Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[benn600]

Is there any way to seek when using the library server with conversion?

Also, when I turn off conversion, I can't access my FLAC files.

Also, any chance for conversion of video?  Wouldn't that be amazing if my server could convert a DVD on the fly so I could view the whole thing through MC somewhere else (with menu)?  It could automatically test the connection...speaking of which...that would be neat if there was an automatic mode that chose a quality based on speed.

Just a few ideas!

[John Gateley]

You need to install the FLAC decoder on the client. I'll look at the others...

j

[benn600]

Good point, DUH, lol.

The others would be incredible!  I almost picture MC server playing the DVD itself and then simply forwarding the data...conversion would be a very big help and necessary for internet use.

[benn600]

I also noticed that video doesn't seem to be working at all.  If I try playing a standard video, it just says opening... forever with network activity...unless it is trying to buffer the entire file which would take a very long time over the net.

Also, with convert audio if necessary, it will play video but it looks like it's encoding the video because I see no picture and hear buzzing...almost like it's sending the video stream to LAME.

[Mr ChriZ]

I also noticed that video doesn't seem to be working at all.  If I try playing a standard video, it just says opening... forever with network activity...unless it is trying to buffer the entire file which would take a very long time over the net.

I think thats what it does at the moment unfortunately.
This makes Library Server unusable for video.

It makes more sense to just hook up a mapped drive and play
them off of that, which works fine.

[benn600]

I understand....maybe in the future when we have fatter pipes to work with.

[ThoBar]

Unfortunately the caching issue is a real problem. It's a pity the Media Server delivery method doesn't utilise the same streaming methodology as the UPnP server, which seems to stream beautifully.


*hint* 

[benn600]

What types of issues are you talking about.  I don't really seem to have any issues with caching, etc.  When I stream audio it works great.  I guess the point between songs is usually a little strange and it often misses a few seconds of the next song and not usually fading quite right, but I am not really worried about that at the moment.

Although I always look forward to better and new features so any improvements would be great--these issues resolved would be nice, obviously!

[ThoBar]

I guess the point between songs is usually a little strange and it often misses a few seconds of the next song and not usually fading quite right

That's the issue right there, which I agree is negligible for most audio formats, but it does become an issue for large file such as videos or long single track audio files. This issue would be magnified over wireless, where the bandwidth is sufficient for DVD quality streaming, but requires a long wait for an entire file to be cached. (Its bad enough over a 100mbit LAN)

C.

[benn600]

Why would you use library server on a LAN?!  Just use a database and store it on the server.  Then point all MC installations to that database.  Unfortunately, the issue is that only one at a time (not big deal) and MC doesn't store all settings in the database...many have to be configured for each computer and user instance.

[Mr ChriZ]

Why would you use library server on a LAN?!

That is where it's designed to be used! 

[benn600]

lol.  How can you "do" anything?  You can't really set ratings, create playlists, set sorts on lists, create view schemes, etc?  Can you?  It's a good way for keeping your MC info static.

[ThoBar]

Just use a database and store it on the server.  Then point all MC installations to that database.  Unfortunately, the issue is that only one at a time (not big deal) and MC doesn't store all settings in the database...many have to be configured for each computer and user instance.

Ummm... you just highlighted all the advantages over your solution, in your solution

lol.  How can you "do" anything?  You can't really set ratings, create playlists, set sorts on lists, create view schemes, etc?  Can you?  It's a good way for keeping your MC info static.

Yup, and as you indicate above, there is no advantage to your method (which I use incidently  ), apart from having no cache lag time.

At the end of the day, the only reason the Library Server can't be used is due the the caching issue. If that was removed, I cant see any real advantage to the shared library workaround.

C.

[John Gateley]

Is there any way to seek when using the library server with conversion?

Sorry, not at this time. Conversion makes it harder (and probably impossible in some cases) to get the information we need to be able to seek.

j

[benn600]

Hmmm.  I think you can seek with mp3 files, right?  From what it looks like, MC gets a request from a song and then converts it immediately with LAME.  It is usually done converting a song in 10 seconds or so, which is quite fast.  At this point, can't MC just treat it like an MP3?  I would almost think there would be some way to almost pretend it was just sending simple MP3 files?

But I understand.

[Chad]

Could someone point me to the docs or discussion about setting up one database to be used from more than one client?  I want to be able to edit track fields from my laptop while my server is still playing music.

- Chad

[Alex B]

A quick forum search found these links:

http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=36736.0
http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=40190.msg274072#msg274072

[benn600]

lol.  That would be neat if forums more commonly had automatic searching with related threads posted.  I know some forums that do that but it takes a lot of extra server power.  That way, posters would immediately get answers.