There is an open source server for the MediaWiz that works with Linkplayer:

http://babelfish.altavista.com/babelfish/trurl_pagecontent?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.geocities.co.jp%2FSil iconValley-SanJose%2F3271%2F&lp=ja_en

This version is for unix, but there is a windows port called "Uzu" at:

http://babelfish.altavista.com/babelfish/trurl_pagecontent?lp=ja_en&trurl=http%3a%2f%2fwww.geocities.co.jp%2fSiliconValley-Cupertino%2f2647%2f

The unix version has source code available, but I couldn't find source for the windows port. I tried running the Uzu program, but couldn't get it to work, as most of the dialog box buttons were off the side of the screen.

I used Cygwin http://www.cygwin.com to compile the wizd program, and it works fine in Windows. So I added the following features:

1) automatically combine file series VTS_01_1.VOB, VTS_01_2.VOB, ... into a single file, so it serves to the Linkplayer without pause between parts

2) added .ts and .tp file support

3) added option to automatically skip forward to subdirectory when opening a directory containing only a single subdirectory. So selecting a DVD directory will jump automatically to the VIDEO_TS subdirectory.

4) made it ignore "AUDIO_TS" directories, so feature 3) is more useful

5) fixed a bug in wizd where it closed the server port too quickly

6) adjusted the skin to work better with the LinkPlayer

You will need to put the cygwin1.dll file in the wizd directory, or in the c:\windows directory. [Edit: cygwin doesn't like windows shortcuts, so edit the wizd.conf file and change the "document root" line to have the path to your media files]

The modified source is included in the archive. From the AltaVista translation I gather that the source is completely open - i.e. do what you want with it.

Are there any other open source server options out there that might be better? wizd works fairly well, but all of the source comments are in Japanese, although the code and variable names are all English. Anyone else working on their own servers?

[Edit: Updated the attachment to add support for LinkPlayer photo slideshows, and support for the .url file type used by Internet Explorer shortcuts. Create a relative shortcut in the docroot directory to ..\..\..\..\Documents and Settings\[username]\Favorites, and then that shortcut will appear as a directory on the opening screen, and you can then access the web through any link on your Favorites list.]

[Edit: made a web page to host this server program. See the following link for the latest version: http://www.geocities.com/flipflop7146/wizd.html ]

Here is the translated license statement for wizd:

Q. As for the license of wizd?
A. You do not call complicated thing. Reproduction, transplantation, alteration, reprinting and redistribution, it permits entirely.
Regardless of use, having making favorite, you are not concerned. One by one, permission without seeking.
In order not to be infected wizd itself and to GPL, you pay attention. At the time of redistribution, there is no source open obligation.
Copyright attaching selfishly, re-distributing, you are not concerned. However, as for responsibility from now on way you take.

Inside wizd, libnkf is used.
When alteration reaches to libnkf, please follow to the indication which is written on libnkf.

It is proper, but the insulator it increases on all self responsibilities, REPT (' - `) the no

1) automatically combine file series VTS_01_1.VOB, VTS_01_2.VOB, ... into a single file, so it serves to the Linkplayer without pause between parts

2) added .ts and .tp file supportGreat work! can you also have it combine multiple .ts files into one? Do the "next/previous chapter" buttons skip between the parts?

It will combine any file type. If the file you open contains "_1." in the filename, then it will look for matching files with "_2.", "_3." ... "_9.", add up their sizes, and report to the LinkPlayer the total combined size. Then when it reaches the end of one file, it continues streaming uninterrupted with the next file, so the LinkPlayer thinks it is all one file.

This should work fine with .ts files which are in sequence, as long as they have names matching "_1.", "_2." etc. I also made the wizd server recognize both .ts and .tp files as valid video files, and automatically changes the .tp extension to .ts so the LinkPlayer will play them.

It does not use playlists, so you can't skip between file segments using the skip button, though. If you are streaming .vod files, you will be able to "go to N %" where 100% is now the end of the last file in the sequence.

I'll start a little documentation of the HTML that the LinkPlayer expects:

Links are of the form:

<A HREF="..." tvid="key" vod="..." pod="x,y,...">Link label</A>

tvid defines a remote control key which activates that link. The codes that I know are:

pgup: |<< (previous chapter)
pgdn: >>| (next chapter)
play: Play button

You can also use any number from 0 to 999. Multiple digits can be entered using either the "PBC" button, or just entering multiple digits in sequence. It appears that if all links are single digits, then it doesn't wait for a second digit, but if you have any multi-digit links, then it will wait a second or two after the digit is entered to see if you press another digit.

vod defines video playback. Valid values are either vod="playlist" or vod="mpeg"

For vod="playlist", the HREF="..." is assumed to point to a playlist file, which is simply a text file with one video URL per line. The URLs must be absolute, they can't be relative to the current directory. You can also use the format :

Video label|0|0|http://192.168.0.1:8000/link/to/file.mpg|

in which case the "Video label" string is displayed on the screen when using the next or previous chapter buttons.

For vod="mpeg", the HREF="..." is assume to point to a streamable MPEG video file. It can be either a relative or absolute link.

For pod="...", the "..." is assumed to be a link to a playlist file of photos, with the format:

10|0|Picture label|http://192.168.0.1:8000/link/to/picture.jpg|

The "10" says how long to spend on the picture. The "picture label" string is displayed when the picture displays. You can leave this blank if you don't want labels. For sequences of pictures, append another record on the same line. You might be able to use separate lines for each picture too???

For links with pod="x,y,http://...", the href="..." link can either be href="mute", in which case it does nothing, or href="link/to/mp3.pls" in which case it will play music and pictures at the same time. The x and y values in the "x,y,http://..." are x=1 means next/prev button changes slides, and the music plays in the background, x=2 means next/prev buttons changes songs, and the photos play in the background. y=starting slide number in the playlist, where 1=the first slide.

Hi guys. I don't know if I am allowed to add my own program to the list. I currently call it "llink" cos, well, I'm crap with names.

Works on all Unix, and Windows in native code (and cygwin if you prefer). It is a bit rough around the edges as I dislike doing html.

I did simple bookmarks, and automatic .bin -> .mpg convertion on the fly. I Intent to try to do playing of .rar next.

There are some other ideas that I am hoping to add in.

I own a Buffalo Linktheater, so I don't know how well it will work with Linkplayer. I mean, the
media server should work, but I don't know if the SSDP/UPnP will automatically pick up
on you player.

I was hoping I could get someone to at least try it!

CVS at: ":pserver:anoncvs@lundman.net:/home/cvsroot" pass "anoncvs", then
"checkout llink". cd llink/src && gmake

I can do windows binary, but who wants to run some random .exe these days.

Thanks on the insight on the pod="", I was curious about that.

Lund

Originally posted by FlipFlop

... Also, the server will follow relative shortcuts, so I like to make shortcuts to my media from the "docroot" directory. Since this is effectively a unix program, it won't follow shortcuts that include drive letters, so they must be relative, like "../../video"

[Edit: Updated the attachment to add support for LinkPlayer photo slideshows, and support for the .url file type used by Internet Explorer shortcuts. Create a relative shortcut in the docroot directory to ..\..\..\..\Documents and Settings\[username]\Favorites, and then that shortcut will appear as a directory on the opening screen, and you can then access the web through any link on your Favorites list.]

FlipFlop, Thanks for the great work. I just realize how clueless I am with windows, let along unix or linux.

I managed to get the .dll file and started the program you compiled. I added the server in the linkplayer. But I can't seem to have it show any directories or drives. I got the blue screen with "[parent folder]" highlighted, and nothing under.

I don't know how to create relative shortcuts in Windows XP. I tried to open the shortcut you included and edit it by going to properties. Don't think it even opened up right. I google the "relative path/relative shortcut". From I can tell it's not possible. How did you create a shortcut for a drive/folder? I just right clicked on it in windows explorer and select "Create Shortcut". What am I doing wrong?

Thanks again for your help.

shouyi

Originally posted by shouyi

I don'g know how to create relative shortcuts in Windows XP. I tried to open the shortcut you included and edit it by going to properties. Don't think it even opened up right. I google the "relative path/relative shortcut". From I can tell it's not possible. How did you create a shortcut for a drive/folder? I just right clicked on it in windows explorer and select "Create Shortcut". What am I doing wrong?



Everything you need to know for relative shortcuts was included in the quote in your post. You just need a little help applying it to the real world.

..\ is a way to tell the computer go up one directory from where you are now.

If the shortcut is in C:\Program Files\Server Software\docroot and you wanted it to point to C:\movies the relative path would be ..\..\..\movies.
The first ..\ makes the computer look in the Server Software directory, the second ..\ makes it look in Program Files and the third makes it look in C:\ then it changes to the movies directory.

A shortcut to c:\stuff\more stuff\movies would look like ..\..\..\stuff\more stuff\movies.

A shortcut to c:\program files\movies would look like ..\..\movies.

Originally posted by irgaac
Everything you need to know for relative shortcuts was included in the quote in your post. You just need a little help applying it to the real world.

..\ is a way to tell the computer go up one directory from where you are now.

If the shortcut is in C:\Program Files\Server Software\docroot and you wanted it to point to C:\movies the relative path would be ..\..\..\movies.
The first ..\ makes the computer look in the Server Software directory, the second ..\ makes it look in Program Files and the third makes it look in C:\ then it changes to the movies directory.

A shortcut to c:\stuff\more stuff\movies would look like ..\..\..\stuff\more stuff\movies.

A shortcut to c:\program files\movies would look like ..\..\movies.

Thanks irgaac. I understand "..\" part. Wish Window will recongnize . or ... or .... though.

I did try put ..\..\movie in the target field of a shortcut property dialog box. Window won't take it. Is this where I'm doing wrong?

Damn it's hard to get a LinkPlayer owner to try out my software :)

I don't suppose either of you know how you control where the "selector" will be by default? I would be nice if it was on the first file entry, as opposed the "very top most link" in the html page. Perhaps it picks the first anchor with vod tag.

Working on code to download apple.com/trailers for me, presenting a virtual directory on the DVDplayer.

Lund

Originally posted by lundman
Damn it's hard to get a LinkPlayer owner to try out my software :)


I think some of us are just currently overwhelmed to find the time to try all the servers out there and probably most of us who know how to co a cvs repository and build it may be trying to hack togeter a server of our own...

I will try next week to download your repository.

What is it written in I take it its not an apache+ psp web site like most of the others?

I turned on the logging for Wizd. Here are some messges I got after "HTTP file menu create":

2005/01/21 12:12:49 count_file_num() start. path='./docroot/'
2005/01/21 12:12:49 './docroot/Favorites.lnk' Unknown. directory check start.
2005/01/21 12:12:49 'Favorites.lnk' Unknown!!!
2005/01/21 12:12:49 './docroot/Music.lnk' Unknown. directory check start.
2005/01/21 12:12:49 'Music.lnk' Unknown!!!

Does it mean the program can't read the shortcuts I created?

I can easily to a .exe for Windows if that is easier for people. And most unix boxes, but cvs is quite easy there..

It's written in straight C.

Lund

Oklatest cvs build is here:

http://www.lundman.net/ftp/llink/win32/llink-1.0.b235.zip

To try it:

Unzip
edit llink.conf to change the ROOT to point to at least one valid path
run llink.exe

I am hoping the SSDP discovery is the same for Linkplayer so it will just come up (under port 8001, but you can chance that.)

Lund

Originally posted by shouyi
I don't know how to create relative shortcuts in Windows XP. I tried to open the shortcut you included and edit it by going to properties. Don't think it even opened up right. I google the "relative path/relative shortcut". From I can tell it's not possible. How did you create a shortcut for a drive/folder? I just right clicked on it in windows explorer and select "Create Shortcut". What am I doing wrong?
I created my shortcuts using the "ln -s" command in a shell from Cygwin. I just tried, and it doesn't like the shortcuts created by Windows. Sorry for the misleading comments.

What will work is if you edit the wizd.conf file, and change the "document root" line to use "document root c:\media files", using the absolute path to the base directory with your media files. You could even use "c:\" which would open up all of your computer's files to browsing. You can use either forward slashes or back-slashes in the path name.

lundman

My player connects but I only get a black screen with the original linkplayer server icons and nothing else comes up. I can hit the home key and get back to the choose server screen on the player but I get nothing else. I installed to
C;\llink, edited the ROOT to be I:\ which has some of my video stuff in it. No joy,
I'm sure I'm doing something wrong.

Any clues from the output of the program, like returning 404 No such file or similar? The only thing important is the run it with current directory being where the conf file is (and of course skin/ directory if left unthouched in the conf file)

Did you have to manually add llink to your DVD player, or did the SSDP discovery work fine?

Are you running anything else on the same port as llink? Default is 8001 in the .conf file.

You should also be able to point a browser to the same place, ie:

http://localhost:8001/



FlipFlop: The better way to make symlinks in Windows is with a program called "junction". Works only in NTFS, but precisely like you would expect symlinks to work. I ship an exe with lundftpd for Win32, but you should be able to google for it easily.

Lund

Excellent tip!!! To create links to all of your media from the docroot directory for wizd, download the junction program and save it (junction.exe) in the wizd directory. The download link is:

http://www.sysinternals.com/ntw2k/source/misc.shtml#junction

Then start a command prompt, and type in the following


cd "C:\Program Files\I-O DATA DEVICE,INC\wizd\docroot"
..\junction Favorites "%USERPROFILE%\Favorites"
..\junction Photos "%USERPROFILE%\My Documents\My Pictures"
..\junction Music "%USERPROFILE%\My Documents\My Music"
..\junction HDTV "c:\HDTV"
..\junction ReplayTV "c:\ReplayTV\Local_Guide"

Then each of these will show up as a directory on the main wizd screen.

Originally posted by snoots
My player connects but I only get a black screen with the original linkplayer server icons and nothing else comes up.
I get the same results. The output from llink indicates that it is trying to create temporary files in "/tmp" and failing.

So I've been playing around with wizd. Very barebones in terms of features, but it seems to play videos OK, and mp3s. (Not complaining :) it's open source, so it's great!)

