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[Arcadian]

If I go to Start > Network in windows 8.1 I'm presented with a window of devices categorized under 'Computer', 'Media Devices', 'Network Infrastructure', 'Other Devices', 'Printers' and 'Storage'.

Under 'Media Devices' the following devices keep appearing and then disappearing every few seconds:

<My PC Name>:JRiver
<My PC Name> (Audiophile 24-bit DAC)
<My PC Name> (Generic DLNA)

Under 'Other Devices' the following keeps appearing then disappearing:

<My PC Name> (Library Server)

These devices only appear and disappear over and over if the Media Server is running. When I shut this down they are stable.

I'm thinking this isn't normal, what's causing this?

[Arcadian]

Hmmm, nobody seen this or have any suggestions? Might try a reinstall. Interestingly Dlna functionality seems unaffected. I stream fine to an Onkyo and a Pioneer. Its like the media server and media Center do battle!

[JimH]

What version of MC do you have installed?  20.0.63 is at the top of this board.

[Arcadian]

I'm running 20.0.63

[alglove]

Hi, Narayan, I notice that, as well. I chalk it up to the way that DLNA/UPnP discovery takes place. Basically, each DLNA/UPnP device sends out messages on the network that say, "hi, I am here", "is anybody out there?", or "goodbye, I am leaving". These messages are sent out every once in a while, but not constantly, so it is possible for the Windows Network list to become stale or out of sync with what is actually out there on the network. Also, there is no central location where this information is stored, so each device or computer is basically on its own, in terms of keeping track of what is out there.

Try hitting the "refresh" button in Windows Explorer. This will update the Media Device list by forcing Windows to send a new "is anybody out there?" message over the network.

[Arcadian]

Thanks but I'm pretty sure it's not that, I have refreshed quite a few times. The appearing and disappearing seems to be quite fast, every few seconds or so. It seems to be related to the Media Server as if I shut that down and just run Media Center I can stream and everything works fine but the appear / disappear of these devices stops and they are visible and stable.

[alglove]

Ah, I think I understand now. So while you are running Media Center, with Media Server running in the background, you get the rapidly appearing/disappearing media device entries in that Windows Network list. However, once you shut down the Media Server, that list becomes stable. Is this correct?

I have not played around with Media Server, but my guess is that both Media Center and Media Server are announcing themselves on the network at the same time. In that case, they really are doing battle with each other. Try this as a way to check it:

With Media Center running by itself, make note of the device names in the Windows Network list. Also, right-click each entry in that list, go to Properties, and make note of the "uuid".

Now do the same thing with Media Server running by itself. Do all the same items appear, with the same uuid's? And is this list stable?

I am not really sure how to distinguish between UPnP announcements coming from Media Center and those coming from Media Server, especially if they have the same information. But my guess is that they are both broadcasting their info at the same time.

[Arcadian]

Apologies, I made a mistake when I initially described this problem. The device icons are actually visible and stable when both Media Center and Media Server are shut down. If I start up either of them the icons then flick on and off. Reviewing the the UUID showed that it never changes regardless of what's running. However! I did notice something interesting. The IP and MAC listed in the properties for these devices was not the correct one for my LAN card in this PC. The IP matched my Oracle VirtualBox Host-Only Network adapter default IP (192.168.56.x). When I disabled this adapter the devices reverted to displaying the MAC and IP of my primary LAN adapter which is good. Unfortunately re-starting either Media Server or Media Center started the icons appearing / disappearing. So while it was strange that these DLNA/UPnP devices displayed the wrong NIC details, it didn't seem to make a difference.

[JimH]

Is it possible that you have two DHCP servers running?

[Arcadian]

I'm pretty sure I don't but the VirtualBox IP is statically assigned, as is my LAN NIC.

[alglove]

By default, the MC media network is designed to multicast using all available interfaces. So, if your computer has both a LAN card and a VirtualBox network interface, it will use both the LAN and the VirtualBox IP addresses.

Try going to Options --> Media Network --> Advanced --> "Interfaces to ignore", and see what happens if you tell it to ignore the VirtualBox interface (192.168.56.1/24).