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[Stonehenge]

I finally have my MC configured and set up the way I think I want it, for the time being.  So I was checking out other features and found out that I can use MC to stream music and tv shows to my android phone.  Great!

So, following the directions in the Wiki of how to setup the Media Server, and how to install Gizmo on my phone, I was ready to give it a try.

I have to say that I'm really impressed, but then again, I'm new to all this media center stuff, and streaming stuff...  Anyways, the thing is, I noticed that when I'm streaming a tv show to my phone, my computer's i5-2400 quad core is maxed out! It's an older cpu, but still very capable. It almost never gets maxed out, not even on the newest demanding games I run...

So, all that to say this.....  Is this normal behavior for MC when streaming to a android phone via Gizmo?  Or, which is more likely, did I miss a configuration when setting up the server that I can check to bring down my cpu usage.  It just doesn't seem like my cpu should be working that hard to stream a show.
   

[JimH]

You could try a different conversion setting.

[Stonehenge]

If you are talking about Options/Media Network/Advanced/Client Options/Video Conversion

Mine is checked to 'Original'   

So, if that is the section you are talking about, might you give me a bit more direction here?  There are only about 30 different choices to make other than 'Original', and I have no idea what any of them mean??

[~OHM~]

240 or a 480 should do the trick....PAL or NTSC depending on your phone and country of origin, sometimes matter, H264 for a high end phone. give em all a try and see what works best 4 u....your not going to break anything, keep a list .....good luck

[Stonehenge]

Thanks for the direction!  I'll give 'em all a try and see what happens.

[thecrow]

I noticed something similar a couple of years ago.
https://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php/topic,105706.msg735517.html#msg735517
As I understand it you cannot change the settings MC uses when streaming to Gizmo or JRemote.
BUT you can do if you use a DLNA client like BubbleUPnP on your Android device.

[JimH]

Gizmo has conversion settings for video.  It was added in the last year.

[thecrow]

Ohh that's exciting, where would I find them?

[Hendrik]

You can change the video quality from within Gizmo or JRemote, always could. Lower quality uses lower CPU.

[thecrow]

I see.  Sorry I misunderstood, so DLNA is still the only way to avoid conversion when streaming to Android?

[thecrow]

If you are talking about Options/Media Network/Advanced/Client Options/Video Conversion

Mine is checked to 'Original'   

So, if that is the section you are talking about, might you give me a bit more direction here?  There are only about 30 different choices to make other than 'Original', and I have no idea what any of them mean??

Those settings only affect how that instance of MC will receive streams from another copy of MC acting as a server.

The setting Jim and Hendrik are referring to are in Gizmo, using the 3 vertical dots in the top right hand corner select Options and you will see a Video quality setting there.

[Stonehenge]

@thecrow
Many thanks for clarifying that!!  Even when I set the quality within the Gizmo settings to lowest available, my cpu is still chugging along at 72-78% on all 4 cores.  That's just crazy to my way of thinking...  I mean, all that MC is doing is streaming a file from my computer to my phone, it's not having to render it or anything, my phone does that.

For example, when my phone connects to my computer via the android file manager, and I stream a video file from my computer to my phone, the cpu hardly registers any workload at all.   I get the full 720P quality on my phone, without running my computer's cpu into the ground....

I am failing to understand why JRiver is having to tax my cpu so hard, just to serve up a file....

[JimH]

It's possible something else is causing the problem.  Antivirus?

[Hendrik]

Media Center does not just serve the file, it transcodes it to a format supported by the phone. That allows you to play virtually any video, no matter how obscure a format it is or how limited your phone's capabilities are. This does come at some CPU cost.

[Stonehenge]

It's possible something else is causing the problem.  Antivirus?

No, I don't run an anti-virus.  Matter of fact, I have the built-in defender disabled also.  Never did like any of that, and I'm not a "at-risk" kind of guy....  Pretty safe in my browsing habits and all that...

[Stonehenge]

Media Center does not just serve the file, it transcodes it to a format supported by the phone. That allows you to play virtually any video, no matter how obscure a format it is or how limited your phone's capabilities are. This does come at some CPU cost.

Ah, now I'm starting to understand the cpu usage.  Thing is, my phone does not require any 'transcoding' in order to play video formats.  It will play virtually anything I throw at it. 

Having established that, is there a way for me to go into Media Centers options and disable that transcoding it does?  Or even a reg hack, or something of the kind...  It's just simply not a feature I need Media Center to do on behalf of my phone.

[tzr916]

...Thing is, my phone does not require any 'transcoding' in order to play video formats.  It will play virtually anything I throw at it...

Exactly.

...so DLNA is still the only way to avoid conversion when streaming to Android?

Yep.

With MC24 here.... these are what's (still) on my wish list:

- Fully functional MC Android App / Tv Client with Theater View.

[thecrow]

Having established that, is there a way for me to go into Media Centers options and disable that transcoding it does?  Or even a reg hack, or something of the kind...  It's just simply not a feature I need Media Center to do on behalf of my phone.

You can achieve what you want if you use a DLNA client instead of Gizmo/JRemote and adjust settings in Tools>Options>Media Network>Add or configure DLNA servers>Select your server from the list>Video>Mode:Original.

Personally I use:
BubbleUPnP combined with MX Player for video on my Android devices.
USB Audio Player PRO to playback audio locally on Android as it supports true HiRes output on my hardware.
JRemote/Gizmo as a controller to play from MC to other renders including MC clients.

I wish there was one app that did it all but haven't found it yet.

[Stonehenge]

""
Quote from: thecrow on Today at 06:37:47 am

    ...so DLNA is still the only way to avoid conversion when streaming to Android?

Yep.""

Well, not strictly true.  As I say, I can connect via SMB2 to my computer and stream direct to my phone, no problem, and no transcoding needed.  Just not using Media Center, is all, which is sort of a bummer.  I really like this program!!

[Stonehenge]

You can achieve what you want if you use a DLNA client instead of Gizmo/JRemote and adjust settings in Tools>Options>Media Network>Add or configure DLNA servers>Select your server from the list>Video>Mode:Original.

Personally I use:
BubbleUPnP combined with MX Player for video on my Android devices.
USB Audio Player PRO to playback audio locally on Android as it supports true HiRes output on my hardware.
JRemote/Gizmo as a controller to play from MC to other renders including MC clients.

I wish there was one app that did it all but haven't found it yet.

FX File Explorer will connect directly to your computer using SMB2 and let you play audio, video, and browse photos.  Have you tried that?