Slideshows are a different story. I can play all pictures in a directory (not recursively though). I'm a little confused by playlists. I can make them, but can't seem to get wizd to use them. What's the easiest way to play all the photos in a recursive set of folders, and have them accompanied by mp3s, in another set of folders?

(Preferably randomly, but I know that's probably asking a lot :D )

Hah!ok that would precisely be the program. I assume /tmp exists, being from the Unix world. Let me make Win32 use C:\temp or similar, until I move it into the conf file

program = problem.


I have now augmented the tmpdir location to .conf file, under the SKIN tag.

Apologise for such short sightedness. I have a /tmp on the drive I start llink from so it just worked.

Please let me know if it works any better now. I have plenty coding energy for this project at the moment so I want to get as many neat features in as possible.

http://www.lundman.net/ftp/llink/win32/llink-1.0.b236.zip


Lund

Originally posted by FlipFlop
Excellent tip!!! To create links to all of your media from the docroot directory for wizd, download the junction program and save it (junction.exe) in the wizd directory. The download link is:

http://www.sysinternals.com/ntw2k/source/misc.shtml#junction

....

Thanks. Junction command worked. Did try ln -s before that. The new link/shortcut created by junction has the same icon like a folder. When I tried to move it, I got the dialog box and I quickly canceled that. Was it trying to move the original directory?

BTW, the internet radio html should be in the doctoot or any of the linked dirctory. or the system won't see it. It's now in the wizd folder.

I never did figure out how to junction the favorite folder, even using the full path. I just copy the whole directory into the docroot. that worked.

I like the idea of having secret directories I can access like a speed dial. But have not figure out how to make it work yet. Plus, it took out that directory from the regular browser. It's secret alright, just not accessible from anywhere. When I have some time I'll have to check wizd_menu.c to check the source code.

The thing I like the most about the Wizd server: different media files in same folder are accessible at the same time without going through VIDEO/PHOTO/MUSIC seperately.

Things I'd like to see implemented: some kind of display to show me where I'm at in the middle of a video playback. either on the player or with a push of button (info?) to be displayed on TV.

Thanks again

Originally posted by lundman
program = problem.

Please let me know if it works any better now. I have plenty coding energy for this project at the moment so I want to get as many neat features in as possible.

Lund

Hi Lund. Got the new version running. It's interesting the program will read each folder and concatenate the contents into one big list. Any chance I can let it just display my folder list instead?

Other things I'd like to see:

1. Display of running time or time remaining on any file type. Ideally on the dvd player itself. Push a button to get this info displayed on tv will also do.
2. Search function to forward or rewind to a specific point/time.
3. Resume of play. It would be nice to remember more then just one file.
4. screen saver.
5. Display photo while playing music and vise versa.
6. Delete files.

It would be nice to have just one server to work on, instead of a bunch of servers.

Thanks

[QUOTE]Originally posted by shouyi
>[B]Hi Lund. Got the new version running. It's interesting the program will read each folder >and concatenate the contents into one big list. Any chance I can let it just display my >folder list instead?

Are you referring to that you can specify multiple ROOT directories? I thought it was a shame you can only specify one, when implementing more than one was not so difficult. (Although with one, you can use symlinks too). I am uncertain what you mean by "Any chance I can let it just display my folder list instead?".. Just define one ROOT?

Although, I want to be able to specify additional ROOTs as appearing under a sub dir, instead of all in one. Since having a folder of the same name, say "mp3" on both ROOTs lead to a clash.


>Other things I'd like to see:

>1. Display of running time or time remaining on any file type. Ideally on the dvd player >itself. Push a button to get this info displayed on tv will also do.

As a media server, we can do nothing on the player beyond what it support. I would love to get in touch with the bios developers (myiBox?) for a few suggestions and bug fixes. However, it should be feasable to put in EST video length in the directory listing.

>2. Search function to forward or rewind to a specific point/time.

Yeah this is needed! Linktheater lets you hop to a percentage, which "will do", but it would be much nicer if you could send the starting percentage to the DVD player with the URL.

>3. Resume of play. It would be nice to remember more then just one file.

At the moment I save bookmarks for any mpg file (played for longer than 30 seconds). It does not work with xvid/divx yet, I need to do extra code to handle seeking. But then, it would be better if the player could handle [2] above, then we only need to save it.

>4. screen saver.

Linktheater has a screensaver. Not something you can do from media daemon, unless you can PUSH http refresh later.

>5. Display photo while playing music and vise versa.

Yeah I want to do this, flipflop very kindly explained what was needed. I actually would prefer if you could go back to listing files with it was playing, so you could potentially be adding more files to playlist as it plays. Oh well.

>6. Delete files.

Yeah, that can be done. Just add a html anchor, and a new cgi command for deletion.

> It would be nice to have just one server to work on, instead of a bunch of servers.

Agreed. I was tempted to start working on "wizd" myself, there is nothing wrong with it at all. But, I was spoiling for a coding project, so I thought I would just do it myself, and make sure it works on all platforms natively.

I want to plug in mencoder next, so I can convert things like quicktime to raw stream to send to my player.

ALso, thank you for trying out my program. I was curious if it would work on Linkplayer. I guess the SSDP announce must be the same.

Lund

Originally posted by shouyi
BTW, the internet radio html should be in the doctoot or any of the linked dirctory. or the system won't see it. It's now in the wizd folder.
Not sure what the internet radio file was there. It was there for wizd, so I'm guessing there may be some hidden way to access it. However if you make internet explorer shortcuts to the internet radio stations you want to listen to, then they can be accessed directly in the menus without making any special HTML pages.
[QUOTE]
I never did figure out how to junction the favorite folder, even using the full path. I just copy the whole directory into the docroot. that worked.
The favorites folder should junction just like everything else. It worked for me, anyway.
I like the idea of having secret directories I can access like a speed dial. But have not figure out how to make it work yet. Plus, it took out that directory from the regular browser. It's secret alright, just not accessible from anywhere. When I have some time I'll have to check wizd_menu.c to check the source code.
What wizd is doing with the secret directories is it puts them in hidden HTML code on the page, accessed by pressing the 3-digit number on your remote control. Each "secret_directory" has a 3-digit number assigned in the wizd.conf file.
Things I'd like to see implemented: some kind of display to show me where I'm at in the middle of a video playback. either on the player or with a push of button (info?) to be displayed on TV.
This is something that I-O Data has to implement in their firmware, because once you start playing the video, all the server does is serve up bytes of the video file.

Originally posted by shouyi
Thanks. Junction command worked. Did try ln -s before that. The new link/shortcut created by junction has the same icon like a folder. When I tried to move it, I got the dialog box and I quickly canceled that. Was it trying to move the original directory?



Based on my experience, I would say "yes". The flipside is if that you delete the "junction", you delete THE ORIGINAL SOURCE FILES!!! Big difference from a symbolic link in the Unix world.

I learned this the hard way, when I uninstalled the Avel Link Server software, with contained a wizd subfolder, which contained a junction to some folders in "My Documents". Next time I started up the Link Player, I see a "Default folder contains no files" message. The uninstall had deleted the folder, and everything in it... including the original videos, photos, favorites, and music in my collection.

To make a long story short, make sure you have some good "undeleting" software, and you might be able to recover a lot of your lost files (as long as too much time hasn't gone by). Use caution when making junctions. Only "junction -d" will remove the symbolic link properly.

Originally posted by lundman

Are you referring to that you can specify multiple ROOT directories? I thought it was a shame you can only specify one, when implementing more than one was not so difficult. (Although with one, you can use symlinks too). I am uncertain what you mean by "Any chance I can let it just display my folder list instead?".. Just define one ROOT?

Although, I want to be able to specify additional ROOTs as appearing under a sub dir, instead of all in one. Since having a folder of the same name, say "mp3" on both ROOTs lead to a clash.

Lund [/B]

I know I didn't explain that clearly. Sorry. I have set up 3 root directories(drives actually). When I pick Llink server, it basically expanded all three directories and appended all the files and folders into one big list. I was hoping to see three drives. Could be just me, I thought it's easier to drill down that way.

Also, I like the Advanced server where it lists the path of all the parent folders on top of the screen. For example "video\H drive\tv\24\s3" you can scroll through them and jump to any level from right there.

Thanks again. Let us know if there are other thing you'd like us test.

Originally posted by FlipFlop
The favorites folder should junction just like everything else. It worked for me, anyway.

What wizd is doing with the secret directories is it puts them in hidden HTML code on the page, accessed by pressing the 3-digit number on your remote control. Each "secret_directory" has a 3-digit number assigned in the wizd.conf file.



There is a internetradio.html file in the wizd folder. Put it in any folder that wizd serves, linkplayer can open it up and I was able to listen to radios that way.

I tried to make the secret directory working but failed. I was not able to find the hidden code on any pages though. The log seem to indicate that the path was not generated correctly. It always wants to add the curret path in front of the secret dir. But I want to make the secret path absolute. accessible from anywhere.

Originally posted by Pariah69
Based on my experience, I would say "yes". The flipside is if that you delete the "junction", you delete THE ORIGINAL SOURCE FILES!!! Big difference from a symbolic link in the Unix world.
...
Use caution when making junctions. Only "junction -d" will remove the symbolic link properly.

Thanks to point that out. I did play with "-d" switch to delete some links I created in the wrong folder, after I failed to move them.

shouyi:

Yeah, I know what you mean now, yes. That is what I mean I would like to be able to add ROOT as a subdir of "root" instead of being a root itself. Should be trivial, I just have no done it yet,

Have you tried playing a .bin file directly, it works for me, but I've found one .bin file where it does not play with audio. So I must need to do something extra

Lund

Originally posted by lundman
shouyi:

Have you tried playing a .bin file directly, it works for me, but I've found one .bin file where it does not play with audio. So I must need to do something extra

Lund

Lund, Don't have any bin image to test. I extracted all of them. I'll test it when I find something.

Momitsu Linux Version available at

http://www.momitsu.com/products/v880n/momitsux-p10.tar.tar

requires java if your linux does not have it, you can get it from ibm google on java for linux ppc

brr java :) Same was with the buffalo Windows server, it needs java. One of the reasons I wrote my own.

Combining multiple .VOB into one large virtual one is a good idea, I might have to do that too.

Lund

Wow am i a total idiot or maybe I'm just burnt out writing asp this month but i cant figure out what I'm doing how to make this work FlipFlop

Will this work with the V880N player also?

I agree w/ you webboy. Can't begin to understand where to start with this wizd program.

The support for .ts files without renaming them to .mpg files is GREAT. Most of my files, however, are in the standard HiPix format:

filename.0000.ts
.
.
.
filename.0099.ts

Any thought of supporting that format in addition to the _1.vob format?

To use wizd, you need to do the following:

1) Unzip the wizd.zip
2) Get the cygwin1.dll file and put it in the directory with wizd.exe
3) Edit the wizd.conf file and change the document_root line to point to where your files are located.
4) Run the wizd.exe program
5) You should then get the "wizd" link showing on your LinkPlayer

The tricky part is getting the cygwin1.dll file. You can get this from http://www.cygwin.com and installing cygwin. You just need the "base" package. Alternatively you can download the cygwin-1.5.12-1.tar.bz2 file from ftp://mirrors.rcn.net/mirrors/sources.redhat.com/cygwin/release/cygwin/ and extract the cygwin1.dll file from it.

Originally posted by bpearse
Any thought of supporting that format in addition to the _1.vob format?
This wouldn't be too hard to do. I'll see what I can do.

Ok a good nights sleep does wonders for the brain. Got it working i had expected to see a new link on the link player but that was not the case i click on the link i normally use to get to my pc and bingo I got this pretty blue screen with all my media (after pointing my doc_root to my media folder) now the fun begins...

none of my .ts files will play

love the joining of .vobs will have to watch one to see how that works out..

now its time to look at the skin because this needs some help...

FlipFlop,
the paused between the vob (before you combined)
it that a software limitation of the server software? or hardware?

There is no othery way to buffer or preprocess the next vob so that the iodata only see a constant stream of video data but not 2 saparated streams in software?
does it pause the same way with Dvix and other vid formats as long as they are multiple files?
The reason I ask is because if there is a way to make the IODATA sees a constant stream (with different video files) (step 1) then instead of combine the vob, you can analze the ifo, and know where are the chapter points etc, the server software can then break the vid stream or combine them based on the user request. (step 2) This goes for other video formats in the future also. A pause between the file can be very annoying especially when you watching video ( then you have have to combine the files for every vid format to get them play w/o pauses?)

Anh

The pause between files is a limitation of the LinkPlayer firmware. The only way to avoid a pause is to make the LinkPlayer think it is only playing one file.

You can merge any type of file, but unless they were originally part of one big file, it will likely confuse the LinkPlayer.

Lundman,

Great work! I like the no java side of your code. It would be nice to be able to change the font color. Any way to do this? I changed the background to a lighter one and now things are unreadable.

Keep up the great work by the way. I am really looking forward for a delete feature so I can remove files I have watched from my SageTV prv.

Cheers!

I got this information from I-O Data. These are the remote key mappings for the tvid values <A HREF="link..." tvid="KEY">. This should be useful for those people wanting to create their own skins or their own servers for the LinkPlayer2. I was hoping they would have more of the keys mapped, but this is a start. Notably missing are the rewind, fast-foward, title, search, and info keys.


RCU key TVID mapped
======= ===========
Page Up PGUP
Page Down PGDN
Stop ESC
Return BACK
Home HOME
Setup SETUP
Up UP
Down DOWN
Left LEFT
Right RIGHT
Repeat REPEAT
Play/Pause or Play PLAY
Numeric key 0-9 0-9

i've been reading the wizd code, i see what you did to combine files. I am stilling waiting for the linkplayer to get here to try this out, just got a fedex tracking ;) , but I am still thinking about the dvd playing w/ chapter and may other dvd feature later.

Look like the code do a 128K send at a time, and the IR remote signal is comming in the form of an http_msg_packet, and the code keep track the IR command in real time--> just don't know which ir is which yet, got to monitor the receive packet from the player to see.

