Can the library/root be a playlist?

[badbob001]

What I want is when someone chooses to view type Movie on a Samsung B750 TV is to shown the contents of a playlist. The issue is that the Library itself is not a playlist, so I have to create a playlist under it, which makes users have to navigate into that playlist first to see its content.

It is likely that making the library a playlist will require a new version. But wasn't there a planned optimization (for samsung TVs?) where when they choose a type: [Photo][Music][Movie], then it will bypass the same [Photo][Music][Movie] choice in mezzmo and automatically go into the same selection choice? So for my purposes, I would rename my playlist to Movie and mezzmo will automatically take the user into it if they previously chose to view Movie content.

I hope this made sense.

[Paul]

The currently released 2.1.11 should take you directly to photo/music/movie playlists on the Samsung - which version are you using and which device profile?

[badbob001]

I'm on 2.1.11 and using profile Samsung B with my B750. How should it work anyway? I deleted all the default playlists under Library and added my own. Do I need to create a playlist with a certain name for this to work? I've tried Movie (matching the Samsung menu item) and Video. Does the type of playlist (standard, active, smart) matter or just the name?

Thanks!

[Paul]

The Videos, Music and Photos playlists under the Library root are specially created for Samsung TVs and BDPs so that you will be navigated directly to these playlists when you select the corresponding Samsung menu item. You cannot actually create these special playlists yourself. If you have deleted them all, the only way to get them back is to delete your Mezzmo database file, so a new Mezzmo database file is created with the default playlists created again. To delete your Mezzmo database:

1. Stop your Mezzmo server & exit from Mezzmo.

2. Using Windows Explorer, go to the folder: "C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Conceiva\Mezzmo" and delete the "Mezzmo.db" file. Warning! Your Mezzmo library will be removed when you do this and you will have to import all your media files again into Mezzmo, so make sure you want to do this!

3. Start Mezzmo and you will have a fresh Mezzmo library with the default set of playlists, including the special Videos, Music and Photos playlists. You should now import all your files again.

If you want, you can rename the playlists (right-click on the playlist in the tree, and click Properties) and the special navigation should still work with your Samsung TV. Just don't delete them.

Also, you can drag and drop files from other playlists and put them directly under (say) the Videos playlist. So, you certainly have the freedom to organize your library as you wish.

[Dion]

I'm curious Paul. Do these special playlist work the same for WDTV Live? I Deleted mine and would restore them if they did.

[Paul]

Sorry, Dion - these playlists don't do anything special for the WD TV Live. Some DLNA devices send out proprietary (non-standard) requests to media servers. Samsung's devices have a special "feature list" request and Mezzmo uses it to help Samsung owners directly navigate directly to their videos, music and photos.

[badbob001]

The implementation sounds a bit hackish. The pre-made playlists are not even playlists at all since they don't have content properties that I can change. My original plan was to create a smart playlist listing the most recently added videos (would be a list of random videos once that is implemented). When the user connects, they would immediately see the content of that playlist. The main point is to have the interface accessible to kids and non-english speaking grandparents and not have everything hidden within playlist folders that all look the same. If only thumbnails for folders were possible.

Please consider altering this feature to be more general purpose. It would be awesome to be able to mark a playlist as the default playlist for a specific dlna client. For example, I can assign the 'Kids' playlist to be the default for the family room tv and the 'Movies' playlist for the bedroom tv...

[Paul]

Thanks for the suggestion - this can work, but of course only for devices that support this in the first place. I'll add this to the development list for future implementation.

[Paul]

Here's a feature in the current version of Mezzmo that may help you:

Mezzmo lets you assign permissions for your playlists so you can decide whether to display them on a particular DLNA device in your home.

For example, you may not want "Horror Movies" listed on your family room TV. If you right-click on the "Horror Movies" playlist in the Mezzmo tree and click Playlist Sharing Permissions menu item, you can exclude the family room TV (or any other DLNA device). After making this change, this playlist will no longer be listed on your family room TV.

Device permissions can be set for any playlist in your Mezzmo library.

[badbob001]

I'm sorry but this Samsung-specific feature is not working as stated.

I've reset my mezzmo db to restore the three Music, Video, and Photos playlists. TV is on Samsung B profile and I'm using mezzmo 2.1.11.0.
On my B750, I enable MediaPlay and see [Photo][Music][Movie][Setup]. I choose [Movie]
I see the three default playlists: Music, Videos, Photos. I assume the correct effect would to be shown the contents of Videos?


I'll open a support case and submit logs.

[Paul]

Yes, please send in the logs.