Topic: Handheld Testing -- Help Us Out (Read 4600 times)

Matt · « **on:** March 19, 2004, 04:53:28 pm »

We've recently done a lot of work on our WMDM handheld player support. WMDM is a Microsoft system for talking to handheld players. Newer Creative, Nomad, and other players can work with it.

We think our WMDM support is pretty good, but we'd like to get some more people testing it so we can get some second opinions.

You can enable WMDM support from Options > Devices in Media Center 10.0.95. Then, go about your handheld business and let us know if you have any problems.

Thanks for any help.

SteveG · « **Reply #1 on:** March 19, 2004, 05:05:46 pm »

FYI,

Ipod users, do not enable this option. The sky doesn't fall if you do, but your iPod will interact with MC merely as a removable drive and files you transfer will not be playable. A little like superman + kryptonite.

Everyone else, interacting with your player via WMDM vs a Plugin (i.e Nomad Jukebox) tends to not be as robust, but should work and any additional testing of this you can do for us would be great.

Thanks,

Steve

pipsqueak · « **Reply #2 on:** March 19, 2004, 05:44:19 pm »

i use the nike philips 128mb psa player, ive never used WDWM and never had any problems - is there any reason that i should enable it?

thanks

Matt · « **Reply #3 on:** March 19, 2004, 07:07:24 pm »

If you feel like helping, give it a whirl, and let us know if you hit any speedbumps.

pipsqueak · « **Reply #4 on:** March 19, 2004, 07:24:13 pm »

no problem - will do

nivw · « **Reply #5 on:** March 20, 2004, 12:27:43 am »

did you get Rio's SDK?

Niv

groovedaddy · « **Reply #6 on:** March 20, 2004, 09:57:29 am »

I'm all for helping out in the testing of handhelds. I have a Karma 20 and MC9.1 and really want to get these two working together. Right now, they bicker, but don't want to cooperate too much, even with WMDM activated.

I know you'd prefer testing on V10. I was thinking of waiting until V10 came out of beta (which looks like it will now happen in a matter of days). This question is probably not on the same thread, but should I go ahead and download the beta or wait until 3/26 to upgrade/purchase?

I enthusiastically appreciate the offer to improve MC's handling of the Karma (and other handhelds for that matter). The Rio Music Manager tied to the Karma is the tool of the devil

Cheers,
GDaddy

mkutsen · « **Reply #7 on:** March 20, 2004, 10:39:57 am »

I am using the iRiver 390, and experiencing the following problems:

1) When I select more files than will fit onto the protalbe MC shows negative space available instead of notifying me that there is not enough space.

2) When transferring large files ~50megs or many files, I get an error mesage stating that the server is busy.

3) The list of files on the portable is much more informative (includes all the tag info) when selecting the portable from under My Computer in the tree, then when choosing "show list" from the action window.

bebop · « **Reply #8 on:** March 20, 2004, 11:28:44 am »

Hey, Matt, glad to help out..enabled the wmdm, and tried to plug in the Nomad (Zen, USB 2, 60 gig) and it locked my system up tighter than a drum!! So, uninstalled the nomad plug in and tried again...still froze, but this time couldn't even get the task manager to show up.

Microsoft Windows XP Workstation 5.1 Service Pack 1 (Build 2600)
Intel Pentium 4 2485 MHz MMX / Memory: Total - 1048 MB, Free - 775 MB

Internet Explorer: 6.0.2800.1106 / ComCtl32.dll: 5.82 (xpsp1.020828-1920) / Shlwapi.dll: 6.00.2800.1400 / Shell32.dll: 6.00.2800.1233 (xpsp2.030604-1804) / wnaspi32.dll: N/A
Ripping / Drive F: Mode:Normal Type:Auto Speed:Max
Drive G: SONY CD-RW CRX230E Mode:Normal Type:Auto Speed:Max
Digital playback: Yes / Use YADB: Yes / Get cover art: Yes / Calc replay gain: Yes / Copy volume: 32767
Eject after ripping: Yes / Play sound after ripping: Yes Soundfile: C:\WINDOWS\Media\tada.wav

Burning / Drive F: ATAPI DVD DUAL 8X4X12 Addr: 3:0:0 Speed:24 MaxSpeed:24 BurnProof:Yes
Drive G: SONY CD-RW CRX230E Addr: 3:1:0 Speed:52 MaxSpeed:52 BurnProof:Yes
Test mode: No / Eject after writing: Yes / Direct decoding: Yes / Write CD-Text: No
Use playback settings: No / Normalization: None

bebop · « **Reply #9 on:** March 20, 2004, 11:34:02 am »

So, tried once again after reboot...and this time no lockup, but get msg that the Zen isn't recognized, and it doesn't show on the tree, either. Not as a drive or a device. the Zen does display it's "working" screen, but nothings happening. B

SteveG · « **Reply #10 on:** March 20, 2004, 03:19:46 pm »

Niv,

We have something that might work, but have not made a plugin yet.

mkutsen,

I responded in the main thread.

bebop,

Almost certainly a driver issue. Had you been using Zen and MC previously? Can you access the Zen with WMP?

