Samsung AllShare and Internet@TV Discussion - Page 2

Thanks a million BritinVA!

So, have you had better luck/experience with Samsung PC Share or TVersity?

Wulfman

Have any of you checked to see just what audio formats are supported for the shared videos? I know using the sharing feature on my Samsung plasma it only supports PCM and AC3/Dolby Digital audio output. Was hoping to find out if DTS or any of the other formats could be bit-streamed by the players.

Also what do the navigation menus look like? I'm assuming they're similar to my TV menus for the sharing. Navigating through all the folders that get listed is somewhat tedious and a tree structure or faster way to navigate would would kind of nice. I really wish they had a web interface that could be configured or something along those lines.

Thanks.


I've tried both the PCSM and TVersity and honestly preferred the simplicity of PCSM. TVersity worked just as well. All the Windows7 PCs in the house also show up as DLNA devices along with the PCSM and I'd suggest using the windows shares for any music that you might try playing. That streaming seems to work relatively well but can be annoying to get started sometimes.

I can't get avi movies (made with digital camera) to play either, even though the manual says it is a supported format, not even from a thumb drive. jpg and mp3 work fine from my Windows 7 PC. I finally got rovi to work, but a lot of buttons to press just for tv listings and clock is still confused by new daylight saving time switch - it may be ok after this weekend. And I found out that if you hit Tools when a jpg is on screen, you can rotate it back to vertical, as well as adjust the slide show speed.
Also, what software would you recommended to convert blu-ray to mkv.
And, how come my cable download speed is measured at 18mbps with speedtest.net and only 2.6mbps with the C5500 ??

There another media server that works fine with Samsung DLNAs. It's called Serviio, it's opensource and actively developed.

Mkv works, subtitles work, library refresh automatically. It's multiplatform (PC, MAC, Linux). Give it a try. I installed it a weeks ago and so far so good.

www.serviio.org

I installed & tried to use serviio but can't install Java 6 on my Win XP computer, but will keep trying.

I just tried Serviio and it works for avi, but for mkv it says "Not Supported File Format." The same files work fine from disc or pcsm. VeauX, you're sure mkv worked for you right? I wonder why it would work for you and not me... I'm using BD-C5500.

It doesnt seem to matter if I set it to generic dlna, autodetect, or samsung, all behave the same way as far as mkvs go.

Using the internet database stuff is not suitable for me. It lists the files by the name it thinks they are instead of the actual filename, which is only right 90% of the time for my movies, and for my tv shows it lists them as their episode name but not the name of the show. Not really workable for me, although if the software were updated to only do movies (not tv) or select which folders get done, and there was a way to manually correct movies it names incorrectly, it might be better for me. I also noticed it stretched the icons it got automatically.

I got Mkv to work after forcing Samsung Wiselink as the Renderer Profile. I posted this issue on Serviio forums hopefully Zip (the programmer / moderator) works it. Now I just tries a few series I and movies. I did not do extensive testing.

It also categorizes the videos as being Movies or Series. Not sure how it does this.

Also nice also is that somehow uses the Movie Title name instead of the file name. If handled correctly, this is neat. I have to understand how it works.

Also apparently he is working on version 4.0 that will somehow handle transcoding. Wait and see.

This is maybe not the perfect program BUT, with some constructive feedback / bud reports / feature requests to the dev, we might have a very good alternative to PCMS .

Our software, J. River Media Center 15.0, now works with Samsung TV's and Blu-ray players.

I installed Serviio but somehow it doesn't recognize that Java 6 is installed on my Win 7 computer and won't start.

PCSM and WMP12 (also EyeConnect on my Mac) work fine with my BD-C5500.

