Topic: DLNA issue with Samsung LCD-TV (Read 39343 times)

bob · « **Reply #50 on:** February 08, 2011, 05:05:06 pm »

Quote from: dlnanewie on February 08, 2011, 01:50:10 am

Hi Bob,

I have a Samsung 55C6400. When i try to stream images or videos from MC in my PC to TV i get an error message
"There was a problem controlling the selected DLNA device. Double-check your device, server, and network settings."

I think i tried all the options suggested in this thread without success.

Somebody at JRiver in this forum mentioned that there are some issues with DLNA implementation by Samsung TVs. I still have the choice to return this TV and buy a Sony Bravia (if there are such problems with Samsung's DLNA)

However, I have also Twonky server in my PC, and i have no problem dragging and dropping videos (ie: from youtube) or audio to the TV. I like better the way MC is designed and its features and it will be nice to have it working with my Samsung.
I'll very much appreciate your comments.
Thanks

It's a bit of a surprise that you can drag and drop on it (it's a controllable renderer). If you wouldn't mind getting a wireshark dump of it failing with MC (and perhaps working with twonky) we might be able to figure it out.

I wouldn't assume that the Sony is a controllable renderer. Perhaps someone with one can chime in??

Thunderbird1 · « **Reply #51 on:** February 28, 2011, 01:32:49 pm »

Bump and Reset:

I have two questions....

1. Just wanted to know if there is any progress towards solving this issue. I tried this with both MC 16 and MC 15 and I too got the same error. The renderer in my case is a Samsung UN46C8000 and while the controller on the monitor is able to access content, drag and drop within MC does not work. I also use Twonky and I too can control the Samsung using the Android Twonky app as well as drag and drop on the server.

2. I (like apparently many others out there) are looking to load and play libraries of hard drive-based DVDs (video_ts, ifo, etc) for streaming. Reasons for this are many including disc protection, fear of video degradation in transcoding, convenience, and the dread of time in actually transcoding hundreds of DVDs. So far I've tried a dozen media server apps and none seem capable of accessing the files as if it were a DVD. I've tried the direct approach (playing the video_ts file itself) and the virtual DVD drive approach (mounting the .iso file in a virtual drive) and everything plays the video_ts files broken up with hit or miss on the audio sync and language.

VLC and MC seem to be the only choices (with MC the only one offering DLNA support) to play a DVD as it's meant to be played with menus, etc. Since I can play a DVD normally within MC, I'm puzzled why it defaults to individual video_ts files when I send it to the Samsung. Is this a limitation of the renderer (i.e., the Samsung) or the DLNA server (MC)?

Thank you in advance for your help.

Thunderbird1 · « **Reply #52 on:** March 02, 2011, 05:00:33 pm »

Hello again:

Tap, tap, tap...test, test, test...1, 2, 3. Is this thing plugged in?

Seriously, I didn't think that these were banal, noob questions. Is it that you just don't know or don't plan to offer these functions? Did you not get what you needed in terms of data to compare Twonky and MC? LMK with some kind of answer so I don't waste anymore of your time.

Thanks.

JimH · « **Reply #53 on:** March 02, 2011, 05:33:46 pm »

Bob's not here today. Maybe tomorrow.

bob · « **Reply #54 on:** March 03, 2011, 02:58:58 pm »

Quote from: Thunderbird1 on February 28, 2011, 01:32:49 pm

VLC and MC seem to be the only choices (with MC the only one offering DLNA support) to play a DVD as it's meant to be played with menus, etc. Since I can play a DVD normally within MC, I'm puzzled why it defaults to individual video_ts files when I send it to the Samsung. Is this a limitation of the renderer (i.e., the Samsung) or the DLNA server (MC)?

Thank you in advance for your help.

I could have sworn I answered this particular point. DLNA can only pass certain file types and iso isn't one of them (at least as far as I've seen).

bob · « **Reply #55 on:** March 03, 2011, 03:00:16 pm »

Also, very backed up right now. Still working on controller issues and I've got another dump to get to.

Thunderbird1 · « **Reply #56 on:** March 04, 2011, 02:34:56 pm »

Thanks for getting back to me on this...I'll sit tight on the Samsung control problems.

As to the DLNA's lack of support for the .iso spec: I'd appreciate it if you could clarify something for me. I mentioned above that there are two ways within MC that I'm aware of to play a hard drive-based DVD. The first, which you have pointed out won't work for DLNA streaming, is actually mounting the ISO file and loading it as a virtual drive. Second, I can just import the folder and MC seems smart enough to realize that the video_ts folder is a full blown DVD and (correct me if I'm wrong), takes it's clues from the info file in the folder.

