TwonkyServer MKV & Samsung Issue

[mrusli]

yes. confirm the mkv movies work now from twonkyserver and samsung c5000 series tv !!! excellent. thanks for working out the issues.

[KamikaZee]

Can't wait for the NAS/ARM versions, as the workaround here will only work for x86 cpus ...

[ceefcee]

Thanks to you all for the marvellous work in getting MKV's to play on Samsung Kit. I downloaded & installed Twonky Manager 2.04 last night. In Twonky I changed my Samsung BD-C5900 (Bluray DLNA Player) from "Generic Client" to "Samsung TV" & hey-presto MKV's now play !!!

I have 2 questions now :
1) Is there a similar fix for MP4's ? Mine still won't play.
2) Is there a fix for FastForward & Rewind ? These functions refuse to work on all movie formats on both my Samsung BR Player & my Samsung 6000 series TV.

Thanks again for the development of a great Twonky product.

[H3llc0r3]

I'm also waiting for the NAS versions...hope it'll work with 6.0.28 and C650

[zei20t]

BIG thanks for the work involved in getting MKVs working on my 2010 Samsung!!

I have a UA40C6900 LED. They dont work on my Samsung BluRay player, but reading the above post, i should change the type to Samsung TV and that should fix it.

Again, a big thank you!!

[Twonky_Rick]

I wanted to give everyone an update on the MKV compressed header playback problem issue.

It appears this issue has been fixed in TwonkyServer 6.0.29. Since this version hasn't been released yet, you'll have to wait to test this, but I wanted to let everyone know about this.

Thanks again to everyone who helped on this problem.

- Rick

[KamikaZee]

Great to see this issue finally resolved. Any news on getting these versions out for NAS users?

[theforumer]

I wanted to give everyone an update on the MKV compressed header playback problem issue.

It appears this issue has been fixed in TwonkyServer 6.0.29. Since this version hasn't been released yet, you'll have to wait to test this, but I wanted to let everyone know about this.

Thanks again to everyone who helped on this problem.

- Rick

Hi Rick, it looks to me that the MKV compressed header playback problem issue is already fixed in 6.0.28 (by adding the new MKV DLNA profile), at least it is in the windows build which is the only available build at the moment for this version. I tested it on my Samsung 2010 TV (exact model in the signature) and all my header compressed MKVs work fine now.

We (me and other users) are only waiting for the NAS builds to test with (latest available builds are 6.0.23). I'd really like to see them soon since I bought a new license to replace my OEM one and still can't use it on this version.

Do you also have any news about the text subtitle support feature we talked in this post?

http://www.twonkyforum.com/viewtopic.ph ... 647#p31647

It would be a very useful feature (not very difficult to implement) that will make Twonky a complete product (and let me throw out of the window all the other windows DLNA servers I have to use to see subtitled videos).

[Schrumpel]

Mkv works now great with my UE46C8790 Samsung.
Good Job.
Waiting for the NAS Version for my Linkstation.

If the subtitles would work than it will be the perfekt DLNA for me.

[wstycula]

[quote="theforumer"]ep finally tested version 6.0.28 for windows and all MKVs now [/quote]

Hi!

Is it very complicated to change TMS 5.0 to 6.0 on WD World? Could you give me (us a hand with this ?

Thanks in advance

W.

[theforumer]

Hi!

Is it very complicated to change TMS 5.0 to 6.0 on WD World? Could you give me (us a hand with this ?

Thanks in advance

W.

Sorry all for the off-topic (I will move the post in a separate thread ASAP).

wstycula you can find a small tutorial on top of this post here:

http://mybookworld.wikidot.com/forum/t-249817/#post-927416

Beware because it needs some basic linux expertise (connect to a ssh shell, using simple shell commands and a linux text editor like "vi" or "nano") otherwise you could brick your WD. Also beware that manually updating twonky could invalidate your warranty.

Also be warned that you will need to buy a new license (quite cheap) after the 30 days trial license if you want to continue using twonky 6.x on your WD MyBook World since the 5.x shipped with the firmware has an embedded OEM license you cannot use with the new version.

