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[Denti]

I'm having trouble with playing files from the server, and I can't explain why.

Computer A is attached to the server (where all files are located). I'm trying to play certain video files that play fine on the server. I'm getting the following error message:

"Something went wrong with playback. Details: Failed to find or open file. (hr=0x80004005)

Other files of the exact same type (mkv) play fine. Same location on the server. I can't explain what's going on.

Note that Computer B, also on the network, plays these files fine from the server.

So I figured I could push the files from the server to Computer A, but Computer A is not showing up under "Playing Now," even though it IS showing up as one of the libraries. Yes, I have the media network enabled and all the right boxes checked for Computer A to function as renderer.

What is going on?

...

I'm pulling out my hair here. Now Computer A is showing up in Playing Now on Computer C, but not on the server or on Computer B. Why?

[Denti]

Just confirmed that the files in question (or at least one of them) plays fine on Computer A, when moved there.

Any ideas what's going on here?

[Arindelle]

its time for me to go to the pub so I"m not going to give a a tutorial right now.  BUT it seems like there is a semantic problem.

If you have a  NAS lets not call it a server for a minute... think of it as a big external drive. Normally, you would install your library (the database not  the media files!) on the SSD of say PC 1. You set it up to run the media sever program at least (a JRiver program k?) - you don't have to have the full interface running. So PC 1 is the "server".

Then you have let's say two other PCs which are acting as renderers (players) & control points. They are not (normally) running mediaserver.exe. They are clients. call em PC 2 and PC3. PC 1 has to be on all of the time. PC 2 and 3 can control PC 1. Provided that the paths to your media files are mapped and/or shared and can be visible via windows on each machine, you can play anything anywhere. PC2 and 3 pulls from PC1 everything. PC 1 can playback but can't push to PC2/3.

Don't get hung up on DLNA if you have a PC at every playback point. You can even link the playback via zones so they play in sync.

However, if you have other DLNA renderers (like a Blue Ray player or  network audio streamer) thats where things can get screwy .. not all renderers support all functions of JRiver. Andrew here on the forum has a link in his sig and with his help you can check things.

So if you can't playback certain files, as long as PC 1 is on, it probably means that the path is not visible (or not a network share) for one of your clients. There should , again normally, be ONLY one library that all PCs are loading -- the client Pcs should not loading their local library (usually called MAIN) they should be loading PC1s "main" library (mine is called "Downstairs" on the client PCs 'cause it IS  )

So either your network setup needs tweaking or you have set up JRiver in a non-standard way, I'm guessing (of course, maybe you do use DLNA external renderers and that could provoke some issues too). Or maybe you aren't loading the same library on all machines.Why using multiple libraries should be done only under certain conditions for specific reasons when you know what you're doing, IMHO

ok time for a drink or two and look at pretty women decades too young for me  

[Denti]

OK, PC1 has "main library" loaded.

PC2 has that same library loaded.

File A is on drive M and plays fine. File B is also on drive M and does not. The path to the file is correct. The file plays fine on PC3, which also has PC1's library loaded.

What do I do?

[Denti]

I just successfully played one of the files by going into the Network and opening it. It plays in MC. But that same file won't open from within MC.

[Arindelle]

Hey again. Reread my post and hope it didn't come off as condescending, just trying to sort out vocabulary

Anyway seems like PC3 is set up correctly. So either there is some tweaking to your LAN to do or PC2 is not configured in the same way as PC3.

Couple of questions/confirms:

1- are you using authentication (not required but useful when you want to sync and do admin from client to server). If not, I'd use that (set in options on "PC1").

2- on your LAN have you assigned fixed IP addresses to each PC. Or through the DHCP setting in your router is your router assigning them? (IMO the latter is easiest). If not I'd recommend doing so.

3-"M:\\" is your mapped network drive? All three PCs see it in Win explorer - good. From the tree in JRiver -- go to Drives and Devices/Explorer ...  do both PC2&3 see the M:\\ drive? Is it also visible under Network just below, same place?

4) In options on each client are they set like this (PC2&3 only)?

5) In options on the server (PC1 only), are they configed like this?

