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[p7389]

Xbox 360 support? I'm upgrading! Thank you, MC.

[winterminute]

I'm using a combination of TVersity and PlayOn.  One of the main reasons I connect to my PC is to play internet video on my Xbox.  Hulu/CBS/SouthPark/etc.  Will MC support this?  I'm running MC12.  In my view, music/photo playback are already handled by dozens of "UPNP" servers, but video playback especially internet video is still half-baked with most of the solutions.  I woud love to see (and financial support via an upgrade) if MC was going to throw their hat in and try and solve this.

Also, if MC is going to do video transcoding, will it be possible to pre-transcode the whole file or at least allow the user to start playback and pause it and have transcoding still happen on the PC?

[prod]

Thought I'd try this out, but having a problem which is very similar to a Quick Play problem I had some time ago;

http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=51383.0

I can't get past the top menu (when I select Media Center from my PS3) - the top menu just keeps on cascading down. I'm using a different language file to the default, so my top menu isn't the default "Audio" ,"Images", "Videos".

[bob]

I tried this first on my PS3 and the navigation worked but it didn't like the music format (mp3)! I going to try to always change the format. Data type not supported. Then tried using the DNLA and still no luck.
I changed to my Xbox 360 and everything worked fine for the playlists. I have a lot of music and the other categories like genre, and albums didn't seem to work.

If you are using autodetect, don't. Especially if you have a PS3 and Xbox on the same net. Try the Playstation 3 preset with the PS3.
The Playstation 3 will play mp3 and wave without conversion. If you have other types, you will need to set the options to convert when necessary and uncompressed wave.

[bob]

I definitely hear the hiss. I didn't notice this in a previous build.

Hmmm, no analog in the path
Also, since I've been working on the uPnP code heavily, I haven't checked in any changes to it since 14.0.94. Do you know what build worked without the background hiss? Could it be a volume issue??

I could not get the server to working setting the receiver as Playstation 3. The odd path I chose was to select Playstation 3 as receiver and then selected Advanced. That works for me.

Is it possible you had not just restarted the server after making the change to Playstation 3??

I am using convert as necessary option. FLAC is working. Haven't tried MP3.

Current memory usage is 26MB. That's much better than 256MB. We'll see where it is as after a few days. What is real cool is that Media Center is not even registering processor cycles, 0%.

There was a memory leak in the first working version. Should be gone now. The processor load should be low since it's just decoding as it would if it were sending the output to a sound card.
Thanks for the feedback.

[bob]

Thought I'd try this out, but having a problem which is very similar to a Quick Play problem I had some time ago;

http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=51383.0

I can't get past the top menu (when I select Media Center from my PS3) - the top menu just keeps on cascading down. I'm using a different language file to the default, so my top menu isn't the default "Audio" ,"Images", "Videos".

You figured it out, it's the view. At this time the  "Audio" ,"Images", "Videos" views must exist. This is on the "stuff to add list".

[bob]

I'm using a combination of TVersity and PlayOn.  One of the main reasons I connect to my PC is to play internet video on my Xbox.  Hulu/CBS/SouthPark/etc.  Will MC support this?  I'm running MC12.  In my view, music/photo playback are already handled by dozens of "UPNP" servers, but video playback especially internet video is still half-baked with most of the solutions.  I woud love to see (and financial support via an upgrade) if MC was going to throw their hat in and try and solve this.

Also, if MC is going to do video transcoding, will it be possible to pre-transcode the whole file or at least allow the user to start playback and pause it and have transcoding still happen on the PC?

Video transcoding is a goal. I'd like it to be streaming.

[dpippel]

I'm using a combination of TVersity and PlayOn.  One of the main reasons I connect to my PC is to play internet video on my Xbox.  Hulu/CBS/SouthPark/etc.  Will MC support this?  I'm running MC12.  In my view, music/photo playback are already handled by dozens of "UPNP" servers, but video playback especially internet video is still half-baked with most of the solutions.  I woud love to see (and financial support via an upgrade) if MC was going to throw their hat in and try and solve this.

I second this emotion. LOVE the fact that MC is now serving local audio/video/image files via DLNA. In fact I just upgraded from MC13 because of it. But it would be even better if MC14 eventually handled internet video streaming from sites like Hulu, YouTube, etc. I'm currently using a product called PlayOn for this functionality and would love to use ONLY MC. As winterminute mentioned most current DLNA server product offerings are half-baked. In other words they don't handle local media streaming AND internet source streaming. You're forced to use more than one application to get it all. Wouldn't it be great if MC14 ended that trend and became *the* true one-stop DLNA server solution? I think so. Run with it guys. Please?