I think the tutorial should be updated and rewritten in some points because many user responses added some steps and changes, for instance:

a) the latest twonky version you can use is 6.0.23 (we are currently waiting 6.0.28 NAS builds which finally fixes the problems with MKVs): http://www.twonkyforum.com/downloads/6.0.23/twonkymedia-mss2-6.0.23.zip

b) you should also change the /etc/init.d/S97twonkyserver startup file (after backuping the original one) as found somewhere below in the post otherwise the new twonky won't restart each time you restart the WD MyBook World

If you think you have some linux expertise and wan't to do it I can try to help you with an updated tutorial (in a new thread) if you provide me:
1) the exact model of your WD MyBook World
2) the exact firmare version
3) your grade of linux expertise

[logemann]

Hi,

nice to see that 6.0.28 should fix MKV problems with Samsung 2010 LEDs. Unfortunately NAS version is still at 6.0.23, which is what i installed 2 weeks ago on my Buffalo Linkstation (replacing a very old 4.x version). Of course i bought a license so that you guys can keep fixing bugs

To the topic itself. I can confirm all the problems mentioned before. Hell i encoded so much MKVs and not one wants to stream but all run via USB stick. I even learned all the H264 profiles and levels. Perhaps i will code a media player when i have spare time but in the meantime i would love to see a recent NAS version of Twonky. hrhr.

For the record. I own a Samsung UE40C6700 and i really want to remove my WD TV Live network player and put it in another room but this is only an option when my Samsung is able to play MKVs. And if i would be a business manager at Twonky, i would put a lot resources on Samsung TV Support, because Samsung outperforms any other media player when it comes to sales. If you support Samsung Network ready TVs, you have so many potential customers.... unbelievable.

And a small off topic hint: The NAS installer for Linkstation (and probably others) is crap. First its a Win32 app. This alone is ugly. Then it doesnt work with a virtualized windows because of network adapter issues (bad for all those Mac users like me) and third the readme contains only half of the truth regarding startup issues. (see poster above). I dont have problems with a win32-dummy-user app but then dont leave out a simple .tar.gz with an included "installer" script which we could run on the device itself and some proper documentation of course. This would satisfy people like me, being quite good in Mac OS X and Linux.

Attention buildmaster: I need a Twonky Linkstation Pro build of at least 6.0.28

Marc

[doctorbluex]

Hi,

I can confirm that the 6.0.28 version works fine with the Samsung LE40C750 TV,
it plays all kinds of mkv even when they have DTS audio.

Now I'm really looking forward to the NAS builds for my MyBookWorld

Regards,

doc

[wstycula]

Hi,
I asked about WDWorld/Twonky/Samsung problem in Tech Support(s). Here are the answers I received.

Question:
"I have a Samsung BD-c6500 player. It has AllShare function (DLNA) and Twonky server installed on WD World (NAS).
I can START playing the movie from my WD World, can STOP it, but can not PAUSE, FFWD nor REV."

(I did not even try to play mkv's because many of you did)

Answers.

Samsung:
We can guarantee AllShare function to work properly with PC SahareManager or WMP 11.

Western Digital:
Here at the Technical Support Centre we do not have any information regarding future firmware releases.
For more detailed information bout the Twonky Media Server, you can view the website www.twonky.com

Twonky Support:
Please contact the respective OEM and ask him to get twonky updated.

Me:
I can not use the words I want to, because it is not allowed at this forum.


For theforumer (- my last hope)

1. WD World firmware wersion 01.01.18
2. Twonky: 5.1
3. I am ready to pay for Twonky (if it is going to work)
4. Linux skills - hm... I have Ubuntu 10.04 installed on my old computer - I have been trying to get more familiar with linux systems for a few years. I feel quite ok in graphical enviroment, but I I do not know the directory structure too well, and am not sure how to "autostart" a server for exmple - more less...

5. Maybe we should wait as doctorbluex suggested ?

[ceefcee]

Here is a transcript of a recent req I put to Samsung regarding the FF and RW issue, on their DLNA Player
I think we should all use our social networking accounts to broadcast a warning about Samsungs basically flawed DLNA player not providing FF & RW functions. We must ALL put pressure on Samsung to release new firmware !!
This is not Twonky's issue.....it is Samsungs. I've tried Twonky, Serviio, Mezzmo, Wild & Samsungs own PCshare servers. They all have the FF & RW issue........

Answer:(17.11.2010 /21:14:16)
Dear Mr(s). C
Partner number: 210xxxxxxx
Thank you for contacting Samsung.
Regarding the issue that you had, can you please use the cursors keys
instead of the FF and RW buttons?
If you require further assistance, please dont hesitate to contact our
technical support team on 03307267864
Kind regards,
Rxxxxxxxxxx.

