!! - Attention Twonky: Customer Request for Assistance - !!

General discussion about the media server. Feature requests. Hints, tips and tricks.
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StingRay
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!! - Attention Twonky: Customer Request for Assistance - !!

Post by StingRay » Wed Apr 19, 2006 1:22 am

Hi,

This is my first post. I would have rather not posted, but I'm a little frustrated and would like an answer to some specific questions that I see others asking, but nobody from Twonky answering.

I paid for the TwonkyMedia full software package. I decided to go this route because there was allegedly an installer designed specifically for my Buffalo LinkStation, and I'm not an experienced Linux user.

After successfully flashing my firmware, I tried to run the Twonky installer. After reading the details that scroll by in the installer, I was pretty sure nothing happened.

Then, I spent several hours scouring the forum to find that the current version of the media server application had been renamed from "mediaserver" to "twonkymedia". Apparently, Twonky made the decision to make this undocumented change between versions. Nice that the manual instructions included in the download don't mention this!! I wonder if this is the reason the installer script chokes.

After reading another partial post by a forum member, I renamed the application and followed the manual instructions to get the media server running. Although I was happy to get it running, I was not happy I had to work so hard to get it done. Again, I bought the software assuming that the stated functionality actually functioned.

Now on to the FLAC problem. Several users have posted that FLAC is not working on 3.1. It is not working for me, and there are absolutely no instructions on how to get it working. Perhaps if the installer worked, FLAC would magically work. From my experience so far, it seems that something must be done manually. There was one post from Twonky stating that it should work, but now it doesn't. What does that mean! I've also read on the forum that some necessary FLAC files are missing from 3.1. How do I determine if files are missing. In an attempt to get FLAC working, I copied the "lame" file to the /OPT directory where the media server runs. Nothing. That was an admittedly uninformed decision, but with nothing else to go by, I didn't think it would hurt.

Now that I've expressed my frustration, here are my questions:

1. When will the installer script be fixed for the Mipsel LinkStation so it works as it should without manual intervention?

2. How, EXACTLY, are users of a Mipsel LinkStation supposed to get FLAC working in TwonkyMedia version 3.1?

I would really appreciate some sincere and concise answers to these questions (from Twonky) since they involve the main reason that I purchased this product.

I don't mean to offend anybody on the forum, so far, I don't think I've gotten what I paid for.

Thanks,

Jerry

StingRay
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Post by StingRay » Wed Apr 19, 2006 7:09 pm

Bump!!

StingRay
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Post by StingRay » Wed Apr 19, 2006 9:47 pm

I am quoting this from another thread dating back to March. If a Twonky representative could chime in here and directly answer a question or two, this forum would be much more useful to the people buying the product.

msandover wrote:


Is it possible to play FLAC files in Twonky and if so how is this done?

Twonky lists FLAC as a valid format but my setup only seems to play low bit-rate formats like WMA or MP3 and I cannot find directions as to how to make the server see/play FLAC files. I have seen statements about transcoding back down to MP3 or WAV. How is that done and wouldn't it reduce the overall sound quality to the "lowest common denominator"?

StingRay
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Post by StingRay » Thu Apr 20, 2006 12:25 pm

Do technical questions concerning problems with the product get answered on this forum??

As near as I can tell this isn't a hackers forum where you download some undocumented files and maybe get them to work, maybe not. This appears to be a support forum for a product that is sold to customers. As such, it would be nice to see some answers to technical questions.

I don't know how many of you have been to the Roku forum, but I'm very impressed with the support their engineers provide to the Roku product via their forum. I think Twonky engineers should visit the Roku forum and benchmark their customer interaction and product support.

Could we get a little help here please! I have purchased your product, and I would like to begin ripping my CD's. If this product supports FLAC, that's what I want to use, but I'm at a standstill until I can get some help with this issue. Otherwise, my choices are to either just rip high bitrate MP3's (I don't want to do that) or revert to using I-tunes as my media server (don't want to leave a computer running 24/7).

Thanks,

Jerry

blinkybill
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Post by blinkybill » Thu Apr 20, 2006 7:47 pm

Hi Jerry,

I've tested the FLAC capability of the TwonkyServer3.1 on a NSLU2 and also on my PC under WindowsXP. If a FLAC file is requested the TwonkyServer looks first for already transcoded files (wav) in his media db (subdirectory where the transcoded files are stored). If no wav file exist the server start the external FLAC decoder (must be separat installed on NSLU2) to generate the wav file. The time for this process is just acceptable on a modern, fast PC, but not on a small NAS device like the NSLU2.

