Newbie Questions

[itsmike]

Hi Guys!

My directory structure is:

folder
folder.jpg
-- media
-- media.jpg
-- folder
-- folder.jpg
---- media
---- media.jpg

Twonky doesn't seem to serve the jpeg files to my sony media renders. All other upnp systems are delivering thumbnails properly.
1. Any suggestions? I've read the Samsung entry and can't seem to find any of the thumbnail directories. Besides, why do I need to transcode to jpeg when the images are already there? Is there a special directory or required location?

2. What do the "Sync" directories do?

3. Any idea where I can find the specification for the .ini file? Need to change a few parameters around.

4. Any idea where I can find the specification for the xml files? They don't seem to follow ISO conventions.

5. Are the optional upnp methods for upload implemented in twonky? Looks like they are so can I easily configure the security or disable them?

Sorry for such basic questions, but I'm new to this product.

Thanks,
itsmike

[parnott]

1. Any suggestions? I've read the Samsung entry and can't seem to find any of the thumbnail directories. Besides, why do I need to transcode to jpeg when the images are already there? Is there a special directory or required location?

The folder art files need to be named Folder.jpg not folder.jpg (as far as I recall). These files need to be trancoded for some media playes that expect certain specific aspect ratios. But not all media players will show folder/album art.

2. What do the "Sync" directories do?

Sorry don't know what you mean by "Sync" directories.

3. Any idea where I can find the specification for the .ini file? Need to change a few parameters around.

Yes a simple search would have found the sticky at the top of this forum- http://www.twonkyforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=9497

4. Any idea where I can find the specification for the xml files? They don't seem to follow ISO conventions

.
What xml files and what ISO conventions?

5. Are the optional upnp methods for upload implemented in twonky? Looks like they are so can I easily configure the security or disable them?

They are but there is little or no security. You can however disable this, but only in very recent versions.

[Twonky_Rick]

You might be able to find an answer to your sync directories question here:
http://www.twonkyforum.com/viewtopic.ph ... 003#p37568

Scroll down to the section on syncing.

- Rick

[itsmike]

Thanks for the help!

When I speak of the "folder.jpg", the name simply follows the name of the folder. Most upnp systems use the name of the jpeg file as the representation for the folder. This same convention generally holds true for the files.

The upnp content transaction does not specify how an individual application will implement thumbnail deployment. It simply supplies a signal set to specify the format and file name for the representation. The xml involved is tag heavy or I would include it here.

In my case, I've studied the server/render stream and know that the jpeg files match the display requirements for my Sony. Twonky has spent 30 hours scanning my files (not yet completed). Since I've no idea of how or where the data from the scans are being stored, I can only use a tcp dump to review the transactions between the two units. I really wasn't that interested in reviewing Twonky upnp transaction set for dina compliance. I just want my thumbnails to appear and thought that I had an error in my file system layout.

I truly appreciate the information on ini file content (sorry I missed the sticky) and sync capabilities. At this point, I have 9 media services running. I was hoping that twonky might reduce the upnp service count on my server.

Thanks for your input!

itsmike

[Twonky_Rick]

If your file scans are taking more than 30 minutes, something is wrong. It's probably getting stuck on a corrupt media file. If you go to the server status page you can see which file it's currently scanning. It's also possible that your device has run out of memory if you're using a NAS and you have a extremely large library. That's rare however.

- Rick

[itsmike]

Hi Rick,

Looks like the inotify on the directory causes a database reconstruct/rescan. I added media and sorted the directory which again caused a full rescan. Been running for over 3 hours and is only 10% through the scan (at best).

minidlna, ushare and media tomb take less than 10 minutes respectively to reconstruct their data systems after sorting the directories and contents. (They run concurrently for database reconstruction).

I was hoping directory reconstruction after new media installation would not be necessary, but new media still appear at the beginning of the container list. Sorting and scanning are required in order to get things back into the proper order.

Any suggestions are clearly appreciated.

Thanks
itsmike

[Twonky_Rick]

If you can first answer these questions, it would help me to help you.

How many media files do you have?
What type of device are you running TwonkyServer on?

- Rick

[itsmike]

3500 vob files.
500 mp4 files
10000 mp3 audio files (these are only available when reviewing photos ... with thumbnails of course ... kind of weird)
2000 photos

This media server is an AMD quad core (970 series as i recall).
16gb memory.
11.04 ubuntu (linux 2.6.38)
10tb raid 5 (1mb per block) ... about to add a second 10tb block.
1gb ethernet network

I know the block size could be bigger, but concurrent streaming to the stereo and multiple video heads on the network operates without interruption.

[Twonky_Rick]

We'll your library is not that large. We have users with one million photos. And memory isn't a problem. That makes me think the problem must be corrupted media files. Maybe the other servers are handling those better than us. Would you mind removing all of your video files and then seeing if the problem goes away? Then try video files only until you isolate the problem. You get the idea.

If you can send me one of the problem files, we might be able to fix this.

- Rick

[itsmike]

Hi Rick,

Well, I migrated source file pointers to another directory, Clearly, the mp3 and jpeg files aren't the issue. The vob files are standard ps packaging of mpeg 2 with interleaved audio. ffmpeg, mjpegtools, etc. have no issue with manipulation of these files (nor does sony vegas pro, cinelerra-cv, mplayer, xine, vlc, and two commercial editing systems. The files are fine, but twonky seems to be indexing the contents incorrectly.

When fast forwarding, the first 30 minutes work without issue. When attempting to fast forward past 30 minutes, twonky jumps to the next file in the directory.

Minidlna and ushare handle the files without issue. (even though I'm not sure about ushares' dlna compliance. The files are not being reported properly to my sony devices even though the attributes reported by ffmpeg appear to be correct in the database). They work perfectly with other devices including transcoding to high bitrate mp4 via mediatomb).

The really strange behavior occurs for the mp3 files which appear properly when the sony accesses the jpeg files and presents them for slideshow. The is the only time I'm getting thumbnails and mp3 audio files identified correctly for playback. When I select browse the "Music" folder via the twonky server, all of the directories appear, but I get "no valid media" back from the my sony Bravia DMP (Digital Media Player) .

Any other suggestions? I added a couple of files and after 30+ hours, I've still got a core dedicated to what appears to be indexing activities (100% cpu dedicated to twonk).

Thanks,
itsmike

[itsmike]

Maybe I'm going about this all wrong....

Rick, is there any way to disable the automatic index reconstruction that occurs after adding and resorting new media to the media tree. The sort is clearly by inode, which means a full sort is required in order to reconstruct the proper media order.

I've reviewed the startup and configuration parameters and have not been able to find a way to stop the database from attempting to construct what are clearly improper indexes for file operations involving visual object files.

Thanks,
itsmike

[Twonky_Rick]

I don't know of a way to disable indexing. Automatically incorporating new media is considered a benefit by most people.

- Rick

[Twonky_Rick]

Hi Rick,
When fast forwarding, the first 30 minutes work without issue. When attempting to fast forward past 30 minutes, twonky jumps to the next file in the directory.

Is this the main problem you are having?
Is this only happening with VOB files?
Can you tell me exactly how you are ripping your movies? I want to make sure you're not doing anything unusual.
Can you send me a test file which has this problem?

- Rick