I am thinking about create a saparate http_send_file function that only deal with dvd, basically will do an ifo chapter analyze before send the file to the player, if a chapter skip is detected, (just wait/ not sure if we can quit the current 128k sent/flush it somehow, if not there will be a small delay for the player to complete the current playing ) and the next 128KB send with start at the next chapter of the dvd. That is a start for chaptering. There a number of dvd ifo analyzer code out there.
What do you think? I have not actually start coding yet, just reading the src code. I wish we can translate those japanese comment, that would be great.

Regards,
Anh

http://216.239.37.104/translate_c?hl=en&u=http://www.uranus.dti.ne.jp/~kikuchan/wizd/&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dwizd.conf%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D

Here is the Wizd remodelling edition 0.12h RC3 (test edition) - 2005/01/27
With all the latest changes, it am still trying to understand what all of the changes, but it looks like people are still actively developing code for this.
VOB file play already been done a while back...

Google Japanese -> english is a bit hard to understand
===========
* Wizd remodelling edition 0.12h RC3 (test edition) - 2005/01/27
It can download from this way.
Modification past record abbreviation. The document please see....
When the MP3 GENRE tag /HTTP_HOST tag corresponding ‚Ä it does, patch

* Wizd remodelling edition 0.12g - 2004/07/29
It can download from this way.


Modification past record to wizd
* Wizd 0.12g
* But operational lack of confirmation the wizd 0.12f4 was taken in source completely.
With this correspondence it seems even in the.sv3, is. The ‚° ‚¡ which it does.
* At the skin, it tried to cut indicatory file name on the basis of the width of the font, (details later description)
* Information of the AVI was made indication possible, (experiment. the FPS, the duration, the WxH, the vcodec and the interleave. detailed later description)







* The case where the professional comb is used with the tsv fine control
* Professional at the time of the comb, it conveys to the partner the Host: Being not to have port number, correction
* Professional the URL it tried also the list at the time and the SinglePlay et cetera of the comb to substitute
* Behavior of the uri_encode a little modification (+ of the space -> the %20)
* As for line there is no COLUMN, the ƒˆƒl which is the ROW.... addition.
* In addition is added the tag
which







* ID3 tune name of the tag at the time of the sky, does not refer to ID3 tag information, the sea urchin it did
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
* Wizd 0.12fb (trivial modification)
* The SinglePlay being functioning not to have done with the SVI and the VOB, correction
* Wizd 0.12fa (patch; Trivial modification)
* Extension replacement and processing, with the capital letter extension being functioning not to have done well, correction
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
* Wizd 0.12f
* Simple CGI loading (only GET method...)
* File Not at the time of the Found, / to the Redirect it tried to do
* The number of clients was made restriction possible
* One for when in the skin, when the client is the PC so is not, tag addition
(In WIZD_IF_CLIENT_IS_NOT_PC and the WIZD_IF_CLIENT_IS_PC. meaning note...)
* Professional the comb and execution permission of the CGI were made the respective setting possible
* In skin, tag addition for date * time * present directory name indication
* In the hypothetical directory due to the.tsv, it tried also the link to other than the existence file to be able to stretch
* Hypothetical directory (.tsv) the skin of business was drawn up. (Line_pseudo.html)
* Shuffle function loading (? Sort=shuffle)
* When with access to the directory, / with the terminal it is not done, the Location it tried to send
* Even in case of the MOVIE file it tried to apply the action=SinglePlay
* Whether or not the PC it tried to utilize the value of the user_agent_pc of the wizd.conf to deciding
* Directory same name deletion only 1 time that tried applies function vis-a-vis one character string
Example; Test/testtest1.avi old: Test/1.avi new: Test/test1.avi
* When the document_root is strange, putting out warning, end
* From the browser.. /.. /.. /.. /.. of controling the fact that it can access the /etc/passwd and the like the intention
* BODY the tag and variable in order to appoint the onloadset to the tag were added. (As for details separate paragraph)
* Line the tag which acquires number (the WIZD_INSERT_LINE_COLUMN_NUM) it added.
* The AAC (the m4a) it added to the wizd_param.c. (Thx 371 person @Part8)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
* Wizd 0.12e
The gigo being densely, it took in the wizd 0.12da which you find completely.
The Ozeki merged kana? With it to be, -.
With with the notion that where you say, details are written on the readme2.txt, we would like to see, is.
* To correspond to the continual playback of the VOB wizd with taking in the 0.12da, and so on and so on.
* Professional the occasion where the comb is utilized, it is possible to change the User-Agent mandatorily
* Without the extension the file made non- indicatory
* Date indication of file from file status correction time in data correction time modification
* The.hnl -> the extension read the.hnl.mpg and apply addition
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
* Before the wizd 0.12d (difference with the original wizd 0.12)
* Reading cash function of buffer (beginning of thing)
* Professional comb function (html rewriting function it is attached)
* Tsv the hypothetical directory function by the file (the for AX10?
* Play list formation function for PC (mplayer and for winamp? Experimental cord/code)
* MP3 ID3v2 simple correspondence to
tag * Over correspondence to file size indication of 2g (correction)
* When AVI there is a SVI of the same name as the file, that information indication
* When SVI information of the file is indicated, [ ] () deletion does functioning
* M3u it meaning that the file and the plw file have almost done the interchangeability, it reads also the m3u file
* Disregard in directory RECYCLER and System Volume Information of Windows addition
* The occasion where the file of the extension which does not know is hidden, the extension it is not it hides also the file
* Play the list it is not included in the allplay
* When being the daemon, usage condition of cash progress bar indication
* It meaning that file size acquisition of the over 2g of the SVI is easy to become strange correction

I ported some of my enhancements to the newer wizd_0.12h_rc3 version, and also added libdvdread support so you can navigate DVDs by title and chapter. I also tweaked their theme so the buttons match those available on the LinkPlayer2 remote control. For details, see http://www.geocities.com/flipflop7146/wizd.html

Enjoy!

Gonna test this now. You saying you've added DVD menu support via .ifo files to this software? If so we've got a winner here.

getting error cygjpeg-62.dll not found.

I got it to run but if flashes open then closes. Won't stay open and running like previous version. Excited to try it out but no luck so far.

Oops, I didn't realize the cygjpeg62.dll file was required. I've added it to the archive. Note that I also bundled in the cygwin1.dll file so you shouldn't need to install cygwin to get this to run. One of the enhancements that was added to the 0.12h version was the ability to rescale jpeg images, and this function requires the cygjpeg62.dll file.

Another enhancement of 0.12h was the addition of cgi-bin scripts. This, combined with installing the full cygwin package (including perl) allows you to make perl scripts to customize the server. This could be a very powerful function, although it isn't used with the default configuration.

Can you try opening up a command prompt, and running it from there? Then you will be able to see the output of the program, and any error messages it may produce.

If you run the program without the wizd.conf file present (needs to be in the current directory) then it will run with all default values, and the default is to fork off into a hidden background process. Run Task Manager to see if you have a wizd.exe process running, and click End Process to kill it.

If the program is working, you can point Internet Explorer to http://localhost:8004/ to view the pages. Without a wizd.conf file the server would be running on http://localhost:8000/ and the pages returned will probably be blank.

Another thing you can do is edit the wizd.conf file and set:

flag_debug_log_output true
debug_log_filename wizd_debug.log

This will log extensive debug information to the wizd_debug.log file, which should also give error messages if something is going wrong.

Also, once you have things configured and working to your liking, you can change the wizd.conf file as follows:

flag_daemon true

This will make the server run in the background as a hidden process, so you don't have to have a console window open all of the time. If you do this, then you will need to use Task Manager to kill the process, though, if you want to change the configuration and restart it.

The DVD navigation support only lists DVD contents by titles and chapters. There is no menu support, because menus are a completely different beast. The DVD menus are video files with button graphics overlaid on them, and I think this would be difficult to impossible to do without direct support in the LinkPlayer2 firmware.

I did open a command prompt and run it. It runs, then stops and I get the command prompt again. It's not running in the background, I checked that.

Can you copy the output of the program and paste it here? Also, if you could enable the debugging output and the attach the wizd_debug.log file, then I can look it over to see what is going wrong.

Microsoft(R) Windows DOS
(C)Copyright Microsoft Corp 1990-2001.

C:\DOCUME~1\SCOTTB~1>cd c:\wizd

C:\WIZD>wizd
wizd 0.12h PVB start.
config './wizd.conf' open.
key='document_root', value='c:\'
key='server_port', value='8000'
key='client_language_code', value='en'
key='server_language_code', value='auto'
key='flag_use_skin', value='true'
key='skin_root', value='./skin'
key='skin_name', value='linkplayer'
key='sort_rule', value='name_up'
key='page_line_max', value='14'
key='flag_unknown_extention_file_hide', value='true'
key='flag_allplay_filelist_adjust', value='false'
key='flag_hide_same_svi_name_directory', value='false'
key='flag_auto_detect', value='true'
key='server_name', value='Wizd'
key='flag_daemon', value='false'
key='flag_execute_cgi', value='true'
key='flag_filename_adjustment_for_windows', value='true'
EOF Detect.

C:\WIZD>

FlipFlop,

I use DVD Shrink 3.2 to make a copy of my DVD to Hard Drive with VIDEO_TS folder. Each time I try to play any of the chapter is say "libdvdread: Encrypted DVD support unavailable." Am I doing something wrong here?

Sorry for the bad english.

spyfy: Everything looks normal there. Could you turn on the debug output, and see what gets reported? Do you have some other server (momitsu, link server) running that is already using port 8000?

tomcc: Do the chapters play on the LinkPlayer? I get the same message, but it plays fine anyway, so I didn't think that message was anything to be concerned about. I think this is just some automatic warning in the libdvdread library, but never bothered to chase down where it was coming from.

Originally posted by FlipFlop
spyfy: Everything looks normal there. Could you turn on the debug output, and see what gets reported? Do you have some other server (momitsu, link server) running that is already using port 8000?

tomcc: Do the chapters play on the LinkPlayer? I get the same message, but it plays fine anyway, so I didn't think that message was anything to be concerned about. I think this is just some automatic warning in the libdvdread library, but never bothered to chase down where it was coming from.

OK, I got it to work. It seem like the dir must be:

document_root ./docroot

If I use other then ./docroot like ../../movies it will not play. Do you know why? Thanks.

I built the dvdread lib also, could not get the dvdcss to statically link to it to read encrypted dvd yet. oh well, don't really need dvdcss anyway

I ran some translation program to convert the config and readme file to english. broken english, but better than nothing. This will help other coders if interested in the program.

here it is. from japanese .12h_rc3 wizd version

I tried to convert the comment in the code to english, but did not finish it ;)

Just for completeness:
Here is the original japanese src code wizd_0_12h_rc3

They have CGI script supported for external functions...etc.

I do not know why "../../movies" would not work for document root. Probably has something to do with how they translate URL to directory and back again.

You can use forms like the following (both refer to the same location):

c:\path\to\movies

or

/cygdrive/c/path/to/movies

Originally posted by bananags
Just for completeness:
Here is the original japanese src code wizd_0_12h_rc3

They have CGI script supported for external functions...etc.
They have some sample CGI scripts there, but it didn't seem there was anything useful yet. Some were for reading DVD chapters, but I integrated that into the main server program.

But those scripts will work with the version I compiled. If you have cygwin installed, you can also use Perl scripts for CGI functions, which could prove to be quite useful.

someone was screaming about a delete file feature? cgi would probably easy to do.

they also implemented sometype of cache or buffer management in the rc3 code. i still not sure what they are doing yet or what is the otimum setting, but that info in the readme that i translated in broken english that I have a hard time to understand.

I like your idea of building the libread in the code. Less files to manage.
Just got the Linkplayer a few days ago, have not have much time to play with it yet.

FlipFlop, you are welcome to include the docs files that I translated to english in your zip and edit some of the languague in there too.
Maybe add the credit for the work that you've done in there too, so that there is a history of the versions. Thus, we don't have to work on something that already been fixed or changed ;-)

You know the code better, you can edit the doc better. I have to guess a lot of thing and try to figure out that the code is doing and what the readme is saying. (i dont speak Japanese so, tranlation is done by software only)

Regards,
Anh

Hello FlipFlop,

Thanks for taking time to get wizd working for windows. I'm trying to use it and have run into a couple issues. Please advise.

I'm in the same boat as having to keep the ./docroot for the document root setting. Otherwise it doesn't work properly.. it shows the vob files rather than the chapter listing.

I am also using the junction.exe for links to other folders.

When I load up the wizd.exe everything seems to be working and from the linkplayer I can see the listings for chapter files. The problem arise when I play the files.. it skips like crazy and the sound keeps dropping in and out. I'm not experiencing drop outs and skips like this on the avel link software. Also, I'm getting these two error messages from the wizd command line:

libdvdread: Encrypted DVD support unavailable. | 0
libdvdread: Couldn't find device name.

Any would be greatly appreciated. Keep up the good work!

The messages:

libdvdread: Encrypted DVD support unavailable. | 0
libdvdread: Couldn't find device name.

are just messages output when the libdvdread library is used. These are normal, and do NOT indicate any sort of error. I'll see if I can remove this output from the library to avoid confusion.

I'm not sure why people have problems with document_root other than ./docroot. I use an absolute path:

document_root c:\program files\i-o data devices,inc\wizd\docroot

I also don't know why your streams would skip and drop out. I didn't touch any of the streaming code, so I really don't know what they did or didn't do right there. Mine streams fine on a 100Mbps wired connection from a 3GHz Pentium IV.

I've posted a new version to http://www.geocities.com/flipflop7146/wizd.html

This version fixes a problem with the DVD chapter playlist generation, which hopefully will solve some of the problems people were reporting. I also added an "alias" option in the wizd.conf file which you can use instead of junctions or symbolic links.

FlipFlop, thanks for the great work. Just one more problem, I don't know if is just me or not. When playing DVD the video is jerky, audio is ok. I have a P4-300.

Do you have any idea? Thanks.

There are 2 settings in the wizd.conf file that deal with streaming buffers:

buffer_size 16
flag_buffer_send_asap true

I'm not sure exactly what they do, but you can try adjusting them to see if some combination works better. I would suggest first trying the above values, then try with "flag_buffer_send_asap false". The default buffer_size is 1024.

