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[Rob L]

I've been using the UPnP server functionality in MC for some time now, since it was introduced.

For a lot less of that time, I've been using it with a Philips Streamium SL400i.

I've been keeping a few versions behind MC, and am currently running 11.1.94.

I've actually not been using the MC UPnP server much though, because it seems to have got less and less reliable, and I have a couple of other UPnP servers installed that are reliable.

Obviously I'd prefer to use MC's functionality, since that's much more configurable and how I want it anyway :-)

I hadn't really paid that much attention to the fact that it was a bit unreliable, but it's now got to the point where I do think it's worth posting something, because something isn't right.


The problem is with browsing through my music collection. As I browse down the list (in this case, it's going through the list of artists under Audio\Album Artist(auto)/Album) it sometimes just fails to retrieve the children. The Streamium sits there saying "searching". However, if I scroll down to another artist, that one might work. It just seems to stick on some of them. I can't see a pattern.

That's why I'd not worried about it before - I'd just give up trying to listen to that artist and choose a different one!

The UPnP server log shows that it keeps getting repeated Browse requests. I've included an extract below.

The only reason in the extract below that it's moved onto a different artist is because I gave up waiting for it to get to the list and moved onto a different one. If I leave it on one of the artists it never gets the list for, you'll get the two Browse lines (5 then 130) repeated indefinitely.

Any ideas what might be going on?


01/06/06 08:36:31 - Browse BrowseDirectChildren 130(Audio\Album Artist (auto)/Album\Angel City)
01/06/06 08:36:31 - Browse BrowseDirectChildren 5(Audio\Album Artist (auto)/Album)
01/06/06 08:36:33 - Browse BrowseDirectChildren 130(Audio\Album Artist (auto)/Album\Angel City)
01/06/06 08:36:33 - Browse BrowseDirectChildren 5(Audio\Album Artist (auto)/Album)
01/06/06 08:36:34 - Browse BrowseDirectChildren 130(Audio\Album Artist (auto)/Album\Angel City)
01/06/06 08:36:35 - Browse BrowseDirectChildren 5(Audio\Album Artist (auto)/Album)
01/06/06 08:36:36 - Browse BrowseDirectChildren 131(Audio\Album Artist (auto)/Album\Animotion)
01/06/06 08:36:37 - Browse BrowseDirectChildren 5(Audio\Album Artist (auto)/Album)
01/06/06 08:36:38 - Browse BrowseDirectChildren 131(Audio\Album Artist (auto)/Album\Animotion)
01/06/06 08:36:39 - Browse BrowseDirectChildren 5(Audio\Album Artist (auto)/Album)
01/06/06 08:36:40 - Browse BrowseDirectChildren 5(Audio\Album Artist (auto)/Album)

[Valisystem]

FWIW, I see basically the same behavior, and have for some time, going back to 11.0. I can't find the pattern either, although it feels like I have less luck when I'm using the up/down arrows on the remote than when I'm able to jump to a specific number on the list. (Recently I haven't been able to manually enter a number larger than 99 into MC running on the Streamium, which makes that a bit harder.)

I've tried a couple of other UPNP servers and MC is so wildly better for browsing that I hadn't even thought to mention it as an issue. I just work around it - back out of the list and approach what I want a different way . . .

[Rob L]

It's better organisationally for browsing, but the performance definitely isn't better. I'm sure it's just some minor incompatibility/bug somewhere, but I don't know how we'd track it down.

To enter numbers great than 99 on the streamium, you just have to use the right cursor key on the remote. Dunno why - I didn't think you used to have to do that, but you do now.

Of course, with Philips' own UPnP server (or Twonky, I think) you can do an Alpha search in the list. That would be nice in MC too, but I'd rather just have it working reliably...

[Myron]

Rob L,

What you're seeing is a bug in the Streamium's firmware.  See these two threads:
http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=27936.0
http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=28351.0

The second thread (next to last post) has a link to the Streamium forum that talks about the bug.  Also see http://www.streamiumcafe.com/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Cat=0&Number=7103&page=&fpart=all&vc=1

I've personally found MC's UPnP server to be very reliable.  It's not the most feature rich server out there, but what is implemented is rock solid (except internet radio).  I have a SL400i and a Roku M500 and both work well with MC.

[Valisystem]

Rob describes what I've found with the Streamium SL400i, which is likely a Streamium bug - but it doesn't quite match the description in those threads. I just did a few minutes of experimenting - cut my library back to 15,000 files, reduced the number of genres, changed the audio view to remove genres from the panes. The Streamium periodically fails to retrieve the children for some item on the list, with no particular pattern. It doesn't seem to be a "17th item" bug.

FWIW, it seems a little more likely to balk when I'm scrolling with the arrow keys, a little less when I jump to a spot on a list by entering a number. (Rob - thanks for the tip on getting to the next digit by clicking the right arrow! I hadn't figured that out!)

On the whole I'm thrilled with the combination of MC and the Streamium. When this comes up, in my mind it's a minor glitch to be worked around. If memory serves, neither TwonkyVision nor Windows Media Connect permit browsing this way on the Streamium: Artist / Album / Songs, or Genre / Artist / Album / Songs. That's my minimum requirement.

[Rob L]

Myron's right though - what he's reported does correspond to what I'm seeing.

Certainly it seems to hang for the first time on the 17th entry; after that it's much less obvious to see what the issue is, but it does appear to simply be something to do with the position in the list.

I can't quite believe the thread has stayed dormant for so long on Streamium café, but I've revived it hopefully now anyway :-)

[Myron]

I can't quite believe the thread has stayed dormant for so long on Streamium café, but I've revived it hopefully now anyway :-)

Philips has pretty much abandoned the Streamium forum, so don't hold your breath.  They still seem to be updating the firmware occasionally, but there have been some new issues introduced, like the modified shuffle function.  They no longer provide release notes, so who knows what else has changed.  I haven't updated to the latest release.

I think they've moved on to the next versions of the Streamium line, so I don't expect any meaningful improvements in the firmware for the current line.  With the experienced people moved to the new products, the risk of new bugs in the updates becomes much greater.