OK, I have been reporting problems with streaming errors (primarily with ASX files) and have found few if anybody able to reproduce the problem. So I did an extensive test as follows:
I used the following players:
Media Jukebox 8.0.399
Media Center 9.0.180
Media Center 9.1.229
Windows Media Player 9.00.00.3008
RealOne Player V2 Build 6.0.11.853
In the case of the J River products, I installed and tested them one at a time. In all cases, the player I was testing had control over all media types and the players that were not being tested had control over no media types.
Here are the system info dumps for the 3 J River players:
8.0.399:
======
Media Jukebox PLUS 8.0.399
Install Path: C:\Program Files\J River\Media Jukebox\
CPU: Intel Pentium 4 2793 MHz MMX
Memory: Total - 1048 MB, Free - 565 MB
OS: Microsoft Windows XP Workstation 5.1 Service Pack 1 (Build 2600)
Internet Explorer: 6.0.2800.1106
ComCtl32.dll: 6.00.2800.1106
Shlwapi.dll: 6.00.2800.1106
Shell32.dll: 6.00.2800.1233
wnaspi32.dll: Internal ASPI Layer
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
9.0.180:
======
Media Center Registered 9.0.180 -- C:\Program Files\J River\Media Center\
Microsoft Windows XP 5.1 Service Pack 1 (Build 2600)
Intel Pentium 4 2789 MHz MMX / Memory: Total - 1048 MB, Free - 597 MB
Internet Explorer: 6.0.2800.1106 / ComCtl32.dll: 5.82 (xpsp1.020828-1920) / Shlwapi.dll: 6.00.2800.1106 (xpsp1.020828-1920) / Shell32.dll: 6.00.2800.1233 (xpsp2.030604-1804) / wnaspi32.dll: N/A
Ripping / Drive E: Copy mode:ModeBurstBigBuffer CD Type:Auto Read speed:Max
Digital playback: Yes / Use YADB: Yes / Get cover art: No / Calc replay gain: Yes / Copy volume: 32767
Eject after ripping: No / Play sound after ripping: No
Burning / Drive E: PIONEER DVD-RW DVR-105 Addr: 1:0:0 Speed:16 MaxSpeed:16 Use MJ Engine:Yes
Test mode: No / Eject after writing: Yes / Direct decoding: Yes / Write CD-Text: No
Use playback settings: No / Normalization: None
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
9.1.229:
======
Media Center Registered 9.1.229 -- C:\Program Files\J River\Media Center\
Microsoft Windows XP Workstation 5.1 Service Pack 1 (Build 2600)
Intel Pentium 4 2768 MHz MMX / Memory: Total - 1048 MB, Free - 775 MB
Internet Explorer: 6.0.2800.1106 / ComCtl32.dll: 5.82 (xpsp1.020828-1920) / Shlwapi.dll: 6.00.2800.1106 (xpsp1.020828-1920) / Shell32.dll: 6.00.2800.1233 (xpsp2.030604-1804) / wnaspi32.dll: N/A
Ripping / Drive E: Copy mode:ModeBurstBigBuffer CD Type:Auto Read speed:Max
Digital playback: Yes / Use YADB: Yes / Get cover art: No / Calc replay gain: Yes / Copy volume: 32767
Eject after ripping: No / Play sound after ripping: No
Burning / Drive E: PIONEER DVD-RW DVR-105 Addr: 1:0:0 Speed:16 MaxSpeed:16 BurnProof:Yes
Test mode: No / Eject after writing: Yes / Direct decoding: Yes / Write CD-Text: No
Use playback settings: No / Normalization: None
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Here are the tests that I ran:
1. Play an ASX file from a web page link.
2. Play an ASX file from disk by using Open Media File option from the File menu.
3. Play an ASX file by double-clicking on it from Windows Explorer
4 - 6. Repeat above tests using a RealMedia file (.ram)
Here are the links I used for the test:
ASX format:
http://wwwhost.rbn.com/bonnevilledc/wtop/web/wtopnews.asxRealMedia format:
http://play.rbn.com/?url=bonnevilledc/wtop/demand/wtopnews.smil&proto=rtspThe actual files that these links point to are:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ASX format:
========
<ASX version = "3.0">
<ENTRY>
<TITLE>WTOP News</TITLE>
<AUTHOR>Bonneville DC Radio Group</AUTHOR>
<Copyright>2003</Copyright>
<Ref href = "
http://play.rbn.com/play.asx?url=bonnevilledc/wtop/wmdemand/prerolls/wtop_gateway.asf&proto=mms?mswmext=.asx" />
<ENTRY>
<BANNER HREF="
http://wwwhost.rbn.com/bonnevilledc/wtop/web/prerolls/wtopnetwork_image.jpg">
<ABSTRACT>Click here to visit our site!</ABSTRACT>
<MOREINFO HREF="
http://www.wtopnews.com" />
</BANNER>
</ENTRY>
</ENTRY>
<ENTRY>
<TITLE>WTOP News</TITLE>
<AUTHOR>Bonneville DC Radio Group</AUTHOR>
<Copyright>© 2003</Copyright>
<Ref href = "
http://play.rbn.com/play.asx?url=bonnevilledc/wtop/wmlive/wtoplive.asf&proto=mms&redund=2?mswmext=.asx "/>
<ENTRY>
<BANNER HREF="
http://wwwhost.rbn.com/bonnevilledc/wtop/web/prerolls/wtopnetwork_image.jpg">
<ABSTRACT>Click here to visit our site!</ABSTRACT>
<MOREINFO HREF="
http://www.starpower.net" />
</BANNER>
</ENTRY>
</ENTRY>
</ASX>
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
RealMedia format:
=============
rtsp://rx-wes-sea111.rbn.com/bonnevilledc/wtop/demand/wtopnews.smil
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
OK, the easy ones. Both Windows Media Player and RealOne player played their respective formats flawelssly in all scenerios.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Media Jukebox 8.0.399:
Test 1 - Play ASX file from link:
Received the following error message:
"Windows Media Player: Cannot Open. Please verify that the path and filename are correct and try again."
Test 2 - Select ASX file from File menu in MJ:
Plays first stream in media file which is a 3 second blurb. Doesn't play any streams after that.
Test 3 - Double-click on ASX file from Windows Explr:
Same result as in test 2.
Test 4 - Play RAM file from link:
Media Jukebox doesn't launch to handle media file, RealOne player does.
Test 5 and Test 6 - Media Jukebox plays the RAM file correctly.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Media Center 9.0.180 and MC 9.1.229:
Test 1 - Play ASX file from link:
Receive the following error message:
Directshow: The specified protocol is not supported.
Test 2 - Select ASX file from File menu in MC:
Receive the following error message:
Directshow: The specified protocol is not supported.
Test 3 - Double-click on ASX file from Windows Explr:
Receive the following error message:
Directshow: The specified protocol is not supported.
Test 4 - Play RAM file from link:
Media Center doesn't launch to handle media file, RealOne player does.
Test 5 and Test 6 - Media Center plays the RAM file correctly.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I really like this product, but my primary use for it is for streaming media. While this may be a minor annoyance for some, for me it is a major pain. I hope this information I presented here will expidite a solution to the problems I have been experiencing. Cheers!