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Author Topic: Zen Xtra and MC 11.1  (Read 2049 times)

Psyffer23

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Zen Xtra and MC 11.1
« on: February 13, 2006, 06:50:54 pm »

Well, my Creative Zen Xtra used to sync just fine with MC until I upgraded to 11.1.  At first it would not work at all.  MC would recognize the handheld but, when I hit 'sync' it would first say it was 'working' for a few seconds and then nothing would happen at all.  So, I downloaded and installed the latest Creative drivers and then upgraded to the latest Build of MC (11.1.119) and now it works but is transferring MUCH, MUCH slower. on the same PC.  What used to take 20 to 40 minutes is now taking 4 to 5 hours.  I'm running MC on a Pentium III, 996Mhz,  Windows XP PC with 512 M of RAM.  Any suggestion s on how I can speed this up?
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Matt

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Re: Zen Xtra and MC 11.1
« Reply #1 on: February 13, 2006, 09:46:16 pm »

Check your USB hub.

Also, we've seen cases where devices just slow down.  Formatting them and resetting them fixes whatever happened to them.

You could try the same transfer with WMP to see if the speed is any different. (both players use WMDM to talk to a Zen Xtra)

Thanks.
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Matt Ashland, JRiver Media Center

JohnM

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Re: Zen Xtra and MC 11.1
« Reply #2 on: February 14, 2006, 07:16:11 am »

Hi!

My experience covers only the Zen Micro...

If my Zen Micro has a firmware version number starting with 1 then I should change the device type id for the device in the  PDT.xml to 1.  Otherwise the transfer rate is too slow.

On the other hand if the firmware starts with a 2 (this is PlayForSure enabled) the you should stick with the default device type which is 2. I have upgraded the firmware on our Zen Micro to the 2-version because I don't like to change the device type everytime i upgrade MC.

HTH John
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Diverdown1964

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Re: Zen Xtra and MC 11.1
« Reply #3 on: February 14, 2006, 03:17:42 pm »

I just went through the firmware upgrade etc, and I'm noticing the same thing. However, I think that it's because MC is converting every file, not because of slow USB transfers. I have my settings set to convert if necessary, and from the looks of my two lame.exe processes, it's necessary most of the time.

Cheers
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Psyffer23

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Re: Zen Xtra and MC 11.1
« Reply #4 on: February 14, 2006, 09:36:03 pm »

Thanks guys, I appreciate the help.  I'm not really sure where this pdt.xml file is though.  Oh, and I do not have a USB hub and I don't think I am converting the files as they transfer - just copying.  Also, the problem is even worse than I previously reported.  The files copied but, the Playlists themselves do not appear on the handheld - they did not sync.  So, what can be the problem here?
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JohnM

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Re: Zen Xtra and MC 11.1
« Reply #5 on: February 15, 2006, 01:21:43 am »

Quote
I'm not really sure where this pdt.xml file is though
Usually in "C:\Program Files\J River\Media Center 11\Data\Default Resources"

Quote
The files copied but, the Playlists themselves do not appear on the handheld - they did not sync.

I've experienced the same issue with the zen micro and this is my findings:
  • Install the latest driver. (In your case it would be Creative Zen and Jukebox Driver Upgrade version 1.30.03. Assuming you're using XP)
  • Check that the firmware major version (1 or 2) is the same number than the device type in the PDT.xml file for your device. The default in PDT.xml is 2
  • Use the latest firmware... Upgrading formats the hard drive in your device
  • Sometimes you have to sync a couple of times before you can see the playlist in your device
  • Sometimes you have to let MC redetect the device
  • If there are several users sharing the same device and syncing them via their own accounts in XP. This is asking for trouble. Keep and sync the device in one specific account only. Create a dedicated MC user account in XP if applicable 
  • If we had firmware major version number diffrent from the device type in PDT.xml the transfer rate was about 25% of what we have now (ca 2-3 Mb/s) with our Zen Micro when the numbers are the same. It still takes a while to sync the 5Gb it takes
Can't think of anything else now...

HTH John
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Psyffer23

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Re: Zen Xtra and MC 11.1
« Reply #6 on: February 20, 2006, 02:26:59 pm »

Updating my handheld firmware seems to have solved most of the issues.  It still seems slower though.  Thanks for all the help and suggestions.
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