UPnP Server and Devices (Media Receivers)

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What is UPnP?

UPnP stands for "Universal Plug and Play". It is an architecture for devices to interact with other Universal Plug and Play devices or software. The most common type of device used with Media Center is a Media Receiver.

What are Media Receivers?

Media Receivers are devices that sit next to your stereo or TV and play music/photos from your computer on the stereo/TV. They serve as a connection hub between your home network, home theater or TV, and computer. With a Media Receiver next to your home stereo or TV, you can access the digital music or photos stored on your computer and play them on your stereo or TV, even when the computer is somewhere else in the house. The media receiver connects to your computer via an internet connection (ethernet or wireless), and it connects to your TV or stereo via the old-fashioned way-with cables.

To set up a UPnP Device

  1. Go to the organization tree and select Services & Plug-ins > UPnP Server.
  2. Set your UPnP Server Options by selecting the Options button in the content pane (to the right). See below for what the options mean.
  3. Exit Options, and then click on the Start Server button (you only need to do this once; it will restart automatically every time Media Center opens, until you manually select Stop Server).

If a media receiver is already on the network, and the server is started, the receiver should pick up the server right away. When a media receiver is first turned on, if the server is already started, the receiver should pick up the server. Some receivers may not do both correctly, so try both.

To View your Schemes

  1. In the tree select the View Scheme you want to make available to the device. Make sure that the View Scheme is a child of "Audio", "Images" or "Video".
  2. Right-click and select Edit View Scheme.
  3. Check "Show in Theater View".

Options

To access Options, select Services & Plug-ins in the organization tree, then UPnP Server. Select the Options button in the content pane to the right.

  • File Conversion. You can convert files to other formats (such as MP3 or WMA) as they are streamed. All devices are limited in the types of files they can play. If your content is stored in a different format (such as APE) or if the bitrate needed to transfer the file is too great with your network, then you need to convert the file (either to a format that is handled or to a lower bitrate).
  • Encoder. Select the encoder to use when converting files (see above).
  • Specify the TCP port to use.
  • Warn on unrecognized NOTIFY: Leave this disabled unless you are encountering problems. If that is the case, enable it, and also enable [[Debug Logging. In the Debug Logging menu, select "service" as the type of events to log.
  • Receiver. This should be set to automatic, but you can set it manually by selecting your device from the drop-down menu. Important Note: Check the status messages to make sure your device was correctly identified.
  • "Replace Empty Genre" is required for the NETGEAR MP101, and possibly others. It replaces blank genres with "Unknown". The MP101 will otherwise refuse to play tracks with blank genres.
  • "Use Flat URLs" is required for the SMC EZ Stream and the Terratec Noxon. These receivers cannot handle complex URLs (internal to the protocol) and this hack changes the URLs to simpler ones.
  • "Include SessionID" must be turned off for Roku. It may be required for others.
  • "No server header" must be turned on for the D-Link DSM 320. It stops the emission of an HTTP Server header.
  • "Allow Visual Content" should be selected for devices that can display pictures or movies.
  • Filter International Characters should be selected if the device cannot detect or play content with international characters in the filename or the tags.
  • Skip Child Count may be selected if the device seems to take too long to browse media in the Organization Tree. Deselect if this causes problems with browsing.

UPnP Supported Devices

Currently Media Center supports the following devices

  • Buffalo LinkTheater
  • NETGEAR MP101
  • I-O Data Avel LinkPlayer
  • Philips Streamium 300i, 400i
  • Roku SoundBridge M500
  • D-Link DSM-320

Troubleshooting

  • Make sure the track is playable in MEDIA CENTER.
  • Make sure the track is playable by the device, or that conversion is selected.
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