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[glynor]

DMRA is a handy tool Andrew wrote that can analyze DLNA Renderers:
http://www.whitebear.ch/dmra

[glynor]

I can say that 10.10.3 improves network reliability on OSX dramatically, so if you haven't updated the Mini yet, it might be worth trying it.

I see you did update it.  Bummer.

I think trying out Andrew's DMRA with it connected to your device on the windows machine might be revealing.  I'd also still like to try to confirm that the problem is actually with your DLNA device (it could be some other conflict making it crash, certainly).

My test with the simplest analog out would be a good way to do that. Just hook up some junky laptop speakers or headphones or something to it and run it playing for a good long while to see.  Power the Bel Canto thing off entirely on your network. That would tell us one way or the other if it has something to do with the DLNA device.  If it still happens, we can look at other potential causes (the NAS, etc), but if it goes away entirely, then we have a culprit.

[tuneup]

Glynor, PC version of MC has been running well for 9 hours. I've stopped playing music to leave it on with no music overnight. I am praying that it is still running in the morning.

When I said I connected Mini to line in on Sonos player, the Sonos was just acting as a powered speaker. As I said before, MC 20 crashed in 15 minutes. I know it is a network device, so I will try to devise a simple amp/speaker combo tomorrow as I don't have an active speaker here. Render was still turned on though, but its LED was red, indicating that it wasn't playing music, but it might still have been communicating on the network. Next time I test Mini I will disconnect renderer from network and turn it off completely. I have installations Friday, Saturday, Monday and Tuesday and I'm sound engineering a concert all day Sunday so I may not get to this until next week. I am more keen to know if PC is stable for several days than to keep troubleshooting Mac.

I also think the client would find it easier to have a PC laptop when it comes to ripping new CDs into the system or rebooting the computer now and then to clear out junk. My original plan was to sell him a Mini plus Apple Superdrive for CD ripping and to control it with Rowmote on his iPad. But I don't find Rowmote nearly as easy to use as an actual keyboard and mouse. For the $580 cost of the Mini and Superdrive, I hope to find a small PC laptop with some SSD for best operation of MC 20. If you have any favorite models in that price range, please let me know.

By the way, is it an expensive deal for JRiver to get "authorized" (I believe that was their term.) so they and you can communicate directly about problems like the one I am having? I am pretty helpless stuck in the middle and have so far wasted weeks of time (including before the date this thread began) and my client is naturally beginning to run out of patience. I would gladly pay $10 more for MC20, as I am sure would thousands of other Mac users, to know that there was a solid line of communication between Apple and JRiver.

Thank you Andrew! I will run DMRA tomorrow. I assume you want to see what's going on both when renderer is playing music and when it is quiescent, yes? (Since MC 20 has crashed under both circumstances.)

[glynor]

When I said I connected Mini to line in on Sonos player, the Sonos was just acting as a powered speaker. As I said before, MC 20 crashed in 15 minutes. I know it is a network device, so I will try to devise a simple amp/speaker combo tomorrow as I don't have an active speaker here. Render was still turned on though, but its LED was red, indicating that it wasn't playing music, but it might still have been communicating on the network. Next time I test Mini I will disconnect renderer from network and turn it off completely.

Ok.  I thought that was the deal with the Sonos, but I wasn't 100% sure.  That's a decent test then, but I would disconnect the Bel Canto thing for a good, solid "we know it isn't that" test.

I would gladly pay $10 more for MC20, as I am sure would thousands of other Mac users, to know that there was a solid line of communication between Apple and JRiver.

If only money could buy that kind of access from Apple.

It can, but not $10 from "thousands" of users. 

[tuneup]

Andrew I have installed DMRA and have turned on HTTP logging. I am now playing music on the renderer and MC 20 did not crash on PC overnight. Let  me know how long you want playing to go on and if you want to log some minutes of non-playing afterwards before I save and post the log.

Glynor, I notice that a number of your recent posts on my thread don't show up when I first view the forum, but only after I click Reply they show up below in the Topic Summary. After I finish the DMRA logging, I will try the Sonos (or equivalent) test with Bel Canto turned off & disconnected.

[blgentry]

Two things come to mind:

As Glynor has outlined, 10.10 has problems; just like I said above.  If I were keeping this mac mini, I'd be inclined to clean install (erase the hard drive first) either 10.10 or 10.9.  I'd opt for 10.9 as it's known to be more stable than 10.10.  

But if you're just looking for a stable platform for JRiver MC that's small, why not get JRiver's own hardware device, the Id?  I don't have personal experience with it, but it would seem to be exactly what you are looking for.  Assuming it works as advertised.

Brian.

[tuneup]

I can't figure out how to save the DMRA HTTP log. I closed and opened the program to hopefully get an end point for the log. I clicked on Load Previous Report and Save, created a folder to save it to and named the report, but when I finished the saving process, there was nothing in the folder. So I don't know if the log was made or if I saved it incorrectly.

Also, whereas MC 20 ran in auto-repeat for 9 hours yesterday, today it stops at the end of each CD file. The only difference is my installing DMRA and enabling HTTP logging. I am going to close the program and try auto-repeat again.

[tuneup]

Brian, I will check out the Id. Thanks.

I just spotted the P. 2 button and now see all the recent posts I didn't see before.

[tuneup]

Ran DMRA again, turned on HTTP logging and then tried emailing and saving both Load Previous Report and HTTP logging. This time files showed up, but all had zero bits. As a newbie, what is driving me a little bit nuts is the lack of manuals for MC and I assume for DMRA.

I rebooted MC with DMRA off and was able to get repeat mode to work again. It's possible that rebooting it while DMRA is running might also work. I will try that at some point.

[glynor]

Ran DMRA again, turned on HTTP logging and then tried emailing and saving both Load Previous Report and HTTP logging. This time files showed up, but all had zero bits. As a newbie, what is driving me a little bit nuts is the lack of manuals for MC and I assume for DMRA.

I rebooted MC with DMRA off and was able to get repeat mode to work again. It's possible that rebooting it while DMRA is running might also work. I will try that at some point.

Wait for Andrew to respond.  He wrote DMRA, so he can explain how to use it.  He has before, but I think the posts are in the beta board.

MC has a wiki, which while not perfect by any means, does contain a lot of good information. If you don't know how to do something, search the forums, and then ask*. Don't limit your searches to the Mac boards on the forum, as the core application is the exact same code between the Windows and Mac versions (and it has been Windows for way longer, so there's more stuff in the Windows-specific boards).

* It works best if you ask these questions in a separate thread with a decent title about the question (not just "help me!" or something like that).

[tuneup]

Thanks glynor. I have done a lot of searching, but only in Mac & Remote forums and the Wiki. I usually don't find what I want. I will try PC forum also from now on, especially as it looks like MC PC is quite stable.