N1200 Media Server and Playstation 3 DLNA issues?

[fungusrex]

Hi,

I am using my Playstation 3 wireless card to access my home LAN with PC and Thecus N1200 NAS to play back MP3 and WMA files in my multimedia room.

Accessing WMA and MP3 files on the PC (Windows Media Server) works perfect. Accessing the Mediabolc Media Server on the N1200 also works, but music files stored on it are consequently reported by the PS3 as "Unsupported Format" - even though the data are identical to the ones stored on my PC (which I am planning to move over to the N1200).

As I see it the problem seem to be DLNA incompatibility between PS3 and N1200.

Anyone out there with similar problems?

[smytus]

I have this issue just with WMA files. I have an N2100. MP3 and WMA work from WMP11, but WMA is unsupported from the Thecus.

[Thecus - Yvon]

Dear Sir,

The Media server support following formats:
MPEG RMP WPL PLS M3U ASX WAV PNG BMP AVI WMV WMA MP3 LPCM JPEG

Due to we have no the PS3 to verify for your, please try on this CyberLink_SoftDMA on PC to verify this media service with these files, this software is a media client as like PS3 for media server, following link for your reference:

http://www.cyberlink.com/multi/downl...s_111_ENU.html

Yvon.

[smytus]

That software works. And the interface is almost exactly like the PS3.

The one thing I can't find is how to get any information on the files. I can't tell whats MP3 or WMA through it. The PS3 tells you, and that is a difference you can see.

When served by WMP, WMA files show Linear PCM as the CODEC, when served from Mediabolic, there is no CODEC information. I think this is the point of failure on the PS3/Mediabolic interaction.

Is there a tool that can show what codec the server is sending? Maybe its just not one the PS3 can recognize, or maybe the format is different.

[MMC65]

After further testing of the Thecus with SoftDMA from Cyberlink (30 day trail) I was able to test the Thecus N2100 immediately after a reboot from a PC right next to it.
This is what I found so far was within seconds of the N2100 rebooting completing the Cyberlink SoftDMA from (DigitalHomeEnablerkit.zip) detected the N2100: Mediabolic Server.

Was able to get SoftDMA to show the 3 main folders then the sub-folder/catagories/genres etc went in and displayed a picture, it worked, then when back and forth thru the menu and tried to display the same picture a few seconds later ... error file was not available/accessable .. a few seconds later the N2100: Mediabolic Server was not accessable. Rebooted it again the same thing happened.
Yet the samba shares and web-shares still accessable of the same folders.

Conclusion: The Mediabolic Server was finding a folder/file name or data it did not like and crashed or shutdown the service/server this seems very UNFORGIVING it should instead skip such a file or folder and continue serving what it can i.e. some form of exception testing in its script and log these exceptions to the log file so the administrator can rename or take the required action to fix the problem rather than guess and hit and missing or 4000 plus files and folders.


Temporary resolution until THECUS can fix the SCAN script to handle/skip exceptions and log them:
1) Remove all files and folders from N2100 to Computer backup
2) Add or move 1 file or folder or sub-folder 1 at a time to N2100
3) Re-scan the folders then test
4) if test worked go back to step 2)
5) if test failed remove last moved data back to Computer /Rescan and perhaps reboot N2100 in case Mediabolic server crashed or shutdown. Check files/folders names contain no invalid characters that are invalid under linux as folder names or file names or for XML special tag characters, These may include , : [ ] ! @ % ~* ; etc check the release notes for firmware about these.
6) after a reboot test again.

I found after removing the file and rebooting the N2100 this work after 1 put 1 picture and 13 avi and 20 or so Mp3 in the various media folders and rescanning ... left the thing on overnight and tested it from the Acer AT3705-MGW which is a DLNA/ DMA player and it worked Mp3 played and avi Divx videos and the picture showed as well.

I guess now a process of elimination only 3962 files to go and then some.

NOT VERY FORGIVE THE MEDIABOLIC software or should i say DIABOLIC ... logging of scan problems would have made this easier to find rather the 5 bold patches I have from pulling my hair out.


Update 3 Sept 2007 11am

Tested some more over the weekend and have managed to get 4.8gb out 5.1gb of my MP3 collection into the MUSIC folder under Mediabolic

I have also found in addition to the special characters / \ : * ? ” < > | [ ] = + ; , I also avoided double spaces in names and ['] single quote.

