INTERACT FORUM

Networks and Remotes => Media Network => Topic started by: AndyCircuit on July 13, 2014, 02:48:10 pm

Title: Pushing Flac to a MC client problem
Post by: AndyCircuit on July 13, 2014, 02:48:10 pm
Scenario:
MC library Server on Win7 in a VM (Hyper-V) on Server 2008 R2
Client (on dedicated machine) with MC on Win7 (Living room)
A laptop which I use to RDP to the library server.

Whenever I pick the living room client for playback on the library server everything works fine for movies but for audio only my mp3s work.
If I try to play flac (the vast majority of my audio files) MC tries to start playback, fails, tries the next file, fails, until the "something went wrong" message appears. Pulling flacs works fine, be it by using RDP on the client, tremote or just the keyboard.

Can anybody tell me if I missed a setting, a flac limitation or the memo?
Thanks
Title: Re: Pushing Flac to a MC client problem
Post by: bob on July 17, 2014, 10:06:13 am
Are you connecting RDP to the server and PUSHING the audio to the client?
Title: Re: Pushing Flac to a MC client problem
Post by: RoderickGI on July 17, 2014, 05:36:01 pm
I'm with Bob. Shut down the RDP session on the laptop, start the MC client on the laptop,  select what you want to play and Play it Here. EDIT: Sorry, I meant play it to the living room client.

If you have the RDP  session running all the outputs on the laptop are slaved to the Server 2008 R2 outputs.
Title: Re: Pushing Flac to a MC client problem
Post by: bob on July 17, 2014, 05:56:43 pm
I'm with Bob. Shut down the RDP session on the laptop, start the MC client on the laptop,  select what you want to play and Play it Here.

If you have the RDP  session running all the outputs on the laptop are slaved to the Server 2008 R2 outputs.
Seems easier to me.
The difference is when you are pulling from the client you are using MC's mediaserver protocol.
When you push from the MC server you are using the client MC as a generic DLNA renderer. It still should work (which is why I was asking) but then the conversion parameters in the DLNA server on the MC server apply to the content being pushed.
Title: Re: Pushing Flac to a MC client problem
Post by: AndyCircuit on July 18, 2014, 02:42:27 pm
Seems easier to me.
The difference is when you are pulling from the client you are using MC's mediaserver protocol.
When you push from the MC server you are using the client MC as a generic DLNA renderer. It still should work (which is why I was asking) but then the conversion parameters in the DLNA server on the MC server apply to the content being pushed.


Thank you Bob, this was the hint I needed. My DNLA Server was set to Audio -> "specified audio format only when nessesary" -> (mp3 high bitrate), setting back to "Original" did the trick. Now flacs can be pushed.

Roderick: The library server here acts kind like a master control. With this setup I can control many clients with just one desktop, RDP is the way because said VM machine is in my basement. Nothing is redirected, only send to clients.

Bob: Still one issue. When I played an audio file and then a video afterwards the video is always in windowed mode (Theater view). Not when the first file is video, then it starts full screen. This way I have to take the (else unneeded) KB to switch to full screen. Playing around with the DLNA video settings didn't help so far. Is there a way to always start in full screen, either on the server or client?
Title: Re: Pushing Flac to a MC client problem
Post by: RoderickGI on July 18, 2014, 08:06:41 pm
Yeah sorry Andy. I misread your first post and then only partially fixed it with my edit.

However as Bob says, and shown by changing the settings fixing the issue, you are still using DLNA to push media to your living room client. It would be better if you had a solution that used the MC's MediaServer protocol.

What I was trying to suggest, which I can't test as I don't have enough PCs here running MC, is that if you ran a MC Client on the laptop and then directed the Server 2008 R2 copy of MC to send media to the Living Room MC Client, you would probably be using the MC MediaServer capabilities instead of DLNA. It may require setting up more zones if you don't have them set up already, and indeed setting up MC on the laptop, with the Server and Living room devices set up. It would work sort of like Gizmo telling a MC Server to send media to a separate MC Client.

I'll leave it to Bob to confirm if that would work.

Using the MC MediaServer capabilities may help with the windowed mode issue as well, although I thought I saw a discussion and some settings somewhere to address that. I'll leave that also to Bob.