Also, turn off the debugging output if you currently have it enabled:

flag_debug_log_output false

tomcc: I tweaked the buffering a little bit to see if it improves streaming. See if the attached version works any better for you. I would recommend setting:

buffer_size 16
flag_buffer_send_asap false

Another thing that could make a difference: if you've tweaked your MTU or RWIN settings using a program like DrTCP, then maybe those changes are the source of your streaming problem. Try reverting to the default settings, or else try MTU=1500 and RWIN=32768

[Edit: removed the attachment because the streaming buffer parameters can now be configured in the current version]

First of all to FlipFlop -- WONDERFUL job!!!

I used DVDShrink to convert my DVD collection and sorted to be compatible with myHTPC. now want to use same file format, and document root is set to ./docroot and I used the alias fxn to point to my dvd's

it's skipping like crazy with the following in the DOS window

** libdvdread: CHECK_VALUE failed in ifo_read.c:1422 ***
** for c_adt->cell_adr_table[i].vob_id <= c_adt->nr_of_vobs ***

what does this mean? how can I correct this?

for some reason I had one dvd folder with just the vob files and no ifo and it ran fine.

thanks

T

FlipFlop,

I try everything you suggest, but still the same. I remember your first version has no problem.

Do you still have your very first version I can try it? Thanks.

I uploaded a new version which has more streaming settings that can be tweaked, and also adds a bookmark function and fixed a few bugs.

I can reproduce the jerky streaming on my setup if I force the stream_rcvbuf and stream_sndbuf settings both to 8192. It works well with values of 32768 or 65536.

The very first version I posted was based on wizd 0.12 (current version is based on 0.12h rc3). The "h rc3" version has some new buffering code which I think may have made conditions worse instead of better. The older version just did a simple while(!done) { read(buffer); send(buffer); }

I've attached the original 0.12 version.

[Edit:The lastest version is still at http://www.geocities.com/flipflop7146/wizd.html ]

FlipFlop,

I found the problem. It is your cygwin1.dll (9/4/2004) that cause this jerky video. I went to download cygwin1.dll (11./10/2004) from www.cygwin.com and it fix my problem.

Sorry the file is too big to attach to this forum.

I updated the cygwin1.dll file in the wizd distribution, and did some tweaking and testing with the streaming. With the current version I can stream HDTV broadcasts over 54g wireless with the following wizd.conf settings:

buffer_size 16
stream_chunk_size 32768
stream_rcvbuf 4096
stream_sndbuf 65538
flag_buffer_send_asap false

Downloaded the new version, now the dos window no longer shows the error

** libdvdread: CHECK_VALUE failed in ifo_read.c:1422 ***
** for c_adt->cell_adr_table[i].vob_id <= c_adt->nr_of_vobs ***

and instead of skipping once every minute or so it now skips about 4-5 times per movie.

Flipflop, any insight on why this is? using vob files from dvdshrink?

i'd hate to go through my whole collection to join all the vob files or convert to divx. system is hooked up via ethernet.

T

Originally posted by ICU
and instead of skipping once every minute or so it now skips about 4-5 times per movie.
Are the 4-5 skips regularly spaced in time, or randomly spaced? Do they occur at the same point each time you play the movie? If they are regularly spaced, then maybe there is a program bug with the transition between files, or maybe the buffering falls behind when the new file needs to be opened. If they happen randomly, then it is probably a case of network issues, or the buffering isn't quite right for your network configuration.

Do you have the same problem when using the Link Server program to play the same files?

What make/model of ethernet hardware do you have, and how long are your ethernet cables?

Flip Flop,

Did some more tests.

The skips are always at the same time in both wizd and linkplayer, so not randomly.

re-ripped the DVD via DVDShrink several times with same result

Doubt it's a network problem. using gigabit ethernet hubs, longest stretch 15ft.

Will probably try something else to rip.

plays fine in powerDVD.
even tried one vob file instead of many, same result.

doesn't happen on all dvd rips, perhaps noticed 1 in 10 so far.
strange.

T

is that a multiangle DVD that you playing ICU?
maybe there is bug in the libdvdread code?
I think dvdshrink remove the angle correctly. ICU, your description is too vague, it's hard to guess what is going on. Since both linkplayer and wizd has problem, I think the problem maybe in the mpeg file itself. Broken video segments etc...., powerdvd probably handle error better with error in the video stream.

which movie is this? exact location of skip (ie time) skip by a few seconds or alot? forward or backward?
maybe Flipflop can replicate this?

Flipflop, is there newer libdvdread code? the one you use seems pretty old hee hee :eek:
I used this one http://custom.lab.unb.br/pub/video/videolan/contrib/libdvdread-20041028.tar.bz2

Sorry if my information is vague.

DVD Title: Toy Story 2
time location: Start Title 01 Ch 01 0:00:20
skips to 0:00:38

On both LinkPlayer and Wizd, so definately some kinda file problem and not network related and not server related

I've used both DVDShrink and DVDDecryptor at both split @ 1gb setting and no split and still skips at the same spot.

Strange

Wish Wizd did DVD covers like myHTPC! is there a way to do this? I'm definately not a programmer so dunno where to start!!!

T

ok, I've given up on trying to find out why my rip skips. tried every decryptor and such and it still skips in the same location.

Now my problem is some DVD's that I ripped show up as three or more files under wizd and when I play the first file it it doesn't play all, or rather wizd does not combine all the vob files virtually like it does on most everything else. any insight on why?

thanks

T

Originally posted by ICU
Sorry if my information is vague.

DVD Title: Toy Story 2
time location: Start Title 01 Ch 01 0:00:20
skips to 0:00:38


Mine too in fact most if not all of my disney rips skip at some point
Toystory, toystory 2, beauty and the beast, alantis, and lion king 1 and 2.
Thats all i can remember. I dont believe ive seen skipping with any other dvd. :rolleyes: wondering what disney is doing to make this happen....

Ripping using dvd shrink no menus no extras just surround sound and one big vob.

Webboy,

thanks for the feedback. I thought I was losing it! will try the other dvd's you mentioned. There definately has to be some type of protection scheme???

T

if you rename the vob file where there is a skip in there to mpg and play the individual file back with say windows media, will it skip at the same place? if NOT, then, it's must be bug in dvdread code.

Wizd code just stream the data, it does not know about the video content, skipping or not is in the video stream itself (which is generated by the libdvdread code that Flipflop had added in Wizd)

Anh


Feature request: I am looking for some code that can extract the vob file out to just 1 bitmap picture or something at some location in the vob, this way, we can change the Wizd to instead of display the DVD video_ts folder, it will display a picture respsent that DVD with some name etc. OR you can specify your own bitmap cover page for the dvd ;) and extract the image of first frame for every chapter and subtitude that in the skin when browse the DVD folder. But I could not figure out how to extract a frame out to gif or something yet.

Originally posted by bananags
if you rename the vob file where there is a skip in there to mpg and play the individual file back with say windows media, will it skip at the same place? if NOT, then, it's must be bug in dvdread code.


I should note that im not using Wizd at this point the latest build is not working for me so these errors are threw the linkplayer itself. and if i recall correctly i dont see them happening in WMP or VLC but then yet ive had very little interest in watching Disney cartoons on the pc...

The VOB skips in both wizd and linkplayer for me and does give an error in the libdvdread code under wizd

T

Originally posted by ICU
Now my problem is some DVD's that I ripped show up as three or more files under wizd and when I play the first file it it doesn't play all, or rather wizd does not combine all the vob files virtually like it does on most everything else. any insight on why?
Look in the folder to see if there are 3 vob title series. If you rip only the main movie section, the VIDEO_TS.IFO in the rip may still contain information about all of the titles present in the original (special features, etc). In this case, libdvdread will display all of the titles defined in VIDEO_TS.IFO, even if not all of the vob files were ripped. If you try to play one of the titles which doesn't have the corresponding vob files ripped, it will not play. But the main movie should play fine.

Posted a new version to http://www.geocities.com/flipflop7146/wizd.html

Changes:

1) ability to delete files from the server using the LinkPlayer. This function is disabled by default, and can be enabled by editing the wizd.conf file.

2) made some more improvements to the streaming function

3) limited bookmarks to only video/mpeg type files (since they don't work on AVI or DIVX files)

4) Updated libdvdread to a newer version (2004-10-28)

5) cleaned up some of the documentation, moved the original japanese documentation to the "Japanese" subdirectory, and put the English translations (thanks to Anh Dang for doing the translations) in the "English" subdirectory

6) added a readme.txt file that explains how to set up the program

Again, thanks flipflop for the continual update to wizd.

I DLed the latest incarnation.
In version 7, by clicking the dvd folder I get the movie labeled Title with the number of chapters after it. In the new version clicking on the dvd folder I get the VIDEO_TS folder which I have to click again to get the actual VIDEO_TS.VOB file.

Is there a setting I missed? how do I go back to the original scheme of things?

T

In version 8 I added the feature of providing a VIDEO_TS link after the list of titles, so you have the option of either browsing the files in the VIDEO_TS directory, or selecting them by title set/chapter. So you should still get the title list, if the DVD .ifo files exist.

Are you sure that the DVD folder you were looking at has a video_ts.ifo and vts_01_0.ifo files in it? Does the new version fail to list the titles for all of your DVDs, some of them, or only one of them?

This is what i get by Versions

Version 7
fldr "Disney" -> fldr "Mulan" -> video "Title 1 (17 chapters)"

Version 8
fldr "Disney" -> fldr "Mulan" -> fldr "VIDEO_TS" -> video "VTS_01_1"

all the VIDEO_TS folders contain the following
VIDEO_TS.BUP
VIDEO_TS.IFO
VTS_01_0.BUP
VTS_01_0.IFO
VTS_01-1.VOB

I want to go directly from the Movie Description folder (Mulan) to the video like in version 7.

Is this a setting I can change in the config that I'm overlooking?
this happens on all the files I have that work perfectly in 7. in version 7 all the movie files are listed as just Title 1.

I guess it's just the extra clicking I want to avoid.

T

Disclaimer (I own a copy of MULAN)

Old problem that reported of the skipping: have you try to follow this fix?

http://www.iodata.com/usa/forum/showthread.php?t=116&highlight=matrix

Oops, my bad! I put an else in the wrong place, so the last title was getting overwritten by the VIDEO_TS folder link, instead of appending the VIDEO_TS folder after the last title. I've fixed this, and posted a version 9.

Just posted a new update that has improved support for slideshows, and will play simultaneous slideshow and music if both types of files exist in the directory. You can also set aliases such that they default to movie, music, or photo type playlists. http://www.geocities.com/flipflop7146/wizd.html

All my skipping problems have been solved!!! Yeah!!

I used VideoReDo's Quick Stream Fix, thanks bananags

Only problem now is the IFO files and support files are sortta outta sync with the new vob file. Can someone direct me to software that can fix/redo the ifo files?

T

Just posted a new update with improved support for simultaneous slideshow/music, and improved "options" menu. Press the "setup" button on the remote to see the new features. You can define default slideshow or soundtrack playlists, which get used for all directories, and/or move those default playlists to a specific directory.

For example, if you want to view slides with background music, navigate to the music directory, press "setup", and then save to the default soundtrack. Then navigate to the photo directory and press "play", and it will play the photos with background sound.

If you do things in the reverse order, then you get music with background slides. The difference is the next/prev buttons would then change songs instead of slides.

Is there a way to play an mp3 and browse other files while it's playing?

Originally posted by joemcgin
Is there a way to play an mp3 and browse other files while it's playing?
I've tried to do this using HTML frames, but as soon as music playback starts the music playback takes over the entire screen. It would be very nice if the LinkPlayer would allow some sort of split-screen mode and the ability to add more files to the end of the current playlist... But as far as I can tell, right now there is no way to do this.

On another note, I just posted a new update with DVD chapter display improvements and a new HIRES skin, all thanks to Kevin Brown.

Well, I tried this on my V880N and it works great,

I have demon for iso files, mount them and I can play the dvd with ThaWiz!

Just sometimes the subtitles in one frame go bold inverted or something, you have to see it to know, next frame its gone but it happens many times.

In an MP3 folder it automatically displays the jpg's in it, is that also the case or can it be for a VIDEO_TS folder?

wizd wouldn't affect the subtitles, so this must be a feature of the V880. I know the Linkplayer's subtitles are generally poor, with poor color choices like grey-on-white.

I'm not sure what you mean about displaying JPGs for VIDEO_TS folders? The mp3 folders play JPGs while playing the music, but this wouldn't make sense for videos.

Given all the wonderful work FlipFlop has been doing on enhancing wizd, has anyone tried to run it on I-O Data UHDL drives (aka Landisk in Japan)? Given that Landisk/UHDL run Debian Linux, that shouldn't be too difficult, should it? I wonder if anyone has done that yet?

Originally posted by vjren
Well, I tried this on my V880N and it works great,

I have demon for iso files, mount them and I can play the dvd with ThaWiz!

Just sometimes the subtitles in one frame go bold inverted or something, you have to see it to know, next frame its gone but it happens many times.

In an MP3 folder it automatically displays the jpg's in it, is that also the case or can it be for a VIDEO_TS folder?

Cool! Anything I need to know before I set this up on my server? Tips, pointers... you know to make it go smooth... fast... :)

The "wizd.conf.sample" is all garbage when I try and look at in notepad? I edited the regular "wizd.conf" file but I only get the Internet radio option when I open up the server?

The wizd.conf.sample is from the original Japanese distribution, so it is full of Japanese characters. On a non-Japanese OS it will look a little funny, but all of the configuration keywords are in English. The wizd.conf file has been translated to English.

To get started, edit the wizd.conf file, and set up the "Alias" lines to point to folders on your computer with video and audio files. Then start wizd.exe and these folders will show up. Note that the "#" at the beginning of a line disables that line, so you will need to remove that character from the lines you want to enable.

This server is awesome. It's so much better for playing multiple vobs than the other server. Good job FlipFlop! I like the new HiRes skin too...