Now have not to the point where I am trying to put the last few folders and it crashes the MEDIABOLIC(DIABOLIC) server not sure why.
I remove the folder I last put on there and reboot/re-scan it works.
I am now wondering if there is a limits on the amount files or directories you can have under one share folder ...does the long files cause a problem e.g. 4000 or so long names fills the XML ?
I will try tonight to add that folder again and if it crashes again will remove another folder of the same size to elmininate this theory of number of files/directories issue..
Failing this and the renamed fils I might try the USHARE if I can fine some instruction on installing it.

[MMC65]

DAY1 ================================
Tested some more over the weekend and have managed to get 4.8gb out 5.1gb of my MP3 collection into the MUSIC folder under Mediabolic

I have also found in addition to the special characters / \ : * ? ” < > | [ ] = + ; , I also avoided double spaces in names and ['] single quote using

the utility is for windows XP (freeware) called “WildRename_v2.09” and some eyeballing of the filenames and folders in my MUSIC folder as I move 1 at a tome from my PC to the N2100 Music folder and re-scanned after each one and checked refresh work after 30secs to allow re-scan time to finish.


Now have not to the point where I am trying to put the last few folders and it crashes the MEDIABOLIC(DIABOLIC) server not sure why.
I remove the folder I last put on there and reboot/re-scan it works.


I am now wondering if there is a limits on the amount files or directories you can have under one share folder ...does the long files cause a problem e.g. 4000 or so long filenames fill the XML generated my the Re-SCAN or something?



MONDAY NIGHT – THINGS TO TRY

======================
I will try tonight to add that folder again and if it crashes again will remove another folder of the same size to eliminate this theory of number of files/directories issue.. Reboot and see if it is happy with the file count... perhaps it is the file count or folder count it does not like or a combination of the two.


Failing this and the renamed files I am not sure what else to do. Most of the file names are between 20-50 characters long



Perhaps I should add a new folder MUSIC2 and split the folders between MUSIC and MUSIC2 see if that would work as currently all subfolders/files are in MUSIC maybe to much for I folder to share under MEDIABOLIC?



I have not yet converted all the CDs and DVDs I own and this currently only touches 1% or my Thecus N2100 raid 0 2x500gb(1TB).



The other thing, could be is memory have only 128MB as standard DDR memory may not be enough perhaps 256MB or 512MB would help caching the list once I get near 90% full when I could have hundreds times more files and that is without the picture albums put up on there?



7. File names and folder names should not contain more than 250 characters in their entire directory path to prevent errors occur in the file copy operations. (This should not be a problem as copies to SAMBA share worked but will check tonight as well)



ALTERNATIVE – IS IT POSSIBLE?

======================

I read in the FORUMS that USHARE module may be more stable and not so fussy as MEDIABOLIC, Thought I first want to find some instructions on installing it.
(FOUND USHARE WAS NOT SO GOOD FOR AVI SHARING more for music)
This might be the alternative AV/DLNA server as it too can be downloaded from the thecus site for N2100 modules and would want some instructions on installing/uninstalling these and naming conventions.

I backed up the data and try the reformat option after re-updating the firmware again to 2.1.06 even though it was there already and rebooted.

Then I did the raid 0 this time with 512kb strip just in case that mattered. Upon creating the raid I re-added the folders and shares for MUSIC PICTURES and VIDEO ... Then I copied the data back.



I went to find the mediabolic sever option and it was not there so I updated the firmware again from the CD/DVD for the mediacenter as per instructions this warned me it was updating it from 2.1.06 to 3.0.10 I believe but after the update and reboot the only thing different was the option was added to the menu for MEDIABOLIC but the version said it was still 2.1.06 not 3.0.10.

At this point I noticed that MEDIABOLIC already had the folders there but not showing so I removed and added them again rebooted and rescanned.



Now it was showing them in SOFTDMA with about 1200 files in ALL MUSIC.



Then I again tried to add about 1 folder VARIOUS contain 40 songs to the MUSIC share via SAMBA and re-scan the MEDIABOLIC failed/crashed again. I rebooted and it was still crashing.



So this time I removed a Different folder GUSTAFI with about the same number of songs and rebooted the N2100 again and it worked.



Note: Using wildrename 2.9 I have renamed all directories and files with any special characters even ' " and [] ; :+\/,>< $ @ = & % etc to use - or _ or ( ) which are Ok until I hit this limit of 1200 files plus in one share folder/subdirectories... I even took out double spaces from files as well.



Should I be re formatting raiding the drives after I add the Mediabolic server as 2.1.06 does not contain it and 3.0.10 (mediabolic server update) from the Thecus CD/DVD adds the option but takes no where as long to update the firmware even thou it does not change the version number it just adds the option to the menu.



