TwonkyServer lack of documentation and media support

[phibertron]

One of the things I feel that is as frustrating for me any any user
is the lack of information about the product's capabilities
Sure, we come here to the forums to ask questions, but isnt that self defeating for twonky?
As the the replies to those questions can be all over the spectrum
thus creating even more confusion than one started with by just asking a question

As an example.
I'll ask this very simple question, what formats are supportd by "Twonky Server"?
If I go to the twonky website, format supports is not noted anywhere, but in one place
It is located under a general faq section
To make things worse, the only thing they mention there is
"What formats does TwonkyServer Mobile support?"

http://www.twonky.com/products/twonkyserver/

And sure If I start digging around in utter confusion on the twonky site
I might be lucky and find this, for "Twonky Mobile"

http://www.twonky.com/products/twonkymo ... nefaq.aspx

But in the end I would still have no idea what "Twonky Server" supports

Sure twonky employees and users of this forum do there best to support and help thoe who ask
But should it really have to be that way, for something as simple as stateing what it does or does not support?

But wait, this gets better!

So say, I didnt find my answer on the product page for twonky server
And say I find my way to the forums, and into the forum section for Twonky Server

http://twonkyforum.com/viewforum.php?f=2

There is the announcement section, which still does not have information for me about my simple question
So I dig deeper
and find a sticky called Supported Streaming Formats

http://twonkyforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=5070

I feel for you "mgillespie" in that you tried to give us a list of supported media, but...
If I was person who had no technical knowledge, I would be doomed with that information
The list is a mix match of containers and codec types
and it can contradict itself in many situations
for ex: I could rename a file that is not on the list, and then have it work, when clearly it shouldnt have worked
so this idea of supported is kind of grey, and not black and white, and almost meaningless
because in reality what is being said, is that twonky supports files with certion extentions
and nothing is being said correctly about what is supported inside of those files (if they are containers)

The following link, explain in more detail, the difference between a container and a format

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison ... _supported
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Container_format_(digital)

I think the other thing that is grey, is the idea of "supports"
What does that mean exactly?
Does it mean it will allow it to be a natively streamable file?
Does it mean it will allow it to be a trancoded streamable file?
Does it mean it supports scanning for meta data (as currently it does not do this for all)

Might I add, that my search for this information cant not even be found in the help files of the installed product
Not to mention, that there are none to actually go read
Except for the few in \TwonkyMedia\Docs for PSP and Wii support

It is my intention not to stir up a bee's next, nor to insult, nor to place blame
But it is to see if we can take the mystery out of what Twonky Server does or does not do
in a meaningfull way that a novice or an expert could actually use

[phibertron]

I would further add the simple question, why is this important to know besides the obvious?

Knowing what type of container formats and codec support in those containers TwonkServer supports
goes a long way in knowing on whether or not TwonkyServer is the right choice for a client device
As each device has its own list of supported container formats and codecs in those containers

Being that TwonkServer is a server, one would think that it could/should
be able to just stream any known container that is allowed within the DLNA specs
as doing this would allow for a greater set of media and clients it could serve

I view the ability to stream a container format as one part of the equation
Twonky adds to this the scanning of meta data or tags from the media
so it can create the navtree's based on that meta data or tagging
And this is where I think that twonky is keeping the supported list limited
as a lot of the other containers dont have support for tagging like some of the newer containers do

But isnt that where TwonkyManager is supposed to step in?
It a Media Manager, in that it allows you to edit a set of meta data or tags
One of it purposes, I thought was to facilitate this function
Which is why I can't understand the limited support of containers that TwonkyServer supports

[DaemonBeetle]

Keep in mind that the real question should be - what does my render device support. Twonky has streamed everything I've thrown at it, the problem has always been in the render device.

[phibertron]

I agree that the client is the goal
But not knowing what can or can not be sent, is the heart of the problem
For ex:
Twonky doesnt say it supports .ts
But if we change that extention on a file to .m2ts
Then twonky goes, oh ok I now support it

Sure the problem is a little more complicated than that
But it is the lack of documentation of information on the corp site that
needs to be addressed
So that people can stop guessing