Thanks Flip... I think I got it working. What about cover art for DVD's and movies?

I've got some issues with it Flip. SharkTale ripped to my hard drive... Wizd is saying no files at all! Nothing to play, yet there are 103 files in the directory. Also, some show all chapters combined and some show multiple chapters.

Any idea what I may be doing wrong?

You should always have the "video_ts" folder option, and be able to browse the files in that directory, without the chapter/title stuff.

To show the titles and chapters, the DVD files must be in a "video_ts" subfolder, and you must have the *.ifo files too, which give the title information.

Also, there is a setting to hide short titles. Change this to "false" and you should see all titles.

## Hide any DVD titles which are short (e.g. menus)
flag_hide_short_titles true

What did you use to rip the DVD, and with what settings? I've noticed that using DVDShrink to shrink the files and/or combine .vobs into large .vob files sometimes give strange results, but I'm not sure why. I get the best results if I rip the DVD with DVD Decrypter, without modifying any of the files.

I use dvd shrink, but I always keep the full files, I don't 'shrink' anything.

Question: How do you play the whole disk without going into the video_ts folder? If I hit the play button on the disk name I get an invalid command on the screen. Enter button takes me down a directory to the folders.

Your directory should be arranged like this:

DVD \ Shark Tale \ VIDEO_TS \ VIDEO_TS.IFO
DVD \ Shark Tale \ VIDEO_TS \ VTS_01_0.IFO
DVD \ Shark Tale \ VIDEO_TS \ VTS_01_0.VOB
DVD \ Shark Tale \ VIDEO_TS \ VTS_01_1.VOB
DVD \ Shark Tale \ VIDEO_TS \ VTS_01_2.VOB
...

When you are in the DVD folder, you will seek Shark Tale listed. Select this, and you should have "VIDEO_TS" listed, followed by "Title 1", "Title 2", "Title 3", ... Selecting any one of the "Title" entries will play that entire title (full move, or one of the special features.

Selecting "VIDEO_TS" will go into that folder, and you will see all of the VOB files listed. At that point "Play" will play all of them in sequence.

If you use the "MovieAlias" in the wizd.conf file (instead of just plain "Alias"), then the "Play" button will also work in the higher level directories, playing all video files in all subfolders.

I'm having a weird problem playing back multiple vobs on the LP2. This has only happened on some movies, not all of them. I rip the files to the hard drive in a VIDEO_TS folder. Then, in the wizd server I start playback using the "title" selection to start the movie. Then, during the movie I will get a couple spots where it skips ahead about 5-7 seconds for no apparent reason. I don't believe this is at a chapter point or vob switch. I've tried using DVD Decrypter and DVD Shrink to rip the files, all original, not recompressed. It happens in the same spots all the time. I was going to try it on the regular server program but without chapter stops that would be time-consuming and I haven't had time. Anyone seen this before? Like I said some movies do it and some don't. "Super Troopers" and "Remember the Titans" are ones I specifically saw problems with.

Thanks

FlipFlop... Another issue with wizd.

I've got moviealias set up as you do above. Works great for the first movie on my list. If I hit the play button on the directory name, it ALWAYS plays the first movie, not matter what directory I am over.

For example:

I have 15 movies.

If I have selected the 10th directory, hit play, it plays movie 1.
If I have selected the 13th direcotry/movie, hit play, it plays movie 1.

I have restarted wizd and restarted the linkplayer. Same thing.

If I got into a directory and select the vob files. It plays fine.

Ideas?

Tim

Originally posted by turts
I'm having a weird problem playing back multiple vobs on the LP2. This has only happened on some movies, not all of them. I rip the files to the hard drive in a VIDEO_TS folder. Then, in the wizd server I start playback using the "title" selection to start the movie. Then, during the movie I will get a couple spots where it skips ahead about 5-7 seconds for no apparent reason. I don't believe this is at a chapter point or vob switch. I've tried using DVD Decrypter and DVD Shrink to rip the files, all original, not recompressed. It happens in the same spots all the time. I was going to try it on the regular server program but without chapter stops that would be time-consuming and I haven't had time. Anyone seen this before? Like I said some movies do it and some don't. "Super Troopers" and "Remember the Titans" are ones I specifically saw problems with.

Thanks

I should also mention that I tried going into the VIDEO_TS folder and starting the movie from the vob file. Same problem.

turts: This is a known problem with the LinkPlayer with some DVDs. No fix that I am aware of.

Tim: what you describe is simply the way "all play" works. It plays all files in the current directory and all subdirectories. To play just one subdirectory, you have to navigate into it, then press play. This is a drawback of using a browser-based user interface.

Flip flop... It's not playing the directory I'm highlighting. It's playing the first directory in the list.

1. Shark Tale
2. Deadwood
3. Top Gun
4. Miami Vice
5. Star Trek

If I have Top Gun highlighted and hit the play button. It plays shark tale every time. Doesn't matter what's highlighted. Shark Tale will always play.

If that's the way it supposed to work, what's the point in allowing you to hit play on one of the other directories?

The user interface is simply a web browser, where the arrow keys act as the mouse, and the select button is like a mouse click. The other remote buttons can only be mapped to absolute functions, without regard to the current selection. As a result, "Play" applies to the current directory, not the current selection.

Think of it as pointing at a link in your web browser, and then pressing Alt+F. Your web browser doesn't care what you point to, you always will get the File menu.

Then what's the point of being able to highlight the fourth movie if play will always play the first movie? Why have the ability to 'play' the directory at all.

So you are telling me that it will ALWAYS play the first directory, not the one that is highlighted?

I really think we are not communicating correctly here. I think I have something unusual going on here, as what I'm seeing makes no sense from a programming point.

Please review my message with the list of movies.

In short: highlight the movie you want to play, press "Select" to select it, then press "Play" to play it.

Play doesn't play just the first directory, it plays ALL of the directories. That is why it is labelled "Play All" on the screen. If you don't like this behavior, then forget the play button exists, and always use the "select" button, which always activates the current selection. Or else complain to I-O Data and/or Sigma for providing such a limiting user interface.

Heey flip flop, would it be an idea, no, great idea, to extend the server to be able to work with iso images
There are deamon tools that allow mounting iso images of dvd discs.
All we need is:
iso images listed in the directory too
on play or enter mount the image (command line external program mount)to for example "x:"
Jump automatically to X:
Then one could make chapter selections (when enter had been pressed) or play the movie when play was pressed.

Would this be possible?

I'm a huge fan of storing everything in ISO format also. Just wanted to put in my vote!

FlipFlop... New problem:

I have 1 movie that when I play it, it is playing an alternate audio track I'm guessing for the seeing impared. It describes EVERYTHING in the movie.

Why would only this one movie play this track. The other 30 I've watched have been fine.

Thanks for the great work on wizd!

T

Originally posted by TimMeade
FlipFlop... New problem:

I have 1 movie that when I play it, it is playing an alternate audio track I'm guessing for the seeing impared. It describes EVERYTHING in the movie.

T
T, that is funny- audio "for the seeing impared"! I'd ROF if I'm not in office. But seriously, I think you are refering to a commentary track by director/producer/actors. Have you tried to press the audio button to see if you can choose a different audio track?

No I really think it's for the blind. They talk about a "Lush field of green grass" etc... It's describing the scenes!

It appears Audio 3 is giving me the plain movie. Audio 2 is directors voice.

That sure sounds interesting. What movie is that?

Bobby Jones - A stroke of Genius... With Jim Carvezel (sp).. Actually a VERY good movie on Bobby Jones...

Originally posted by TimMeade
FlipFlop... New problem:

I have 1 movie that when I play it, it is playing an alternate audio track I'm guessing for the seeing impared. It describes EVERYTHING in the movie.

Why would only this one movie play this track. The other 30 I've watched have been fine.

Thanks for the great work on wizd!

T

This is not a WIZD problem it is a problem with your backup.

Most DVDs have the Main Movie English AC3 track as the first audio track. More and more moviies are shuffling other tracks like directors commentary, etc to the first to make it harder for people with ripping programs. I have one DVD where a default backup creates the 1st audio track is english for about 5 minutes and then switches to french and later switches to a directors comments. If I keep ther RCE region encoding as Region 1 however and play it the first selected track stays selected thru the whole disk.

If you back it up again with only the one audio track you want you will probably have the best luck.

T, you are absolutely right. this DVD does have a narrative track for the visually impaired. Boy my face is red!

Is there a way to play a real audio stream internet radio ?

RealMedia is not listed in the file formats supported by the LinkPlayer2.

Originally posted by FlipFlop
RealMedia is not listed in the file formats supported by the LinkPlayer2.

I was thinking about the possibility to export the .ram to .pls file. The .ram file is a text file which calls to a server like this:
rtsp://realm.terra.com/200.51.197.22/encoder/am.rm

But then again .rm file maybe could not be read by the player.

Has anyone succesfully tried to do the same thing as me ?

Is anyone using wizd on an unix machine or a mac?

I've just ordred a buffalo linkplayer to go with my iodata player.

My question is how will these two work with WiZD on my server? Can each watch different movies, etc.?????

Anyone had two UPNP devices with the one server?

Thanks all!

TimMeade,

I'm not sure one Wizd instance will serve two linkplayers. I do know you can run Advanced server and Wizd at the same time. So technically both players can be served at the same time by different servers.

Here's what you can try at home: make a second copy of Wizd folder. Change the port number to something different. Run both Wizd and if it will let you start another instance, then you are good.

You can run multiple instances of wizd at the same time, as long as you have different wizd.conf files for each, with different port numbers.

However, a single instance will serve files up to multiple servers simultaneously, so there is little reason to run multiple instances. Only reason I can think of for using 2 instances if the two players need different skins.

more network woes....
I can get wizd to show up on crossover connent pc to laptop at http://192.168.x.xxx:8004.

once wizd auto showed up on linkplayer but then white screen

now lp to pc on crossover no show and white screen but can ping?

any ideas? and wifi cable router recommendations. thanks...

Dont know that is was mentioned before that you can use wizd to serve network besides player... atleast port open going out of pc...

Is anybody else having problems with the beta 3 version of advanced server ?
It works with TIVO .ty files on one of my machines but the audio and video are out of sync. On the other machine it says "buffering" then brings up a white screen with red text that says the trascoder could not create intermediate files and maybe the file is not playable, and to try playing in windows media to get a codec. I originallly got the same message on the now working machine and it began working after I manually "registered" the transcoder filter using regsvr32, I attempted a manual unregister and re-register on the non working machine with no success.

Looks like the ty file playback is REALLY CLOSE

Snoots

Help, I downloaded the latest zip file extracted it to a new folder and ran the setup. In the folder the readme files don't mention anything on how to get this puppy running. Is there a how to guide anywhere. I have searched but can't find anything. The only thing I've found is to change the config to point to the directories. How do you run this program or better yet install it? baffled

o use wizd, you need to do the following:

1) Unzip the wizd.zip
2) Get the cygwin1.dll file and put it in the directory with wizd.exe
3) Edit the wizd.conf file and change the document_root line to point to where your files are located.
4) Run the wizd.exe program
5) You should then get the "wizd" link showing on your LinkPlayer

I edited with notepad the wizd.config file on the document_root line toward the beginning of the page, no luck. I'll persist.

Wizd is a server application for use with the I-O Data LinkPlayer 2
and similar devices such as the Buffalo LinkStation and the MediaWiz.
It works as a replacement for the Link Server software supplied by
I-O Data, but can be installed and run along side that server software
(and the Advanced Server software) if you desire.

To install wizd on your computer:

1) Edit the "wizd.conf" file with a text editor (such as Notepad)
In particular you will want to change the "alias" settings to
point to your media files. Save the changes when you are done.

2) Double-click the wizd.exe program. It should pop up a console
window with your configuration information.

3) The "Wizd" server should now appear on your LinkPlayer. Select
it to browse and play your media files.

Tips:

You can test out the server using Internet Explorer by accessing
the page http://localhost:8004

Beginning a line with "#" in the wizd.conf file will disable that line
and the setting will revert to its default. Removing the "#" will
enable a previously disabled line.

Any time you make changes to the wizd.conf file you will need to stop
and restart the wizd.exe program for the changes to take effect.

If the window disappears immediately, or things don't appear to be
working correctly, then edit the "wizd.conf" file, and set the
flag_debug_log_output setting to "true".
Then run wizd.exe again, and check the wizd_debug.log file for errors.

If you want to change your configuration, press Ctrl+C in the console
window to close the program, then modify wizd.conf and then restart
wizd.exe

For DVD navigation by chapters, the .vob files must be in a VIDEO_TS
subfolder.

When resuming from a bookmark, press the "left" arrow on your remote
to "go to 0%" and it will start playback from the beginning of the
video.

Once things are working well, edit the wizd.conf file, and put a comment
mark "#" at the beginning of the "flag_daemon false" line, or set this
parameter to "true". Then restart the wizd.exe program, and it will
run as a hidden application with no console window. Once you make this
change you will have to use Task Manager to stop the program.

Features of this version:

1) Saves bookmarks for MPEG video files, so you resume playback where
it was stopped
2) DVD information is displayed by title set, instead of by VOB file
3) DVD playback allows skipping forward by chapter
4) Delete mode allows deleting files from the server (disabled by default)
5) Internet Explorer .url files recognized, and displayed as links
6) Playlists are generated recursively using current folder and all subfolders

Thanks FlipFLop, I 'll give it a go tonight w/o the aid of the 16oz Heineken Cans. Looking forward to using this ap.

Hi Flip Flop, would it be possible to include on the next wizard development the conversion of the audio portion of the WMV9 files to AC3, but mantaining the original video ?

Originally posted by afss
Hi Flip Flop, would it be possible to include on the next wizard development the conversion of the audio portion of the WMV9 files to AC3, but mantaining the original video ?
Transcoding is way beyond the scope of wizd. If you want to transcode, you will need to use the AVEL advanced server software.

Well, i still can't get this app to work. Here is the output of the error log which is greek to me.
2005/05/07 05:56:28[4080]
2005/05/07 05:56:28[4080] wizd 0.12h pvb.12 boot up.
2005/05/07 05:56:28[4080] debug log output start..
2005/05/07 05:56:28[4080] concatenated document_root: '/cygdrive/c/Wizd/./docroot/'

Any help appreciated.