And thanks for all the hard work!

[dpippel]

I've been playing with audio transcoding to my original model PS3 (latest firmware) and have run into the same background hiss/sound quality problems mentioned by others here:

uPnP Server -> Options -> Always Convert Audio/Uncompressed WAV + Receiver set to Playstation 3

The hiss is there with both "Convert audio if necessary" and "Always convert audio" options. Doesn't matter. My MC14 audio library consists of FLAC files exclusively. Background hiss is very obtrusive and totally destroys usability of this new feature for me. Hopefully you guys will find the cause and squash it soon. For now it's back to PS3 Media Server, which streams the very same FLAC files flawlessly.

I'll also note three other things I've noticed regarding audio playback:

1) The "Start" button on the PS3 Dualshock 3 controller does not pause playback as it should. The only option is to stop playback entirely with the Circle button.
2) Total track time is not being displayed properly on the PS3. Elapsed playback time is working fine but the total time field contains only dashes.
3) The progress bar displayed beneath the time information for the track being played doesn't show any information. It remains static during track playback.

If I can provide any more information that would be of use let me know.

[benjamin00]

HI,

thanks for this new improvement
I try to connect media center to my Xbox 360.
The connection works fine, i can hear my music and watch pictures but when i try to watch the movie i have in my library ( i'm sure i have some), i've got this message " no video find". Can someone help me?

thanks for your help

[bob]

I've been playing with audio transcoding to my original model PS3 (latest firmware) and have run into the same background hiss/sound quality problems mentioned by others here:

uPnP Server -> Options -> Always Convert Audio/Uncompressed WAV + Receiver set to Playstation 3

The hiss is there with both "Convert audio if necessary" and "Always convert audio" options. Doesn't matter. My MC14 audio library consists of FLAC files exclusively. Background hiss is very obtrusive and totally destroys usability of this new feature for me. Hopefully you guys will find the cause and squash it soon. For now it's back to PS3 Media Server, which streams the very same FLAC files flawlessly.

trying to reproduce this

I'll also note three other things I've noticed regarding audio playback:

1) The "Start" button on the PS3 Dualshock 3 controller does not pause playback as it should. The only option is to stop playback entirely with the Circle button.
2) Total track time is not being displayed properly on the PS3. Elapsed playback time is working fine but the total time field contains only dashes.
3) The progress bar displayed beneath the time information for the track being played doesn't show any information. It remains static during track playback.

If I can provide any more information that would be of use let me know.

All 3 points are a consequence of streaming transcoding since there isn't a way to send the content-length of a streaming file.

[dpippel]

trying to reproduce this

Thanks Bob. Let me know if you need any more info from me. FYI I'm running Windows 7 Ultimate on the box where MC14 resides.

All 3 points are a consequence of streaming transcoding since there isn't a way to send the content-length of a streaming file.

PS3 Media Server is capable of performing all three when transcoding the same FLAC files to uncompressed WAV. I get total track time, the track playback progress bar functions, and I can pause/restart playback of the track using the "Start" button on the PS3 controller without issue, so there must be a way.

[Magic_Randy]

Standard support for these devices is great, but...

I've been using MC with the PS3 for a long time (1 year?). All I had to do before was set it to:

Receiver type advanced
Include Visual Content
DLNA
And it was set to Don't Convert Audio (my entire library is MP3).

Now I get an Unsupported Data Type. The only way I can make it work is to convert the audio from MP3 to Uncompressed Wave which of course should not be required.

Edit: Everything worked OK up until build 94 (I did not test build 95).
Edit: The same thing happens if I use the PS3 receiver preset, or use Advanced receiver set with PS3 Compatible

[jdewoody]

Standard support for these devices is great, but...

I've been using MC with the PS3 for a long time (1 year?). All I had to do before was set it to:

Receiver type advanced
Include Visual Content
DLNA
And it was set to Don't Convert Audio (my entire library is MP3).

Now I get an Unsupported Data Type. The only way I can make it work is to convert the audio from MP3 to Uncompressed Wave which of course should not be required.

