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[justsomeguy]

I've been playing more with the new DLNA features but have run into some issues.

I have a copy of MC on my htpc that is has DLNA Server checked and DLNA Renderer checked.  On my main PC I have DLNA Server checked and DLNA Controller checked.  First off it seems odd that I have to have the server checked on my htpc as I really only want it to be the renderer and my main pc to be the server and controller, but that seems to be the only way I can get my htpc to show as a zone under playing now.  
That aside, starting with a blank playing now for my htpc zone I select several tracks from the library and send to: playing now on htpc.  The tracks then show up in the playing now for the htpc zone.  I start playback on the first track but it just says "waiting" then skips to the next track in the list, says "waiting" then jumps to the next and keeps doing this till it gets to the end of the list.  If I look on the htpc at tis time I get windows that say "Media Center encountered errors while trying to play the last several files. Please make sure that the file path in your media library points to the right location." for each track that it failed to play.  I have repeat playing now selected so it then jumps back to the first track in the list and the track plays fine.  If I go look on the htpc it shows the track that is currently being served from my main pc and shows the file name: http://10.11.12.100:52100/Music/Fxxxxxx.wav  this track plays completely through no problems, but when the track ends it hangs and never switches to the next track, just sits there and says "waiting".  If I click the stop button then the htpc says "Aborting, Please wait" but never actually "aborts" at this point MC on the HTPC is usless. I can't play anything on it even locally.  I'm forced to close MC on the htpc and hen get a Visual C++ Runtime error: R6025 - pure virtual function call.  After restarting MC on the htpc I also have to restart MC on my main pc to get the htpc zone to show up again.

I just did a test while typing this.  This only seems to happen if I have the DLNA Server settings on my main pc set to Always convert to uncompressed stream.  If I set it to convert to MP3 everything works as expected.  I switched back to uncompressed stream and I get the same issue.

[bob]

I just did a test while typing this.  This only seems to happen if I have the DLNA Server settings on my main pc set to Always convert to uncompressed stream.  If I set it to convert to MP3 everything works as expected.  I switched back to uncompressed stream and I get the same issue.

If you are going from one MC to another, turn off conversions, they are not necessary and could cause you trouble (especially uncompressed wave) depending on the configuration of your network.

[justsomeguy]

Maybe I'm wrong but I was under the impression that volume leveling (replaygain) only worked with DLNA if you did a conversion.  Without the volume leveling it wouldn't really be useful to me.

Serving wav over the network shouldn't be a problem.  I'm running a gigabit wired network and routinely stream HD video over it.

If there are settings between 2 MC's that cause issues maybe there should be a specific MC 2 MC DLNA profile as there are for other brand DLNA renderers.  It would be nice to have a MC profile that allows it to pass the actual replaygain tag instead of having to decode, volume level then re-encode.

[bob]

Maybe I'm wrong but I was under the impression that volume leveling (replaygain) only worked with DLNA if you did a conversion.  Without the volume leveling it wouldn't really be useful to me.

Yes you are correct on that. Currently using DLNA you would need to do "always convert" to get replay gain applied. I suggest you use MP3, it uses a lot less bandwidth. If you are using wireless that could be where your problem with uncompressed wave lies.

[justsomeguy]

Thanks Bob, I edited my last post just before you replied last.....


" Serving wav over the network shouldn't be a problem.  I'm running a gigabit wired network and routinely stream HD video over it.

If there are settings between 2 MC's that cause issues maybe there should be a specific MC 2 MC DLNA profile as there are for other brand DLNA renderers.  It would be nice to have a MC profile that allows it to pass the actual replaygain tag instead of having to decode, volume level then re-encode. "

[bob]

If there are settings between 2 MC's that cause issues maybe there should be a specific MC 2 MC DLNA profile as there are for other brand DLNA renderers.  It would be nice to have a MC profile that allows it to pass the actual replaygain tag instead of having to decode, volume level then re-encode. "

We were just discussing what it would take to implement that...

[justsomeguy]

It almost seems like the renderer is being sent the remote server location to the file but for some reason that file isn't availiable on the server yet.  I can watch in the Temp folder on the server where the files are saved as wav and see each file be created as MC switches to each track, while failing to actually playback that track.  When MC loops back to try and play the first track in the list that track has already been saved to wav and exists so it plays that track.  But something happens after that and then MC just locks up.  Almost seems like some kind timing issue from when the renderer attempts to stream the track and when the server actually has it ready to serve.

But if you guys could get a specific MC profile that allowed replaygain tag to be passed, that would seem like the best approach.  In the meantime I can convert to mp3 but I hate converting an already lossy mp3 into another lossy mp3.  

You guys are doing a great job though.  It just keeps getting better.

[justsomeguy]

Any updates on this?  Just curious, not trying to rush the devs.

seems things have changed a little with handling wav and dlna but it still doesn't work for me.  Though passing the replaygain tag instead still seems best to me.  I use dlna all the time now and maybe I'm kinda anal but it bothers me having to decode > level > re-encode.

Another thought I had on this would be to allow the server to encode to flac as well instead of only mp3.  Then re-encoding wouldn't cause any quality loose.

[bob]

Any updates on this?  Just curious, not trying to rush the devs.

seems things have changed a little with handling wav and dlna but it still doesn't work for me.  Though passing the replaygain tag instead still seems best to me.  I use dlna all the time now and maybe I'm kinda anal but it bothers me having to decode > level > re-encode.

Another thought I had on this would be to allow the server to encode to flac as well instead of only mp3.  Then re-encoding wouldn't cause any quality loose.

It's for sure on the list. The problem is that the destination doesn't know it's headerless L16 wave.

[bob]

It will work in builds 15.0.116 and later when they become available.

[justsomeguy]

Thank you guys.  Been playing with .118 for a couple hours now and this seems to be working pretty well.