Volumio as UPnP Server?

I am new to this forum and it seems this topic has been discussed but does not have much traction. But maybe I am wrong?

I currently do not run Volumio, but I am very much interested in such. It seems a highly capable solution. The limitation to output only via “physical means” (USB/S/PIDF/Analog) is however seriously limiting for me. I would love to use a dedicated Volumio as a Music server in my home. In order to do this, it would however need to be able to output to UPnP renderers. I have a couple of them in my home*. The currently available UPnP/OpenHome server solutions are certainly capable, but still I have the feeling that Volumio brings some interesting features and a very nice and robust interface to the table.

Is there any chance that such a feature could be implemented or do I have to look for other solutions?

  • I currently run BubbleUPnP & MinimServer on a Mac mini with Lumin / Linn Kazoo control points.

I have written a plugin which installs a miniDLNA (respectively ReadyMedia) server on a Volumio system. My PR on github has not been merged yet so you can’t install the plugin using the UI (“Plugins management”). Instead you would have to use the command line:

  1. Enable ssh as described here https://volumio.github.io/docs/User_Manual/SSH.html.

  2. Then connect to Volumio via ssh.

  3. Download the plugin package

wget https://github.com/gvolt/volumio-minidlna-plugin/releases/download/v1.1.3/minidlna_1_1_3.zip
  1. Create a directory for unzipping the plugin package
mkdir minidlna_1_1_3
  1. Unzip the plugin package to the newly created directory
miniunzip minidlna_1_1_3.zip -d minidlna_1_1_3
  1. Change into the directory with the unzipped files
cd minidlna_1_1_3
  1. Install the plugin
volumio plugin install

After that the plugin shows up in the UI under Plugins Management -> Installed Plugins. From there you can enable the plugin and configure the miniDLNA server.

Be aware that the DLNA server does not sync with the music Volumio plays. It just provides access to media files for DLNA renderers.

Thank you for the workaround :slight_smile: It kind of defeats the idea though when you do not have responsive control over what is actually playing at the moment. Is there any tighter integration into Volumio possible? Interesting enough to be considered?

In order to play music using the Volumio UI you need a Volumio system in each location. You can control each Volumio system from every other Volumio system (look for “Multiroom zone” here: https://volumio.github.io/docs/User_Manual/First_steps_with_Volumio.html and https://volumio.github.io/docs/FAQs/Audio_Output.html). Synced multiroom play may be possible with the Snapcast plugin as mentioned at the bottom of the second link, but I didn’t try that myself.

OK. Got that. I do however think it is not super efficient to put a Volumio device physically connected to every endpoint. My idea was more like in an OpenHome system where you have one server that also handles the playlists and distributes it to the renderers. You would only use a control point app to manage everything. Apparently this is only possible with UPnP/DNLA or other systems like Roon but not with Volumio. Sorry for my “ignorance”, but I see this as an opportunity for Volumio.