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[kadge]

Hello

I am looking for a media server for my home.
I have tried out a few, and so far JR Media Center seems to have the most
interesting configuration options. So I really want to use it.. but I'm
having a little trouble. I've got the "Trial" version and it's going to expire in
a couple of weeks, so I'd like to get everything working or at least understand
the issues before I decide to buy it or not.

After messing around with the "Media Network" settings for a few weeks I
have finally managed to get some of my video files to play on my TV by
turning off conversion.

But that's a very nice feature and I will be sad to have to do without it.
My TV can play most common formats, but not everything.

I am using:
Samsung Series 8 (2009 or 2010 model) not sure how to tell what
model year it is exactly. I just got it a few months ago.

My computer is running Windows XP Pro (SP3) with all of the latest patches.
Internet Explorer 8, and Windows Media Player 11 are installed.
I have installed the latest version of CCCP (2010-10-10).

Media Center 15.0.167
In the Media Network options.
I have selected "Allow sharing your media..."
I have configured one "Generic DLNA" server.
Under "Video" I have "Support video content" selected,
"Never convert", and "MPEG4 low bandwidth stream"
Under "Advanced" I have selected "DLNA", and "DLNAExtra".

When the conversion option is set to "Convert unsupported formats"
I can see the list of video files, and even thumbnails, but
when I try to play one of the files a screen is displayed that says
"The server is preparing this file. Please try again in a few minutes."
Even if I wait all day it still displays the same message, so I think
it's not actually doing anything.

I have tried selecting various formats for "Encoder", but I always see
the same message.

Is there some way I can tell what Media Center is doing? If it is
actually trying to convert my video files and running into some
problems then I would like to know what the problems are.

How does Media Center know which formats are "unsuppored" by my TV,
and need to be converted? Is there a list of formats I can edit?
In fact, for the video files I am currently trying to play, no
conversion is necessary.

I have not selected the option "Share your library, playlists, and views".
Do I need to select this?

I did not change any options under "Library Server Client".

Do I need a lot of free disk space to convert the videos?

Does it keep the converted videos around somewhere so it doesn't
have to convert them every time I try to play them?

Any suggestions to get conversion working?

[JimH]

Welcome to Interact.

I'll move this to the Media Network board.  Bob will probably have more to say Monday.

Video conversion is an area where we are heavily focused right now, so please try each new build.  MC15.0.169 is at the top of the MC15 board.

Samsung is also a priority, along with Sony.

Update the firmware on the TV.  Samsung is probably also working on improvements.

[kadge]

Fantastic.
Glad to hear it's a priority.
I'll be glad to work with anyone who can get this feature working.
I'm sick of checking out other software packages and getting disappointed..

Ah, you are right, Samsung posted an update for my TV's firmware on Nov 23.
I'll go install that now.

I also have a Samsung 3D DVD player (BD-C6900) and a PS3 that are on my network.
They may be helpful in testing.

I'll go get MC15.0.169 too.

I don't see this thread on the Media Network board yet. Guess you haven't moved it yet.

[tdipower]

I have the same issue.
The MC is the latest .169 and my PS3 is a 3.55

[kadge]

Since my last post (December 18th)
- Upgraded the firmware on my TV to the latest version posted on
  Samsung's website (November 23rd). The TV now reports having version
  "2010/11/03_001032"
- Checked my PS3 system software. It reports v3.55.
- Checked my DVD Player. It reports "BSP-C6900WWB-1017.2".
- Cleaned out my test machine which means I have a fresh install of Media Center.
  and now I am using Media Player 9 and Internet Explorer 6 (don't know if this matters).
- Upgraded to Media Center 15.0.169
- Upgraded to MC 15.0.171


I set the following options on Media Center.

Startup -> Windows Startup -> Run on Windows Startup = Media Server
Media Network
   DLNA Server -> Allow sharing = Yes
   Generic DLNA
   Video
      Support video content = Yes
      Convert unsupported formats
      MPEG2 medium bandwidth stream
   Advanced
      DLNA = Yes
      DLNAExtra = Yes
   DLNA Renderer = Yes
   DLNA Controller = Yes

Now I can see a bit of the transcoded video on my TV. Before I saw nothing.
The audio seems fine, but the video is compressed horizontally and there are
black borders at the sides. Maybe the width is about 2/3 of what it should be.
Depending on the settings I can see the first 1 to 5 seconds of the video
played in a loop.

I tried several different encoding settings.

MPEG4 med
No. Shows "The server is preparing this file..."

MPEG2 DVD
Yes, but video is compressed horizontally and only
plays the first 1 second of the video in a loop.