I had that problem also. What I had to do it is:
-open IE 8.0 32 bits . go to java.com. install the latest JRE 32 bits
-open IE 8.0 64 bits . go to java.com. install the latest JRE 64 bits

A bit cumbersome.... first I tried with Chrome and it didnt work. switching back to IE for this did the trick. As you imagine I have Win7 64bits

Is it just me, or is serviio WAY slower than PCSM? I dont mean how it affects the host computer, I mean changing folders and stuff on the bd player... I always have to wait for serviio saying 'loading' but pcsm is fast, never even noticed the 'loading' (although it is there now that I look for it, but very quick). And switching between pages (when listing files) is instanenous with PCSM, with serviio it takes forever and ever. As far as my personal uses go, PCSM is just fine other than it not updating automatically... and how slowly it builds/updates the database. It still hasnt' finished, I left it running when I was out of town 4 days and it still didn't finish - but got a lot farther than before (and is going alphabetically), so I don't think it's hanging on any particular video, it just takes forever.

MKV started working magically for me with serviio, but I finally found some videos I have that wont play with either pcsm or serviio (but havent yet tried from usb or disc)... regular mpg in vcd format (mpeg-1 with mp3 sound) . Some mpg's I have do play but they're music videos I downloaded online here and there and not sure how to tell the difference in format, right click/properties doesnt give me the same info it does for avi about codecs and stuff.

I emailed about that jriver software license about 15 minutes after the poste but guess someone beat me to it or he hasn't got around to replying yet. If it stays updated automatically and is as fast to use as PCSM, I'll go that way. Otherwise I'll guess I'll keep using PCSM for my archive, and I'll use Serviio for my tv folders that change often when 0.4.0 comes out. (Current version doesn't recognize .tp which is what my dvr software saves hd recordings as, but serviio author says next version will).

I wish Samsung allowed a list view instead of thumbnail view. Since PCSM and Serviio have the same interface on my player, I'm assuming that part is controlled by the player itself. If you have a big list of videos, it takes forever to get to a specific one when its on like page 23 of 48 or something.

That worked, thanks. I had used Firefox without success (strange).

I just picked up a PN50C550 that supports AllShare, I hope to have it on the wall soon and with any luck the HTPC connected to it and running the latest version of AllShare... might have some information on cross device rendering.

Anybody know if this system plays nice with a DLNA enabled NAS like the Promise NS4300?

Also, is there a manual or GSQ available for the AllShare software? It would be nice to read more about its requirments and capabilities as I understand certain Samsung phones and cameras will interact with AllShare.

I have had success using Mediatomb running on my Buffalo Linkstaion Live V2 NAS with my Samsung BD-C5500.

Mediatomb is a small media server that runs on Linux and Macs (I think).

I had to add a few lines to Mediatomb's config.xml file to get things to work. I can now play MKV, M4V, MPG and WAV files. No luck on AVI files.

I found the information over on CNET Forums and looking at Serviio's configuration files (as I recall). I posted my config.xml file at CNET as well.

The changes are highlighted below (I hope). There are path errors in my config.xml file as shown below and probably would not work as is. Forget the path errors and concentrate on the added lines that are highlighted with comments so you can see what is being changed and why. There are probably improvements that could be made.

Mediatomb's confix.xml file as modified to enable M4V, MKV, MPG and WAV file playback on Samsung BD-C5500. Also the STOP, PAUSE and PLAY buttons work (on remote) plus the <> buttons let you fast forward about 10 seconds at at time (pretty useless). On a side note, whoever posted the thing about using TOOLS (on remote) and then entering the time to jump forward or backward, Thank you. That solves a lot of problems for me.



<br /> <b><ui enabled="yes"><br /> <!-- Mediatomb UI asks for username and password --><br /> <accounts enabled="yes" session-timeout="15"><br /> <account user="yourusername" password="yourpassword"/><br /> <\/accounts><br /> <\/ui><\/b><br /> <name>MediaTomb<\/name><br /> <udn>uuid:8d4ea50c-8da8-40e0-bf72-f760790e0c83<\/udn><br /> <home>/mnt/disk1/mediatomb/config<\/home><br /> <webroot>/mnt/disk1/mediatomb/usr/share/mediatomb/web<\/webroot><br /> <storage><br /> <sqlite3 enabled="yes"><br /> <database-file>mediatomb.db<\/database-file><br /> <\/sqlite3><br /> <\/storage><br /> <b><!-- Following line set to 'yes' hides PC Directory to Rendering Device --><br /> <pc-directory upnp-hide="no"/><br /> <!-- Following line set to 'yes' enables STOP,PAUSE,<> on Samsung --><br /> <protocolInfo extend="yes"/><br /> <!-- Samsung Custom Headers which make .m4v and .wmv file play --><br /> <custom-http-headers><br /> <add header="transferMode.dlna.org: Streaming"/><br /> <add header="contentFeatures.dlna.org: DLNA.ORG_OP=01;DLNA.ORG_CI=0;DLNA.ORG_FLAGS=0170000000000000 0000000000000000"/> <br /> <!-- manufacturerURL>http://samsung.com<\/manufacturerURL --> <br /> <!-- modelName>BD-C5500/<modelName --><br /> <\/custom-http-headers><\/b><br /> <!-- Uncomment the line below if you have a Telegent TG100 --><br /> <!--<br /> <upnp-string-limit>101<\/upnp-string-limit><br /> --><br />


