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[RickLang]

With a Logitech Transporter in my main system, I previously had MC18 set up with Logitech Media Server and WhiteBear, with all three apps on a desktop machine. The audio files were on a Synology NAS. So far my only use for the MC has been to deliver audio files to a single audio system.

Without going into details, my setup had stability and device discovery issues, and they seem to have compounded now that I have MC19 installed. I've also had problems at times getting into the NAS at all, with the NAS complaining about too many connections from a single source.

With objective of simplifying, I've moved all my audio files to the desktop machine, and I'm planning to uninstall LMS, MC, and WB. I did some things wrong in my initial MC 18 setup about a year ago, and I attribute that to my getting duplicate listings of many audio files in all folders that go back to my initial setup, as opposed to albums I've introduced more recently. I'd like your comment on my reinstall plan. Here are the steps I think I need after the 3-app uninstall.

1. Reinstall LMS, disable the DLNA plugin, and scan an empty folder, not the folder with my media files.
2. Reinstall WB.
3. Install MC19 and do the library scan from there.

That sound right? Anything I'm missing? Any problems you foresee?
Thanks,
Rick

[MrC]

Let LMS scan the library.  When LMS and MC share the same paths, Whitebear will send a URL to LMS, which will then just play the file directly instead of streaming it.

[RickLang]

Thanks, MrC, for your quick response. I have to ask whether allowing LMS "play the file directly instead of streaming it" remove the benefits of MC playback? Perhaps my confusion is that I'm unclear on the difference between playing and streaming.

Also, let me point you back to an exchange you and Vagskal had on April 4 last year in regard to this point - whether LMS needed to scan or not. I didn't understand your exchange, but since I'd already done a scan with LMS, I just left it. Maybe I should ask directly this time, which is preferable - scan with LMS or with MC?
Thanks,
Rick

[MrC]

Streaming means that MC will send the bytes from the file to LMS (or Whitebear, which may act as a proxy).

What you probably want, given that you have a Transporter, is to ask the Transporter itself and LMS to play the file itself.  This is something that, when using Whitebear, MC as a controller can do.  You initiate the playback via MC to your Transporter zone, Whitebear intercedes, and instead of sending the file bytes, Whitebear asks LMS to playback the actual file itself.  Thereafter during playback, MC and Whitebear are out of the loop.  This setup works when Whitebear, LMS and MC are all sharing the same files on the same system (the files could be on a file server).

[RickLang]

OK. That answers my major question. I'm left with one thing that's plagued me since my first setup - how do I get rid of the duplicates that show up when I select an album or artist, duplicates that don't exist in the actual files? My Playing Now list include both Transporter (by Whitebear) and LMS (by Whitebear). Could it be that those duplicate resulted from multiple scans of the same collection?

[MrC]

The Transporter (by Whitebear) would be the Transporter's zone.  This is the zone you'll select for playback, or Send To for playback.

The LMS (by Whitebear) under Playing from Main Library is how MC shows remote DLNA servers.  It is a remote library you could select, but you don't need to.  Ignore this, and you can even right-click it and Hide.

You're going to use MC's Main Library, which catalogs your files.  You will use these for playback, tagging, etc.  After you've made any tagging changes, have LMS also rescan the library (a fast scan, looking for new files and changes; you rarely have to do a full rescan).