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[wayneoh]

Some background ... My laptop and my home stereo are in two different rooms. The laptop is networked wirelessly with my home stereo via an Oppo BDP-95 which is capable of acting as a standalone DAC. I use the Oppo purely for audio; it is not normally connected to a TV or to any type of display monitor (nor do I own any iOS devices).

I'm new to JRiver having just installed it today on my laptop. I was hoping I'd somehow be able to use JRiver's "Media Network" feature on the laptop to select digital audio files (stored on the laptop) to play back through my home stereo; however, I haven't been able to figure out how to accomplish this. Can it even be done? If so, how would one do it?

I've tried JRiver's WebGizmo thing, and whether I "play to this location" or "play to player" the selected audio file only plays on the laptop, not through my home stereo. Yet I know that it's possible to play digital audio files on my laptop through my stereo because I can do it if I connect a monitor to the Oppo and then use the Oppo's menu structure to select the files. Unfortunately, I have no convenient place to locate a display monitor near my stereo, hence, the problem I am trying to solve. Thanks in advance for any advice.

[csimon]

If your Oppo is a DLNA renderer then MC will be able to play music to it and control it.

There is a topic on the Wiki on DLNA and how to enable it: http://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/DLNA

Basically, turn on Media Network and enable MC as a Server and Controller.

The Oppo should then appear as a zone in the Playing Now menu on the left (restart both the Oppo and MC to make sure and give it a few seconds).  If it doesn't then either the Oppo is not a DLNA Renderer or there is something wrong with your network and/or router that is stopping UPNP broadcasts.  See if you can get that far, then report back.

I've heard the name Oppo occurring quite a lot in these forums - try a search to see if there any hints already here.

[csimon]

I can do it if I connect a monitor to the Oppo and then use the Oppo's menu structure to select the files.

When you do this, are you selecting JRiver UPNP/DLNA server on the Oppo, or have you got a network share on your PC that the Oppo is connecting to and you are therefore browsing your PC's directory structure?

If the latter, then this is simply file sharing across the network. You will not be able to push files to the Oppo from the PC in this mode, the Oppo is effectively using the PC as an external hard disk.

If the former, then you have already successfully set up JRiver as a DLNA server and the Oppo is behaving as a DLNA player, i.e. allowing you to browse the server, select items, and play them. However, this does not automatically mean that it is possible to do it in reverse, i.e. push files from JRiver to the Oppo. As I mentioned initially, the Oppo needs to be a DLNA Renderer for this to happen.  Windows calls this facility "Play To".

[wayneoh]

Thanks csimon!

I cannot get the Oppo 95 to show up in JRiver's Playing Now menu. From nosing around here and on the Web, I gather the Oppo 95 is only a DLNA player and not a DLNA renderer whereas the newer Oppo 105 presumably does both.

The following is from Oppo's specs for the 105: "Digital Media Player (DMP) and Digital Media Renderer (DMR) features enable wired or wireless access of audio, picture, and video files stored on DLNA-compatible digital media servers such as a computer or network storage device (NAS)." This statement is nowhere to be found in Oppo's specs for the 95. Rats!

[csimon]

Commiserations!

I don't know whether you'd want to consider upgrading your Oppo to a newer model for this purpose, how much that will cost etc, but there are also several small and cheap media streamer boxes that will behave as DLNA Renderers. You could post another topic here to ask around for recommendations as I don't know exactly which ones are DMRs as well as DMPs, except that I've used a WD TV Live and it works fine - although sometimes there's a delay in it reporting back the current track position to JRiver.

[wayneoh]

Just a little update … As much as I’d love to upgrade from the Oppo 95 to the 105, funds available dictate that will have to wait awhile. Bummer! But since my earlier posts I have discovered that even with the 95 I can still accomplish most of what I’m after. It turns out that some months back Oppo published a free app for Android devices (appropriately named the “Media Control” app) that allows an Android tablet to wirelessly control digital audio playback through the 95. This app when installed on an Android tablet actually works quite well to control playback through my home stereo when JRiver’s Media Network is also running on my laptop. It’s interesting to note that the Oppo Media Control app is not for the 105. I suppose Oppo concluded there wasn’t the urgency to put out such an app for the 105 since it can function as a DLNA renderer as previously mentioned.