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[gtp600]

Using MC 23.0.104 (64 Bit) on Win10, with Onkyo TX-NR838 receiver, and Gizmo running on Android Mobile.

My Network seems to be working fine. I have not experienced any connection issues between the MC DLNA Media Server, Onkyo Receiver, or Gizmo Mobile.
I have a wired connection between the MC23 PC and Onkyo receiver.
There are no problems with the audio files, and there are no issues with audio playback quality (ie no stuttering, no pauses, or anything...not even for hi-res files).

My only issue is that after selecting music with Gizmo app to playback on the Onkyo receiver, tracks in the playlist are occassionally skipped.
Sometimes the DLNA Media Server activity log will show "0 bytes Served" in response to the GET request (see Log 1 attachment), and other times I see no GET request at all for the skipped track (see Log 2 attachment-notice there is no GET request for file "F3404.wav".

If I use the Onkyo DLNA app directly, things seem to work fine, but selecting music thru this interface is cumbersome, so I prefer to use Gizmo.
If I playback the files on my phone (via Gizmo), things seem to work fine.
I've individually toggled each of the MC DLNA Controller Options for the Onkyo receiver, with no luck.
I've tried the default  "Audiophile 24-bit DAC" server, as well as adding a new "Generic DLNA" server, with no luck.
I've tried various settings on Gizmo "Cache download ahead" parameter, with no luck.

Any ideas?

[gtp600]

A bit more info on this issue:

As mentioned above, initiating playback directly from the Onkyo receiver works fine. Even gapless playback works for albums.

When using Gizmo w/Android phone, JRemote w/IPad, or Panel w/Google Chrome to playback on the Onkyo receiver, I experience the problems.
Tracks in the playlist get skipped occassionally, and album playback is no longer gapless.

[bob]

A bit more info on this issue:

As mentioned above, initiating playback directly from the Onkyo receiver works fine. Even gapless playback works for albums.

When using Gizmo w/Android phone, JRemote w/IPad, or Panel w/Google Chrome to playback on the Onkyo receiver, I experience the problems.
Tracks in the playlist get skipped occassionally, and album playback is no longer gapless.

Can you check the SetNext setting under DLNA controller settings (right click) under the Onkyo zone?

[DJLegba]

Perhaps I don't understand your setup correctly, but if you have a wired connection from MC to the receiver, why do you need to use DLNA to play from Gizmo? Selecting the Player zone in Gizmo should let you control playback from MC directly to the receiver.

[gtp600]

Bob, I currently have that option unchecked, but I have tried it both ways. In fact, I've tried virtually each combination of the the DNLA controller options with no luck.

DJLegba, I think that's what I'm doing. I open Gizmo on my phone, it links to the MC Media Network PC, and I select TX-NR838 (my receiver) as the play zone.
              Same as I do with JRemote from Ipad. If I don't have the DLNA Server running on MC, I can't play anything to the Onkyo receiver. Am I confused about something?

[DJLegba]

Bob, I currently have that option unchecked, but I have tried it both ways. In fact, I've tried virtually each combination of the the DNLA controller options with no luck.

DJLegba, I think that's what I'm doing. I open Gizmo on my phone, it links to the MC Media Network PC, and I select TX-NR838 (my receiver) as the play zone.
              Same as I do with JRemote from Ipad. If I don't have the DLNA Server running on MC, I can't play anything to the Onkyo receiver. Am I confused about something?

If you don't have the DLNA Server running you should have two choices - Player and This Device. And even if you do have DLNA running, you should see Player as a zone. When you select the Player zone, Gizmo/JRemote will tell Media Center to play to the wired connection.

[gtp600]

DJLegba: Yes I do see "Player" as a zone, but when I select it, playback happens on the MC PC, and not the network (wired ethernet) connected receiver.

[JimH]

The device you're playing to may not support the same formats for DLNA as it does when connected directly.

You could try setting the DLNA Server to convert everything to a single format.

[gtp600]

Thanks to everyone trying to help.

JimH:
I have no "direct" connection to the Onkyo receiver. Only a wired network connection, as the MC PC and the receiver are in different rooms.
For the DLNA Server, under Audio, I have "Specified Output format > PCM L24 No Header". I have also tried "Specified output format only when necessary > PCM L24 No Header",  with FLAC and WAV set as supported formats. In this case, the FLAC files get sent to the receiver, but I have the same track skipping problem.