Originally posted by gwlbe
Well, i still can't get this app to work. Here is the output of the error log which is greek to me.
2005/05/07 05:56:28[4080]
2005/05/07 05:56:28[4080] wizd 0.12h pvb.12 boot up.
2005/05/07 05:56:28[4080] debug log output start..
2005/05/07 05:56:28[4080] concatenated document_root: '/cygdrive/c/Wizd/./docroot/'

Any help appreciated.
Edit the wizd.conf file, and remove the "#" from the beginning of the line:

flag_debug_log_output true

This will enable debug output to the file wizd_debug.log. That log file will give more useful information on what is or is not working. The primary reasons for failure are:
1) docroot directory doesn't exist
2) Some other program is using the same port number

Thanks, the above error code did have the # removed form the line. My folder is c:\wizd. Do I have to create a subdirectory of c:\cygdrive? I assumed that cygwin1,dll is in the C:\wizd directory it would work. I went to install cygwin and it started downloading many files i canceled it because I thought cygwin was installed when I unzipped the wizd zip file. What should the docroot directory be?
Thanks again for your patience in my lack of knowledge. I'm running XP SP2.

cygwin1.dll should come with Flipflop's wizd download. You have it there and Wizd is using it to get to where you see those messages.

Also, you don't have to deal with cygwin if you don't want to.

I didn't bother with docroot the last time I installed Wizd after a hard drive rebuild. You can just leave the line as it is. For all the drives/folders you want to be listed after selecting Wizd server, use "Alias". The instruction for Alias is right under "docroot" line. You can add up to 16 aliases/drives/folders there.

Here's crude example of my Aliases lines:

Alias FDrive F:\
Alias JDrive J:\
Alias Movies K:\movies
Alias TV G:\TV
Alias Photos F:\Photos
Alias MP3 K:\Music

You don't need the full cygwin, just the (included) cygwin1.dll file.

The zip file has a "docroot" subdirectory included, so it should work after extracting from the zip file. However, some times zip programs don't create the directory structure, and the "docroot" subdirectory is missing. If this is the case, you will need to re-extract the zip file including all of the directory structure.

Firewalls can also get in the way, and block communications, but if the regular iodata server software works, then so should wizd.

You can test if the software is working by use a web browser to check http://localhost:8004 If wizd is running on port 8004, you should get a web page back.

the local:800x tests the set up but not your network. I can test wizd buy going to 192.168.0.myip:800x to see that everything works.

At home wizd will not load with 192.... but did with local. Funny that it will in safemode with networking which works for me now. But any hints on whatsbloking the port would be welcome

Originally posted by rumpole
At home wizd will not load with 192.... but did with local. Funny that it will in safemode with networking which works for me now. But any hints on whatsbloking the port would be welcome
Sounds like you have a firewall running. Try to disable the windows XP firewall in the network settings, or enable UPNP and port 8004 to go through the firewall.

FlipFlop -
Did you see the IODATA answer to your playlist start offset bug posts over on the IODATA forum?

Its obvious that language skills are getting in the way of reporting bugs over there -- thank goodness we have wizd for trying to do workarounds.

One question -- I havn't used the gnu compiler before -- do you think it would be very dificult to port wizd to build under visual studio or do you think I would be better off tracking down gcc?

paul

Originally posted by Paul_PDX
FlipFlop -
Did you see the IODATA answer to your playlist start offset bug posts over on the IODATA forum?

Its obvious that language skills are getting in the way of reporting bugs over there -- thank goodness we have wizd for trying to do workarounds.

One question -- I havn't use the gnu compiler before -- do you think it would be very dificult to port wizd to build under visual studio or do you think I would be better off tracking down gcc?

paul


I would like to see a port to VS also. I would be willing to help and supply some resources if we want to go that route...

I looked at compiling in VS. The biggest problem is wizd relies heavily on fork() calls to do the multithreading, and uses a lot of global variables which are modified in the fork()ed process but have to remain unchanged in the root process. All of this would have to be rewritten to use windows threads which have common global data.

I wasn't looking for a big project, so my opinion was cygwin provides all the tools to simply compile and run the existing code, so there is little benefit to converting to VS. Actually it would likely be a step backwards, because then the program would be less portable.

If you want something that compiles in VS, check out lundman's "llink" software mentioned earlier in this thread.

By disabling the docroot line I got the window to stay open. on the LP I selected wizd. Then the player reverted back to the main menu without the background picture and locked. I could not navigate up or down. I rebooted and tried again. Same results. I checked the local host port 8004 and got a blank screen. Some Progress but still not working. Any suggestions, thanks

What is your docroot line?

Originally posted by FlipFlop
I looked at compiling in VS. The biggest problem is wizd relies heavily on fork() calls to do the multithreading, and uses a lot of global variables which are modified in the fork()ed process but have to remain unchanged in the root process. All of this would have to be rewritten to use windows threads which have common global data.

Thanks -- I figured you would probably know if their were some "gotchas" sitting in there before I tackled the task too far -- looks like I had better go find/download cygwyn. I had hoped to use tools and debuggers I know intimately since I live in VS .NET all day at work.

My docroot is:
## document_root c:\wizd

Wrong I suspect.

A line that starts with a # is a comment and is ignored. Why not leave it at the default of:
document_root ./docroot
assuming that you unpacked the installation preserving folder structure.

When I leave the line as unpacked the window closes immediately after clicking the setup.exe. If put the ## in fornt of the line the console will stay open.

I got it working, I didn't unzip the file correctly. Thanks for the help. Wizd is now my default. Great program.

Hi.. I have been playing around with wizd on and off the last few weeks, and have encountered the following problem: occasionally (usually when navigating "back"), the "cosmic blue pattern" background is replaced with solid black. The items drawn on top of the black are then extremely hard to read, particularly when selected.

The not-so-convenient workaround, is to press the "server" button to get all the way out to the main server selection screen, re-select wizd, and then stick to forward navigation.

Anyone have any idea what could be wrong?

- Frank

Frank, which skin are you using? I use the HD version. Don't think ever run into this problem.

I think I am using the standard non-HD skin. I don't really want a HD skin, since the font size gets too small on my display.

You might want to turn on the Debug mode and read the output. You can also try the Localhost trick on you computer at the same time and see if you can catch the page doing that.

I think this behavior is due to the player itself. I've seen it before I started using wizd, with the standard server.

Well, actually, I can believe the player has somethiing to do with it. On the standard server, I periodically get strange presentation of the screens, such as text spaced out way to far (even off the screen). It looks like it is doing HD browser layout even though I don't have that enabled.. But it never blacks out the background.

I still wonder why more people aren't experiencing this problem... epsilon: are you saying you see the blackout background problem on wizd AND the standard server?

Yes, I'm positive. I've only been using wizd for a few weeks and only noticed it once. I've seen it several times with the standard server.

Is anyone using wizd on an unix machine or a mac?

I just got done building wizd for my Revolution Kuro Box (http://www.revogear.com/products.html). It's a cheap ($130) PowerPC Linux appliance with space inside for a single 3.5" hard drive, 64MB RAM, 10/100 Ethernet, and USB2 ports for external drives.

I was looking for a really cheap, really low-power network appliance to serve up a couple terrabytes of video to my Linkplayer, and this fit the bill perfectly. It supports more external USB hard drives than a Linksys NSLU2 (NSLU2 only supports two), and the Kuro Box also comes in a version that costs a little more but which has 128MB of memory and Gigabit Ethernet, so it fit the bill perfectly. The guy who wrote the Kuro Box review for Tom's Hardware (http://www.tomsnetworking.com/Reviews-171-ProdID-KUROBOX.php) ported wizd to the Kuro Box, but I didn't find anywhere that I could download his build, so I did it myself.

I can put my executables up for downloading in case anyone wants to try wizd on their Kuro Box.

I can put my executables up for downloading in case anyone wants to try wizd on their Kuro Box.

Click here for Wizd for Kuro Box download (http://jhue.users.sonic.net)

I just installed wizd and tried it with my Momitsu v880N. It works, sort of.

I've been ripping standalone VOBs off my DVDs, since the v880N doesn't handle the whole DVD structure properly. I have a directory with 10 VOBs, each containing a full movie. Out of 9 movies, wizd showed ONE -- the last one in the list. Any guesses why? Does it not handle a directory full of VOBs correctly?

That one movie happened to be an old 4:3 picture. wizd stretched it out to fill my 16:9 screen. The v880N, with its server, correctly pillarboxes it. Does wizd have a way to handle that properly?

I looked at the GIF/JPG displayer, since I'd like to use my projector as a "slide projector." JPGs seem to work pretty much OK. They are stretched about 18% horizontally, but that seems to be an artifact of the v880N. At least wizd supports a scaling operation so I should be able to fix that. GIFs, though, display info and navigation stuff on the screen above the image. Why treat them differently than JPGs?

Also, I notice full-color GIFs get compressed to a smaller color scheme. The v880N displays these GIFs fine with its server, but they look like about 16-color images with wizd. Why?

wizd will do a "slide show" if you want it to advance every X seconds. If you want to have control of when the slide advances, you have to hit NEXT. Unfortunately the v880N displays this big ugly "FILE XX OF YY" message when you do that -- same as it does with its own server. Apparently this is local behavior for the v880N, so there's no way wizd could defeat it?

Some screens say to press a "setup" button (looks like a wrench?) to set some options. The closest button on the v880N remote still goes to the v880N setup. Any guesses what button would work for this?

Thanks!
Gary

I've been ripping standalone VOBs off my DVDs, since the v880N doesn't handle the whole DVD structure properly. I have a directory with 10 VOBs, each containing a full movie. Out of 9 movies, wizd showed ONE -- the last one in the list. Any guesses why? Does it not handle a directory full of VOBs correctly?

Wizd tries to merge vob files if they end in digit, so this may be interfering. You can disable this in the wizd.conf file using the "flag_show_first_vob_only false" setting.
That one movie happened to be an old 4:3 picture. wizd stretched it out to fill my 16:9 screen. The v880N, with its server, correctly pillarboxes it. Does wizd have a way to handle that properly?

wizd doesn't do anything to the file, so this is a function of the player. On the LinkPlayer2 there is a "zoom" button that toggles through the display modes, and there is a configuration on the setup page which sets the default display mode.
GIFs, though, display info and navigation stuff on the screen above the image. Why treat them differently than JPGs? Also, I notice full-color GIFs get compressed to a smaller color scheme. The v880N displays these GIFs fine with its server, but they look like about 16-color images with wizd. Why?

I haven't used GIFs (except for icons on the menus) so I'm not sure what would be going on there. I do know that GIFs in the web browser do get converted poorly if they don't use the standard web palette, so maybe they are getting displayed use the web browser mode instead of the image viewer mode. I wonder if the v880N server transcodes them to JPG so they display better?

wizd will do a "slide show" if you want it to advance every X seconds. If you want to have control of when the slide advances, you have to hit NEXT. Unfortunately the v880N displays this big ugly "FILE XX OF YY" message when you do that -- same as it does with its own server. Apparently this is local behavior for the v880N, so there's no way wizd could defeat it?

On the LinkPlayer2 it only shows the "file xx of yy" if you manually advance. If you let it automatically advance there is no garbage on the display.

Some screens say to press a "setup" button (looks like a wrench?) to set some options. The closest button on the v880N remote still goes to the v880N setup. Any guesses what button would work for this?

On the LinkPlayer2 the setup button can be remapped, and this is used for the options screens. Sounds like the v880n doesn't support this function. You can edit the skin's "tail.html" file and change tvid="setup" to some other key to access this function.

Wizd tries to merge vob files if they end in digit, so this may be interfering. You can disable this in the wizd.conf file using the "flag_show_first_vob_only false" setting.Yup, that's it. If I turn that off, I see all the vob files. As it turns out, the last one in the list -- the only one that showed with that flag on -- ended in " 1941.vob" (space before the "1941"). If I rename it to remove the digits at the end of the name, NONE of the vobs display. So that "first_vob_only" flag seems a bit overeager.
wizd doesn't do anything to the file, so this is a function of the player. Ya, my bad. It was the player.
I haven't used GIFs (except for icons on the menus) so I'm not sure what would be going on there. I do know that GIFs in the web browser do get converted poorly if they don't use the standard web palette, so maybe they are getting displayed use the web browser mode instead of the image viewer mode. I wonder if the v880N server transcodes them to JPG so they display better?No idea. As it is, GIF photos are unusable -- but you shouldn't use GIF for photos anyway, so that's not a terrible problem. I did want to use GIF for test patterns, though -- JPG is bad for that. But the navigation/info stuff that gets displayed above the GIF kinda wrecks that. So I guess a few JPG test patterns won't kill me.
On the LinkPlayer2 it only shows the "file xx of yy" if you manually advance. If you let it automatically advance there is no garbage on the display.Same with the v880N. But a timed advance isn't very useful when you're trying to tell people about your trip to Gonzanaland. Pity both Momitsu and LinkPlayer insist on slapping that big honkin' message up there if you just tell it to show the next slide. (The slideshow timeout also seems to limit the amount of time that a single JPG is displayed, which is rather annoying. Especially if I'm going to use JPGs for test patterns. Guess I'll have to set the timeout to a really high value.)
You can edit the skin's "tail.html" file and change tvid="setup" to some other key to access this function.Hm, OK. Is there a list of accepted keynames somewhere?

I was disappointed to see that if I rip the whole structure of the DVD, I can get the "Title 1" etc listings, so I can choose those -- but you can't use the DVD's menu navigation. Only way to get to a particular chapter is to forward through all the chapters in the title. And if you just play "Title X" you get the big honkin' "CHAPTER XXX" message at every chapter mark. Very distracting, and makes that mode not worth using in my opinion.

I guess if I turn off the first_vob_only flag, I can at least use it in the same mode I used the Momo server. And the slide-show mode is better because wizd can scale my images to the correct aspect ratio.

Thanks for the help, and for sharing a great tool!

