thanks kelson i will look into the mezmo.
Quote:
Your issue with the sorting is related to the DNLA server in use, not the client. You don't mention what your server software is. Many dedicated media boxes offer the ability to serve up all content via DNLA, but of course if you have a good media box you don't need that. Bottom line is that for good media box functionality, you need to buy a media box. So a bit more info is needed in order to properly answer your question. Where are these shares located and what are you currently using for a DNLA server?
ok this is going to be a bit of a ramble. i apologize in advance and hope you can make it through.
i have a denon 4520ci and a ubt3313udci; receiver and blu-ray.
all my files are on a NAS, a readynas nv+ (v1). for music it is either flac or mp3. i only have sporadic movies/tv shows, avi mkv, usually stuff i can't find on netflix (streaming or dvd). and there are pictures, lots of them, jpg mostly.
the music is in various states in a couple of shares. there is a folder of cataloged and tagged and properly sorted stuff. and there are a few legacy folders in a more random state. i don't use itunes or anything of the sort. it is manually managed.
the pictures are in specific share as well, sprinkled with sporadic videos of the same vein as the pictures (like home video stuff). these are all manually managed as well.
right now i have laptop running XBMC with HDMI out into the Denon. it pretty much does exactly what i need. (one of the first problems was that the remote for the PC stopped controlling the volume once i sent the raw audio signal into the receiver, so one remote to skip a song and another to control the volume. i am looking into a good universal remote.)
the thing is the Readynas supports DLNA, using ReadyDLNA. the interface to set it up lets you pick a folder to present and lets you choose what type of content from it to present.
XBMC also can do uPnP/DLNA, and can present its library as well as files/folders. This lags and doesn't work so well when i browse from the Denon; not all content is shown. I don't think this is a viable option and i really don't feel like troubleshooting.
what i have a problem with though is the DLNA interface on the Denons. They are not identical (receiver v. blu-ray), but they pretty much have the same limited functionality. Maybe it is me, but for music i have no idea how to load up random folders to play. Or just play everything on random. I don't really use playlists or anything. If i play music through XBMC, i can pretty much select from any level and just play everything underneath that level, or queue various folders into what is currently gong to play (it does a lot of other music options too.)
but if the denon supports flac and MP3, i felt there is no reason to have to go through the laptop/XBMC at all. If i could show the NAS content to the Denon as files, and could play those files the same way as XBMC, i could pretty much remove the laptop from the whole setup. I just have no idea how to do this with the DLNA interface on the Denons.
i have not even tried to put the pictures through the Denons (DLNA).
my idea has come down to this.
- keep the laptop (XBMC) for now and use it to passthough audio and support the pictures folders, even though it is a seemingly unnecessary middleman, it seems to passthough the audio direct and seems to support multichannel LPCM passthrough. and the interface works.
- setup only the movies folder using the ReadyNAS ReadyDLNA, and use the Denon blu-ray to access the video content, since usually i only watch one movie/show at a time and picking it using the denon DLNA interface on the blu-ray is dealable. it seems to give me better support for the audio format in the video file, and supports the YCbCr output where the laptop/XBMC is only giving RGB.
i don't really think i need another media box as i only do netflix and its built into the blu-ray, and the primary focus of the whole system is music. i am not looking to manage or keep video libraries. movies get watched and i delete them.
what do you think?
(offhand - i am thinking of getting a raspberry pi for XBMC and using the denon USB itself to power it, if its comes down to needing to keep XBMC. it would be nicely self contained.)