My question is this...is the method that MC uses to load the .ifo file the same, equivalent, etc. (as far as DLNA is concerned) to running a virtual ISO? In other words, whether there's no virtual drive mounted or not, it's treated as an ISO file? ?

audunth · « **Reply #57 on:** March 08, 2011, 11:47:15 am »

I'm also interested in this. I have a UE32C8000, and in my MC library I have some DVDs of tv series, and no matter what I do, I can only play the first episode on my tv. So I'd very much like to see a way to get the DVD menu on the tv through DLNA.

Also, my tv won't play mkv files anymore. Before, in MC 15, it played most mkv files, but not all, even with the exact same codecs used within the mkv file. After installing MC 16, no mkv will play at all, even if I shut down MC 16 (including Media Server) and run MC 15.

The settings were ported over from MC 15 to MC 16.

Thunderbird1, what settings do you have in the DLNA options? It sounds like you can control your tv from MC, I've never been able to do that. I can see it as a zone when connected, but get an error if I try to play something in that zone from MC. I can only play stuff using my tv remote.

bob · « **Reply #58 on:** March 08, 2011, 11:53:56 am »

Quote from: Thunderbird1 on March 04, 2011, 02:34:56 pm

Thanks for getting back to me on this...I'll sit tight on the Samsung control problems.

As to the DLNA's lack of support for the .iso spec: I'd appreciate it if you could clarify something for me. I mentioned above that there are two ways within MC that I'm aware of to play a hard drive-based DVD. The first, which you have pointed out won't work for DLNA streaming, is actually mounting the ISO file and loading it as a virtual drive. Second, I can just import the folder and MC seems smart enough to realize that the video_ts folder is a full blown DVD and (correct me if I'm wrong), takes it's clues from the info file in the folder.

My question is this...is the method that MC uses to load the .ifo file the same, equivalent, etc. (as far as DLNA is concerned) to running a virtual ISO? In other words, whether there's no virtual drive mounted or not, it's treated as an ISO file? ?

When the dvd structure is on the disk with the .ifo it's treated as an aggregate DVD and it's passed as an MPEG_PS stream to the renderer. In this layout, they are not subjected to conversion to other formats. The main feature is streamed with the first soundtrack.

bob · « **Reply #59 on:** March 08, 2011, 11:56:16 am »

Quote from: audunth on March 08, 2011, 11:47:15 am

I'm also interested in this. I have a UE32C8000, and in my MC library I have some DVDs of tv series, and no matter what I do, I can only play the first episode on my tv. So I'd very much like to see a way to get the DVD menu on the tv through DLNA.

Also, my tv won't play mkv files anymore. Before, in MC 15, it played most mkv files, but not all, even with the exact same codecs used within the mkv file. After installing MC 16, no mkv will play at all, even if I shut down MC 16 (including Media Server) and run MC 15.

The settings were ported over from MC 15 to MC 16.

Thunderbird1, what settings do you have in the DLNA options? It sounds like you can control your tv from MC, I've never been able to do that. I can see it as a zone when connected, but get an error if I try to play something in that zone from MC. I can only play stuff using my tv remote.

Was it converting? If your device can play mkv's natively, try it with the PS3 compat switch on and off and with video conversion set to "never convert"

Thunderbird1 · « **Reply #60 on:** March 08, 2011, 06:49:49 pm »

Quote

Thunderbird1, what settings do you have in the DLNA options? It sounds like you can control your tv from MC, I've never been able to do that. I can see it as a zone when connected, but get an error if I try to play something in that zone from MC. I can only play stuff using my tv remote.

Hello Audunth,

Unfortunately, I'm in the same boat as you with regards to lack of Samsung control through MC 15 or 16...I apologize if I wasn't clear on that. I can control my Samsung using Twonky Server, both from my computer and my smartphone (Android 2.2).

bob · « **Reply #61 on:** March 10, 2011, 01:37:06 pm »

Quote from: Thunderbird1 on March 08, 2011, 06:49:49 pm

Hello Audunth,

Unfortunately, I'm in the same boat as you with regards to lack of Samsung control through MC 15 or 16...I apologize if I wasn't clear on that. I can control my Samsung using Twonky Server, both from my computer and my smartphone (Android 2.2).