We can also eliminate the MC remote control aspect from the discussion (Gizmo, JRemote, Panel).
I'm not an expert in DLNA protocols, so in an effort to be as clear as possible, I've tried two different playback "modes". One works, one doesn't.

Mode 1:
From the Onkyo Receiver do the following. Everything works fine, even gapless playback. In the sever activity log, I can even see the next track start to download before the current track is finished playing.
   a) Select the Network input
   b) Select the DLNA option
   c) Connect to the MC DLNA Server found by the receiver
   d) Select an album and Play

Mode 2:
From the MC PC do the following. This does not work. Tracks get skipped, and playback is not gapless.
   a) Select an album
   b) Send To > Play (TX-NR838) > Play

[bob]

Do you have more than one DLNA server configured in MC? It sounds like you do. Especially since I find it difficult to believe the Onkyo can recognize the L24 (PCM L24 No Header) format. We pioneered that format and there are very few devices that can play it.

[gtp600]

Bob: I have only one DLNA server on my network, and it's the only one configured on MC, and it's the only one seen by the Onkyo receiver.
        I do have the MC Library server running as well if that matters.

        As far as L24 PCM No Header is concerned, that's what have configured on the DLNA server, and the Onkyo receiver display clearly shows that it's receiving 24/44.1 PCM,
        even when the source file is 16/44.1 flac. So I'm guessing something works.

        It seems that DLNA works differently, depending upon which device I use to initiate playback (the receiver vs the MC PC). Why would that be? The endpoints are the same in
        each case.

[bob]

Bob: I have only one DLNA server on my network, and it's the only one configured on MC, and it's the only one seen by the Onkyo receiver.
        I do have the MC Library server running as well if that matters.

        As far as L24 PCM No Header is concerned, that's what have configured on the DLNA server, and the Onkyo receiver display clearly shows that it's receiving 24/44.1 PCM,
        even when the source file is 16/44.1 flac. So I'm guessing something works.

        It seems that DLNA works differently, depending upon which device I use to initiate playback (the receiver vs the MC PC). Why would that be? The endpoints are the same in
        each case.

I'm pretty surprised that it supports L24 PCM No Header. You might try the regular PCM 24 bit which sends wave files to see if there is any difference.

And for other settings, you might try enabling the "send bitrate" option uder the DLNA server advanced section. Some renderer use this to help with internal calculations.

The reason why DLNA works differently when you "pull" it from the Onkyo vs "push" it from MC is:
> When you pull tracks, the renderer knows the full list of tracks in advance, what metadata it needs from the server (and can provide filters for that metadata) and can pull the next one when it's ready without closing the audio device.

> When you push a track from MC, all of the metadata is supplied since there are no server filters and the most tracks that can be sent are 2. The current and next. And this is ONLY if the renderer properly supports setNextAVTransportURI which few do. In addition even some that support setNextAVTransportURI either close the audio device between tracks resulting in a small gap or wait on buffering the next track for playback which results in a larger gap.
Then you push tracks

[gtp600]

I'm pretty surprised that it supports L24 PCM No Header. You might try the regular PCM 24 bit which sends wave files to see if there is any difference.

And for other settings, you might try enabling the "send bitrate" option uder the DLNA server advanced section. Some renderer use this to help with internal calculations.

Bob:
Both L24 PCM No Header & PCM24 seem to work. As mentioned above, I've also tried the "Original" and "Convert only when necessary" audio settings, ensuring that Flac & Wav were supported file types. In both these cases, the Flac files get sent to the receiver. I've also tried enabling the "send bit rate" option. None of the DLNA audio settings seem to make a difference with respect to the issues I'm seeing.

Your description of the "push" vs "pull" DLNA operation makes sense, and is kind of what I expected. I've tried both settings for the TX-NR838 "Disable SetNext Support" controller option with no luck. It would appear that the Onkyo receiver has an issue with it's "setNextAVTransportURI" implementation, which somehow causes occassional failures in MC's ability to push a track at all (ie track skipping issue), as well as the failure to achieve gapless playback.