DAY2 ==================================



FRIDAY NIGHT – THINGS TO LEFT to TRY

======================

Perhaps I should add a new folder MUSIC2 and split the folders between MUSIC and MUSIC2 see if that would work as currently all subfolders/files are in MUSIC maybe to much for I folder to share under MEDIABOLIC?



I have not yet converted all the CDs and DVDs I own and this currently only touches 1% or my Thecus N2100 raid 0 2x500gb(1TB).



The other thing, could be is memory have only 128MB as standard DDR memory may not be enough perhaps 256MB or 512MB would help caching the list once I get near 90% full when I could have hundreds times more files and that is without the picture albums put up on there?



Will see if I can borrow some DDR1 memory 256MB to see it makes any difference but only if the other
----------------------- Day3

I tried reformatting the raid again on the N2100 Mediabolic server and then update the added the mediabolic addition from the CD/DVD so it showed up again

Then Reboot to make sure any firmware updates where fully working.

Then re-added the Share folders and this time added a MUSIC2 share .. then started the mediabolic server and it’s shares.



Then I copied the 43 odd folders about 1200 files or so into MUSIC share and rescanned the mediabolic folder …. All was working fine.



Then I tried to add the VARIOUS to MUSIC2 share and rescanned and reboot and still kept crashing… remove a folder MUSIC 1 with about the same number of songs via SAMBA and rebooted since the mediabolic software had stopped responding. Rescanned and it was back up.

So it seems it is not folder dependant as MUSIC or MUSIC2 folders still have the problem regardless of which folder it is in (it seems to add it all together)

And the 44th folder and it’s 40 songs seem to cause it to crash the server which I am confirming with SoftDMA from Cybersoft which only have 20 days left to try it … but when it does work it does work with the 43 folders/1200 songs on both the PS3 and the Acer TV 3705-MGW with built in media gateway which can play music/pictures/videos and stream from the web.



I am not sure what else to try perhaps adding more memory?



The strange thing it does not care which folder I remove of add once it hits some kind of limit that is it SOFTDMA(PC XP) nor PS3 nor Acer TV 3705-MGW detect the server since the Mediabolic is no longer responding and requires a reboot and almost immediately crashed again until something any folder is removed to bring it under this limit ..



Is there perhaps a limit on the number of folders in the Root folder of all share folders … like the OLD DOS thing where you could not have more than 100 files or folders in the root they and to be within folders of other folders … I believe I try this too.. same thing.



Perhaps Mediabolic themselves might be able to answer what is going on under the covers or the possibilities.



Only thing left may be to try increasing RAM from 128MB standard to 256/512 or more?
_------------

DAY4 =================
got a reply back from THecus ... and hope to get a patch/firmware update in the next few working days to test... Once confirming it works I will convert all albums and photos and dvd>avi onto thecus media server to service my entire home.

Dear Sir,



Thanks for your detail description about this issue and help us found the possible root cause about this issue, we will mail a patch for your updaet in recently, and inculded with this patch in new version firmware too.
Best Regards,

Yvon Lei
Technical Support
Thecus Technology Corp.
15F, No. 79, Xin Tai Wu Rd., Sec. 1, Xi-Zhi, Taipei County, Taiwan 221, R.O.C.
TEL: +886-2-2698-1788 ext. 611

[Thecus - Yvon]

Dear All,

The patch complete already, this pacth improve the Mediabolic index database over flow issue, please mail to support@thecus.com to get the patch and try.

Yvon.

[Thecus - Yvon]

Dear All,

Sorry, post on wrong model should N2100 need the patch before V2.1.06, and V2.1.09 fix this issue and no patch need.
The N1200 have no such issue and patch to update, and tested compatible with PS3 V2.1 for PICTURE/MP3/MPEGII

Yvon.

[ultrashark]

hi guys...i have thecus n1200 and i have connected it with my ps3...but my ps3 can't find my thecus as a media server so i have to open the ps3 browser..to enter my thecus ip and to stream video from my thecus...but i have problem...i can't stream music...but i dont know why....any help appreciated

[Thecus - Yvon]

Dear Sir,

We just verify the SONY PS3 V2.30 could access to N1200 media server for JPG/MP3/MPEGII files.

Yvon.

[MMC65]

perhaps try switch of your fire wall on the PC if may be block the ports require for DLNA etc to work

perhaps thecus could advise the ports required to be excluded from the thecus N2100 IP address to create a custom exclusion rule in the firewalll on the PC.