Twonky Forum

I have already posted my findings on Twonky Server Special 7.x and transcoding here

http://www.twonkyforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=10667

This post is going to tell you exactly how to get transcoding to work for source format to mpeg format
If your device will play mpeg format, then this will work, if not,
then I say again transcoding doesnt work like it does in 6.x

wrote: 1. Place a copy of ffmpeg in the cgi-bin folder
note: doing this negates the need for a location file for ffmpeg

C:\Program Files\Twonky\TwonkyServer\cgi-bin\ffmpeg.exe

wrote: 2. Create a text description file for any media type to mpeg in the cgi-bin folder

C:\Program Files\Twonky\TwonkyServer\cgi-bin\ffmpeg-any-mpeg.desc

exec: ffmpeg -i $infile -vcodec mpeg2video $outfile
from=video/*
to=video/mpeg
asynchronous

wrote: 3. add an entry for MPEG,mpg,video/mpeg,MPEG_PS in the transcoding.db
note: make sure to place it below the existing one for MPEG like shown below

C:\Program Files\Twonky\TwonkyServer\resources\transcoding.db

# video: DLNA mandatory
PAL,mpg,video/mpeg,MPEG_PS_PAL,720,576
NTSC,mpg,video/mpeg,MPEG_PS_NTSC,720,480
MPEG,ts,video/vnd.dlna.mpeg-tts,MPEG_TS_HD_NA_MPEG1_L2_ISO
MPEG,mpg,video/mpeg,MPEG_PS
CIF15,mp4,video/mp4,AVC_MP4_BL_CIF15_AAC_520
MP4,mp4,video/mp4,AVC_MP4_BL_CIF15_AAC_520
WMV,wmv,video/x-ms-wmv,WMVMED_BASE

wrote: 4. You shouldnt have to modify any existing device profile, but I would verify the devices settings
For Ex: The PS3 device profile says to transcode MKV and MOV to MPEG
note: MPEG is a reference to what was just defined in the transcode.db,
they had one for MPEG to .ts not but not to .mpg which was why it is was failing to transcode

C:\Program Files\Twonky\TwonkyServer\resources\devicedb\Sony\PS3.XML

<VideoTranscoding>
<Source>video/x-matroska</Source>
<Source>video/quicktime</Source>
<Target>MPEG</Target>
</VideoTranscoding>

When doing any type of transcode testing
always always always remeber to clear your cache, hence cache being cache
your results might not be accurate unless you clear the cache

This was incredibly helpful, phibertron. Kudos!

I had somehow lost the ability to fully transcode MKV files on Twonky 6 - I had been left with partial files no matter what I did - and it pissed me off to no end. So I took the drastic step of completely uninstalling and moving to Twonky 7. Little did I know that transcoding would be another disaster on this version, but of course I should have expected it. The time I spent getting MKV and FLAC transcoding to work on 6 was bad enough, but on 7 it would have been much worse if not for your steps. MKV transcoding is now working, and finally better than in 6 as well.

But, I can't get FLAC to work. I actually followed the exact same steps for MKV, but substituted the appropriate audio and FLAC designations. Unfortunately I can't get it to work like it did in 6. I get as far as it showing the filenames instead of just 'Unsupported Data' but it won't play, with the error that this file type is not supported.

Any ideas?

I had to improvise a bit by adding:

<AudioTranscoding>
<Source>audio/x-flac</Source>
<Target>WAV</Target>
</AudioTranscoding>

to the PS3.xml file, I'm not sure how correct the syntax is on that, I have nothing really to go on,

and also the line:

FLAC,flac,audio/x-flac

under '# additional audio res elements' in transcoding.db file. Not sure if where exactly this goes is a huge concern or not..?

And of course like in Twonky 6 I still have the flac-wav.desc and flac.location in the cgi-bin folder.

Just not sure what else to do to make this work.

Mark

Im pretty sure that the problem at present
is that only transcodeing to mpeg is working
and that all other attemps will fail

Im fairly confident that the addition of other media types and codec types
will be enabled in future releases

Hey phibertron.

Yeah you are probably right. It's more than a bit silly that they have taken this step backwards though. Especially given that this is a paid product, and the free PS3 Media Server does it just fine - natively even. I guess I will be using that for the time being... A bit ridiculous to have to use both.

To me they are spending too much time on their image and not focusing on making their core software the best it can be. But, I guess we will just have to wait and see what happens.

Thanks for all your time spent on getting this stuff figured out, phibertron.

I'm inclined to agree with you on that perception

I think that, they were in a pickle, and needed to possibly rewrite how the transcode stuff works with 7
I hope that this was not in vain, as it caused a disruption for the people who need it,
and further hope that it will catch up to or surpass what the abilities that some of the other media servers have.

A few of the other media servers currently do the following

1. transcoding on the fly for any supported dlna media type

2. remuxing on the fly to a supported container (would be a HUGE step forward for twonky)

this is where if the source file was for example an .MKV,
and the client didnt support that container,
but did support the video and audio codec in that container
the file would be remuxed into a container that it did support
the video and audio would be untouched and original
lossless transcode / transmuxing approach

for ex: ffmpeg -i input -vcodec copy -acodec copy ouput

You may find it kind of odd, but I avoid transcoding like the plague
I pre-transcode or pre-mux on a pc, then put that on my nas
But since Im a tweaker, I test everything, because I hate unresolved issues
So I usually bang away on things till I find a resolution, if possible
Sometimes for fun, sometimes out of need

Im glad to hear my findgings help others, your welcome =)

Hi all,
today I also tried to use Twonky 7 for transcoding my mkv files to mpeg2. I have a Sony Bravia device so I have not a big choice in case of codecs

After playing around and following your instruction from this thread I was proud of that the thumbnail function does work now with ffmpeg But if I want to stream a video this still does not work. Even at the beginning my TV was shown on the Twonky config pages but in the meanwhile I do not see it anymore. Even if I click on "refresh list"...

How can I check if twonky will adress the ffmpeg while opening a video for streaming?
Any other ideas why it does not work currently?

I have the feeling that my Sony Bravia needs some strange settings in the transcode.db which I do not know

Thanks for your help
schrecks

Ill seee if I can play around with it again some time today
dont have a bravia to test with, but I can theorize =)

But, Im thinking that we might see a new version this week, I hope
Which I hope might eleviate this issue

would be really great I will test and give you a feedback.

is it the 7.0.5-special?

The settings for transcoding are so convoluted, and it's not exactly guaranteed to work, either... it would seem phibertron has the best idea, pre-transcoding. Just when I thought all my settings were all good, Twonky has been failing to stream lately. In all fairness, PS3 media server hasn't always been working either... fact is, nothing seems to like MKV. I figure I may have to just pre-transcode all MKVs, just take that extra step right off the bat.

I just really wish everyone wouldn't standardize to a container that nothing plays well with! I know it's an efficient container, but ugh.. the issues

HI,

i'm looking for a procedure to activate transcoding on a Linux Twonky Server 7 Special....
Do you guy have any info to share?

It seems i can't find any hint

Thank you,
Nicola

Thanks phibertron, without this I would have packed it in!

@janusj
Your welcome