access a central media collection from all computers and many other devices in the FRITZ!Box home network such as televisions, smartphones, and wireless music systems.

Requirements / Restrictions

  • The playback device or software must support the UPnP AV (Universal Plug and Play Audio/Video) standard.

Note:All instructions on configuration and settings given in this guide refer to the latest FRITZ!OS for the FRITZ!Box.

1 Setting up a media server for your media collection

Disabling the USB remote connection for USB storage devices in the FRITZ!Box

  1. Click "Home Network" in the FRITZ!Box user interface.
  2. Click "USB Devices" in the "Home Network" menu.
  3. Click on the "USB Remote Connection" tab. If the tab is not displayed, enable the Advanced View first.
  4. Disable the "USB storage media" option.
  5. Click "Apply" to save the settings.

Connecting a USB storage device with your media collection to FRITZ!Box

  1. Copy your media collection to a USB storage device (for example a memory stick or hard drive).

    Important:To be used with the media server, the USB storage device must be formatted with the NTFS, FAT/FAT32 or ext2 file system. The manufacturer can provide you with information on the file system.

  2. Connect the USB storage device to a USB port on the FRITZ!Box.

Enabling the media server in the FRITZ!Box

  1. Click "Home Network" in the FRITZ!Box user interface.
  2. Click "Media Server" in the "Home Network" menu.
  3. Enable the option "Media Server enabled".
  4. If you only want to share specific USB storage devices connected to the FRITZ!Box, in the section "Media Sources", select the USB storage device with the media files you want to release for sharing for the Media Server.
  5. Click "Apply" to save the settings.

Indexing media files

  1. Click "Home Network" in the FRITZ!Box user interface.
  2. Click "Storage (NAS)" in the "Home Network" menu.
  3. In the table "Storage on the FRITZ!Box", click on "not created" or "was created" for every storage listed that contains files.

The indexing procedure is complete when "was created" is displayed next to each storage device that you indexed.

The file index will now be updated automatically if you use a web browser to copy the files to http://fritz.nas. If you use the Windows Explorer or another application to copy the files to the storage, you must either use the FRITZ!Box user interface, FRITZ!Fon, or a playback device or software that supports UPnP (for example VLC media player) to update the file index.

2 Configuring internet radio

The following step is only necessary if you want to play internet radio stations with the FRITZ!Box media server:

  1. Click "Home Network" in the FRITZ!Box user interface.
  2. Click "Media Server" in the "Home Network" menu.
  3. Click on the "Web Radio" tab.
  4. Select "Other web radio station..." from the drop-down list.
  5. Enter a name for the radio station in the "Name" field.
  6. Enter the address of the radio station in the "Web address" field.
  7. If you registered several FRITZ!Fons with the FRITZ!Box, select the telephones you want to make the radio station available on.
  8. Click "OK" to save the settings.

Now you can listen to internet radio stations with your playback devices or software that support UPnP.

Note:You can also use a FRITZ!Fon to listen to internet radio stations. To do so, press the "Menu" key on the telephone and scroll to "Internet services" > "Web radio".

3 Setting up podcasts

The following step is only necessary if you want to listen to podcasts over the FRITZ!Box media server:

  1. Click "Home Network" in the FRITZ!Box user interface.
  2. Click "Media Server" in the "Home Network" menu.
  3. Click on the "Podcast" tab.
  4. Select "Other podcast..." from the drop-down list.
  5. Enter a name for the podcast in the "Name" field.
  6. In the "Web address" field, enter the address of the podcast where you can subscribe to it on the internet.
  7. Enter how often the podcast should be updated in the "Retrieval interval" fields.
  8. If you are using a FRITZ!Fon and want it to automatically inform you about new podcasts, enable the option "Automatically signal new podcasts on the FRITZ!Fon".
  9. If you registered several FRITZ!Fons with the FRITZ!Box, also select the telephones you want to make the podcast available on.
  10. Click "OK" to save the settings.

Now you can listen to podcasts with your playback devices or software that support UPnP.

Note:You can also listen to podcasts with a FRITZ!Fon. To do so, press the "Menu" key on the telephone and scroll to "Internet services" > "Podcasts".



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