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[John Gateley]

Hi Roku Users,

Roku Labs have released a Beta version of their software that includes better support for operations that take a long time.  We haven't tested it yet.

You can get it at:
http://www.rokulabs.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=3057

Let me know how it works...

j

[davisford]

Jon,

I d/l the beta, and upgraded MC to 11.0.299 running UPnP server 1.0.32 -- it does not solve the problem.

This behavior is repeatable but not consistent.  Let me explain:

1) Download new beta firmware, erase, flash, etc.
2) Download new 11.0.299 MC, install, start UPnP server

On Roku:

3) Connect <OK>
4) Browse <OK>
5) Audio -> now a msg pops on Roku saying, "Waiting for Response"...after about 60 seconds, it comes back.  If I choose Artist, it will fail.  If I simply scroll down and select a genre, I can stream and play ok.

Steps 1-5 worked a couple times with similar results.

Today I tried the same, and MC11 crashed with an exception (this is typical of what would happen consistently before)

I am totally bummed out.  I actually ordered the HomePod from MacSense b/c I can get the firmware and perhaps I can solve any issues with that myself.  I'm still waiting / hoping that I can get MC11 to work consistently with the Roku.

Recall last time when you had me clear the Registry entry in Windows -- and that seemed to intermittently fix the issue, but it requires a complete re-import of my library.  Is there some clue to success in that nugget of information?

Regards,
Davis

[John Gateley]

Hi Davis,

This may be a different bug than the timeout. Can you send me your library (to gateley @ jriver.com)?

j

[DWAnderson]

I'm considering purchasing the a Roku Soundbridge.

Is the UPnP server now working with the Roku, or are people still experiencing problems with large lists?

For example, if I want to randomly play all files from a Genre with 10K entries, could I do so, or is that likely to be problematic?

[davisford]

Hi John, I sent my library about a week ago..had any luck deciphering the problem?

Thx, Davis

[John Gateley]

Haven't had much time to look at it, but definitely noticed weird behavior.

j

[DWAnderson]

I'm considering purchasing the a Roku Soundbridge.

Is the UPnP server now working with the Roku, or are people still experiencing problems with large lists?

For example, if I want to randomly play all files from a Genre with 10K entries, could I do so, or is that likely to be problematic?

Bump

[davisford]

I'm considering purchasing the a Roku Soundbridge.

Is the UPnP server now working with the Roku, or are people still experiencing problems with large lists?

For example, if I want to randomly play all files from a Genre with 10K entries, could I do so, or is that likely to be problematic?

So far, I have not gotten it to work consistently and problem-free.  I have actually ordered the MacSense HomePod -- it was mentioned on here, and I get the source code with it, so I can fix problems myself.  I appreciate Jon's efforts -- he is typically quite responsive on looking into UPnP server for MC11; however, I'm still at a loss, and I think people are starting to look for alternative solutions b/c it is taking so long to get this to work together.  Last Roku firmware release was months ago, and the cycle seems very slow.  The beta release does not fix my problems.  MC11 releases spin like mad, but still no love with the Roku and UPnP server on my end.

iTunes works pretty flawlessly with Roku.  Roku is a great player -- I think one of the best out there.  It's a shame I'll have to keep that pile 'o dung iTunes around on my computer to keep using it.  Alternatively, I can go for Windows Media Server (ugh) or Slim Devices Slim Server (tried it -- seems very beta).  I hear there are some other alternatives as well with WinAmp shoutcast and such.

[davisford]

Just to follow up on your question: Roku has no problems with large playlists with iTunes.  I have something like 4000 complete albums.  I can make it work through iTunes, but not yet with MC11.

[John Gateley]

Hi, I've tracked down the problem to this:

When asking for information about the children of an container, the Roku asks for info on at most 450 children.

If a library has a lot of genre's, say 400, then when the Roku browses the Audio portion of the tree, the UPnP Server has to produce information for 404 children (one for each genre, one for all genre's, and three for the standard view schemes available under audio). Each of these requires a database query over the database to figure out how many children it has. 404 database queries is expensive, when the number of tracks is large (25000 in this case).

The best solution is for Roku to ask for a smaller number of children, such as 4 or 8. But since it will be a while before that can happen, I'm trying to figure out alternatives.

MC has a lot of power because of it's database format, but this is a case where it is expensive. Other servers are not full databases, they precompute everything (which limits what you can query of course), so they don't have this problem.

More info as it becomes available.

j

[DWAnderson]

If a library has a lot of genre's, say 400, then when the Roku browses the Audio portion of the tree, the UPnP Server has to produce information for 404 children (one for each genre, one for all genre's, and three for the standard view schemes available under audio). Each of these requires a database query over the database to figure out how many children it has. 404 database queries is expensive, when the number of tracks is large (25000 in this case).

Is this an issue if a library has a lot of Artists or Albums or a lot of songs in a particular Genre (as presumably most ones do) too?

(Forgive me if this question doesn't make sense, as I don't actually own a Roku. I'm just trying to decide whether to buy one.)

[Chili-Jam]

Hi,

i used to have similar problems as davisford. I wasn't able to browse my MC11 library with the Roku.
But that has changed since the last Roku beta 2.3b4 and of course because of John's great work.

I have 13k songs in my library and about 20 genres. A lot of playlists (mostly smartlists) as well.
It now works without any problems! I've set up some spcial view schemes for browsing with the Roku as well and it all works.

What i haven't tested yet is to browse all 13k songs at once. And it's only MP3s for now. I plan to go lossless soon. And i'm not sure if this will work. The Roku can't play WMA Lossless e.g.
So it has to require the server to stream wave instead.
I don't know if this will work with MC11?

Here's something interesting: someone posting at the Roku forums has written software that acts as a UPnP Controller. That means, it connects to MC11 UPnP server and to the UPnP Renderer (Roku in this case). Now you can choose songs or playlists from MC11 library and queue it up and PUSH it to the roku so that it plays this selection you made. So you can make the Roku play what you have choosen on your PC. Someone at the Roku forum added that it can do this to several Rokus so you can play simultaniously. The link is http://www.cidero.com/

Now i think it would be nice if MC11 had a similar peace of software incorporated that would allow to push the songs in the 'Now playing' list to the roku.
Could you do that John? Or can it be done as a plugin?

Thanks for the great work.

[John Gateley]

Hi Chili-Jam,

Check out the UPnP Server's convert function, it should help with the WMA Lossless files.

A controller may be coming sometime, not sure yet.

j

[John Gateley]

Hi Y'all,

Hopefully the Roku is working better now:

http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=28643.0

j

[davisford]

Hi Y'all,

Hopefully the Roku is working better now:

http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=28643.0

j

Have been testing for a few days now with Roku firmware http://www.rokulabs.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=3478

Happy to report things are much better now.  Thanks for the great work!

No MC11 crashes so far.  Roku can browse all artists.  Roku firmware now shows intermediary progress when d/l info so that helps.

So far the only problems I have seen (with library size of 25K songs):

I tried to shuffle all 25K songs -- Roku hung...ok, not too bad.

Occasionally, Roku cuts audio and does a rebuffer of current playing track.  This may be a network issue..am looking into it.  Not too irritating or too often though.

Thanks John for the great work!

[John Gateley]

I'm glad it's better now. Thanks for your help in getting it worked out...

j