SMB shares

An SMB share is a folder shared over the network, the kind a NAS, a Windows PC, or a Mac with file sharing turned on can provide. It is the best fit when several screens play the same media and you want to manage it from your own computer.

Address

Give setup the share and, optionally, a folder inside it:

smb://nas.local/screens
smb://nas.local/screens/lobby
smb://192.168.1.20/media

The first part after the host is the share name. Anything after it is a folder inside the share. Add a port if the server doesn’t use the standard one: smb://nas.local:4450/screens.

The install page also accepts Windows-style paths like \\nas\screens and adds the smb:// for you.

Login

Setup asks for a username and password. Leave the username blank for a guest share.

Use an account that can read the folder. If it can also write, each screen keeps its log file in the share, so you can check every screen without SSH.

Pi Display speaks SMB 2 and 3, which every current NAS and Windows version supports. Very old devices that only speak SMB 1 won’t connect.

Syncing

Every 30 seconds the Pi mirrors the share into /var/lib/pi-display/media and plays from that copy:

• New and changed files show up within about 30 seconds.
• Deleted files are removed from the Pi.
• If the share is offline, the screen keeps playing what it already has.

Make sure the SD card has room for the whole folder. A file that would leave less than 256 MB free is skipped and logged, and the rest of the folder keeps syncing.