So, in the moment I run a FLAC archiv on my PC and a MP3 archiv on a NSLU2(266MHz).In my opinion the NSLU2 is to slow to support this approach, even if you run a NSLU2 with 266MHz. :cry:
__________________________________________
- J.River Media Center 11.1
- NSLU2(266MHz)/Unslung-5.5-beta
- Twonky MediaServer v4.1
- Roku SB M1001
- Cidero v1.5

StingRay
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Post by StingRay » Thu Apr 20, 2006 9:11 pm

blinkybill,

Thanks for taking the time to share your experience. I really appreciate it. Today, I received a response from Twonky that is very similar to your experience. I'll post the details of their technical explanation below:
sorry for the installer script - it works on a few LinkStations - but not on all of them :-(

The rename thing is not documented as it is done automatically by our own installer ;-)

FLAC - FLAC should always work as a native streaming format - when the player can
stream and play FLAC as well

FLAC can not be transcoded to other formats on the LinkStation - it does not have enough
power for such an operation
Again, thanks for taking the time to respond to my problem.

Jerry

jbarnes1022
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Post by jbarnes1022 » Sat Apr 22, 2006 6:27 pm

I'm trying to use FLAC also. My set up is music server 3.1 on Linux. I used the installer on SUSE 9.3. I have no FLAC access on my Roku. I thought that version 3.1 would stream FLAC. But can't seem to get a direct answer about this.

John

StingRay
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Post by StingRay » Sat Apr 22, 2006 7:50 pm

I thought that version 3.1 would stream FLAC. But can't seem to get a direct answer about this.

After reading through the forum in search of answers to my questions, I discovered that direct answers are not common here. There are many, many posts with valid technical questions that go unanswered either completely or for very long periods of time.

The Roku site says that Twonky plays FLAC with a Roku. The Twonky site says FLAC is a supported format. This appears to be an exception rather than a norm. Some people apparently manage to get it working, but I don't have a lot of confidence in the Twonky media server's ability to perform as advertised. In my case (and many others I've read) the installer doesn't even work. That really starts a customer off with a bad feeling about the product.

Good luck,

Jerry

jbarnes1022
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Post by jbarnes1022 » Sat Apr 22, 2006 9:58 pm

I would agree with you. I also did a search on FLAC. I also don't see many direct answers to questions. There seemed to be hints that FLAC worked in 3.0 or that the media server has it, no one will come out and say what is what. I bought the product for FLAC support and the Roku discussion boards seemed to indicate it was supported in Twonky. It would be nice to get a direct answer. I do feel I've been lied to when it comes to Twonky and FLAC.

John

dmd
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Post by dmd » Sun Apr 23, 2006 8:42 am

For what it is worth I can confirm that Twonky indeed does transcode FLAC. I have used it to stream FLAC to both a Philips Streamium and a Buffalo Linktheater. No problem in my case. The only special thing I can remember doing was to download FLAC, compile it and put the binary in the Twonky directory.

Note: I run Twonky 3.1 on Ubuntu Linux 5.10, AMD K7 1GHz (also used it on SuSE 10 for the same purpose).

Also, from the Linux-HowTo.txt:

Code: Select all

Make sure that the server file and the plug-ins have the exe bit set.
If not, try:
"chmod 700 twonkym* lame flac jpegscale"
You might want to do a

Code: Select all

chmod 755 flac
to see if that helps.

bsandy79
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Post by bsandy79 » Fri Apr 28, 2006 5:09 pm

How sad that you paid for this product and took all this time to type up a well-written forum post and nobody from Twonky bothers to respond.

Do you feel ripped off like I do?

StingRay
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Joined:Wed Apr 19, 2006 1:00 am

Post by StingRay » Sat Apr 29, 2006 2:00 pm

You might want to do a
Code:

chmod 755 flac
I don't have a "flac" file in my directory. It wasn't included in the zip file; although, there was a "lame" file and a "jpegscale" file.

Was there supposed to be a "flac" file included in the TwonkyMedia zip file?

Do you feel ripped off like I do?
The short answer is YES. This product would be much better if Twonky would utilize their own forum to help their paying customers, isolate bugs and revise their product accordingly. A few examples:

1. Twonky indicates the installer doesn't work on all LinkStations. State that fact on the LinkStation download page so customers don't waste time trying to use a product that doesn't work.

2. DO NOT advertise features that don't work across all platforms. Clearly, an exception page is needed or a features matrix that informs users what options will work under various supported platforms. How in the hell am I supposed to know that a LinkStation doesn't have enough power to transcode flac??