6) If 1-5 are ok, then you should see something like this on the client machines (PC2&3), depending on what zones you have set-up. No zones then there would just be just the default Player and There:Player



Note: I renamed the library "Downstairs" so it won't show up like that. If you are loading a local library on a client (eg: "Main" which is confusing as IMO it should say LOCAL default or something similar), add a new library and enter the authentication code (access key)  from PC1's options.

and this on the server (PC1)



Now there are other ways to do this depending on your system and what you want to do, but I'd start by using authentification and DHCP IP control via the router. You can use fixed ip addresses without authentication or other options, but IMO this setup is easiest to debug if you have issues. Once it all works you can get fancy if you want

PS - Strongly recommend excluding network drives (your M) from your AV scans and make sure your firewall is not blocking LAN ports on the LAN or port 52199

[Denti]

First of all, thank you for your detailed instructions!

I had everything set up as you describe. Actually, I had PC2 and PC3 also set up to share on the network, so I changed this. But obviously this couldn't be the source of the problem, because both PCs were set up that way.

Each PC has its own IP address. (At least I'm pretty sure this is the case, but perhaps you could tell me how to double-check this.) Drive M is mapped and visible from each computer. I should note that I have a number of drives on PC1 and have similar problems with each. It isn't the drives; it's the files on the drives. Some play; others don't.

It's totally weird, and I'm stumped as to how to fix this.

[Arindelle]

Well, just fishing here but now its not in your JRiver config. First I'd check file sharing. Make sure M drive's root media folder is completely shared (read_write)

Then I would check IP addressing and lastly your Firewall. One of the options is that "play local file if one matches file server" is checked. SO that could mean that although there is a network issue, one of the clients is reading M:\\ as a local file instead of a "served" file.

I'd go into your router and go to the DHCP tab (or it might say Network then IP LAN) You'd want the DHCP turned on then set a range of IP addresses. Machines on the network would show up an in that way you can assign IP numbers agaiunst the MAC addresses that will show up. I'm no network expert, but I'v found this a lot better and more stable than screwing around with each machine via Windows or Home Network. I'd give you a screen shot of mine, but I have a french config screen and your router is probably not the same as mine anyway.

Then make sure the firewall is set-up identically on all machines.

As you say its not the drives, so either the file permissions are not the same, or one of the clients has an IP issue (which could confuse JRiver, but not Windows), or a firewall rule is interfering. Any network experts out there that could add their 2 cents?

OH this probably isn't the case, but might want to double check that port forwarding is allowed for port 52199 when you open the router config panel. I think you mentioned JRemote in one of your posts so this probably is ok otherwise JRemote wouldn't work.

PS - I'm assuming that you have rebooted all machines right?

[Denti]

I'll follow your suggestions, but in the meantime I just successfully played one of the files by going into Drives & Devices and finding it on the network! That same file in the library won't play.

[Denti]

I should note that PC2 is running Vista, and PC1 and PC3 are running Windows 8.

[Denti]

It's not the firewall, because when I turn it off it still doesn't work.

[Denti]

DHCP is set up right, I think. So I'm running out of ideas here!
This simply does NOT make sense.

[Denti]

Restarting the Server, which I had hitherto not done... [fingers crossed]

[Denti]

Restarting the Server, which I had hitherto not done... [fingers crossed]

Nope. Still won't work!! 

This is utterly ridiculous.

[Denti]

BIG CLUE: I think I've determined that files under 4GB will play, and files over 4GB will not. I haven't tested all, but this seems to be the pattern.

What does this mean? I thought it might be an cable issue, but of course I CAN play the files in question in MC by accessing the files through Drives & Devices. So that's not it.

Maybe I should just uninstall and reinstall MC?

[Arindelle]

I should note that PC2 is running Vista, and PC1 and PC3 are running Windows 8.

ah HA!! there you go ...  running crappy OS's  - Vista OMG

just kidding (euh sort of)

BIG CLUE: I think I've determined that files under 4GB will play, and files over 4GB will not. I haven't tested all, but this seems to be the pattern.

what?! that smells of AV/firewall interference ... maybe you have excluded mkv files from scans and firewall fro example. So none of your audio files play back ... either they are not in the same directory (eg the Movie root directory is shared will full permissions but the Audio is read only or not shared?) or they are being blocked. JRiver needs "write" permissions running authentification I believe.

although careful of jumping to conclusions about Firewalls -- as JimH repeatedly insists, turning them off is not always enough .. sometimes he recommends totally uninstalling them to check ... I'd at least spend 5 minutes and exclude things especially local network scans (at worst it will speed up transfers and buffering)

the only "hail mary" that I suppose I'd try for the hell of it is to shut down PCs2 and 3; look at your import settings on your PC1 and make sure that it is the M: drive it is importing (I have a drive d:\ that I mapped to z:\ -- I forgot to remove the d: from import settings once and this caused a few issues for me; check to see if the local drive that was mapped to M: is also shared to the LAN - in my example I shared both d. and z:\); re-run autoimport manually --- there should only be entries coming from the M:\ drive . Then afterwards boot both PC2 and 3 to test. Might not have anyeffect of course but stranger things have happened.