Hm, OK. Is there a list of accepted keynames somewhere?

I've documented the keys known to work on the LinkPlayer2 at
http://www.iodata.com/usa/forum/showthread.php?t=101 Different players seem to have different key names. I've seen colors (red, green, blue, yellow, I think) for some players, but the colors don't work with the LinkPlayer2. Interestingly, though, IOData's server includes references to the "color" buttons which do not work with IOData's player.

I was disappointed to see that if I rip the whole structure of the DVD, I can get the "Title 1" etc listings, so I can choose those -- but you can't use the DVD's menu navigation. Only way to get to a particular chapter is to forward through all the chapters in the title. And if you just play "Title X" you get the big honkin' "CHAPTER XXX" message at every chapter mark. Very distracting, and makes that mode not worth using in my opinion.

There is a configuration option in wizd.conf "flag_split_vob_chapters false". With this set to "false" you won't get the big honkin' messages at every chapter mark during playback. You can still navigate to a specific chapter to start playback at, and during the manual navigation it will tell you which chapter it is on.

If you set the above option to "true", then the VOB will get split into one virtual file for each chapter, and the player will pause between chapter and display that big honkin' message.

Hm. It was already set to "false." I didn't watch a whole movie when I was experimenting with this, but unless I was mistaken (always a possibility :)) a short 2-chapter extras video did display the chapter mark. Maybe the v880N works differently in this case. I'll check it again sometime.

You can still navigate to chapters in this mode -- just by hitting the NEXT button to get to the chapter you want? I didn't see any way to select it directly.

I got a Buffalo LT 2 days ago and love the possibilities with the wizd server. Hats off to FlipFlop and others who helped get this project built.

Of course there are things I'd like to see but that's the great part.. it's open source :)

Anyway, before any of that I'd just like to build the code and get a feeling for how things work. I've got cygwin but don't have the dvdread library (or header files). Can someone direct me to these? I have found multiple search results for this but want to use whatever version wizd is currently using. Plus, I really don't want to build dvdread lib unless I have to..

FlipFlop, is it possible to include this with your distribution or is that against some rules?

thanks,
joe

I used the following libdvdread library:

ftp://ftp.videolan.org/pub/videolan/contrib/libdvdread-20041028.tar.bz2

With cygwin you should be able to simple extract this, then:

./configure
make
make install

I made a couple minor changes to suppress some warning messages that seemed to confuse people, but you don't need to make any changes to the source.

Anyway, before any of that I'd just like to build the code and get a feeling for how things work. I've got cygwin but don't have the dvdread library (or header files). Can someone direct me to these? I have found multiple search results for this but want to use whatever version wizd is currently using. Plus, I really don't want to build dvdread lib unless I have to..

Get it here http://developers.videolan.org/libdvdplay/

I built wizd on OS X 10.4, using libdvdplay installed via Darwin Ports. Easy as pie.

j.

Is there any way to have wizd recognize symbolic links? I was using the Buffalo software and I was able to group my movies by genre. I store my movies on two RAID 5 arrays and then create sym links (aliases, shortcuts) to the actual location of the movie. For example,

/Volumes/Movies.1/6th Day, The --> ~/Movies/Action/6th Day, The
/Volumes/Movies.2/End of Days --> ~/Movies/Action/End of Days
/Volumes/Movies.1/Deep Impact --> ~/Movies/Action/Deep Impact
...

When I try to create sym links or aliases via OS X or shortcuts via Windos XP, the wizd doesn't seem to use them. It simply ignores the link and won't list the movies. I suppose I could try "junction", but I don't think this will solve the problem.

Anyone else found a way around this?

hm

"Junction" will work, although you have to be careful when deleting junctions in Windows because the normal delete will remove both the junction AND THE ORIGINAL file!

Sym links should work fine. They work under cygwin in windows, so I would expect they would work in OSX too, but haven't tried it myself.

An easier way is to use multiple "Alias" settings in the wizd.conf file. You lose a little flexibility, but you can still achieve what you want. Sort your movies to the appropriate genre subdirectory on your hard drive, and then make one "alias" setting for each genre, pointing to genre directories. The thing you would lose is the ability to have movies from the same genre stored on different hard drives.

I built wizd on OS X 10.4 using libraries installed via Darwin Ports. Here's how you can too:

1) Make sure you have the Developer Tools (XCode) installed. If not, you can download the from http://developer.apple.com. You'll have to register, but it's a free registration.

2) Download and install DarwinPorts. You can get it here:

http://darwinports.opendarwin.org/downloads/DarwinPorts-1.0.dmg

3) Do this via Terminal to install the libraries wizd needs (the '%' represents the prompt):

% sudo /opt/local/bin/port -d selfupdate
% sudo /opt/local/bin/port install libdvdread
% sudo /opt/local/bin/port install jpeg

4) Download the wizd source and unpack it, then cd to the source directory:

% curl -O http://www.geocities.com/flipflop7146/wizd_0_12h_pvb_12.zip
% unzip wizd_0_12h_pvb_12.zip
% cd wizd_0_12h_pvb_12/source

5) Edit 'Makefile' and set the compiler to gcc-3.3 via the CC= line. Also update the CFLAGS and LDFLAGS to reference the locations where libdvdread and libjpeg are installed by DarwinPorts:

CC=gcc-3.3
CFLAGS += -I/opt/local/include
LDFLAGS += -L/opt/local/lib -ljpeg -ldvdread

*ALTERNATELY* you can link wizd statically against the DarwinPorts libraries by using these LDFLAGS instead of the LDFLAGS line listed above:

LDFLAGS += /opt/local/lib/libjpeg.a
LDFLAGS += /opt/local/lib/libdvdread.a
LDFLAGS += /opt/local/lib/libdvdcss.a
LDFLAGS += -lSystemStubs

I'm not recommending one way or the other.

6) Compile wizd and then move the binary into its parent directory:

% make && cp wizd .. && cd ..

You'll get some warnings that you can ignore.

7) Setup your wizd.conf and then you can start wizd:

% ./wizd

Except for having to specify gcc-3.3, this should be valid for 10.3 as well (CC=gcc should be fine for 10.3).

[ Post edited 6/26/2004 for clarity ]

j.

I been trying to duplicate Jay's creation of wizd on Apple OS 10.4 as he describes in the previous message. I have not been able to get it to work. Jay has been really great trying to help me, but I still have not been successful.

Has any other MAC users been able to duplicate his work?

OK, Jay send me the binary he created of Wizd on the Mac and I have wizd running.
Now I have a wizd.conf question:

How do I get wizd to play music from my Itunes folder like the linkserver program does?

I built wizd on OS X 10.4 using libraries installed via Darwin Ports.
Wow! What great timing. I just posted a couple of days ago over at I-O Data Forums asking if anybody had successfully compiled wizd for MacOS X. Now, quite by accident I stumbled upon the answer.

I wonder if you would be so kind as to post a binary link so others who have less comfort using XCode might benefit. Thank you.

I built wizd, including the jpeg and libdvdread libraries on my MacOS X 10.4 machine. Binaries and preconfigured sources can be downloaded from here (http://jhue.users.sonic.net/). Scroll to the bottom of the page, the stuff at the top is for the Kuro Box.

I built wizd, including the jpeg and libdvdread libraries on my MacOS X 10.4 machine. Binaries and preconfigured sources can be downloaded from here (http://jhue.users.sonic.net/). Scroll to the bottom of the page, the stuff at the top is for the Kuro Box.
Thanks so much for posting the binaries for both MacOS 10.3.x and 10.4.x... and for helping me get started with wizd. Wizd works great under 10.3.8 to stream files to my I-O Data AVLP2.

Now if we could just find some poor sap with more free time than common sense -- oops, I meant a talented Mac programmer -- to build an automatic installer and Mac front end that lets users start/stop file-serving, change preferences, change folder locations, and which understands Mac aliases -- all without having to enter the command line... well, that would really take the cake! Or, as you wrote elsewhere, "A web interface would make a lot of sense, like swat for a Samba server. That way it would be available on any platform that ran Wizd, perhaps even Windows via Cygwin."

That would definitely be a weekend project worthy of someone with the right programming skills.

FlipFlop,

Forgive me if someone already asked about this but would you please consider getting wizd to join HD.TS files together. I love that function for DVD.VOB files and would really like to have that feature for HD.TS files.

I have a RAID5 server with wizd serving up content to 1 HTPC & 2 LP2. The LP2 is just not very smooth if I have to play recordings one file at a time. If I knew anything about programming I would do it myself but sadly I can only copy what people post. Please consider adding this feature.

Also just in case you were not aware, I really like wizd. It is the best open source server on this forum. I hope you like flattery. :D

money

FlipFlop,

Forgive me if someone already asked about this but would you please consider getting wizd to join HD.TS files together. I love that function for DVD.VOB files and would really like to have that feature for HD.TS files.



Yes, I would second this request. Actually, an older version of wizd HAD this feature. It was removed when transitioning to newer Japanese source base (I think).

Ideally, this feature would allow seamless play of all files with appropriate name sequence (or perhaps all .ts files from a subdirectory.) A bonus would be to map "chapters" to file bounds. For example, if I have 6 .ts files, I could skip 1/6th of the way through (to the next file bound) by using the chapter forward button.

I was thinking of implementing this myself, but I haven't had the time to setup a decent dev environment.. Also, it's been a while since I programmed procedural code, and it's been hard for me to derive high-level "design" info from the current source base... But I imagine this would be a snap for FlipFlop... (hint, hint... :) )

What naming conventions do the .TS files follow? I use an an ATI HDTV Wonder, which exports program streams, so I have no idea what other capture cards' software does.

What naming conventions do the .TS files follow? I use an an ATI HDTV Wonder, which exports program streams, so I have no idea what other capture cards' software does.

jhue,

.TS stands for Transport Stream MPEG-2 Video Stream and is the file extention for MyHD PCI HDTV Tuner cards. I had the ATI HDTV wonder, it's a nice card but my LP2 can not play their files. I want to share my HD recording across my house and could not accomplish that with ATI's card.

money

By "naming conventions", I meant how does the recording software name the files, like:

FOO_001.TS
FOO_002.TS
...
FOO_006.TS

etc. This information is needed in order to implement the .TS join feature.

I playback my HDTV Wonder recordings with my LP2 with no problems. The only thing it can't do is playback while still recording, since the ATI records ".vcr" files which you have to first export to HD MPEG-2 program streams via their media library application.

jhue

Sorry about misunderstanding your "naming conventions" questions. :o

The .TS file are recorded like the following.

FOO.TS
FOO_01.TS
FOO_02.TS
...
FOO_06.TS

I've even tried to rename the sequece you had and still no luck.

FOO_001.TS
FOO_002.TS
...
FOO_006.TS

Any ideas?

money

I was going to take a look at modifying the wizd source code (or find the old code that used to implement this) to implement the "join" feature. That's why I needed to know the file naming conventions. So is FOO.TS the first part of the show and FOO_01.TS the second part, or does FOO.TS serve some special purpose, and FOO_01.TS is really the first part?

For some strange reason FOO.TS is the first and F00_01.TS is the second. But don't go through any special effort if it makes sense to keep to your original naming convention.

FOO_001.TS
FOO_002.TS
...
FOO_006.TS

is fine with me. I can easily rename files.

BTW, FlipFlop said "I had one early version that attempted to do the combining for any file type, but that modificaton was lost when I switched to using a different Japanese version of wizd as my base."

I don't know if that helps but that's what he said. :)

I was going to take a look at modifying the wizd source code (or find the old code that used to implement this) to implement the "join" feature. That's why I needed to know the file naming conventions. So is FOO.TS the first part of the show and FOO_01.TS the second part, or does FOO.TS serve some special purpose, and FOO_01.TS is really the first part?
I don't think there are any "special" files, like there are with .VOB files, so .ts joining should actually be easier than .VOB joining.

Some suggestions if you are going to try to add this feature:
1) Use flexible joining. i.e. instead of generating filename sequences based on naming conventions, just take the list of all .ts files in the directory being played, and join them based on the most logical (perhaps simple alphabetical) ordering of their names.
2) Follow the wizd convention which allows you to EITHER select an entire directory for seamless play, OR navigate into the directory to select an individual .ts clip. An improvement over current wizd would be to continue seamless-play when selected .ts clip finishes playng. i.e. you select foo3.ts, and it automatically plays through to foo4.ts when foo3.ts ends.
3) Map chapter fwd/back to .ts clip bounds. i.e. if I am in the middle of foo3.ts, I can advance to the start of foo4.ts with the chapter fwd button. This would provide a nice alternative to the STILL poorly implemented FFWD/REW of .ts files on LinkPLayer. (I can split my .ts files into ~4minute segments, and get "quick-skip" function this way..)
4) Bookmarking feature should remember playback point within ENTIRE set of joined .ts files.

An improvement over current wizd would be to continue seamless-play when selected .ts clip finishes playng. i.e. you select foo3.ts, and it automatically plays through to foo4.ts when foo3.ts ends.
The problem with this is when you serve a file up to the linkplayer, you tell it how long that file is. When it finishes reading that many bytes, it assumes it is at the end of the file and won't ask for any more.

You could lie and tell it the length was 10x longer that it actually was, so it kept asking for bytes after the end of the file, but then the "goto %" function would not work (10% would actually be 100%) so that wouldn't be so great.

What I did previously, and what is currently done for .vob files, is the directory is scanned for matching files, and their lengths summed to get the file length reported to the linkplayer.

3) Map chapter fwd/back to .ts clip bounds. i.e. if I am in the middle of foo3.ts, I can advance to the start of foo4.ts with the chapter fwd button. This would provide a nice alternative to the STILL poorly implemented FFWD/REW of .ts files on LinkPLayer. (I can split my .ts files into ~4minute segments, and get "quick-skip" function this way..)
Unfortunately this doesn't work very well on the linkplayer. This is how the chapter support for .vob files is currently done. The problem is the linkplayer fwd/back buttons advance to the next item in the playlist, and it has no idea that during playback of item 1, it has already played item 2, 3, 4, and 5, and that now you want to skip to item 6. Instead, even though you are playing item 6 (continuous playback from item 1), the fwd button would "advance" to item 2 in the playlist, so you actually end up going backwards. Also, when the first item plays to completion, it automatically advances to the second item in the playlist, so at the end of the first complete playback of the file sequence. You will see this in the DVD chapter break support right now, because if you watch an entire movie, at the end of the credits it will start playing again beginning at chapter 2. The DVD chapter support is useful for quickly picking a chapter to start with, but not much else.