Question:(18.11.2010 /10:03:12)
Samsung's answer to REQ 10089xxxxx IS NOT ACCEPTABLE !!
The cursor keys DO NOT perform full rewind and fastforward functions.
They merely skip 10 seconds back or forward. A FIRMWARE UPGRADE IS
REQUIRED. When will this be done ???


Answer:(19.11.2010 /18:03:19)
Dear Cxxxxx
Customer Reference Number - 210
Thank you for contacting Samsung
Regarding your inquiry, kindly note that these buttons doesn't function
during the DLNA media play which is mentioned in the user's manual page
33. We are committed to continuously improving the experience for our
customers and your comments are important to us. Your suggestion has
been forwarded to the appropriate department. Thank you for your input.
I hope this has been of some assistance to you. If you do have any
further queries, please do not hesitate to contact us quoting your
reference number.
Kind Regards,
Samsung Electronics UK
Customer Communication Centre
Tel.: 0330 SAMSUNG (7267864)
(All calls charged at Local Rate)
Homepage: www.samsung.com/uk

[KamikaZee]

They skip for more than 10 secs if you hold the key. I'd say they are actually more useful than reg ffwd/rev.

[motivator]

Hi, ausfester,
I have a Thecus N4100Pro, which I have uploaded Twonkyserver 6.0.28. I am trying to run AVI files (xvid) on my Panasonic SC-BT230 (DLNA), but although it can see the files via Twonky it won't play them.
Is it possible to add some form of codec to the N4100Pro (ffmpeg), so that it can play a wider range of formats?
Did you include any part of ffmpeg in your setup?
Any help you could give would be really appreciated.
Thanks

[kappa7]

Hi,
I noticed with Twonkyserver 6.0.28 the mkv files play fine on my samsung C6000 Tv, but if a file has more languages it's impossible to selected the other languages.
With the file on a USB stick it's possilble to select the languages in the tools menu.
It's a twonky server or samsung issue?
Thanks.

[theforumer]

They skip for more than 10 secs if you hold the key. I'd say they are actually more useful than reg ffwd/rev.

@KamikaZee. Are you talking of files played from USB or DLNA? Since for files played from DLNA it does not work (at least on my C6500). The buttons on the remote control are actually working this way with files played from DLNA:

Cross Right: skips always 15 sec. forward (no matter how long is pressesed) (*).
Cross Left: skips always 15 sec. backward (no matter how long is pressesed) (*).
Cross Up: skips almost at the end of file
Cross Down: skips at the biginning of the file
>>: not supported
<<: not supported

(*) Unfortunately when skipping back or forward it takes about 10 sec. to rebuffer and start playing again and you have to wait this time to press the button again and skip further. So it is pratically useless!

Hi,
I noticed with Twonkyserver 6.0.28 the mkv files play fine on my samsung C6000 Tv, but if a file has more languages it's impossible to selected the other languages.
With the file on a USB stick it's possilble to select the languages in the tools menu.
It's a twonky server or samsung issue?
Thanks.

@kappa7. I have a Samsung C6500 Led TV (see signature). For what I know the multi language audio stream issue should be Samsung's since Twonky is streaming via HTTP the complete interleaved audio/video stream and so demultiplexing the streams and play the correct one is on charge to Samsung firmware. Unfortunately as you can see the "Tools" menu is quite different for files played from USB and DLNA.

[ceefcee]

@theForeRunner

I'm with you wholeheartedly on this skip instead of << >>.
Also a Resume feature would be a nice feature, as is found on EVERY other Media Player on the planet.
We need to get Samsung to get off their butts. They have had numerous complaints at Samsung since early 2009 & done nothing about it. They always return the damn "page 33" answer

[KamikaZee]

@KamikaZee. Are you talking of files played from USB or DLNA? Since for files played from DLNA it does not work (at least on my C6500). The buttons on the remote control are actually working this way with files played from DLNA:

Cross Right: skips always 15 sec. forward (no matter how long is pressesed) (*).
Cross Left: skips always 15 sec. backward (no matter how long is pressesed) (*).
Cross Up: skips almost at the end of file
Cross Down: skips at the biginning of the file
>>: not supported
<<: not supported

(*) Unfortunately when skipping back or forward it takes about 10 sec. to rebuffer and start playing again and you have to wait this time to press the button again and skip further. So it is pratically useless!

