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Web interface questions
I've installed Mezzmo 5.0.4 on a Windows 7 Pro machine; media files are accessed as shares from a Windows XP machine.
I’ve come across three oddities with the web interface:
1. When I access the web interface using an IP address:
http://192.168.0.28:53168/web/login?user=guest
I get the login page, and I can log in as expected.
When I use the computer’s name instead:
http://Peacock:53168/web/login?user=guest
I get the same login page, but my attempt to log in with the very same user name and password is met with the response, “You must enter a valid user name and password.”
What’s wrong? If there’s some reason we have to use a hard-coded IP address, we can... but I’d rather not.
2. On hover, the “hamburger icon” at the upper right of the web pages shows the title “Settings”; but it just returns to the library home page.
3. What does checking "Administrator rights” for a web login do? I can’t find anything different.
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Same problem here since version 5.0.4
The settings-link seems to refer to the startsite..
Best regards,
Daniel
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Here's a separate thread which answers the user level question #3 above:
http://forum.conceiva.com/showthread...ss-user-levels
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Some answers:
1. Thanks for reporting this. We'll test that here and make sure it's working for the next Mezzmo release.
2. We'll also fix up the Settings icon so it displays the Settings page.
3. Regarding Admin rights, in the current version of Mezzmo (v5.0.4.0), a user with admin rights gets the following extra features in Mezzmo's web interface:
- User ratings. Ability to click on the star rating for files on the Details page. Your star rating selection is saved back into your Mezzmo library for that file. Great for rating files as you play or view them in your web browser.
- Download files. Ability to download the file instead of playing it in your web browser. Click the Download button (next to the Play button) on the Details page to download the original file via your web browser. Useful for transferring a file to another device or computer.
- Launch URLs. Ability to bypass Mezzmo's web player and launch (play) the file using the default/plugin-based/extension-based player in your web browser. Click the Launch URL button (next to the Play button) to launch the file via your web browser. Useful for playing a file in another media player if you are having troubles with Mezzmo's web player.
- Access Reports. View a report of user access to your Mezzmo server. Go to Mezzmo settings page in web browser and click REPORT button. Useful for knowing who accessed your Mezzmo server and when they accessed it.
- Share content on social media sites. Share content as permanent links on popular social media sites. Click the Facebook, Google, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, etc. buttons on the Details page. You must have permanent links turned on for this feature to appear in Mezzmo's web interface. Useful when you wish to share a link to one of your files on your Facebook page, etc.
- Pre-transcode video and audio files. Pre-transcode files that require transcoding before playback. Click the Transcoding button (next to the Play button) to start transcoding. A progress bar will be displayed to tell you transcoding progress. This is useful for preparing a file for playback so that FF/REW and Pause works (in some cases, it may not work due to video format).
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Note: At present, I have Mezzmo 5.0.4.0 running on a different machine than the one which hosts my media files; and I have Turn off transcoding for all connected devices checked.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Paul
- Download files. Ability to download the file instead of playing it in your web browser. Click the Download button (next to the Play button) on the Details page to download the original file via your web browser. Useful for transferring a file to another device or computer.
- Launch URLs. Ability to bypass Mezzmo's web player and launch (play) the file using the default/plugin-based/extension-based player in your web browser. Click the Launch URL button (next to the Play button) to launch the file via your web browser. Useful for playing a file in another media player if you are having troubles with Mezzmo's web player.
In my installation, the presence of the Launch URL and Download Original File icons on the detail page for a media item appears to be controlled by the checkbox labeled Allow direct media downloads. However, if the media item fails to play, the same icon used for Launch URL appears at the bottom of the page with the title Open Download even when neither Administrator rights nor Allow direct media downloads is checked.
Launch URL and Download Original File are the same link with download="" added to the a-tag for the latter; Open Download is a javascript link which I didn’t attempt to unravel. On both my browsers—IE 11 and Firefox 47—all three links seem to do exactly the same thing (in IE 11, they open Windows Media Player; in Firefox, they elicit an Open or Save dialog).
Confusingly, none of the links actually refer to the original file; they are all http links back to the server on which Mezzmo is running rather than direct file links to the server that hosts the media. At this point it’s not quite clear to me whether any of these links allow a file to stream to, say, Windows Media Player without first copying the entire file to the machine on which it is to play (bad) or doubling local area network traffic by routing the entire stream through the machine that’s running Mezzmo (less bad, but still bad). (I think that in the special case of IE 11 with Windows Media Player, it streams—though it looks like it does so through the Mezzmo server, rather than directly from the server hosting the file—while in Firefox, and probably most if not all other situations, the file would be copied—with a detour through the Mezzmo server!—to the machine on which it is to play before playback could begin.)
I would like it if it were possible—either per user name or per browser instance (e.g., via cookies)—to configure playing an item to open the underlying file in the program associated with its file type. I realize this would muck up the play count a bit, since there would be no way to know what percentage of the file was played, only that it was launched. An option, per user name, to ignore web plays in determining the play count and date last played would be welcome. If memory serves, one usually accomplishes this sort of thing by linking to a playlist file, such as a *.m3u or a *.wpl, which references the underlying file; then the playing application can access the media file the same way it would if it were opened by hand.
Perhaps some of this is configurable from the settings page. Is there any way to get to that page in 5.0.4.0?
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Email us at support [at] conceiva [dot] com and we'll provide a patch that will get the Settings page displaying again in your web browser.
Just to clarify, Mezzmo server always streams content from from itself - no matter the location or type of that content (file-based, URL-based, channel/plugin-based). There is one exception - network media that has been added into your Mezzmo library via the Network Media pane is presented to your devices & web browsers using its original URL/location (if the URL does not require transcoding for your device or web browser).
