Ok, I just tried using the DLNA server feature for the first time ever, which is hard to believe since I've been using MC and MJ for a number of years already, but I've always just kept totally different installs on separate computers and then simply tried copy any changes made between libraries by manually writing over the library files and settings. It eventually became such a PITA such as described here:
http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=61353.0So I started looking into other ways of keeping all computers synced, and ideally all reading/writing from the same library, so I never have to deal with manually keeping various libraries in sync anymore. After doing some research, it seemed DLNA server feature is the one that would work, and after following the instructions in the wiki and some patience, I actually got it to work, which was a surprise because I'm a pretty jaded person these days when it comes to what developers claim a software can do (I've been burned too many times before, where I did everything I was asked but somehow things just don't work on my end, or advertised features simply do not work as promised). I'm actually an idealist and optimist by nature, so the DLNA server working restored a little bit of my faith in developers. But there are some pretty severe problems that needs to be ironed out.
So, this is basically what I'm doing:
-I usually have two computers running (one laptop, which is my chores/internet machine, and a more powerful desktop, which is my main audio production machine), with a 3rd older desktop that I only use as a backup machine (it was built in 2003 and has trouble running HD videos at this point). Usually I only need to keep the laptop and the audio machine synced, while the backup machine is only synced periodically for backing up everything I've been working on.
-I have an external USB drive which stores my main audio library, which is 600+ GB. My other idea was to simply plug this USB drive into whichever machine needs it to run the main library, but that doesn't solve the Smartlist syncing problem. I usually have this USB drive connected to the laptop. The laptop's local hard drive also has a constant stream of new audio files I've downloaded from various sources such as musician's forums and pro audio demo tracks. I have Smartlists that deal only with the main library on the USB drive, or only with the local files on the laptop.
-I run the DLNA server from the laptop, then have MC on the audio machine access the server and now I can see the Smartlists made on the laptop, and I'm reading from the USB drive that's connected to the laptop, as well as the local files on the laptop. I can tag files, change ratings, delete files, make/change playlists, and then use the sync library function to have these changes mirrored back on the server machine. But some things can't be synced. These are what can and cannot be synced:
What Is Synced * File value changes (artists, keywords, playback statistics, etc.)
* File deletes
* File adds (server adds always go to clients, client adds go to server if the server can reach the file)
* Playlist additions
* Playlist changes
* Television recording schedule
What Is Not Synced * View customization (columns, sorting, adding / removing views)
* Playlist deletion
* Options changes (each client maintains its own options)
So how CAN I sync the stuff listed as cannot be synced? Is there another way to do it?
I also encountered a strange problem. When I play a file from a computer's own local zone, and I press stop, it would automatically play another track, and if I keep pressing stop, it'll just keeping on playing the next track, and the next, and so on. Turns out that when I play a computer's own local zone in MC, it somehow triggers the other computer to start playing the next file in its own local zone (which was accessed by the first computer). I'd have to actually stop the track from the 2nd computer in order to make it stop, or else it'll just keep going. Why is this happening and how can I fix this?
Next, is that when I run MC on the 2nd machine, and I see the server machine show up as a zone, and I play it, the Smartlists on the server machine do not show up. But if I use "search for library" feature, then the server machine shows up in the list of zones, but now with a "There:" prefix before the name of the zone, and the Smartlists do show up in this case. Why do I have to do a search for library every time in order to get the Smartlists to show up? Why can't the zone from the server machine that automatically appears below the Playing Now list without me doing a search show the Smartlists?
Then, there's also the problem of which audio engine is running. If I play the zone on the other computer with the "there:" prefix, it'll use the audio engine from that computer, but if I play the same zone but without the "there:" prefix, it uses the audio engine of the computer being operated. Why this is important is because my laptop has really severe DPC problems ever since I upgraded to Windows 7, which causes really bad clicks and pops and distortions. I have tried all kinds of troubleshooting posted on the internet and short of killing my ethernet completely, nothing worked. So this means, if I'm using another computer to play the files hosted on the laptop (including the USB drive main library), I get the crackles and pops. But another weird thing happened--after I did the "search for library" thing and played the server zone with the "there:" prefix, when I tried to play the server zone without the "there:" prefix, that zone disappeared, and I was kicked to the local zone; however, weirder still, the Smartlists that showed up from the "search library" stayed, and if I access any of those Smartlists on the server, it actually plays the server's files, but MC actually shows that it's in a local zone instead of the server zone. Also, now MC is using the local audio engine to play the server files instead of the server's audio engine. This is very confusing and I have no idea how it all works.
To sum up my questions:
1) How to get Smartlists to sync between computers?
2) Why does stopping a file playing in the local zone seems to trigger the other computer to continually play files one after another, and the only way to stop is to actually control that computer instead of pressing stop from the first computer?
3) Why does the Smartlists from the server machine not show up when I access the server machine's zone on the client machine (the server's zone automatically shows up under Playing Now, along with the local zone, once the client connects to the server)? The only way it'll show up is if I used the "search for Library Severs" feature.
4) Exactly when is the client playing the files off the server, but using its own local audio engine instead of the one on the server? And when does it use the server's audio engine instead of the local one? While the "There:" prefix seems to mean "playing the files on the other computer using the audio engine "there" instead of here, the fact that I seem to also be able to play the other computer's files using the local audio engine, but MC showing that I'm playing in the local zone, really further complicates things. When that happens, the local zone shown at the top/center of the MC GUI displays the IP of the server machine first, then the name of the local zone. So I guess that means it's playing the other computer's zone, but inside its local zone? That makes no sense.
I don't even know if the DLNA server method is the one most fitting for my needs. Is my choice of DLNA server (and my method of using it) the best solution for what I'm after? Are there other features or workflow that's even better for my needs? Ideally, all I really want is to simply have multiple computers reading off the same library, and all can read/write, add, make changes to files, playlists, Smartlists...etc. This way, I no longer have always try to manually sync all that stuff between computers, and I would only have to do a simple backup of the master library/media directories for the sake of security.
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Topic: Strange problems regarding DLNA server feature (Read 1946 times)