My experiences = pathetic response and behaviors with ver4.x

[glaserd_prof]

Around a month ago I'd updated from Twonky ver3.01 to ver4.3 and to todays ver4.4. Ugly results...bottom line.

My previous Twonky ver3.01 was running on a Maxtor MSSPlus (300Gig) with MSS 1.2.2 OpenMSS2. A new drive at loadup, install was clean.

My current Twonky ver4.4 is running on a Maxtor MMSPlus (500Gig) with MSS 2.6.2 OpenMSS1-rc2. Also a new drive at loadup, install was clean.

The content consists of 11,000 WMA tracks and 3,000 jpgs (ie album tracks and album art). I've been told to keep my DVDs out of the content as it'll "reduce my scan times". Okay, there's some humor there.

My ver3.01 ran for about 2 years and aside from the Playlists appearing "optional" (appearing, disappearing, appearing, disappearing, etc) the application ran rather well. Content was delivered in a reasonable response time and reliability was very good. To scan the contents with a Custom Navigation Tree consisting of 6 different sorts (4 sorts being 2 levels deep and also 2 sorts being 3 levels deep) would take around 15 minutes. Used Memory displays around 10,500KB out of an available 20,000KB.

I then updated my ver3.01 to ver4.3. The install was on the same device and the install was clean.

Ver4.3 was up for about 3 weeks; playlists were again "optional" (appearing, disappearing, appearing, disappearing, etc) however my scan times were near-kills; give them 2 hours and they generally didn't complete. In a respectable email swap w/tech support they'd convinced me my Maxtor was maxing out its memory and I'd never get a decent scan time with my 6 sorts. Dropping the 2 sorts that were 3 levels deep reduced my scan times to approx 10 minutes however it was at a cost of those 2 nice sorts (a large take-away as the "3 levels deep" sort was very informative and something not found in many other servers). Once again the Used Memory displays around 10,500KB out of an available 20,000KB.

Frustrated with the sort issue I decided to break out a new Maxtor for my Ver4.4, the install was clean. The content copied to the new machine cleanly as well.

Ver4.4 has been up for about a week and I've the same symptoms plus new symptoms as found in ver4.3.
1) playlists appear "optionally" (appearing, disappearing, appearing, disappearing, etc)
2) sort capabilities are quite frankly pathetic even with the 4 sorts at 2 levels deep. The displayed "Used Memory" never exceeds 6,000KB out of the 20,000KB available and my re-scans take 20 minutes. I tried using only 2 sorts being 3 levels deep and the scans exceeded 1.5 hours.
3) a new glitch re ver4.4 primary navigation items of Browse Artist, Browse Album, etc are all displaying 2 rows per record. I've rebuilt the db numerous times, re-scanned, rebooted, etc and repeatedly for "Browse Artist" I'll get 2 rows for Bob Dylan, 2 rows for The Cure, 2 rows for Warren Zevon, etc.
4) a new behavior inthat I don't recollect having to go into Browse Containers to find my Custom sorts. Not only a useless navigation step but this ranks incredibly low on the SAF (Spouse Approval Factor) as my wife doesn't care about whys/buts..buts...buts/other excuses.

That's pretty much the short list. I hate to think what Twonky would do if I unleashed it on to my DVD rips.

[walshchristopherj]

I have the same NAS Drive as you and I agree with everything you said because I have experienced with all the same issues. I love this product when it was working well before.

[glaserd_prof]

Misery loves company.

As long as I've started a list I guess I should add that the Internet Radio settings in my Twonky installs have never worked for me. Ever.

In the current 4.4 install I do indeed get (for the 1st time) a display regarding Internet Radio categories that I've elected...however the detail pages providing respective station links provide nothing more than a snippet of content at best.

To be less than obscure the Internet Radio station content plays perhaps 1 to 8 seconds and it hits the end of the clip. The status bar infers that it's working to bring more content down however it's simply a teaser.

[pt-1]

Misery loves company.

As long as I've started a list I guess I should add that the Internet Radio settings in my Twonky installs have never worked for me. Ever.

In the current 4.4 install I do indeed get (for the 1st time) a display regarding Internet Radio categories that I've elected...however the detail pages providing respective station links provide nothing more than a snippet of content at best.

To be less than obscure the Internet Radio station content plays perhaps 1 to 8 seconds and it hits the end of the clip. The status bar infers that it's working to bring more content down however it's simply a teaser.

Isn't it still a Beta ?

[glaserd_prof]

Beta? I'm not sure, the naming convention doesn't really make that clear and neither does the download point. Given that it is indeed beta I'm still not understanding your point as a silent user population essentially begs for the product they get; developers are pretty darn smart these days but they aren't reading minds.

My descriptor of "pathetic" may sound harsh but I think its pretty accurate re my recent experiences. The events listed in my posting are basic functionalities that are dropping thru the cracks.

IMHO Playlists and Internet Radio should well be in the can by now. I'm pointing directly at my playlist structure and its hit'n'miss. I click on an internet link and I get seconds on stream.

I have basic expectations that a report ala "Browse Artist", "Browse Album", etc would deliver a single line per relevant record.

Sort orders under a new firmware....okay yup I can see that...optimization is always a drag but if I were in Support I don't know that I'd blame it on memory when the box is running between 30% or even 50%.

Lets add another item as I'm surely not the first person to report it: the option to re-scan per directory watch (the "-1" setting if I remember properly) has never worked on my installs; that's a nice touch that remains a what-if for me.

I'd call it proof-of concept but I acknowledge the world market so we can call it Beta.

There's big bugs in some of the users' installations; I'll assert this as another user confirmed my events as similar to their own.

In this arena I'm a user and I'm simply itemizing events.

[monkeyhands]

I posted about the double artist thingy twice, in two threads and bumped them twice and I didn't get a single reply.

I was far happier with V3 - except it won't stream movies since the 360 update.

I'm running twonky on a hacked linkstation btw