Couple of questions (moving data files)

[paulsalter]

Hi,
Just moved from Mac to Windows and am on the trial version, will be purchasing it during next week as it does everything I want

I do have a couple of queries, hope someone can help

1)
As I have just moved from a Mac my external drive is not compatible with Windows, so I am copying some of the files over to the new PC (unfortunately I don't have the space to copy everything)
When I get a new external drive, how do I copy my files so that I keep the ratings/play counts for the movies, if I just move them in explorer will Mezzmo think they are new files and re add them or recognise they have moved location? (saw a help document on moving database but don't think this is the same)

2)
I have lots of daily TV shows on my Mac, so was trying to just use shared folders to access this data (until I get the new drive above)
I have shared the folder on the Mac and added the folder in Mezzmo, all the files appear and look perfect (all avi files) in the desktop app.
However when I try to play them on my Samsung BD-E6100 I get a message that the file format is not supported on my TV
The files are fine, if I copy them locally they work fine, if I transcode them they work fine
Am I expected to much here, with data moving between 2 computers and then to the TV?
This is only a minor inconvenience as I can easily force transcode everything new, but wondering if the above should work

Thanks for any help/info

[Paul]

Hi Paul,

Some answers:

1) The upcoming Mezzmo v3.3 will have a new maintenance feature where you can change the paths of files in your Mezzmo library. This is for the case where (as you describe) you wish move the location on disk of your files from one driver/folder to another - but want to keep all the metadata in your Mezzmo library. Mezzmo v3.3 is in final testing now and will released this week. It is a free upgrade for all registered users.

2) The location of your files should not matter. The fact that your Samsung Blu-ray player is saying file format not supported suggests that Mezzmo is delivering the file natively to your Blu-ray player whereas it should be transcoding the video to another (compatible) format. The reason for this will be the device profile that is assigned to your Samsung Blu-ray player in the Media Devices dialog in Mezzmo. Edit your device in the Media Device dialog, and try changing the device profile to another one of the Samsung BDP device profiles. If no better, then post the FFmpeg information for the AVI file here. To do this, right-click on the AVI file in Mezzmo and click 'Get FFmpeg Information'.

[jbinkley60]

Hi Paul,

Some answers:

1) The upcoming Mezzmo v3.3 will have a new maintenance feature where you can change the paths of files in your Mezzmo library. This is for the case where (as you describe) you wish move the location on disk of your files from one driver/folder to another - but want to keep all the metadata in your Mezzmo library. Mezzmo v3.3 is in final testing now and will released this week. It is a free upgrade for all registered users.

This is a great feature and will save me a lot of time. I look forward to it.

[Paul]

This is a great feature and will save me a lot of time. I look forward to it.

Thanks, jbinkley60. It has been requested by quite a few users so we're happy we have finally added it into Mezzmo.

[paulsalter]

Fantastic news about that new feature (been reluctant to add a lot of media to my computer and then have to redo all the updates when I get a external drive)

here is the FFmpeg data for one of the problem files, the file works fine if I put it on a usb stick then into my Blu Ray player, also if I copy the file to my local drive, it will stream fine from Mezzmo

the file is currently on my MacBook (shared folder)
I added this shared folder to Mezzmo
This gives an error

ffmpeg version N-50460-g393dcbf Copyright (c) 2000-2013 the FFmpeg developers
built on Mar 4 2013 17:38:17 with gcc 4.6.2 (GCC)
configuration: --enable-memalign-hack --arch=x86 --target-os=mingw32 --cross-prefix=i686-w64-mingw32- --enable-static --disable-shared --enable-zlib --disable-postproc --prefix=/home/peter/ffmpeg/build/gpl --enable-libmp3lame --enable-libx264 --enable-gpl --extra-libs='-lx264 -lpthread' --enable-runtime-cpudetect --extra-cflags=-I/home/peter/cc/include --extra-ldflags=-L/home/peter/cc/lib --pkg-config=pkg-config --disable-w32threads --enable-zlib
libavutil 52. 17.103 / 52. 17.103
libavcodec 54. 92.100 / 54. 92.100
libavformat 54. 63.102 / 54. 63.102
libavdevice 54. 3.103 / 54. 3.103
libavfilter 3. 41.100 / 3. 41.100
libswscale 2. 2.100 / 2. 2.100
libswresample 0. 17.102 / 0. 17.102
[mpeg4 @ 018708e0] Invalid and inefficient vfw-avi packed B frames detected
Input #0, avi, from '\\MACINTOSH\Azureus Downloads\Neighbours\Season 29\Neighbours - S29E150 - Episode 6700 (2nd August 2013).avi':
Metadata:
encoder : VirtualDubMod 1.5.10.2 (build 2540/release)
Duration: 00:22:30.80, start: 0.000000, bitrate: 1092 kb/s
Stream #0:0: Video: mpeg4 (Advanced Simple Profile) (XVID / 0x44495658), yuv420p, 624x352 [SAR 255:248 DAR 9945:5456], 25 tbr, 25 tbn, 25 tbc
Stream #0:1: Audio: mp3 (U[0][0][0] / 0x0055), 48000 Hz, stereo, s16p, 96 kb/s
At least one output file must be specified

<MEZZMO>: Child process ended with code: 109, ExitCode=1


---> DB Level Info: 5, 15
---> Frame rate: 25.00
---> Aspect ratio: 9945:5456

Thanks

[Paul]

Thanks for the file information. Mezzmo server will stream this AVI file directly to your Samsung Blu-ray player when using the various Samsung BDP device profiles. So the fact that your Samsung player rejects it means that it cannot play it via DLNA (whereas it can play it via USB; we have found this is quite common that playing via USB and playing via DLNA produce different results since often hardware players have different code in their firmware for playing files via USB vs. via DLNA).

Try pre-transcoding the AVI file to another format and see if it plays. To pre-transcode the AVI file, follow this FAQ - http://forum.conceiva.com/showthread...nscoding-Files. Once pre-transcoding has completed, try streaming the video again to your Samsung BDP. Let us know how you go.

[paulsalter]

Thanks for the update

It just seems odd that if I copy the file to my local machine (C:\users\paul\videos\tv) then it will stream fine via dlna

I have been transcoding them and this makes the files work no problem

I have reduced the size of the transcode directory (don't want to fill hd with these), am I correct in saying that when this directory gets full the older transcodes will be automatically deleted?

By the end of the year I should have everything local, which should resolve these issues, so I am happy to trancode things in the mean time

Thanks again for your help

[Paul]

It just seems odd that if I copy the file to my local machine (C:\users\paul\videos\tv) then it will stream fine via dlna

Sorry, I missed this point. That should not happen - i.e. streaming should be fine from both the local drives & shared folder on your Mac. To diagnose what's happening, I'd like to see a set of logs when you stream the file from your local machine and when you stream the same file from your shared folder on your Mac. Turn on logging (see http://forum.conceiva.com/showthread...nostic-logging) and restart your Mezzmo server. Reproduce the streaming form each source. Then, stop your Mezzmo server and exit Mezzmo. Zip up all the logs and email them to us at support [at] conceiva [dot] com.

am I correct in saying that when this directory gets full the older transcodes will be automatically deleted?

Yes, that's right

[paulsalter]

Hopefully I have sent the log files across ok

I created 2 lots of files, one where the file failed from the mac share and the other where it worked when the file is local

Looks as though it might be timing out when loading file, seen this with other DLNA servers, then after it errors the Samsung shows non of the files until restarted

Cheers

[Paul]

Thanks, Paul. We'll analyze your logs and get back to you via email.