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FirePlay for Windows Home Server

By on March 31, 2010 in Add-ins & Apps, Media, WHS v1

Experience Level: Advanced

FirePlay for Windows Home Server is a remote media streaming add-in that allows you to play music through a web browser directly from your home server – whether you’re at home or out and about.

FirePlay for Windows Home Server builds on Bo Mellberg’s original Fireplay flash client, and requires Firefly Media Server to be installed on the home server (the HP MediaSmart Server already has this installed out of the box).

The add-in automatically configures your firewall and uPnP router to allow you to access your music through a browser session.

As the client is Flash based, only MP3 files can be streamed – this is a limitation of Flash, unfortunately.

As the Fireplay client is developed further, the add-in will continue to support new features.

Developer: Nigel Wilks

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More Info: Download | Support Forum

Release History

v0.92.0.1 (31st March 2010)

  • Updated FirePlay code to 0.92.
  • Installer searches for FireFly.exe and will fail if not found.
  • Installer updated to improve on IIS install for “unusual” setups.
  • By popular demand, the “Prevent Downloads” setting is now enabled by default (stops people “leeching” your music).

0.90.06 (7th July 2009)

  • Added a favicon
  • Improved the FirePlay Service to resolve Remote Access detection issues
  • Resolves bug where Remote Access status is switched after install caused upnp issue
  • Now generates a health alert if it can’t find FireFly

0.90.05 (14.04.2009)

  • Work around for router loopback issues
  • You can now choose local or remote (i.e. http://server/FirePlay or http://my.homeserver.com/FirePlay) rather than the fixed external name in 0.90.03

0.90.03

  • Initial release

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About Terry Walsh

Terry Walsh is the founding editor and owner of We Got Served. Since February 2007, the site has provided detailed coverage and analysis of the emerging home server category, and has subsequently grown into a trusted outlet for digital home news and reviews.
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  • http://www.gotgtek.net Josh

    Works like a charm. Clean install. =) Great work.

    • Sean

      I installed it and I can get to the http://my.homeserver.com/fireplay, but then it hangs after I have the genre’s loaded, and my home server no longer is available to access, I have to hard-reset it. If I go to /fireplay again, same thing happens. I installed the Add-in, and I manually opened the port it wanted (UPnP didn’t work, dumb router!). Thoughts?

      • Sean

        A little more information here, it seems to work fine if I have a “home-class” internet connection, but behind the corporate ISA firewall, I see the problems above

        • Jmart

          I would guess it is surf control or some other content blocking software causing it.

          The only issue I had was that my ISP was blocking port 9999 so I was only able to use it internally. I changed the port on the firefly and fireplay configs and now it works. It does hang sometimes when browsing but nothing is perfect.

  • lee

    Hey, do you have an add-in that allows us to stream our .avi/mpeg/etc from the internet not intranet. If so, I will be gladly to hook you up with a nice donation!

    • Jmart

      Webguide will do what you want.
      If you follow the instructions exactly then you shouldn’t have any issues.
      I have been using it for about 7 months with very few issues, and those were self caused.

  • Jaydee

    Wow this fireplay works real well for me.. i have both this and webguide installed and working.

    i find fireplay loads and plays songs alot faster than webguide.. nice simple design. i like it alot.. =)

    i gave 5 stars for this as im very happy with it.. sure it doesnt play wmv and all.. but hey how can you complain when these are free add-ins..

    good work Nigel Wilks =D

  • Cougar

    @Jaydee.

    Thanks for the feedback; although I can’t take credit for Bo Mellbergs excellent work on FirePlay. I just wrapped it into an Add-In to make it easier.

    I’m hoping he can crack the other formats soon as well!

  • hlouie

    Wow, simple and fast (F******G REALLY FAST) loading the UPNP list of 29458 tracks of mp3 at 320bit (250GB). As a EX475 user that installed the MediaSmart 2.5 hack but found the Flash based music streamer SLOW to retrieve the list and iTunes the same painful speed (5-8min).

    Question:
    - What bit rate is being streamed, can that be reduced?
    - My work play is blocking port 9999 is there anyway to redirect the traffic to ie port 81 (some documentation)

    Wishlist:
    - User interface
    cool black color, play list, filter by existing user rating of tracks
    - Login
    access based on WHS login, restrict some users from downloading, playing or maybe just view list only
    - Album Art
    if album art is not available via last.fm to download album art in folder
    - WHS Tab
    some controls for the above

    Thanks to Nigel Wilks for creating an amazing streamer and Bo Mellbergs for the Add-In for NEWBIE’S like me.