DWAnderson · « **Reply #11 on:** March 20, 2004, 04:08:37 pm »

MC won't copy photos to a Compact Flash card.

Here are some specifics: I have a 128MB CF card which is inserted into a card reader attached to my PC. It is a multicard reader so four drives show up in explorer. But only the drive with a card in it shows up in MC (at least when Enable Support for WMDM Devices is UNchecked-- when it's checked all four drives show up).

I can copy music files to the CF card just fine-- either by dragging them to the Handheld Player window or to Drive N under Drives and Devices in the main tree. Under both methods, dragging files adds them to a list, which I can transfer by hitting the Transfer button.

I have tried using the same procedure to transfer photos as well. Everything works until I hit the Transfer button. It asks me if I want to tranfer 3 files; I click yes. The queue of files is cleared, but nothing is transferred and no explanation is given.

Therefore several questions/comments:

1. Does MC not support transferring files other than audio files? If it is not supported, MC should say so and not let me queue files to be transfered.

2. If this is not supported, I woud strongly urge you to support these types of transfers. I use them for moving photos to a CF card to take to a drug store to print, but as multimedia players become more prevalent, I'm sure people will want to transfer multiple types of media to them.

3. If this is not supported, does this mean that copying non-audio files in the drives and devices tree isn't allowed either? This would be strange behavior.

4. Have I missed changing a simple setting in MC that will allow this to work?

5. Why do drives without card media inserted show up when Enable Support for WMDM Devices is checked?

Thanks in advance for your help.

Doug

bebop · « **Reply #12 on:** March 20, 2004, 04:46:06 pm »

Nope, won't access it at all. In fact, it kicked it out so hard that I had to re-install MC! This had been working before trying the WMDM. It was after I checked the WMDM box that it wouldn't recognize the Zen at all and locked up. so here's what I tried: I uninstalled the MC plugin for the Zen, made sure the WMDM box was checked and tried again, and still wouldn't recognize it but system no longer locked up. Then tried again with this config : unchecked the WMDM box and reinstalled the plug in, and tried to get it to see the Zen. Nada. Kept getting a message that the device whas unrecognized. Quit program, started over and same message. Finally I uninstalled MC rebooted, tried again... this time making sure that the Zen plug in was installed ...now saw the Nomad, but had trouble getting it to initialize.

SteveG · « **Reply #13 on:** March 20, 2004, 05:01:30 pm »

Doug,

non audio is not currently implemented. We will revisit this next week.

bebop,

Do you have WMP installed? If so, does it recognize the Zen?

bebop · « **Reply #14 on:** March 20, 2004, 06:29:43 pm »

Have WMP 9 installed..and it sees the Zen, but hangs.... and then I remembered why I hated WMP so much!!!! It has a habit of being rather finickey...sometimes it works, other times it hangs and hangs when I tried to do anything with the Zen. Will keep trying, though...maybe it will finally let me transfer a song or two....

SteveG · « **Reply #15 on:** March 21, 2004, 03:49:10 pm »

bebop,

The way WMP and MC with WMDM enabled behave should be the same. If they are both behaving badly, then it is a driver issue or an issue with how Creative implemented WMDM support. In that case, go back to using the plugin.

Steve

bebop · « **Reply #16 on:** March 21, 2004, 04:57:12 pm »

Thanks, Steve, the plug in is great, and as for the WMDM, I wish you good luck, Would like to play with this for a while longer, but will be gone for the next three to four weeks, Looking forward to seeing MC 10 being released.

groovedaddy · « **Reply #17 on:** March 27, 2004, 10:09:45 am »

Just installed Media Center 10.0.100 and went to see how it liked the handheld upload process for the Karma. I did a small test run of about 29 files and got about 85% of the way through until it hit a particular tune and I got a "transfer failed" error message. Wierd thing is that it showed that 100% of the song transferred. I hit OK and the upload process stopped (which is a huge improvement over MC9.1 where it would basically crash the whole program). When I went to check out the content of the Karma, the tune wasn't found.

Does that help? Any other info I can provide?

GDaddy

For what it's worth...
Media Center 10.0.100 -- C:\Program Files\J River\Media Jukebox\

Microsoft Windows Me
Intel Pentium III 996 MHz MMX / Memory: Total - 523 MB, Free - 282 MB
Resource Info: System - 56 %, GDI - 79 %, User - 56 %

Internet Explorer: 6.0.2800.1106 / ComCtl32.dll: 5.81 / Shlwapi.dll: 6.00.2800.1400 / Shell32.dll: 5.50.4134.100 / wnaspi32.dll: 2, 0, 0, 0 , ASPI for WIN32 DLL, Copyright © Adaptec 1995 / Aspi32.sys: N/A