/opt/share/mediatomb/js/common.js
/opt/share/mediatomb/js/playlists.js

/opt/share/mediatomb/js/import.js


























































audio/L16
no
yes
no




video/mpeg
yes
yes
yes

Samsung just did a firmware upgrade on my BD-C5500.

The latest version is BSP-C5500WWB-1010.4

Not sure what has changed at this time.

I did notice that if playing an MV4 files and using the ' TOOLS ' button on the remote to jump to a specified time in the video does not work. The video will lock up and no response from any button for a short while and then it seems to time out and return to the video files menu. I don't recall checking this feature on an M4V file before the upgrade so I can't say if it was broke beforehand.

The jump to time still works on MKV, WAV and MPG files on Mediatomb with my changes (as posted before) to config.xml file.

AllShare(DLNA) thumbnails, DTV drivers for Windows, AllShare guide?

Hi, I have this TV connected to a DLNA certified NAS (network attached storage) box, and have the ability to access and display pictures, video files and playback music stored on this device as well as USB attached thumb drives, USB attached hard drives and my computer with PC Share Manager installed.

Three questions:

1) Is there an AllShare manual that shows more detailed specifications and software options?

2) When my PN58C550 connects to the computer where I have PC Share Manager installed, windows recognizes it as 'new hardware' and asks to install drivers for: "Samsung DTV DMR", until I go to that computer and reply to the windows message, the process of sharing the files to the TV is sometimes interrupted. Can you provide these drivers?

3) When I browse folders for media content, with video and pictures a thumbnail image is provided on screen for this media but for music files once you are inside a folder all I see is a generic photo of a saxophone player for every song or album. This would prompt me to believe that the software is capable of displaying such images (cover art) but either they are not being retrieved from the storage device or they are in the wrong format.

Can you direct me to a manual that contains the details about this feature and/or tell me the correct format and size for the cover art of an album and where I should place the file?

This TV is a great focal point for media playback and with a few tweaks and a bit of learning I have impressed all those who I have shown it to, I hope that you can provide answers to my questions so that I can complete the experience.

Thanks!

Hi all,

I just ordered a BD-C5500 today, and have some questions for you folks that have been using it for a while. I have a home network, with about 30000 files organized in folders by artist and album. I also have some m3u playlists in the root music folder. Here are my questions:

1. Does Allshare allow folder and subfolder browsing?
2. Does it play playlists?
3. Will the response time be acceptable with a list this large?
4. Is there a way to play Internet radio stations?

Thanks in advance for your help!

Larry

I am relatively new to this but I can offer a few answers...

1) yes folders and sub folders can be viewed but you will only see music with mp3 and pcm file extensions other will not even be listed.

2) I have not seen this feature

3) Acceptable times, hmm it is not all that fast, once the page has loaded to the screen you can move within it quite quick, but moving to the next page is slow. IMHO I would consider response time 'slow'

4) Internet radio is not part of AllShare per se, but rather Internet@TV which is part of the Samsung Apps suite of programs.

BTW, your location on this planet is not apparent , but here in Canada it would seem that Samsung Apps are not available, I could be wrong but this may be a 'US centric' offering. I have asked Samsung support about this and await an answer.

Thanks for the response Al. This information is really helpful!

I am concerned that it doesn't do playlists. Does anyone have a workaround or some way to play playlists (with the list shuffled each time)?