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[stricko]

Hi guys, I've a couple of HTPC clients hanging off a server, all 3 running MC19 under W7 with a common library. Under most circumstance this all works flawlessly and I'm really happy with MC19 as a tool.

But, I can't seem to find a way to make the setup truly family friendly, and behave the way I'd expect. The HTPCs are setup just to run MC19 only from the remote, and I use standard W7 sleep / wake commands. But this gives some issues.

1. If both the server and the client have gone into standby, waking the client does not wake the server. As you wouldn't normally be able to start MC19 if the server/library was not available MC19 get a bit clunky and unpredictable at this point, and ultimately seems to hang. I've sort of gotten around this using Powertrigger, but I'm not sure how reliable or supported this is.

2. If the server is on-line, waking the client works fine, BUT, the library is now out of sync. Any files which have been automatically added to the library on the server are not visible on the clients. To get round this (using only the remote!) I have to restart the client HTPC, not very family friendly.

Maybe I'm missing something somewhere. Any ideas / help would be much appreciated

On a more general note, whilst I love all of the newer MC19 stuff, my primary interest is in just getting the HTPCs to run smoothly. I might be wrong, but I get the impression that Theater View doesn't get much attention, or maybe it's seen as an area that is pretty much complete. Just a thought, but might Theater View deserve it's own sub-forum, as has been done for networks.

 

[glynor]

I think Theater View is pretty complex code (Direct3D always is) and they're down a guy.

[glynor]

I think some users do have Server-Side sleep and waking working well, so it could be something with WOL on your network.

But, I really don't know for sure.  WOL is a PITA and my system gets used enough (for a variety of tasks at all hours) to make it somewhat pointless, so my server doesn't sleep.

So I can't comment intelligently on that, unfortunately.

You might try searching for WOL and similar terms on the forum though.  I've seen lots of noise on it in the past.

[Hendrik]

As far as I can see, at the moment MC will only try to wake the server on initial connect - not when it just vanished during normal operation (which "standby" counts as, i guess)
If you restart MC on your client in this case, does it then wake up the server?

If it does, maybe we can extend this and make it issue a wake request when returning from sleep itself.

Regarding the sync, do you have "Options -> Media Network -> Client Options -> Auto sync with server" checked?

[Micromecca]

2. If the server is on-line, waking the client works fine, BUT, the library is now out of sync. Any files which have been automatically added to the library on the server are not visible on the clients. To get round this (using only the remote!) I have to restart the client HTPC, not very family friendly.
 

I have encountered this issue too after waking (Hendrik, I think you are correct and it will only wake the server when the client is initially launched) I got around it by adding the Sync with Library Server Core Command (20032) to Theater view.



You could even add it as a wake event to Windows Task Scheduler  

[stricko]

to confirm, autosync is set on. wol is working fine on the server, i can send a command manually from the client htpc,

 i'll add the suggested command and a call to wake on lan. didnt know theatre  view could do stuff like that.

ill have to see if its something that gets copied in from the library, or whether it has to sit only on the client.

[stricko]

Getting there. first had to enable authentication on the server ?

then working out how to get an external program to nest in theatre view was interesting .... but done

and then found that the new menu items have to be created on the server, as they are copied into the client as part of the library. mixed blessings this. i can see the argument for centralized management but it means that every localization has to be built into a single structure . swings vs roundabouts

[glynor]

You could even add it as a wake event to Windows Task Scheduler  

If these are dedicated HTPCs, I'd consider doing this.

The Windows Task Scheduler can run things when the machine wakes, I believe.  You might have to add a delay (because the network might take a second or five to come up.

[stricko]

As above, I'm already sort of doing this, using a utility called Power Triggers. I suspect it is using the Power-Troubleshooter event, which is also described in various posts elsewhere. The more general point I was trying to make is that the lack of such functionality might suggest that Theatre View seems to be relatively low on the priority scale for MC19. Not saying that this is wrong, maybe just the way it is.

[Hendrik]

The waking and syncing has nothing to do with Theater View, really.
Ideally MC should schedule a sync after waking up from standby, and at the same time, if the server is not available, try a WOL command.

I'll see how complicated this would be to get into MC.

[pahunt]

I have encountered this issue too after waking (Hendrik, I think you are correct and it will only wake the server when the client is initially launched) I got around it by adding the Sync with Library Server Core Command (20032) to Theater view.



You could even add it as a wake event to Windows Task Scheduler  

Thanks for this, I've thought about this being useful for a while now but have never got around to looking into whether it was possible or not.

[stricko]

Many thanks Hendrik

[glynor]

The waking and syncing has nothing to do with Theater View, really.
Ideally MC should schedule a sync after waking up from standby, and at the same time, if the server is not available, try a WOL command.

I'll see how complicated this would be to get into MC.

Agreed.  I was just trying to help in the interim.

[Hendrik]

Looks like MC already tries to sync after waking up, however in my tests it always failed - presumably because the network isn't up and running yet.
But that should be possible to be fixed, I hope.

[Micromecca]

The Windows Task Scheduler can run things when the machine wakes, I believe.  You might have to add a delay (because the network might take a second or five to come up.

It can indeed, just use Microsoft-Windows-Power-Troubleshooter, Event ID:1 as the trigger for the event.

[Micromecca]

Looks like MC already tries to sync after waking up, however in my tests it always failed - presumably because the network isn't up and running yet.
But that should be possible to be fixed, I hope.

Thanks Hendrik, it will make things a lot easier if its working internally.

[Hendrik]

In an upcoming build:
Changed: MC allows for network connectivity to restore before attempting to sync to a library server after returning from standby.

I'm still working out how to possibly poke Wake-On-LAN at the same time, but its turning out more complicated than expected at first (especially because I have no WOL setup here right now)