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Author Topic: WDTV Live only "sees" MC some of the time. . .  (Read 1809 times)

mmlevin

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WDTV Live only "sees" MC some of the time. . .
« on: May 10, 2011, 07:12:30 pm »

I don't know if I'm describing this properly or if this is the correct place to post.  If it is not, I apologize in advance.

I am running a Windows 7 Ultimate (SP1) computer with MC 16 latest build.  I have tested for this over a number of builds and also with MC 15.  The problem persists for me.  When I first start MC, or if I restart the DLNA server, then my WDTV can "see" the server.  After it has been running for a while, it stops seeing it when I go to Video-->Media Servers.  Out of frustration, and in order to try and determine whether the problem is in MC or WDTV, I enabled Windows Media Player server on the same computer.  IT ALWAYS SHOWS UP, even when MC does not show up.  I've got multiple WDTVs on my network and they all seem to share this behavior, but it isn't a permanent condition.  If I keep going back and forth from Video-->Media Servers to Video and back, it will eventually "see" the MC server again.

Perhaps if I understood what has to happen for the WDTV to "see" MC I could forumulate some test to figure out what is going on??

On a second note, which may or may not be related, I previously was able to select and watch m2ts (BD) files on my WDTV using the MC server.  This seems to have changed, perhaps when I installed SP1 on the computer.  Now, when I try to play them, I get an "unsupported format" error on WDTV.  If I switch to the WMP server on the same computer and select the same BD file, it plays just fine.

Any help or suggestions as to things I should check out would be sincerely appreciated.
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csimon

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Re: WDTV Live only "sees" MC some of the time. . .
« Reply #1 on: May 11, 2011, 03:57:56 am »

1. [MC dropping out]: Have you got the latest firmware installed in the WD TV live?

2. [Unsupported format]: Have you got video conversion turned on in your MC DLNA server?
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mmlevin

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Re: WDTV Live only "sees" MC some of the time. . .
« Reply #2 on: May 11, 2011, 12:50:48 pm »

I have the latest firmware in the WDTV units, I do NOT have video conversion turned on.

What I do not understand is why the WMP server appears as a media server reliably, but MC is not always there.  I also find that when the MC server fails to show up, if I connect to the WMP server, look at some media files, exit and then look for servers again, very often the MC server shows up.

Weird. . .
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csimon

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Re: WDTV Live only "sees" MC some of the time. . .
« Reply #3 on: May 11, 2011, 12:56:21 pm »

I've not come across your exact situation before.  I do know that some releases of the WD TV Live firmware can cause unexplained "dropouts" of servers (see the WD TV forums for details), however it seems to be consistent across all types of servers and I don't think there has been a case that one particular server always drops out while all the others remain.

I have also experienced the inability to see servers and renderers, but only when using a wireless device, however this was down to my (old) router which was not passing broadcast/discovery messages over the wireless port.

I'll think a bit more about your case!
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mmlevin

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Re: WDTV Live only "sees" MC some of the time. . .
« Reply #4 on: May 15, 2011, 12:38:55 pm »

Any idea why WDTV Live won't play M2TS from MC but will play it just fine from WMP?  I figure it must be something in the setup, but I have no idea what.

Suggestion:  Since MC doesn't have a setting for WDTV, it would be useful if somebody posted the correct DLNA settings for WDTV.
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bob

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Re: WDTV Live only "sees" MC some of the time. . .
« Reply #5 on: May 23, 2011, 11:51:02 am »

Any idea why WDTV Live won't play M2TS from MC but will play it just fine from WMP?  I figure it must be something in the setup, but I have no idea what.

Suggestion:  Since MC doesn't have a setting for WDTV, it would be useful if somebody posted the correct DLNA settings for WDTV.
Try updating library from tags for the file in question and see if the compression field gets filled in for that file.
Calculating the DLNA fields for the codecs and containers for video is pretty tricky, there are a lot of differences between devices as to what is accepted.
In general my settings for WDTV are to start with Generic DLNA:
then I always turn on file logging.
turn on DLNAExtra
Change the name from Generic DLNA to something like WD

For conversion,
Audio: conversion off
Images: conversion set to the size of your TV
Video: Conversion off

If you have some special files that need conversion create a second server called WD-CONV or some such and turn on video conversion. Probably MPEG2/DVD would be best.


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