WMV
Yes, but video only plays first half second in a
loop and my TV displays a message that reads
"Not Supported Audio Codec".

MPEG2 DVD PAL
Yes, but video is compressed horizontally and only
plays the first 5 seconds in a loop.

MPEG2 PAL med
Yes, but video is compressed horizontally and only
plays the first 5 seconds in a loop.

AVI high
No. Shows "The server is preparing this file..."

[JohnT]

AVI high
No. Shows "The server is preparing this file..."

If you leave this for a while to give it time to finish, and then come back, does the video play ok?

[kadge]

If you leave this for a while to give it time to finish, and then come back, does the video play ok?

No. As far as I know, it will never start playing.
Are you inquiring specifically about the "AVI high" setting?
Would you like me to try it again?
How long should I wait?

I think I usually set it to "MPEG4 high" or "MPEG2 high" when I leave it there for hours to see if it will ever start playing. I have actually tried waiting for 2 hours with this version (v15.0.171).

I have tried waiting for 6 hours, using MC v15.0.167. I don't have the time to be doing that kind of test on a regular basis.

[JohnT]

Any suggestions to get conversion working?

If you're using the DLNA enabled TV, you should test the "Playstation 3" server type as well as "Generic DLNA".  With "convert unsupported formats" enabled the Generic type will convert most video formats except MPEG-2 and some flavors of MPEG-4 whereas the PS3 type will convert fewer formats because the PS3 supports quite a few formats, although probably not as many as your TV.

As far as the Encoder setting, we think you'll have the best luck using "MPEG2/DVD stream".  If you're outside the U.S. you should probably use the "MPEG2/DVD PAL stream" setting.

The DLNAExtra flag should probably be enabled.

More notes below...

In the Media Network options.
I have selected "Allow sharing your media..."
I have configured one "Generic DLNA" server.
Under "Video" I have "Support video content" selected,
"Never convert", and "MPEG4 low bandwidth stream"
Under "Advanced" I have selected "DLNA", and "DLNAExtra".

When the conversion option is set to "Convert unsupported formats"
I can see the list of video files, and even thumbnails, but
when I try to play one of the files a screen is displayed that says
"The server is preparing this file. Please try again in a few minutes."
Even if I wait all day it still displays the same message, so I think
it's not actually doing anything.

I have tried selecting various formats for "Encoder", but I always see
the same message.

So, it sound like you've got the options set right in MC other than the specific tips I listed above.

Is there some way I can tell what Media Center is doing? If it is
actually trying to convert my video files and running into some
problems then I would like to know what the problems are.

The temporary converted video files should be in our temp directory which is whatever is selected in Tools / Options / File locations / Program files / Temporary files.

How does Media Center know which formats are "unsupported" by my TV,
and need to be converted? Is there a list of formats I can edit?
In fact, for the video files I am currently trying to play, no
conversion is necessary.

Currently we don't have a good way to tell what is supported on the device.  It gets extremely complicated because you'd really have to specify the video codec, audio codec, and container format.  Only certain container formats will work with a particular device, and those containers only work with certain video codecs, and those video codecs only work with certain audio codecs, etc.

I have not selected the option "Share your library, playlists, and views".
Do I need to select this?  I did not change any options under "Library Server Client".

No need.

Do I need a lot of free disk space to convert the videos?

Depends on what you're converting.

Does it keep the converted videos around somewhere so it doesn't
have to convert them every time I try to play them?

We're working on this.  Currently it's not good at keeping things around but in the near future we're going to improve our caching/stacking system to better handle large video files.  This is definitely an area of active development.

[kadge]

If you're using the DLNA enabled TV, you should test the "Playstation
3" server type as well as "Generic DLNA".  With "convert unsupported
formats" enabled the Generic type will convert most video formats
except MPEG-2 and some flavors of MPEG-4 whereas the PS3 type will
convert fewer formats because the PS3 supports quite a few formats,
although probably not as many as your TV.

As far as the Encoder setting, we think you'll have the best luck
using "MPEG2/DVD stream".  If you're outside the U.S. you should
probably use the "MPEG2/DVD PAL stream" setting.

The DLNAExtra flag should probably be enabled.

More notes below...

I'm in Canada. I guess the video formats are similar to those in the
U.S.

I guess setting it up like this means that I will be able to see more
videos than I can now only because MC will decide not to transcode
them. So, it is probably better to set MC to "Never convert" and let
my TV take care of whatever it can handle. But really, I'm hoping to
get the transcoding feature to work so that I can watch video formats
that my TV doesn't support.