I've been using MC 13 since May, never had any issues until I upgraded to v14.0.96 last night. Now, I'm having almost the same issue as Randy here except if I set it to uncompressed wav, it acts like it's going to play the song, then moves to the next title about every 2 seconds. The settings I used to use (exactly as Randy listed) do not work at all, I end up with unsupported data type no matter what song I choose from either direct browse or playlist.

All my songs are in MP3 format and range from 128kbps-192kbps. My PS3 has the lastest publicly available firmware version. Please help!

System specs (which haven't changed, just upg'd MC):

Windows 2003 Server Std. SP2
Intel 2.8GHz P4
4GB Ram
2x500 GB drives in Raid 1
Broadcomm NetExtreme 5751 Gigabit NIC


Thanks,
J

[bob]

Thanks everyone for the PS3 feedback. I'm checking into the wav hiss problem (I'm able to reproduce it now) however the new beta build should work with your mp3's. Set Don't Convert Audio in options and either manually select the playstation 3 option or try the advanced flags set the same way. What's been added to the PS3 is image and audio support and especially in video, the latest build should work with more file types. Also, the next build has album art support so the thumbs show up for the songs, images and videos. The version numbers you gave on when the problem appeared should be helpful in figuring out the hiss.

[bob]

One other thing I've noticed about the PS3, when one makes changes to the uPnP options in MC you need to stop and restart the MC uPnP server AND on the PS3 force it to search for the MC uPnP server again (this goes for all 3 media types, music pictures and video). If you don't do this you will get broken views.

[Robo983]

Thanks Bob and MC, I have been holding out for 360 support to upgrade. I personally do not mind running a couple uPnP servers as I mostly use local media and want to be able to have all my Playlists and smartlist that are in MC so this is a nice upgrade for me. MC14 has others I like too but this was the big hitter for me.

[CrasHthe2nd]

Hi.  I've been trying out the new media server with my Xbox, which I must say is a very welcome addition  .  One thing that I have noticed is that on the Xbox I see my entire music library, and since I'm subscribed to a podcast which consists of literally thousands of artists the list shown on the Xbox when I browse by artist is huge.  Is there a way to specify exactly which files are shared on the media server, or to specify custom rules for which files to exclude (like you can do in the audio views)?  If not, are there plans to add this in future builds?  Thanks.

[dpippel]

* Thumbnails work for Track and Album (note: still the default pic for the actual MC icon)

FYI, album art thumbnails are not working at all for FLAC files in the .96 build. I get the default PS3 music note icon.

[Garethster]

FYI, album art thumbnails are not working at all for FLAC files in the .96 build. I get the default PS3 music note icon.

I'm running the same release and art thumbnails display fine for both FLAC and MP3 files.

[kamiller42]

Hmmm, no analog in the path
Also, since I've been working on the uPnP code heavily, I haven't checked in any changes to it since 14.0.94. Do you know what build worked without the background hiss? Could it be a volume issue??Is it possible you had not just restarted the server after making the change to Playstation 3??There was a memory leak in the first working version. Should be gone now. The processor load should be low since it's just decoding as it would if it were sending the output to a sound card.
Thanks for the feedback.

No, no analog in path other than the speaker wire. Audio coming off PS3 HDMI to Onkyo receiver. I am not sure which version I was using. I didn't check before upgrading. I do know it had a memory leak and PS3 was not even a destination option. I got it working with the PS3 using the entry in Wiki.

I can see this DLNA server growing into something big. It might be time to separate it from the media player and call it JRiver Media Server. I would like to run it without the player portion.

An update. The player has been running on the home server for a few days. Memory usage is 151MB. That's high, but better than 256MB.

[dpippel]

I'm running the same release and art thumbnails display fine for both FLAC and MP3 files.

Well, don't know what to tell you. They're not showing here with my FLAC stuff using folder.jpg. Zip. Nada. Zilch.

[Garethster]

Well, don't know what to tell you. They're not showing here with my FLAC stuff using folder.jpg. Zip. Nada. Zilch.

Welll, I just rebuilt my library and now I've got no thumbnails :-(

[JimH]

Thumbnails are rebuilt automatically, but if you mean cover art, try setting your cover art directory.

Library Manager lets you set up a new library (for testing, for example), and one of the options allows you to clone your old library.

[dpippel]

Thumbnails are rebuilt automatically, but if you mean cover art, try setting your cover art directory.

I store my cover art in my album directories as folder.jpg files. Let me just clarify that MC14 is showing cover art just just fine. The problem is that I'm not seeing it on my PS3.