Good luck

any network geeks out and about that have ideas?

[Denti]

Again, mkv files will play. It's not the file type. Just, apparently, the size.

Can you explain what AV scan is?

Something fishy is going on here...

[JimH]

Are you using memory playback?  If so, turn it off.

[Denti]

Are you using memory playback?  If so, turn it off.

Isn't that setting in Audio? Yes, it's turned off--in Audio at least. Is there somewhere else I should check?

[Arindelle]

Again, mkv files will play. It's not the file type. Just, apparently, the size.

Can you explain what AV scan is?

Something fishy is going on here...

I was talking about your anti-virus suite, which often has a firewall as part of it. If its Norton running on Vista you are really going to have some fun  

as per the size .. I mean really! why would an mkv file play and not a flac file - doesn't make sense.  Unless the directory that contains the audio is not shared, or does not have the same permissions, as the directory that contains your video files for example. Or your firewall/AV is letting some files through and blocking others - don't ask me why   just trying to be empirical.

I bet it has something to do with the permissions though -- it should give read-write permission or say Full control or change in the advanced box under properties for the directory. I vaguely remember having problems mixing XP and Win7 computers a long time ago, but I'm really not a noob on networks -- just learned the minimum to get by.  

In anycase don't just click share and think it gives all permissions automatically, especially with those OSs which I have never used .. Right click on directory in PC1 click share=>advanced=>properties I think. Also if you have mapped drive F: to M: check both.

Are you using memory playback?  If so, turn it off.

god if that  works I'm going to kick myself  

[Denti]

No, no: all FLAC files seem to play fine. It's the mkv files that are larger than 4GB that don't. I need to check to see if other large video files also won't play.

And then, of course, is the kink that they DO PLAY. All I do is find them under Drives & Devices in the Explorer/Network, and viola!, they play. No problems. It's when I try to play them from the library that I get an error message.

Directory M: has all permissions set to everyone.

[Arindelle]

 ? ?
.... FAIL

I just GIVE UP, THROW IN THE TOWEL, GROVEL IN DEFEAT, BEG FOR MERCY 

well I tried 

bump I guess

[Denti]

? ?
.... FAIL

I just GIVE UP, THROW IN THE TOWEL, GROVEL IN DEFEAT, BEG FOR MERCY 

well I tried 

bump I guess

Thanks for trying!!!

Really, though, this is utterly strange. Can ANYONE explain this? I mean, this is NOT normal, right?

[Denti]

SO: can anyone else please help me with this. Obviously, it's strange issue, but there's enough information here that should point to a solution.

[AndrewFG]

Did you follow JimH's advice about turning off in memory playback? On both machines.

[Denti]

Did you follow JimH's advice about turning off in memory playback? On both machines.

Yes. Still doesn't work.

[Denti]

New clue: I just tried it on an old laptop that is also running Vista. Same problem. Is it a Vista compatibility issue?

[Denti]

Note: I'm getting the exact same error message on the laptop, so it definitely appears to be related to Vista. Anyone?

[AndrewFG]

Note: I'm getting the exact same error message on the laptop, so it definitely appears to be related to Vista. Anyone?

SSE support?

[Arindelle]

Note: I'm getting the exact same error message on the laptop, so it definitely appears to be related to Vista. Anyone?

just googled it and could it be linked to 4.3GB limit for FAT32 formatted drives? But the articles usually were referring to flash drives that were not formatted in NTFS.  

I bet you are on to something though. Try Win7 or Win10 and see if that solves the problem. If you have a FAT32 formatted drive try reading the file from drives formatted MBR or NTFS to see if the same file  will work if loaded on a local library from that client otherwise.

Worst case you get rid of a crappy OS and freshen up your system drive I heard JRiver can't support (or won't support soon?) XP and that was IMO much better than Vista.

Your JR config and network setup should be fine. Has to be something weird like this.

[Denti]

OK, I'll install Windows 8 and see what happens.