  • Pingback: FirePlay for Windows Home Server Add-In updated

  • Pingback: Add-in Update: Fireplay for Windows Home Server v0.90.06 | We Got Served - Windows Home Server & Your Digital Home

  • Cougar

    @hlouie

    Thanks for the feedback, I don need to point out that Bo did the streamer though, I just wrapped it into an Add-In to make it easy for WHS users.

    I’m hoping Bo can pick up on the FirePlay specific stuff. But all of the internals (ports etc) is controlled via the FireFly interface (http://server:9999) there you can set the port etc to whatever you can get away with at work.

  • Pingback: Add-in Update: Fireplay for Windows Home Server v0.90.06 | Windows Home Server

  • Peter

    Looking for help!!!

    I have installed Bonjour, FireFly Media server and the FirePlay on my Scaleo WHS following the applicable wegotserved-tutorial. The set up processses seemed to work fine. The FireFly server is visible and accessible in all my iTunes clients. But I cannot access the server via the web, using any of the provided addresses. Port 9999 seems to work as I can access the web admin interface (http://localhost:9999/index.html).

  • http://www.mediasmartserver.net Alex Kuretz

    Does Fireplay work from within the LAN? If so, I suspect you haven’t forwarded port 9999 in your router to your home server.

  • Peter

    Thanks for reply Alex.

    No I can not access it within the LAN

  • KTMFactoryRider

    Ok, I just want to throw my .02 in here… This addin is just THE GREATIST! I am truly impressed and very satisfied that even my wife, a true computer illiterate can work it easily. Although I also think “skins” would be nice, I like the way it looks also. You guys did a super nice job on this, it was easy to install and use. Thank you both!

  • alan

    JAJAJAJAJA

  • Minime1

    I love this media server and the add-in.Takes my home server to whole new level. Also found that the firefly server ver. 1686 seemed to hang, freeze and or crash so downgraded it to ver. 1586 and since works like a charm A big thank you to all.

  • Roy

    Hello,

    Is there any so can help me? Here is the deal:

    I have installed Firefly server, edited ports, and all is ok, but
    i can`t connect fireplay in the browser.

    Just standing still on: connecting and nothings happends.

    Is there a way to change ports in Fireplay in case my ISP dont support port 9999 ?

    Hope u can help me:)..

    • Roy

      Ohhhh Yeeeesss..

      Got it.. U should leave a direct instructions ;) ..

      Great plugin :)

  • JLM

    Awesome addin. Works like a charm with Itunes and best of all you can use a web browser to access your music on the intranet if you don’t have Itunes Nice….. Great job Bo Mellberg…..

  • His_wife38

    This article is presented as a public service and is not intended as a substitute for professional mental health care. ,

  • https://sourceforge.net/projects/fireplay/ Bo Mellberg

    Hello everyone!

    Just letting you all know that the FirePlay project has moved to SourceForge. The new version now handles if you place your FirePlay.html in a subfolder on your server. Also, the playlists are sorted alphabetically.

    Hopefully Nigel helps you out in creating a WHS package.

    Best regards,

    /Bo Mellberg

  • http://www.mediasmartserver.net Nigel Wilks

    Cheers Bo! Add-Ins just going through some testing and will be released soon.

  • MK

    Great add in.. !! When I launch it in IE none of my music comes up but if I launch it in Firefox all my music comes up? What could I be doing wrong?

  • MK

    OK IE and Firefox both work fine at home but only Firefox at work.. It must be an IE setting.. Any idea what I need to look for?

  • http://www.single-parenthood.info Ayen

    I’m not familiar to those, its more technical but thanks for the information. I’ll refer this to my friends and relatives.

  • Pingback: Add-in Update: FirePlay for Windows Home Server | We Got Served

  • mark_pdx

    Great, simple, did just what I wanted: provide easy access to the music stored on the WHS, without having to install bothersome client software packages on all the PCs in my home. I've found that iTunes, Windows Media Player, and other 'thick" music clients are a real headache to install and update when you have a messy mix of old and new (XP and Win7) PCs around your house. With FirePlay all they need is a functioning browser with Flash. The Fireplay server installed easily and didn't seem to consume significant server resources. While the flash player isn't elegant, it's simple and functional. Thank you!

  • Anonymous

    Some HP EX470 servers came from the factory with PV Connect instead of Firefly.

  • http://www.whsplus.com Terry Walsh

    Another test