[JimH]

That should work soon.

[dpippel]

Thanks Jim.

[muchadhesion]

I use a number of UPnP devices in my home... I've was pleased to see some work being done on MC's UPnP media server.  I have some suggested improvements/bug reports:

* upnp:class object.container should be object.container.album.musicAlbum for music Albums.  (This allows control points to behave appropriately for activation on this items, (eg "add to playlist", rather than "browse into")
* supply a upnp:albumArtURI for object.container.album.musicAlbum and object.container.albumItem.musicTrack.  (This allows control points and media renderers to show album art for albums and tracks.)
* The UPnP server is not responding to device M-Search requests for "all" UpnP objects.  11/15/09 16:41:51 - SSDP Server requested type not found: ssdp:all (This is used by control points that are discovering _all_ upnp devices on the network, rather than by specific type.  In my case, I use it for UPnP development and diagnosis using Intel Device spy.  In general, it's in the UPnP spec.)

My current reference points are AssetUPnP and Twonky Media Server for media server devices, and a number of control points like PlugPlayer on the iTouch.

tvm
m

[samarah88]

I have a PS3 and an Xbox 360...is there a way to configure more than one receiver?

[JimH]

I have a PS3 and an Xbox 360...is there a way to configure more than one receiver?

The current status is that one or the other will work, but not both simultaneously.  We may be able to change that.  Read the PS3 instructions in the first post on startup.

[dcpoppy]

Thanks for your work on this, I just upgraded from 13 and can't wait to get testing!

I'll echo support for the multiple device profile request.  I have, and will be testing, a PS3 and two DirecTV DVRs (HR20 and HR23).

[kamiller42]

An update. The player has been running on the home server for a few days. Memory usage is 151MB. That's high, but better than 256MB.

Just checked the home server. Memory footprint up to 250MB. 

[bob]

I use a number of UPnP devices in my home... I've was pleased to see some work being done on MC's UPnP media server.  I have some suggested improvements/bug reports:

* upnp:class object.container should be object.container.album.musicAlbum for music Albums.  (This allows control points to behave appropriately for activation on this items, (eg "add to playlist", rather than "browse into")
* supply a upnp:albumArtURI for object.container.album.musicAlbum and object.container.albumItem.musicTrack.  (This allows control points and media renderers to show album art for albums and tracks.)
* The UPnP server is not responding to device M-Search requests for "all" UpnP objects.  11/15/09 16:41:51 - SSDP Server requested type not found: ssdp:all (This is used by control points that are discovering _all_ upnp devices on the network, rather than by specific type.  In my case, I use it for UPnP development and diagnosis using Intel Device spy.  In general, it's in the UPnP spec.)

My current reference points are AssetUPnP and Twonky Media Server for media server devices, and a number of control points like PlugPlayer on the iTouch.

tvm
m

Thanks, that really specific info helps a lot!

[bob]

Just checked the home server. Memory footprint up to 250MB. 

Will check into memory usage again, thanks for the report.
We found the hiss problem. Will be fixed in the next build.

[dpippel]

We found the hiss problem. Will be fixed in the next build.

Awesome! Thanks.

[tim_k]

I just upgraded to MC14 - great job guys!  I successfully connected my 2 year old HP MediaSmart TV to MC using the DLNA type.  The audio works perfectly.  The images do not work though.  I get the 'error has occured' when I click on any picture in any folder.  Any suggestions?

[pierre.goyette]

Well, I download 14.0.96 to test with my Popcorn Hour C-200 and Denon AVR-4310CI.  The DLNA server works fine for streaming Audio to my Denon and Popcorn Hour C-200. However, it cannot play *ANY* movides on the C-200. The C-200 shows a rather generic error message "Request cannot be processed". There are no error messages in the MC14 log window. I tried playing various types of video files: Avi-xvid, Avi-Divx, .mkv, .vob. All the same error messages.  The TwonkyMediaServer serves these files fine to the C-200.

What logging/debugging info can I provide to assist in solving the problem?

Pierre

[bob]

I suggest waiting to try the next build. There are some substantial changes to images and video in it.

[CrasHthe2nd]

Are there any thoughts on my earlier post?  Is there a way to exclude certain files (according to a custom rule) from being shared in the uPnP server, or is this feature going to be added in the future?  Thanks.

[JimH]

Are there any thoughts on my earlier post?  Is there a way to exclude certain files (according to a custom rule) from being shared in the uPnP server, or is this feature going to be added in the future?  Thanks.