Ripping / Drive E: Mode:Normal Type:Auto Speed:Max
Drive F: Mode:Normal Type:Auto Speed:Max
Digital playback: Yes / Use YADB: Yes / Get cover art: Yes / Calc replay gain: Yes / Copy volume: 32767
Eject after ripping: No / Play sound after ripping: Yes Soundfile: C:\WINDOWS\MEDIA\Sounds\hillbillies - wheedoggy.wav

Burning / Drive F: LG CD-RW CED-8080B Addr: 1:1:0 Speed:8 MaxSpeed:8 BurnProof:No
Test mode: No / Eject after writing: Yes / Direct decoding: No / Write CD-Text: Yes
Use playback settings: Yes / Normalization: None

SteveG · « **Reply #18 on:** March 28, 2004, 09:22:47 am »

GDaddy,

That file appears to be failing for some possibly legitimate reason. Can you transfer it with another application?

Steve

pipsqueak · « **Reply #19 on:** March 28, 2004, 12:54:22 pm »

matt

i tried using the wmdm check box and it made things worse. like i said i use the nike philips 128mb which works fine without the box enabled. with it checked it keeps saying failed to transfer files then stops the transfer process.

just thought you would like to know

pip

groovedaddy · « **Reply #20 on:** March 28, 2004, 03:37:36 pm »

Quote

That file appears to be failing for some possibly legitimate reason. Can you transfer it with another application?

Steve, you may be right. I just tried to push it over using Rio Music Manager and the same thing occurred. Got most of the way through and then failed. Any programs out there that might let me analyze whether the file has corrupted tags? Its in WMA.

But, on the plus side, 10.100 is far and away better at transferring music to the Karma than 9.1. Still, I pine for a dedicated plug-in.

I do appreciate all of your help. Keep it up

bigfoot42 · « **Reply #21 on:** March 28, 2004, 04:19:11 pm »

I tried out WMDM in 10.0.100 with the Rio S30. The device is not recognized unless it was connected when MC started. The external memory slot is not visible. The Format option always fails. I can drag and drop to the internal memory but free space from deleting files is not available until MC restarts.

Thanks,
Jack

JimH · « **Reply #22 on:** March 28, 2004, 06:31:24 pm »

There is an option for "WMDM" in the plug-in setup. Did you try that?

bigfoot42 · « **Reply #23 on:** March 28, 2004, 07:54:28 pm »

I am not sure where you mean. I enabled WMDM for Handheld Devices under Options / Devices. I don't see anything in the plug-in setup and I was told the old plugin 9.0.06 was incompatible with MC10.

Jack

SteveG · « **Reply #24 on:** March 29, 2004, 09:20:40 am »

bigfoot42 and pipsqueak,

If you try accessing your Rio with WMP do you get similar results?

Steve

bigfoot42 · « **Reply #25 on:** March 29, 2004, 08:00:27 pm »

Never mind. WMP had some of the same problems, but updating the USB driver seems to have fixed them...

Jack

pipsqueak · « **Reply #26 on:** March 29, 2004, 08:16:39 pm »

SteveG

results for nike philips 128mb with WMP:

i just tried using WMP to load files onto the device. no chance, as soon as i press copy, it says an error occured in a few of the tracks, then gets hung on one, then crashes the program.

before mc i used to use windows explorer and copy the files over like an external drive - that 'usually' worked fine. Now am happy with MC without WMDM box checked - just thought you'd appreciate the feedback

pip

SteveG · « **Reply #27 on:** March 30, 2004, 09:10:24 am »

pip and Jack,

Thanks for the feedback. One of the frustrating things with portables is that with all the variables of players and drivers it is sometimes difficult to isolate what is causing the problem. Thanks for the updates.

Steve

wickamo · « **Reply #28 on:** March 30, 2004, 10:29:46 pm »

This is not WMDM - related but a generic handheld issue.
The help docs state that you can re-order the file list after you click show files in the action window.

DOCUMENTATION QUOTE
"Transfer Files to your Player .... [stuff deleted]

When 'Show list' is selected, the content pane on the right displays the files waiting to be transferred to your device. You can delete files from the queue, re-order them (by dragging them into their new position), or add more files.

The dragging part doesn't work. I can re-order by clicking on the view tabs, but this doesn't give the order I need.

My handheld is an iRock Model 830 (128MB). Not bad for how cheap it was. I can transfer files fine, I just don't get them in the right order.
-Jeff

SteveG · « **Reply #29 on:** March 31, 2004, 10:24:39 am »

Jeff,

I am assuming you are accessing your iRock either as a removable drive letter under Drives and Devices, or as a WMDM device. Either way, there is a right click option on the device for "Show queued files only'. When you click on this, and view the portable, you will only see the queued files and then you will be able to drag and drop to reorder them. This was not working correctly. It is fixed in tonight's build.

FYI, if you are drag and dropping the files on the player, the order they are sent, is the order they are dropped on the player unless otherwise modified.

Steve

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Author Topic: Handheld Testing -- Help Us Out (Read 4600 times)