smitbret
01-03-2017, 08:15 AM
OK, so I am planning on cutting the cord (goodbye Dish and DirecTV) and going to a One-Box-Serves All kind of set up for each TV I have settled on FireTVs for the task since it can handle all of my online streaming needs and Mezzo for local playback. The only issue I am having is what media player to use for local playback on the FireTVs from the Mezzmo Server. I have a Gen 2 FireTV hardwired directly to my NetGear Nighthawk R7000 router and I am using that as my test device before deploying FireTV sticks in the rest of the house.
I find that Mezzmo's Internal Video Player works as well or better than the 3rd party Media Players I have tried. It is perfect for what we need, except that it seems to insist on streaming any external subtitles by default. I just can't seem to find a way to stream using the app that doesn't seem to assume that I want the subs if they exist externally; 90% of the time, I don't. I can shut them off with the player but it is an annoyance to have to go in and do this every time. I know, first world problem, right? I would much rather have it default the other way where they would be ignored and I could turn them on if I wanted. This led me to go out and look for a media player that could do this.
I first tried VLC and it performed just about exactly like Mezzmo's Internal Player except that I lost the ability to control the volume from the FireTV remote. So it's out. I sideloaded MX Player and tried to use that as the default player when prompted by the Mezzmo App but it refused to play anything at all. I could browse the library and select files but MX Player would just stall like it was buffering for playback until I exited. I checked Mezzmo Server and every file that I attempted to playback would throw a "File Not Found" error in the Status Pane.
That leads us to question/problem 3. Since the MX Player experiment, the server has been wonky when playing back files at that location (I have gone back to the Internal Player). This particular FireTV never shows up in Mezzmo Server's Device list. I can browse the library and playback occurs like normal but the folder art doesn't display (the file art displays fine). It is like I have the wrong Mezzmo Profile for the device but I can't change it since the device isn't available in the server list. Here's the really strange part though, upon playback the status field on Mezzmo Server never indicates that playback is occurring. Weirdly enough, it shows the expected info in the "Transcoding Pane" and the video plays fine. I cleared the Device list and everything else populated as I brought them back up; Dish Hopper and Joeys, Cell Phones, Tablets, PCs, even my wireless printer.
I am set a DHCP reservation for the device on the router and the IP address is a match between the device and router.
Condensed Synopsis:
#1 - Is there a way to make external subtitles NOT display by default with Mezzmo's Internal Video Player?
#2 - If not, is there a good media player out there that doesn't display the external subs by default but would let me choose to display them if I decide I would want them?
#3 - Why won't my FireTV Gen 2 show up in Mezzmo's Device List even though it works for browsing and playback?
I find that Mezzmo's Internal Video Player works as well or better than the 3rd party Media Players I have tried. It is perfect for what we need, except that it seems to insist on streaming any external subtitles by default. I just can't seem to find a way to stream using the app that doesn't seem to assume that I want the subs if they exist externally; 90% of the time, I don't. I can shut them off with the player but it is an annoyance to have to go in and do this every time. I know, first world problem, right? I would much rather have it default the other way where they would be ignored and I could turn them on if I wanted. This led me to go out and look for a media player that could do this.
I first tried VLC and it performed just about exactly like Mezzmo's Internal Player except that I lost the ability to control the volume from the FireTV remote. So it's out. I sideloaded MX Player and tried to use that as the default player when prompted by the Mezzmo App but it refused to play anything at all. I could browse the library and select files but MX Player would just stall like it was buffering for playback until I exited. I checked Mezzmo Server and every file that I attempted to playback would throw a "File Not Found" error in the Status Pane.
That leads us to question/problem 3. Since the MX Player experiment, the server has been wonky when playing back files at that location (I have gone back to the Internal Player). This particular FireTV never shows up in Mezzmo Server's Device list. I can browse the library and playback occurs like normal but the folder art doesn't display (the file art displays fine). It is like I have the wrong Mezzmo Profile for the device but I can't change it since the device isn't available in the server list. Here's the really strange part though, upon playback the status field on Mezzmo Server never indicates that playback is occurring. Weirdly enough, it shows the expected info in the "Transcoding Pane" and the video plays fine. I cleared the Device list and everything else populated as I brought them back up; Dish Hopper and Joeys, Cell Phones, Tablets, PCs, even my wireless printer.
I am set a DHCP reservation for the device on the router and the IP address is a match between the device and router.
Condensed Synopsis:
#1 - Is there a way to make external subtitles NOT display by default with Mezzmo's Internal Video Player?
#2 - If not, is there a good media player out there that doesn't display the external subs by default but would let me choose to display them if I decide I would want them?
#3 - Why won't my FireTV Gen 2 show up in Mezzmo's Device List even though it works for browsing and playback?