For that matter, I still don't know if I have all the files necessary to transcode or stream flac. The previous post mentions a "flac" file in the media server directory. A post from another customer mentions that the necessary flac files aren't included in the 3.1 download. What's the full story on what should be included with the 3.1 download?

dmd
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Post by dmd » Sun Apr 30, 2006 6:48 pm

StingRay wrote: Was there supposed to be a "flac" file included in the TwonkyMedia zip file?
Maybe this would deserve to be highlighted better, but to Twonky's credit they did answer that question. From the RevisionHistory file that came with Twonky:

Code: Select all

transcoding for FLAC and mp3 (this is based on LGPL programs, flac and lame. If these programs are not part of this distribution and you need transcoding from mp3 to wav/LPCM or from FLAC to wav you should download these prgrams and place them in the same dir as the TwonkyMedia runtime (TwonkyMedia.exe).
See http://flac.sourceforge.net/ and http://lame.sourceforge.net/)
Download FLAC for your platform (or download the source and compile) and then drop the flac executable in the Twonky directory.

Then do the chmod 755 flac

Hope this will solve your issues.

StingRay
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Post by StingRay » Sun Apr 30, 2006 7:58 pm

I appreciate your post, but I certainly wouldn't give Twonky any credit for their lack of clarity on flac. Flac works sometimes on some platforms and the necessary files may or may not be included in the download. That is very far from a feature of software that is sold and much closer to a hack that can be performed if the CUSTOMER has sufficient knowledge.

Again, this product is sold claiming to have a functional installer (it doesn't) and support flac (sometimes). Twonky needs to get in tune with the functional aspects of their product, shore them up and take a leadership role on this forum.

Thanks again for your post. I may try to get flac working from a PC since a LinkStation doesn't have the horsepower to transcode.

Jerry

darbid
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Post by darbid » Fri Jun 01, 2007 7:25 am

I have wanted to write such a post as this for sometime now.

Twonkyvision I am not technically minded, own a NAS and would like a media server just like yours.

It is sometimes hard to put a value on support, and technical support is probably the first place a manager looks when we has to cut costs.

Well here is a real cost - 29.95¤ - you at this stage will not be getting.

Your welcome

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twonky-christian
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Post by twonky-christian » Fri Jun 01, 2007 9:33 pm

Hi,

flac is working and supported as "is" - without transcoding as we do it with every other content format.

If there are more players out there which could handle flac native this would not be a problem - but there are not.

So - the problem is that flac is a format which is so seldom used that no player supports it.

The outcome: the server shall transcode it.

TwonkyMedia does not offer transcoding from the shelf.

That's it.

We offer the usage of third party plugins like the flac to wav transcoder - but you need to figure out yourself how to use that one - that is beyond the stuff we can support.

On the installer:
The non working installer works quite well for a number of users. It works better if you have an untouched fresh flashed firmware. And yea - the installer magically renames twonkymedia to mediaserver if needed.

pommie
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Post by pommie » Mon Jun 04, 2007 7:51 am

Stingray, I think your words echo the thoughts of several paying customers.
I for one have complained about the poor customer support, lack of instructions & infromation guides or miss-leading marketing information.

Twonky did offer me my money back, however I felt that this online community are very suppportive of each other therefore I decided to stick with it.

I dont know wether Twonky have realised this yet, but their greatest asset is the people using these forums. If they continue to treat people this way then any form of loyalty will dissapear when a competitor surfaces.

Just my 2 cents.

robr
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Post by robr » Mon Jun 25, 2007 3:12 am

Glad i found these forums and this post. I was considering a purchase of this product but have run into several issues (and I am a technical guy). Given the lack of support, the choice not to give Twonky my $$$ is an easy one. I'm in the software development business and if I ignored my customers, I wouldn't expect to sell product once word got out.

J@n
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Post by J@n » Sun Jul 01, 2007 3:33 pm

robr wrote:Glad i found these forums and this post. I was considering a purchase of this product but have run into several issues (and I am a technical guy). Given the lack of support, the choice not to give Twonky my $$$ is an easy one. I'm in the software development business and if I ignored my customers, I wouldn't expect to sell product once word got out.
Go lash out somewhere else. Your post is not constructive!

If you don't want to buy the product, don't. Many happy customers here. Support from Twonky has been great.

I am also in the software development business (you're not the only one) and know from experience that it is a hell of a job keeping up with all the different hardware, firmware and software out there.

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Post by mgillespie » Sun Jul 01, 2007 4:08 pm

This is now a very old thread that's being draged up. Locking it...
Please note: Moderators here are voluntary and do not work for PacketVideo or Twonky, please do not attack us. Any posts are personal opinion, and may not be those of PV/Twonky.

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