MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - Streaming Music -- UPnP server alternatives

Bob Russell · 04-23-2005, 01:37 AM

No luck yet. Omnifi support (at http://www.omnifimedia.com/scripts/o...duser/home.php) gave me a quick response... yes 10,000 is the limit to nbr of tracks, and no there are not any workarounds.

They also said there are forums that I can visit if I search the internet. Only one seems to exist, http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/omnifi/

From that, I've determined that there are some alternate media servers.
I've tried....

SimpleCenter - Falls short due to tracks limit.

This is the software that came with the Omnifi DMS1 remote media player device. It works great except for the 10,000 track limit which is far short of what I need.

Seems that someone has hacked the .jar files to allow larger sets of tracks, but I'm not comfortable using that makeshift solution.
Windows Media Connect - Won't connect

This seemed to be nice, except it didn't like sharing folders with subfolders, and adding a few thousand album folders individually is not a pleasant thought.

More importantly, my media device could not connect, even though the device was activated from the WMConnect side.

This was, therefore, a bust despite Microsoft indicating my device was compatible. Have heard of one person that made it work, and sent him an email. Hope to hear back from him with the "secret".
NeroVision Express 3 / Nero MediaHome - Won't play tracks

This appeared to work because my remote media device found the server, and it could browse the media library (i.e. all my folders and mp3 files.) But when I try to play, it says that it can't play that media type. Clearly, that's not the problem, because they are standard mp3 files which stream just fine from SimpleCenter, which is the included streamer software.

Similar results were reported for lossless audio at http://www.mikeyp.com/weblog/media/musicstorage7.html

I didn't try TwonkyVision Media Server yet, which also has a Linux version. Probably won't try it based on Mikeyp's results.

Most other media servers don't seem to support UPNP (which I now know stands for "Universal Plug and Play", but is anything but that!)

One more left to try is orb.com, which I was trying to avoid. Maybe it's time to give it a try. Unfortunately, it seems to be a server based thing (their server, not mine) because it's meant to serve to internet, not just my home network. Not so sure I want to do that, but I may take a look if no one here comes to the rescue.

The only good news so far is that I have it working with Comcast's free Rhapsody radio service. Lots of nice commercial free stations. Probably enough to justify the purchase, but I want more... I really want to be able to play my whole music collection.

I know it's not the focus of this site (until we are all trying to stream audio to portable devices, that is), but if anyone has any tips, I'd appreciate them. I'll also post here on any solutions from the omnifi forums.

Thanks.

04-23-2005, 01:37 AM	#2
Bob Russell Recovering Gadget Addict Posts: 5,381 Karma: 676161 Join Date: May 2004 Location: Pittsburgh, PA Device: iPad	My fruitless results so far... No luck yet. Omnifi support (at http://www.omnifimedia.com/scripts/o...duser/home.php) gave me a quick response... yes 10,000 is the limit to nbr of tracks, and no there are not any workarounds. They also said there are forums that I can visit if I search the internet. Only one seems to exist, http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/omnifi/ From that, I've determined that there are some alternate media servers. I've tried.... SimpleCenter - Falls short due to tracks limit. This is the software that came with the Omnifi DMS1 remote media player device. It works great except for the 10,000 track limit which is far short of what I need. Seems that someone has hacked the .jar files to allow larger sets of tracks, but I'm not comfortable using that makeshift solution. Windows Media Connect - Won't connect This seemed to be nice, except it didn't like sharing folders with subfolders, and adding a few thousand album folders individually is not a pleasant thought. More importantly, my media device could not connect, even though the device was activated from the WMConnect side. This was, therefore, a bust despite Microsoft indicating my device was compatible. Have heard of one person that made it work, and sent him an email. Hope to hear back from him with the "secret". NeroVision Express 3 / Nero MediaHome - Won't play tracks This appeared to work because my remote media device found the server, and it could browse the media library (i.e. all my folders and mp3 files.) But when I try to play, it says that it can't play that media type. Clearly, that's not the problem, because they are standard mp3 files which stream just fine from SimpleCenter, which is the included streamer software. Similar results were reported for lossless audio at http://www.mikeyp.com/weblog/media/musicstorage7.html I didn't try TwonkyVision Media Server yet, which also has a Linux version. Probably won't try it based on Mikeyp's results. Most other media servers don't seem to support UPNP (which I now know stands for "Universal Plug and Play", but is anything but that!) One more left to try is orb.com, which I was trying to avoid. Maybe it's time to give it a try. Unfortunately, it seems to be a server based thing (their server, not mine) because it's meant to serve to internet, not just my home network. Not so sure I want to do that, but I may take a look if no one here comes to the rescue. The only good news so far is that I have it working with Comcast's free Rhapsody radio service. Lots of nice commercial free stations. Probably enough to justify the purchase, but I want more... I really want to be able to play my whole music collection. I know it's not the focus of this site (until we are all trying to stream audio to portable devices, that is), but if anyone has any tips, I'd appreciate them. I'll also post here on any solutions from the omnifi forums. Thanks.