I have a C6000 and it works well enough for me (over DLNA of course). Low bitrate files will not rebuffer, just holding the direction key will skip ahead in ever bigger increments (first 10 seconds, then like 30, goes up to several minutes if you hold long enough).

For hd content, the TV will start to rebuffer the stream, but when I keep on pressing the direction key, it will again skip ahead in increasing increments.

If you don't believe me I could record myself while doing this^^

[theforumer]

I have a C6000 and it works well enough for me (over DLNA of course). Low bitrate files will not rebuffer, just holding the direction key will skip ahead in ever bigger increments (first 10 seconds, then like 30, goes up to several minutes if you hold long enough).

For hd content, the TV will start to rebuffer the stream, but when I keep on pressing the direction key, it will again skip ahead in increasing increments.

If you don't believe me I could record myself while doing this^^

Sorry. Didn't want to offend you. I tried different times and didn't work for me. I will try again and let you know . Maybe my 6500 has a different behaviour but hope not. By the way which firmware do you have?

[KamikaZee]

Should be the newest available through the samsung site, 1014 Built on 2010/09/18
Which I'm pretty sure differs from the higher C series, as the 6000 has lots of fancy stuff disabled (no PVR, no internet@TV, only miss PVR though)

Edit:
Twonky version is 6.0.30 Running on a Linkstation XHL 2TB. Also noticed that since updating it doesn't rebuffer at all anymore, I can skip through HD videos without a problem now. Max skip is around 3 minutes ahead is the button is held for 5 seconds.

Tested with a 1080p 12 Gigabyte large .mkv. Twonky really improved from 6.0.23 to the newest version, keep it up! .Now if only samsung would enable selecting multiple audio/sub streams from a video...

[Schrumpel]

With the 6.0.30 on my linkstation pro duo mkv's work now great on my Samsung UE46 C8700 but the subtitles are not shown. As .srt file or included in the mkv makes no different.
From HD over USB the files work.
But you did a great job for getting the mkv's running on Samsung.

[theforumer]

@Kamikaze

I tried the MSS2 nas build 6.0.30 on my WD My Book World NAS and finally I also have MKVs working seamingless on my Samsung UE40C6500. I also confirm that the left and right arrow keys on the remote control actually works how you explained (keeping the key pressed causes a progressive increment in the skipping interval). Thanks for the tip.

@Schrumpel

There is a thread for .SRT subtitles support on Samsung TV is here:

http://www.twonkyforum.com/viewtopic.ph ... 15&start=0

were we tried to help the developers (and still would like to help more) to implement this feature asap but still we can't see any progress and currently looks to be not a priority (actual schedule is around 1Q of 2011). We were told of a 6.0.29QA build with an initial but still not working implementation but we can't see any trace of this on the released 6.0.30. I can't tell if this version is actually indexing .srt files or embedded .srt streams (the first alternative would be simpler and better) but for sure the server looks still to be ignoring the HTTP header:

getCaptionInfo.sec:1

Maybe it can help if many users would request for this feature to be implemented ASAP.

[Schrumpel]

@theforumer

So what does that mean in the Bug fixes of the 6.0.30?
-fixed: Improve subtitle support for Samsung TVs

I thought that was the solutiuon for the subtitle problem.
It's not?
So i go through the subtitle thread to help getting this function ASAP.

Thanks

[theforumer]

@Schrumpel

Hi, actually I did not notice the bug fix line in the RevisionHistory file before. After your tip I made some other checks and from a preliminary analysis i can tell that:
1) Twonky server is actually indexing also .srt files. I set a single shared folder with only an .avi file and the corresponding .srt file (same name but .srt extension) and I can find a reference to both files in the database files of Twonky.
2) The Twonky server binary file also contains the strings: "smi/caption" (the content type required by samsung tv for subtitles files) and "getCaptionInfo.sec" (the HTTP header in samsung tv subtitles info requests) but not the string "CaptionInfo.sec" (which should be in the twonky HTTP headers responses to subtitles info requests).
I will also check this night with the twonky server logs for some other infos and maybe post the results in the related post, but for me look like the subtitle support is still incomplete in the HTTP request/responses part. (They told us from Twonky that they are actually waiting for a real Samsung C-Series TV to test with).