I am hoping that I can post enough information/suggestions here so
that some developer can get it working. Please feel free to ask me to
perform any test that will be helpful.

So, it sound like you've got the options set right in MC other than
the specific tips I listed above.  The temporary converted video files
should be in our temp directory which is whatever is selected in Tools
/ Options / File locations / Program files / Temporary files.

Thanks. I will check to see what is being created there.
See my next post for what I discovered.

Currently we don't have a good way to tell what is supported on the
device.  It gets extremely complicated because you'd really have to
specify the video codec, audio codec, and container format.  Only
certain container formats will work with a particular device, and
those containers only work with certain video codecs, and those video
codecs only work with certain audio codecs, etc.

Yes. I understand.

I suppose this is only for my specific TV but Samsung provides a
pretty reasonable looking list of supported container/audio
codec/video codec combinations in their manual. If it would be helpful
I can post it here.

I noticed that my TV can play certain video files from a USB stick
that it can't play through MC even when it is set to "Never convert".
That's weird. Since the DLNA hardware is a USB device, I thought it's
video capabilities would be equivalent to a USB drive.

Depends on what you're converting.

I don't have tons of disk space available. I don't see any complaints
about running out of space. If required, I can increase the available
space easily enough.

We're working on this.  Currently it's not good at keeping things
around but in the near future we're going to improve our
caching/stacking system to better handle large video files.  This is
definitely an area of active development.

I'm glad to hear it. It would be awesome if MC could transcode all of
the videos in my library and keep them around for when I want to play
them.

[kadge]

Since my last post on January 5th.
- I refreshed my Media Center installation because my trial
  license expired.
- I set up a "Generic DLNA" server.
- I set up a "Playstation 3" server.

Test video file is 178MB, 24 minutes, 990Kbps, H264, in an AVI container.

Using the "Playstation 3" server and trying to view media on my
TV.
  "Convert unsupported formats" and "MPEG4 low bandwidth stream".
  Advanced options "DLNA" and "Playstation 3 compatible".
I can not view any pictures, play any music or video files. The
TV reports "Not Supported File Format" for all of the files.
After displaying the not supported message, my TV marks the file
as unplayable in the list and I can not try to play it again
without power cycling the TV.


Using the "Generic DLNA" server with "MPEG4 low bandwidth stream"
and trying to view a video on my TV.
  "Convert unsupported formats" and "MPEG4 low bandwidth stream".
  Advanced options "DLNA" and "DLNAExtra".
On the first attempt to view the file the message "The server
is preparing this file. Please try again in a few minutes." is
displayed.
I can see a temporary .mp4 file is created and it grows steadily.
Trying to view the video again, while the file is still growing
results in the same message being displayed. After about 10
minutes the file stops growing at about 162MB and I can watch the
video on my TV. Being the "low" bandwidth version, the video is
pretty bad.

Feeling encouraged I switched to "MPEG4 high bandwidth stream".
At the rate the conversion was going I estimated that it would
take almost an hour to finish. My TV would probably start to
suffer a little screen burn by that time, so I switched back to
watching regular cable TV. I checked the temporary file and found
that the conversion seemed to still be progressing so I thought I
would just wait for it to stop growing and then try to watch the
video. However, after about 5 minutes the server just gives up on
converting the video and deletes the temporary file.

For my second attempt, I started the conversion and kept trying
to play the video every 5 minutes or less. I noticed that the
temporary file continued to grow, so I kept doing it. After about
half an hour I missed pressing the play button once and the
conversion was canceled. Although I wasn't able to actually
see the video play, I think it would have if I had been tenacious
enough.


Using the "Playstation 3" server and trying to view media on my
Playstation 3.
  "Convert unsupported formats" and "MPEG4 low bandwidth stream".
  Advanced options "DLNA" and "Playstation 3 compatible".
When I try to watch my test video the server displays the message
"The server is preparing this file. Please try again in a few
minutes."
Essentially the same problem. The video starts to be converted,
but takes longer than 5 minutes to complete. The server gives up
and deletes all of the temporary files so I'll never see the
video.

Using the "Generic DLNA" server and trying to view media on my
Playstation 3.
  "Convert unsupported formats" and "MPEG4 low bandwidth stream".
  Advanced options "DLNA" and "DLNAExtra".
I observed the same behavior.


In order for the transcoding feature to be useful for videos I
think Media Centre has to either keep the transcoded videos
around so they can be played at a later time without having to
wait, or be able to play the video while it is being converted.
I'm guessing the second option is not possible because there is
no way to tell how long it will take to finish the conversion
process.