Media Device i.d. versus Device Profile

[SLPopp]

How does Mezzmo determine if a new device is found on the network? On the "Media Devices" window is it looking at the Device Name, the IP Address, MAC Address or a combination of these things? The reason I ask is it seems that every once in a while (particularly after a power outage) the device profiles in Mezzmo are getting reset for my two Western Digital TV Live Streaming Media Players (Gen 3). They get set to the default Gen 1 profile (which they do not work well with) and I have to go into Mezzmo and set them back to the WD TV Live Streaming Media Player profile. All I can come up with is the IP Addresses of the devices are changing because I didn't have my router set up with any static IP Addresses. I changed the device names in the Western Digital setup menus when I bought them so each player has a unique name so that can't be causing a problem, and each device has a unique MAC Address also. If the IP Address changes does Mezzmo see this as a new device? I have gone into my router's setup (Netgear WNDR-4000) and assigned static IP Addresses for the two WD Players, but only time will tell if this has fixed the problem I am having.

[Paul]

Hi SLPopp,

Mezzmo uses a combination of a device's MAC address (it should not change) and IP address (it can change) to uniquely identify your devices. If Mezzmo can get your device's MAC address, then your device can change IP addresses and Mezzmo will handle this without any changes to device profiles, etc. We use IP address for identification in the case where Mezzmo cannot get access to your device's MAC address. This can occur when your device(s) are connected a network bridge. Some router's act as network bridges. The common problem with network bridges is that they hide the MAC address of devices connected to them and will always return the MAC address of the bridge itself. This can confuse device identification in Mezzmo.

If you are using a bridge, then check your bridge settings to see if it has settings to allow MAC forwarding (or MAC bypass). Turn on MAC forwarding and this may help your problem. Reboot your bridge and devices, and delete all devices from the Media Devices dialog in Mezzmo after making any bridge setting changes. If your bridge does not have MAC forwarding, then you should turn on the "Use only IP addresses to identify devices" checkbox in the Media Devices dialog and assign static IP addresses to your devices so you can get reliable device detection.

[SLPopp]

Thanks for the reply Paul,

I am not using any bridges, only a wireless router (Netgear WNDR4000) and two switches (Netgear GS608 v3 and a Netgear GS605 v4) are in my network's communication paths. The PC running Mezzmo is wired to the router. From the router it goes to the GS608 switch in the lower level entertainment room (where one of the WD TV Live players resides along with 4 gaming consoles, a Bluray player and a HTPC). From the GS608 switch in the lower level entertainment room it goes to an upper level family room to the GS605 switch where the other WD TV Live player is along with another Bluray player. So far I have only noticed the WD TV Live player in the lower level changing device profiles in Mezzmo, the WD TV Live player in the upper level (running through two switches) has been fine so far, but it doesn't get used as much.

Everything on my network is hard wired except for a Nintenedo Wii and WiiU, and my laptop.

The power outages that have occurred have not been while the server running Mezzmo has been turned on.

I'll have to wait and see if reserving the two IP addresses on the router for the WD TV Live devices helps any, they do show up in the routers connection list with the correct names and Mezzmo is picking them up with the correct names and IP addresses so I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Thanks again

[Paul]

Everything sounds OK in your network setup. Let us know if it continues to happen and we'll help further.