Looking for NAS/Media-Server with best Twonky integration

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oluv
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Looking for NAS/Media-Server with best Twonky integration

Post by oluv » Sun Dec 18, 2011 6:00 pm

I have 2 Iomega Storcenter ix2-200 NAS-drives. They work more or less and have Twonky installed, but don't allow further configuration. The Twonky-folder with all XML-files is stored on a read-only mount.

Now I am looking for a new NAS/Media Server that provides access to all Twonky XML-files, so that i can adjust particular settings as mentioned in this thread: http://www.twonkyforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=10268

I prefer folder-based navigation but want to have the tracks of an album sorted after tracknumber instead of alphabetically.

Is there any known NAS available that has the best Twonky integration without limiting the user to access all settings? I would be glad about any suggestions.

Thanks a lot and best regards, o.

flolilh
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Re: Looking for NAS/Media-Server with best Twonky integratio

Post by flolilh » Mon Dec 19, 2011 7:38 am

i think NAS thingies are all linux...so you'll maybe get some interrest into how to use the ssh connection to it.

oluv
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Re: Looking for NAS/Media-Server with best Twonky integratio

Post by oluv » Mon Dec 19, 2011 9:02 am

Infact i have ssh access, but the app-folders are all mounted as read-only. I tried to remount but was only able to mount as read-only again.
I din't want to screw up anything so didn't dig into this any further.
I hoped there might be some NAS available that is particularly media-friendly. I don't need any cloud-features, torrent-clients etc. just a robust DLNA-compliant media-indexing tool. I was surprised how well the Sonos System worked when I tried it once. Sonos was able to index my 500GB music library within 45 minutes, I had access to all folders with correct track-order etc.
Unfortunately I cannot use Sonos only as a simple standalone media-server, I would need their Players as well to make it work. But in my case I want to access and playback the music on my Iphone, Ipad, or WDTV etc.

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Briain
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Re: Looking for NAS/Media-Server with best Twonky integratio

Post by Briain » Tue Dec 20, 2011 3:30 pm

Hi

The ones I know of...

Qnap's come with 6.0.34 bundled into the firmware by default. They don't have internet radio enabled, but you can add the missing mediafusion files and buy a licence for it. With Qnaps, any changes are sometimes overwritten at boot, but I found that changing the trees to exe prevented that happening. That said, any firmware updates would overwrite any custom files, so it's always a hassle to bear in mind. The great thing about Qnaps is that they have a QPKG version of Twonky 6.0.34 as well (again, this QPKG version doesn't need you to buy a licence, unless you wish to add internet radio). You can easily install the official QPKG version (it disables the bundled version) and add custom trees to that version (these are not overwritten at boot or when you update NAS firmware). My instructions on how to change trees in the Qnap QPKG versions of Twonky can be read here (top 'sticky' post).

I would like to hope that Qnap will continue to first release future Twonky versions as QPKG's so we don't have to wait for them to bundle updates into firmware. This makes sense for them, too; they can use us all as beta testers for new Twonky versions, then only update the default (bundled) one when they settle on a version that is well tried and tested (by us Qnap owners).

ReadyNAS doesn't come with Twonky installed by default, but one of their forum members (Super-Poussin) has built excellent Twonky 6.0.34 add-ons for the range of ReadyNAS devices. Starting with his Twonky 5 builds, I asked him to make the /views folder visible (and with write permissions) on the new 'twonky' share created when the add-on is installed. This means folks can easily change the trees using Windows Explorer to simply drop replacement files into that folder (so no need to use PuTTY and SSH). He has kept this feature in all of his builds from 5.1 to the current 6..0.34 one.

Bri

oluv
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Re: Looking for NAS/Media-Server with best Twonky integratio

Post by oluv » Tue Dec 20, 2011 7:53 pm

thanks a lot, this is really helpful.

it is strange that trees have been removed from the web-interface with newer twonky versions. i have seen some old versions, where you could set your own trees directly with ip:90000 any idea why this has been changed?

the present sorting would not be such a problem if at least the mediaplayers would allow resorting as it seems that most metadata is transmitted anyhow regardless of the original tree. with xbmc on ipad i can sort after track, name or whatever, this also works with songbook, but songbook only controls other devices it cannot stream directly on an ipad or iphone. the only app that really works on iOs is plugplayer, but this one cannot resort and is plagued by other bugs, it is crashing sometimes, or stopping playback during a track-skip etc.

it is really frustrating that i have still not managed to access all music from my NAS without limitations.

will have a look at a readynas device or at the qnap.

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