We are looking at the control problem now. A wireshark dump of it working with twonky might be helpful. You could email it to bob (at) jriver.com

audunth · « **Reply #62 on:** March 25, 2011, 03:55:55 pm »

Quote from: bob on March 08, 2011, 11:56:16 am

Was it converting? If your device can play mkv's natively, try it with the PS3 compat switch on and off and with video conversion set to "never convert"

Earlier in MC 15 it played most mkv's (some wouldn't play even though they contained the exact same audio/video/subtitle codecs as the ones that did play) after I set it to Never convert. Now in MC 16 it doesn't play any of my mkv's with the same settings. Have tried with PS3 compatibility set to on and off, no difference.

bob · « **Reply #63 on:** March 28, 2011, 10:37:24 am »

Quote from: audunth on March 25, 2011, 03:55:55 pm

Earlier in MC 15 it played most mkv's (some wouldn't play even though they contained the exact same audio/video/subtitle codecs as the ones that did play) after I set it to Never convert. Now in MC 16 it doesn't play any of my mkv's with the same settings. Have tried with PS3 compatibility set to on and off, no difference.

Always try these tests with conversion set to "never convert" first.
Verify that MC sees the codecs the same for videos that play and ones that don't by looking at the database "compression" field for your videos.
If you go back to 15 to test, power-cycle the TV before testing. It's common for DLNA renderers to get into weird states if they are fed material that they cannot handle.
Some are touchy enough that anytime you try to play a video that fails you have to power-cycle the device.
You could also try build 16.0.19 to see if the trouble might be related to DLNA version 2 support. If you do this, be sure to backup your library first!
http://files.jriver.com/mediacenter/MediaCenter160019.exe

sajuuk · « **Reply #64 on:** April 09, 2011, 04:32:05 pm »

Is this issue still under investigation or do we have to say goodbye to Samsung TV DLNA support with the latest MC versions ?

JimH · « **Reply #65 on:** April 09, 2011, 05:14:12 pm »

We should be able to fix it.

sajuuk · « **Reply #66 on:** April 09, 2011, 06:42:19 pm »

I know from personal experience that video playback (regular AVI and HD MKV) was functionnal under version 080, but somewhere between this release and release 172 it began to malfunction. Now regular (I mean non HD) videos still plays, but for MKVs it's almost impossible :/ If you need help just ask.

JimH · « **Reply #67 on:** April 09, 2011, 06:58:04 pm »

Thanks. We may.

About 3 weeks ago, we added support for DLNA 2.0. It may confuse some devices.

But it sounds like you're using MC15. MC16 would be worth trying.

bob · « **Reply #68 on:** April 11, 2011, 03:05:28 pm »

Video is problematic since the renderers are only required to support mpeg2 to conform to the DLNA spec.

So, it could be a mimetype or DLNA flag issue.
If you look in advanced options under the DLNA server in current versions the last three entries are
MPEG Video mimetype override (checkbox)
Video Mimetype override (text input)
and Video DLNA override (text input)

If you check the MPEG Video mimetype override checkbox, The following 2 entries will replace the calculated values for all video files.

So for example, if I check the checkbox, I can override the mimetype and DLNAType values sent to the TV.
The defaults are
video/mpeg for the mimetype and
MPEG_PS for the DLNAType.

These values tend to work for a lot of devices, you just tell them the files are mpeg and leave it up to them to parse the files for the real info.
For some devices you may need to change the DLNAType from MPEG_PS to MPEG_PS_NTSC or MPEG_TS_SD_NA.

If that doesn't work continue below...

The current mimetype values for Matstroka video are video/x-matroska IF the codecs are found in the compression database field. If the compression field is empty, it depends on the original mimetype of the file but will be either video/x-matroska or video/x-mkv.

You could put in video/matroska or video/mkv for the mimetype and see if that makes a difference. Some devices don't like the x-.
The DLNAType reflects the codecs and is pretty complex. The values are taken by different renderers in disparate ways. Some basically ignore these (you could start with just MPEG_PS and see if it makes any difference when you change it to something else, like MPEG4_PS_MP4_SP_AAC). Others want full info.

sajuuk · « **Reply #69 on:** April 11, 2011, 07:17:34 pm »

Well I tried ticking that tiny little box (using MC1 6.0.55). And it worked. I tried a few files (most my HD videos are MPEG4 AVC or MPEG4 ASP), and they all worked. Subtitles are missing but I won't complain now that it's working properly again !
Thanks again, I can finally buy MC 16 =)

bob · « **Reply #70 on:** April 12, 2011, 11:26:33 am »

Thanks for the feedback!

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Author Topic: DLNA issue with Samsung LCD-TV (Read 39343 times)