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[andrewberg]

I've just migrated my entire MC setup (the 'AppData > Roaming > Media Center xx' folder) to a new PC. (I chose this way in order to quickly restore all my views, video thumbs etc, so I don't have to set it all up again)... Then I 'over-installed' MC to make sure all files get registered properly, the program started fine and shows all views & thumbs as desired.
Other settings: The PC gest internet via WiFi, and streams it (or a local server) to the TV via LAN cable, with WiFi/Internet connection set to 'shared', network detection and easy file sharing services enabled. This setup used to work fine on my Vista PC for years!
But now my TV doesn't recognize the MC DLNA server anymore... (curiously, because the TV itself is listed correctly under 'Playing now' in MC...)! What must I do for my TV to 'recognize' the MC DLNA server again?
Many thanks in advance!

[AndrewFG]

Check that the new PC is on the same IP network as the other devices i.e. the first first three digits of the IP address are the same (something like 192.168.1.xxx). Usually it is easiest if all devices get their IP address from the router via DHCP.

If that fails, generally check for firewall/routing issues on either the PC or the router..

[andrewberg]

Thanks, but the problem is rather that the TV doesn't recognize MC's DLNA server (which is definitely running), although it correctly receives internet from the PC (see abve) -- which means the network connection is definitely in order.

[AndrewFG]

MC has various networking settings "allow MC to share library to other devices" "allow MC to play to other device" "allow other devices to play to MC" (maybe not the exact list as I am quoting from memory) -- but anyway turn them all on.

[andrewberg]

Now I have a completely different idea (subject of thread changed accordingly):

Has anybody heard of conflicts when both LAN and HDMI are connected to a TV set? In my case it seems the two are cancelling each other out... the result is that I get no DLNA!

My new PC is connected to the TV both via Ethernet and HDMI (2 cables). Now, since the HDMI cable offers basic Ethernet features as well, could this be blocking the DLNA server connection from Media Center? (Like a conflict of both connections offering LAN to the TV...) I tried once in MC to 'Send to' TV a file, with both cables connected, but instead of the usual LAN it seemed to use HDMI. The TV did recognize the request, a message window popped up, but couldn't start playback...

Any comments appreciated, thanks in advance!

[andrewberg]

Resolved: Windows 10 had 'accidentally' added a static IP address for the Ethernet IPv4 protocol -- quite unusual... Set to 'automatic' (where I think it has been in all versions prior 10), and LAN devices connect as easily as ever. (Screw MS... )

[AndrewFG]

So my first answer was in fact correct. (But you chose not to listen).

[andrewberg]

So my first answer was in fact correct. (But you chose not to listen).

I'm not sure... but as I've now checked to my surprise (as I can't remember having set it), my old Vista PC has in fact a static IPv4 address for the LAN adapter: IP 192.168.0.1 - subnet mask 255.255.255.0 - DNS servers not specified (see screenshot). The TV's network adapter is set up all to 'automatic', and this way receives both DLNA and Internet via LAN from the PC. This used to work fine for years... (while I'm not sure how... ;-)

Now, on my new Win10 PC I only managed to get DLNA 'temporarily' running, both on static and dynamic IPs (all in the 192.168.x.x area), but lost it each time again after making some other changes, having to restore the system due to other issues, etc etc...

So in this configuration, do I need to use static IPs at all (incl. for DNS?), and if so which are recommended?
But if not, why isn't it working under Win10? Any suggestions will be appreciated... ;-) Thanks!

[AndrewFG]

Your router cannot route traffic between devices that are on different subnets. And it cannot route traffic between devices that share the same IP address. Therefore you should let your router be in sole charge of assigning IP addresses on your network. This means every device on your network should be set to use DHCP (or what you call automatic).

You may find it helpful also to have your router reserve specific IP addresses for specific devices such as your main server. This avoids that the respective devices IP address might change over time, and so it makes it easier for other devices to find. This is done by reserving the IP address in the routers DHCP reservation table for use by a specific device only.

You should NOT set the IP address as static in the device, since the routers DHCP server has no way to know about that, and so it might give the same IP address to another device via DHCP.

[andrewberg]

Thanks a lot Andrew -- but where is the 'router' in my setup, is it the PC's LAN adapter? Maybe I should explain, there is no NAS involved. My media files are on USB hard drives, directly connected to the PC that feeds them to the TV over a single LAN cable. (So in your terms, my 'main server' is the Media Center PC, right? ;-)

So when connected to the PC, my TV offers me to use static or dynamic IPs, and in the current setup (static IPs on the PC, as shown above) gives me this message (screenshot translated from German): "Network status: Manual mode. Wired network connection established." The numbers for Subnet, Gateway and DNS clearly use the IPv4 settings from the PC, while the TV seems to give itself a random IP address (in the 192.168.x.x range)...

So far, so confusing. But why don't the very same settings work on the new Win10 PC as well, neither on static nor dynamic (DHCP) IPs?
I begin to believe that Win10 prevents the use of other DLNA apps than Microsoft's WMP, who actually showed up on the TV, once Win10's 'Media Streaming' was enabled... (However on the settings page, when you follow the link 'More information on Media streaming' to MS support, you get to a common Win10 FAQ with NO information whatsoever on media streaming, it doesn't even mention the term. And if you search for more, results for 'media streaming' are only user/ forum questions (eg. here), no support articles! That's how MS tries to 'win' the media streaming hype -- just a joke!

Sorry if I got carried away... if you have any more insights to share on the issue, please do! Thanks & regards, A.

[AndrewFG]

I suppose you have a box that connects the devices inside your home to the external internet? That box is your router..

[andrewberg]

I suppose you have a box that connects the devices inside your home to the external internet? That box is your router..

Yes, of course there is a DSL modem for internet which assigns dynamic IPs to connected PCs, but is not connected to the TV in any way (as said before), so does no routing for the DLNA network that exists only between PC + TV....

As I can't do a drawing, here's a connection scheme:
DSL modem <-Wi-Fi-> <-PC-> <-Ethernet LAN-> TV.

NB: I forgot to say, even though the screenshot suggests that my TV is using 'manual' IPs, it is set to 'automatic' (so 'manual IPs' are what it gets from the PC server).

[AndrewFG]

You have what is called a "double headed LAN" connection on your PC. In my experience it is almost impossible to make UPNP / DLNA work over double headed LANs. The reason is that even if you succeed in routing the UPNP TCP SOAP command traffic across the two heads, you will not be able to route the UPNP UDP multicast / unicast discovery traffic. My only suggestion is to change to a single headed LAN for all devices, using DHCP for IP address allocation.