My Configuration:
Twonky server V6 on WHS home-built box using Intel D510MO motherboard , Sony BDP-S570 with R735 firmware, Motorola wireless cable modem running 1 Gb connections, Windows 7 PC, wireless N connection between Sony player and wireless modem (about 25 feet away).
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It appears that there are numerous things not properly documented. I spent 18 hours working over 8 days trying to get it to work and finally managed to get Twonky V6 working with Sony BDP-S570 with most of my video formats.
Big thing that the software doesn't do and not documented well is that you have to "install" FFmpeg software, CREATE some desc files and MODIFY the clients.db file..
Here is what support told me to do. (I have my notes just past their instructions):
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For enabling transcoding you should follow following steps:
Install FFMPEG build from here:
http://ffmpeg.arrozcru.org/autobuilds/f ... -static.7z
Now go to C:\Program Files\TwonkyMedia\cgi-bin
Open ffmpeg.location and specify the path of ffmpeg exe.
save the changes.
Restart the twonkymedia server.
Regards,
Twonky Team
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NOTES:
1) The site software (.7z) that creates the ffmpeg software is a zip file and not an install executable. You must unzip it into c:\ffmpeg directory where it creates c:\ffmpeg\bin, \licenses, \doc, \presets. I copied the .exe files from the \bin into c:\ffmpeg directory so I wouldn't have to change the pointer contents of C:\Program Files\TwonkyMedia\cgi-bin\ffmpeg.location.
2) I installed Twonky Manager V 2.0.4. This installed files into the C:\Program Files\TwonkyMedia\ directory. I didn't install the server V6.0.28 Server for the WHS as the documentation says.
3) Once #1 & #2 above was done, then the transcode options became available. I checked the transcode to MPEG2 box.
4) I then created 2 desc files. The first was for Mpeg4 to Mpeg2. The second was for WMV to Mpeg2. Without these, then all you can play are MPEG1&2 formatted videos. At least for the Sony BDP-S570.
Contents of my 1st file to convert mpeg4 to mpeg2 in c:\program files\twonkymedia\cgi-bin\ffmpeg-mp4-mpg.desc
# transcode video (mpeg4 to mpg)
#(c) 2008 by PacketVideo
exec: ffmpeg -i $infile -vcodec mpeg2video $outfile
# capabilities
from=video/mp4
to=video/mpeg
asynchronous
priority=idle
Contents of my 2st file to convert wmv to mpeg2 in c:\program files\twonkymedia\cgi-bin\ffmpeg-wmv-mpg.desc
# transcode video (wmv to mpg)
#(c) 2008 by PacketVideo
exec: ffmpeg -i $infile -vcodec mpeg2video $outfile
# capabilities
from=video/x-ms-wmv
to=video/mpeg
asynchronous
priority=idle
Create those 2 files and then you can play mpeg4 and wmv's via transcoding on the Sony BDP-S570
5) I updated my Sony firmware today with version R735.
6) I Set my receivers property in Twonky Server Config to "Sony Blu-Ray Home Theater" instead of Sony Blu-Ray player (this is now been changed with solution #11 below)
7) In basic setup, I set D:\shares\Photos, D:\shares\Videos, D:\shares\Music for the shares off my WHS server.
8) I played various videos (Divx, WMV, Mpeg1, Mpeg2) that I have and most all play. I think there are a couple that don't play. I'll save that for later.
9) On my Windows 7 PC desktop, I created a shorcut to the Twonky Server Config on my WHS box that I can launch. It's
http://server:9000/ that the browser launches. I'm sure most people know this but just in case.
10) WHS Update:
I found out, after one day, that my WHS C: drive was filled up. This is because the transcode puts the converted videos into cache on the C: drive. I had to go and point my cache to the D: drive by modifying the .ini file in C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\twonkymedia\twonkymedia-server.ini to cachedir=D:\TwonkyMedia\db\cache. I had to clear out my C: drive cache that is in the db folder and had to create the D:\TwonkyMedia\db\cache folder and do a rebuild. My C drive went from 80 MB free to 11 GB free space.
11) SOLUTION FOR SONY BLU-RAY not playing MPEG's when Sony Blu-Ray player selected as receiver
For some reason I couldn't get my videos to show up. I found out that my receiver had changed back to Sony BluRay Player rather than Sony Blu-Ray Theater. Changing to Theater didn't work but when I changed it to PS3, I found that it now list and plays my videos.
OK, now have the solution so everyone can rest better. Sorry if someone else has already figured this out...
Go to the C:\Program Files\TwonkyMedia\resources\clients.db file and make the following change -
>>
NA:Sony Blu-Ray Player
HH:Blu-ray Disc Player
// next MT added by me
MT:mpeg,mpeg2/mpeg
XM:DLNA15
// Added ",MPEG" to end of next line by me
TR:JPEGORG,JPEG160x160,JPEG640x480,JPEG1024x768,JPEG1920x1080,MPEG
DB:AUTO
Restart the server and now your mpeg movies will show up in the listings.
12) Now working on getting MTS to play. The Sony documentation says that it supports MPEG and MTS via DLNA. I verified this by selecting Sony Home Theater using trial version of Mezz.mo that I installed. When playing via Mezzmo, Sony Blu-Ray player displays M2TS. I have tried modifying the clients.db with everything I could try and MTS doesn't play. I emailed support (12/20/10) and will post back with their reply.
They have elevated the issue but as of 01/24/2011 no reply yet.
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FINALLY:
I don't understand why Twonky doesn't supply the desc for WMV and MPEG4 for the transcoding. I don't know if I have encoded it using the best options for FFmpeg but maybe someone can comment. Any why doesn't Twonky supply a good description in their documentation about using V6 with WHS and Sony player.
It would appear that saving videos in MPEG2 format would be better in the case of the Sony BDPS570 because you don't end up having 2 copies of the videos on your hard drive. Anyone care to tell me if videos stored in MPEG4 format are better than MPEG2?
MTS played from a Sony HD cam is stunning. I received some MTS files from my Dad's 100 birthday that a relative shot and they look as if I were actually there.