I was going to take a look at modifying the wizd source code (or find the old code that used to implement this) to implement the "join" feature.
I've attached the old source for wizd_send_file.c that did the file combining. Basically it looked for "_1." in the file name, and then tried changing the 1 to 2, 3, 4, 5, ... 9 to add up the combined sizes of the files.

The problem with this is when you serve a file up to the linkplayer, you tell it how long that file is.

...

Unfortunately this doesn't work very well on the linkplayer.

...



Ok. I guess I should become more familiar with the code before making such suggestions. But it seems to me that as long as wizd is "faking out" linkplayer, it could theoretically take it a few steps further. Perhaps "deducing" what buttons were pressed based on the sequence of requests from linkplayer. i.e. "serve file x", followed by "serve file x+1" means the guy must have hit "fwd". So instead of serving file x+1, serve the next file in sequence based on how far it played last time... or something like that.... seems like there must be SOME way to do it...

But just getting basic .ts file joining back would be greatly appreciated...

I uploaded a new version which has more streaming settings that can be tweaked, and also adds a bookmark function and fixed a few bugs.

Does anybody have tips about how to get the bookmarks feature to work. Another Mac wizd user and I are stumped. (http://www.iodata.com/usa/forum/showpost.php?p=3289&postcount=202) Thanks in advance.

Hey guys, I've not paid attention.. anything exciting going on?:)

Lund

That WIZD server is pretty nice, but is there any way to reduce the number of line items per screen, I tried setting "page_line_max" to 10 in the config, but that didn't seem to make a diff, always putting up to 18 items.

I am running the pc version wizd_0_12h_pvb_12

Here is a small application that I created in VB.NET to help me manage my configuration file in Wizd. It does require that you have .NET 2.0 installed on your machine in order to use it. I have tested it out and it works. It would be nice to get input as to how I can improve the config utility.

You must rename the extension to .exe and place it in the wizd folder. The reason it is .txt extension is because you cannot upload executable here. It is virus clean. I'm not here to hurt anyone. I figured I have used the scene for a long time and if I can give back, I am.

When using the utility, once in the app, the first thing you want to do is create a backup of your existing config by clicking the "Backup Config File". It will creat a file with the name of "wizd.bkp". Now that you have your backup, you can use the utility to creat a new config file. Simply make you settings then click "Create Config File". The new config file will not include all of the comments of the original file. It will only have the settings needed to use wizd.

You can also terminate the wizd process and restart it using this app. Shouldn't have to explain this because of the button labels at the bottom.

NOTE: Not all features of wizd are able to be configured currently. The settings that are not visible are the ones that usually won't get changed by the user. I will add the extra functionality as I receive messages requesting me to do so, or when I have more time to continue development on the utility.

A couple of questions and comments!

First I love wizd. I've been using it for 6 months now.

1. Has anyone got a project for Visual studio which compiles the original source? I'm guess I'm asking has anyone compiled this in VS.

2. DIVX and XVID bookmarks. I really need this. I've started converting about 500 DVD's to DIVX. and not having bookmarks is tough. I tend to watch partially and then come back later to finish a movie. without divx bookmarks, I've forgotten where in the movie.

3. Seems with DIVX files if there are more than one being streamed in sequence, that WIZD occasionally will go into a fast forward mode when it switches files. Only noticed this on divx files.

Love the product flip flop!

Here is a small application that I created in VB.NET to help me manage my configuration file in Wizd. It does require that you have .NET 2.0 installed on your machine in order to use it. I have tested it out and it works. It would be nice to get input as to how I can improve the config utility.



Why does this need access to the internet? During it's startup my firewall tells me this wants access. I didn't give it access and the program crashed. What's going on here?

I created in VB.NET 2005. This is my first app in VB.NET 2005. It must be looking for an update. Let me see if I can disable that an repost. Sorry. On my server I do not have a firewall installed I did not know that the app actually attempts to look for an updated version. This is a new feature in VB.NET 2005 that I have to get used to.

Why does this need access to the internet? During it's startup my firewall tells me this wants access. I didn't give it access and the program crashed. What's going on here?


Try this version and let me know if it still trys to access the net. I really want to get this working because it will help with the config of Wizd. Thanks in advance.

According to McAfee Firewall, it still wants access. I've sent you a couple of PM's also. Still crashes if it doesn't get access. It will start up and run if I give it internet access. No idea what it's trying to do.

According to McAfee Firewall, it still wants access. I've sent you a couple of PM's also. Still crashes if it doesn't get access. It will start up and run if I give it internet access. No idea what it's trying to do.


I will continue to work on it to get this fixed, but overall how is it working for you? Any feedback is welcomed.

Here is a newer version. Fixed error when removing Pictures and Music paths.

I've posted a new release of wizd which adds some new features:

* Allows reading of DVDs from ISO files
* DVD playback allows skipping forward/backward by chapter
* add option to always force reading of VOB files using libdvdread
* Play-all playlists with subdirectories randomly shuffle the directories,
and then play the songs in each directory in normal order
* Default playlists are automatically shuffled so you get a different order
each time
* JPEG images can be automatically cropped to fill up more of a 16:9 HD screen
* Can set a minimum JPEG image size, to suppress displaying of thumbnails
* added "Secret" aliases which are 3-digit hidden shortcuts to an absolute path
* Added "chapter" marks at 10, 20, 30, ... 90% for faster navigation through files
(this may also allow continuous playback of files which increase in size
after starting playback)
* Put the mime-type mappings into the wizd.conf file so they can be easily changed

http://www.geocities.com/flipflop7146/wizd.html

Thanks FlipFlop! Any luck with bookmarks on xvid or divx files?

Bookmarks need to be supported by the LinkPlayer. Wizd sends a file offset to the linkplayer, but it is up to the linkplayer to use that offset to set the playback position. As far as I can tell, the linkplayer only supports bookmarks for MPEG2 files.

I was curious if there might be a way to "fake" the bookmark. I would even be happy with a fast forward to a save spot. or If a bookmark was there, have wizd just start returning the video from that spot.

Regardless, thanks for the great work!

I tried simply serving up the file beginning at the bookmark offset, but this does not work for divx/avi files. I did try serving up just the beginning of the file, and then jumping to the bookmark position, but this simply makes the linkplayer get really confused at the transition.

The AVI file format wasn't designed for streaming, and you need to read the headers at the beginning of the file to make any sense out of the rest of the file. MPEG2 files, on the other hand, are designed for streaming, and the header information is repeated periodically throughout the entire file. So, regardess of where you pick up the MPEG2 stream, within a second or two the player can pick out the header info.

But it would be simple for IOData to support bookmarks in their firmware. They already support the "go to NN%" navigation, which is essentially a manual bookmark function. They just need to use the starting offset parameter when playing avi files, read the file headers, and then "go to" the bookmark position to start playback. But right now they simply ignore the starting offset parameter when playing avi files.

Hi Flipflop (or other knowledgeable users out there),

Great work !!! I, for one, am really grateful for your work. I am new to this device and am still figuring out my way around. I seem to have run into a challenge...

Whenever I play a DVD .iso or .img file, it seems to only default to 4:3. I do not know where to set this, can I tweak this in wizd or the LP2?

I have set the player to "Fit to Screen" and DVD setup to 16:9. .avi and .jpg plays fine. I see this behavior only on .iso or .img. Any clues or tips?

alex

I've forgot to post on that forum oops :D
I've created an advanced configuration tool for Wizd. Current version is 0.4 beta, next one should be first non-beta version (Note : you need Net Framework 2.0).

More info here :
Crap I can't post URL here because I've not posted 5 times .... too bad
url (remove spaces) : remotew . free . fr / wizdxp /

hi guy..i hav just entered this forum for some help..i hav downloaded the open source server widz but all the comments are in chinese or japaneese...so i'm kida lost...if any one of u know..cld give me a higher level overview of the protocol that the server n d box use to stream as well as establish a session...
Thanks in advance

hi guy..i hav just entered this forum for some help..i hav downloaded the open source server widz but all the comments are in chinese or japaneese...so i'm kida lost...if any one of u know..cld give me a higher level overview of the protocol that the server n d box use to stream as well as establish a session...
Thanks in advance

There has been a lot of work done lately. Go here http://wizd.sourceforge.net/ for the latest.

Billy,

Looks good at sourceforge... I would like to see wizd moved there, but I think flipflop should approve and be in charge.

Flipflop, what do you think?

Alexsih,

I'm getting the same thing. Buffalo LinkPlayer. Did you find a fix for this?

hi,
i downloaded the wizd server n had it porteted to one arm based board, the sever seems running fine. my query is
how many clients(myiBox) can the server support at mask efficiently?
under what kind of lincense the server source code is made available?

few more quesries...
i m using the open source server with myiBox(by syabas)
the box and the server borad need to be connected to same switch(wired) in order to communicate, wht possibly cld b the problem?
the box has a wi-fi card installed but can't locate APs, is any firmware upgrade required to have it working wireless?

Thanks in advance...awaiting replies..:-)

Looks good at sourceforge... I would like to see wizd moved there, but I think flipflop should approve and be in charge.

Flipflop, what do you think?

As you already know, this is the new home of FlipFlop's Wizd. Some people joined the open source project, and I'm in charge of the website, and I release all-in-one packages and skins (and obviously my config tool WizdXP).

There's also a forum on the sourceforge page, so feel free to post !

Wizd v23 has been released today, following v22 silentely released few days ago.
wizd (dot) sourceforge (dot) net


Here is the change log :

Version 23 (27/08/2006) :
- New Simplicity skin (SD and HD versions)
- Cygwin1.dll updated to 1.5.21
- Bug fixed : some thumbnails were not displayed
- Bug fixed : artist was not displayed while playing MP3 (regression in v22)

Version 22 (12/08/2006) :
- New linkplayer_hires2 skin
- Will automatically join a.1.ts, a.2.ts, a.3.ts, etc...
- New Info... buttons for mp3 and avi files to display tag info for each
- Now detects when one title set of a dvd is a subset of another title set and does not display it
- General clean up of the information available to the skins
- Found some bugs in sorting directories
- Added new navigation features - aliases and docroot links support added, list of pages added
- Default encoding character switched to ISO-8559-1 (instead of EUC-JP)
- New nav and mid sections for skins - used by linkplayer_hires2

Thanks for all the great work. DVD rips are such a pleasure now.

One remaining issue with my wizd/Linkplayer experience -- perhaps you guys can tell me if its a player issue or a server issue. You sure seem to know a heck of a lot more about bookmarks than Avel tech do.

Playing a normal divx encode -- press the forward arrrow button on remote a few times, with the TV displaying, say, "42%". The player does its searching bit, and play resumes. But not at 42% -- at some randomly lower place such as 35%.

Is this a "known issue" thats so common no one discusses it anymore? Is there anyway to search by time? Is there any fix?


Thanks!

Wizd v24 has been released :
http://wizd.sourceforge.net/

What's new (v24) :
- Search feature supported in simplicity skins and linkplayer_hires2 skin
- "Last added files" feature on linkplayer it is selected with the "clr" button
- A beautiful optional start page only implemented in simplicity skin currently
- Favorite feature (to access easily some of your folders of web pages) only implemented in simplicity skin currently
- html files associtated with video and music files as with thumbnails, it is now possible to create a wizd_movie.html file if you have a movie.xxx (where xxx is one of the movie or music formats) then you can create a wizd_movie.html and it will be accessed by clicking on the movie or music thumbnail. currently only supported in the simplicity skins and linkplayer_hires2 skin
- support for Movie and Music Collector. If you use either Movie or Music Collector then new templates are provided that allow you to either export a movie or music from the collector database and save it as wizd_xxx.html. The templates are included under the linkplayer_hires2 directory.
- windows shortcuts now support provided they point to a file in an alias or in the docroot directory
- new config flag allows one to add an index.html to a directory and have it read rather than the normal skin. Variable substitution will NOT be performed on the file.
- new config flag allows one to add an wizd.html to a directory and have it read rather than the normal skin. variable substitution will be performed on the file
- add -c option to allow for multiple wizd's to run simultaneously
- Re-worked "Simplicity" skin
- Mimetype for FLAC audio files added (your player need FLAC support to read them)

Would someone be able to add a scaling or zoom function to the source server software that would take a 2:35:1 movie (hi-def or s-def) and stretch it vertically to 1.78:1 for users of anamorphic lenses or would that require some serious code?

I think something like that would have to be done at the firmware level.

Wizd v24 has been released :
http://wizd.sourceforge.net/


Binaries of wizd_v24 for the Kuro-Box, Mac OS X (universal binary), and x86_64 are posted on my web site at http://jhue.users.sonic.net. The SourceForge project should be updated shortly with pointers to these builds.

Binaries of wizd_v24 for the Kuro-Box, Mac OS X (universal binary), and x86_64 are posted on my web site at http://jhue.users.sonic.net. The SourceForge project should be updated shortly with pointers to these builds.
Dont know if this is a mac problem or common to all v24 wizd, but when I play ts files in a folder, it keeps recycling thru them and I have to manually push the stop button to end the movie or its plays thru again and again.

Is there a setting I'm missing?

LJ

PS, a typical hr tv episode has about 40 ts files (100MB each) for a 720p HD. It plays all 40 seamlessly, and automatically starts from the beginning again.

Is anyone using WIZD with the new PopcornHour media player?

Is ther3 an active list of what NAS wizd can work with?

Is there another thread this would be better posted on?

Leslie

Is anyone using WIZD with the new PopcornHour media player?

http://www.networkedmediatank.com/viewtopic.php?t=1140


Is ther3 an active list of what NAS wizd can work with?


Since the source is provided, you can run it on any appliance that allows you to add your own apps.