[yang]

I am bit confused now, one post reads as if 6.0.30 fixed the FF REW issue on Samsung, just now I found another post it says it does not.

Just so you know, the serviio streaming server I tested recently does support FF REW functionality. You keep the cursor right button pressed, it skips for a few seconds, then it starts to skip minutes and finally 5 minutes per second. Obviously Samsung can improve a lot here, the navigation with scene selection like in the PS3 has been implemented very well, but with the serviio server it is good enough.

[theforumer]

I am bit confused now, one post reads as if 6.0.30 fixed the FF REW issue on Samsung, just now I found another post it says it does not.

Just so you know, the serviio streaming server I tested recently does support FF REW functionality. You keep the cursor right button pressed, it skips for a few seconds, then it starts to skip minutes and finally 5 minutes per second. Obviously Samsung can improve a lot here, the navigation with scene selection like in the PS3 has been implemented very well, but with the serviio server it is good enough.

@Yang

FF/REW functionality should work with Twonky 6.0.30 (i.e. as you and Kamikaze said keeping the left/right arrow button pressed) but also with previous versions since it is not a server but a client feature (don't know if it was always there or was introduced by latest Samsung firmware). It was difficult also to me to find out how it works because the skip increment is appreciable only from the 3rd/4th skip but it actually works. I agree it could have been implemented better by Samsung (i.e. a true 2x, 4x, etc... playback speed) but maybe it is a limation due to HTTP and network streaming (since direct access to a USB key is much faster).

[yang]

With 6.0.28 the FF (and REW) does not work for me, well, to be more precise, it works but it jumps 1 second ahead per second which is obviously not much help.

Have you tried DLNA scene selection with the PS3? It works so great. You get a list of all scenes each 5 minutes and you scroll to the image of the point in time you want to jump to. So it is not a UPNP limitation as the PS3 does it so nicely.

[swissGerman]

Just updated my QNAP NAS (model (QNAP TS 459 Pro) with the latest QPKG featuring Twonky version 6.030
Waw finally I can stream all my MKV and AVI files successfully to my Samsung TV (model 8700 LED). Cool!! Now I almost have my home-network working the way it should.
Just almost - because still I can NOT stream MKVs to my Samsung 3D Player & 7.1 Home Cinema Center (latest model HT-C6930W).

So I had to re-plug the optical audio cables. Now I am streaming all files first to my Samsung TV (which unfortunately has no built-in wireless like the HT-C6930W that has both, wired & wirelss). And then take the Audio data out of the Samsung TV (via the optical plug) to bring the audio to the sound-center HT-C6930W. That’s fine for all movies. I am happy it works now.

But it requires to have the Samsung TV running if I just want to listen to music (e.g. from antenna, cable or SAT receiver box) - unless I re-plug the audiocable from the TV again.

The Samsung HT-C6930W is said to be DLNA compatible and should “eat” MKVs like the TV. It does so if I feed it from a USB device (USB stick or disk) – but it still does NOT like the MKVs streamed via Twonky Server.

[PeeBee]

How is the HT-C6930W being detected by Twonky on the Media Receivers page?

There isn't a specific entry for this device in the clients.db AFAIK file so you will probably be best using the Samsung TV profile. If you haven't changed it yourself it is likely to be defaulting to a Generic Media Receiver profile.

PB

[swissGerman]

How is the HT-C6930W being detected by Twonky on the Media Receivers page?

There isn't a specific entry for this device in the clients.db AFAIK file so you will probably be best using the Samsung TV profile. If you haven't changed it yourself it is likely to be defaulting to a Generic Media Receiver profile.

PB

That exactly was the problem.... Switched the sound system from Generic device to Samsung TV and now it behaves like the TV - can play MKVs, can pause etc.
Thx for this hint, PeeBee !

[wannarandom]

Hi,

was the mkv fast forward/rewind support added since 6.0.x for Samsung B650 as well? Or this was tested only with C series?
I cannot fast forward or rewind with my B650 however pause works. I am using TwonkyServer 6.0.30.

[DaemonBeetle]

Pause has always worked, FF and RW don't work on my B650 either (and neither do subtitles).

[wannarandom]

Thanks. And should it work or ffwd/rwd is not supported on B650? If not supported yet, is it planned?

[DaemonBeetle]

No idea - if you search the forum you'll know just as much as I do about Twonky's plans