I don't know of a way to do that.  A separate library maybe, but the server serves the default library.

[steveklein]

this has phenominal potential. that being said, there is one glaring limitation that i'm experiencing.

i have all my playlists that i actually use in a folder called smartlists (go figure) there's no way for me to navigate to the individual playlists. instead it just lets me play the folder of smartlists, which basically covers my entire library instead of hand choosing my playlist of say, 70s jazz or current favorites.

[Garethster]

Will check into memory usage again, thanks for the report.
We found the hiss problem. Will be fixed in the next build.

Bob, thanks very much for all the very hard work - I very much appreciate it. 

[bob]

this has phenominal potential. that being said, there is one glaring limitation that i'm experiencing.

i have all my playlists that i actually use in a folder called smartlists (go figure) there's no way for me to navigate to the individual playlists. instead it just lets me play the folder of smartlists, which basically covers my entire library instead of hand choosing my playlist of say, 70s jazz or current favorites.

A playlist of playlists
What device are you using?

[tim_k]

Ouch - I just installed .101 hoping it would fix the image problem I reported earlier.  Now I get the same error (failed to retrieve list) when trying to open the audio\artist\album folder that I got before with the images folders.  This worked fine in the .96 version. I guess I'll have to go back to that.  Let me know if you need any log info.  I'm using the dlna setting with an HP MediaSmart TV.

[steveklein]

A playlist of playlists
What device are you using?

xbox 360.

i've got a folder called "smartlists". within it, i've got a playlist called 3+ stars, 2009 music, southern music (all country/southern rock), modern rap/r&b (2000-present), dance music, etc etc

all told, ive got over 50,000 songs covered in at least 1 smartlist, but there's no way to play specific smartlists. when i click the smartlist folder, it just plays all of them.

[prod]

I'm loving this new feature (on the PS3), can imagine in a few weeks I'll wonder how I ever got along without it.

One thing I don't think has come up - if I play a track, tv show or movie, I'd like it to update the play stats in the MC library... is this on the list of things to do?

[bob]

Ouch - I just installed .101 hoping it would fix the image problem I reported earlier.  Now I get the same error (failed to retrieve list) when trying to open the audio\artist\album folder that I got before with the images folders.  This worked fine in the .96 version. I guess I'll have to go back to that.  Let me know if you need any log info.  I'm using the dlna setting with an HP MediaSmart TV.

Some big differences between 96 and 101 is that many more mime types are being passed to the client when the DLNA option is enabled. Perhaps your HP doesn't like that? You could try the advanced setting and unclicking the DLNA box. A copy of the the last screen of the upnp server logs when "log file requests" is checked could be useful. Thanks...

[denisr]

Hi there.

I've been streaming audio successfully to my PS3 using MC12 for some time now but today I decided to download MC14 to give it a try before I upgrade.  Unfortunately I can't get the streaming to work with MC14.0.96.  My PS3 finds the MC server OK and shows me all my songs but when I select a song to play the PS3 just sits staring blankly at me in silence.  When I use MC12 as the server the PS3 will start playing the song, show me the song name/artist on screen and enable the options menu to be called up by pressing the triangle button on the PS3 remote.  When MC14 is the server none of these things happen.  The PS3 just sits in silence with a blank screen (apart from the wavy screen-saver type thing that's always in the background).

I noticed that someone else posted that they had the same problem with MC 14.0.96...
http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=54801.0
...but they were just pointed to this thread which as far as I can tell doesn't have any suggested solutions for this problem.

Any ideas?


My details:
I'm running on XP and in the MC14 UPnP settings I've selected Receiver PS3, No Audio Conversion and no specific TCP Port.

[JimH]

Get build 101 from the top of this board.

Double check that you've chosen PS3 in the UPnP Server options.

Try updating the firmware for the PS3.

[denisr]

Just tried build 101.  That solved it... and now I get album artwork too!

Great effort.  Many thanks.  Now I can go ahead and upgrade to MC14.

Just one more question though...

When I navigate through my MC library on my PS3 via the "album/artist" option it takes me down through artist / album / genre / song.  Is there any way of removing "genre" from that list?  i.e. just navigate down through artist / album / song?


AH, JUST ANSWERED IT MYSELF...
It was because I had added a Genre pane to the standard Artist/Album View in MC.  Got it all working perfectly now.