[Royal2000H]

Hey I just updated to Frodo and I'm pretty excited about the UPnP functionality you've been working on!

I use XBMC locally on my laptop, but just recently got a Nexus 10 that I'm trying to play media off of.
I was going to set up MySQL and go that route, but UPnP is intriguing (especially for the image syncing that SQL apparently lacks), so I set it up.

Thank you for implementing the watch / position status. In my testing, I've seen that my tablet picks up on changes in watch/position status almost instantaneously!
In agreement with the blog post, the status of videos I watch on my tablet does not get sent back. Are you planning on implementing this in Frodo? I ask because I understand that you won't get to transcoding in Frodo (and who could blame you).

Also, the fact that on my tablet I have to go to, for example, Videos > Files > XBMC (computer) > Movies instead of just "Movies" library on the homescreen is a skin issue, and not a problem on your end right? If so, is there a skin that supports this at this time?

Thanks for your hard work!

[dhead]

Thanks alcoheca and all XBMC Team,

I had no idea upnp had this much potential.
Only need one instance of XBMC, maybe slim down version with no gui running on a nas, managed via webui,
with upnp serving content to all XBMC clients.
No need for SMB, NFS and geek know how shares settings.
This can be also great for custom profiles, rights management, one would only see content from the media libraries he subscribed to, let the young souls watch Sesame Street not Die Hard.

Any thoughts about adding synchronous playback through upnp ? Maybe an Airplay killer ?
It seems upnp forum already had some thoughts about it.
http://www.upnp.org/specs/av/UPnP-av-AVA...101231.pdf
This looks to me pretty complicated task.

[Mottsen]

I love the concept of using XBMC as a upnp server, but I'm having trouble getting it to work with my Samsung TV. If I take a file and put it on a USB drive and plug it directly into the tv it will play back fine. If I try to serve the same file with the upnp server in XBMC it tells me that the file type is not supported. I've been using the AllShare media server to actually accomplish upnp serving to my tv, but would love to use XBMC as it's one less thing to have installed and running on my HTPC. I would hope to get this fixed, what information can I give to look at getting this fixed?

I'm using the Frodo RC2 version of XBMC. My Samsung tv is model: UN46ES6580F. It's one of the Smart TV series. Is there any kind of log that I can generate that will help track down this error?

[Mitch23]

@Mottsen

Samsung SmartTV's support different file types on USB and UPNP. Some file types are missing on UPNP.

[Mottsen]

It's not that the TV doesn't support the file via UPnP as the file works fine though other UPnP servers.

[alcoheca]

@Mottsen it's a known issue, no info needed & there's no eta on it being fixed. You should stick with another DLNA compatible server.

[Wintersdark]

I'm running a Raspberry Pi with Samba shares as an NAS. I'd prefer to use NFS, but I can't find a client for Windows 8. There's lots of UPnP servers that will run on the Pi, though - is XBMC's support as a UPnP client good enough that media served to XBMC via UPnP will be indistinguishable in my library from local media on my HTPC? Will XBMC on my HTPC cache the metadata locally in it's library?

Essentially, I need to add more storage space, and my HTPC's case is full. Samba works, but it's really slow.

[da-anda]

well, you actually don't import UPNP shares to your library (and shouldn't AFAIK, because internal UPNP names could changes). But UPNP itself already acts as library, so you will have a very similar experience.

[Wintersdark]

well, you actually don't import UPNP shares to your library (and shouldn't AFAIK, because internal UPNP names could changes). But UPNP itself already acts as library, so you will have a very similar experience.

Can upnp content be mixed in with local content reasonably seamlessly? Given I have a substantial amount of local content in my HTPC, and am adding more to my NAS, it would be.... Jarring, to have it arbitrarily separated in xbmc.

I suppose that depends on the quality of meta data scraping the upnp server is doing, as it's providing that data, right?

[steve1977]

Given a centralized database (different from current mysql solution) is one of my most awaited features, I really hope that UPnP share are or will be the solution to it. I just looked at the wiki that it looks pretty much complete to what I am looking for (http://wiki.xbmc.org/index.php?title=HOW...using_UPnP).

Let me ask a few questions to better understand whether it already does what I would like it to do:

1) The library resides on one computer only ("XBMC A"). "XBMC B" has no own library function

2) Poster and fanart caching happen only on "XBMC A". So, I save a lot of disk space on "XBMC B" as it no longer needs to cache images. However, "XBMC B" will also be a bit slower in displaying posters.

3) Library update is ONLY used on "XBMC A", everything happens automatically on "XBMC B" and I don't need to hit "update library" or "clean library"

4) Watched flags are synced between "XBMC A" and "XBMC B".

5) If I change a poster on "XBMC A", it will automatically also change on "XBMC B". I cannot change posters on "XBMC B".


Does above make sense and is current reality? If so, the only missing piece is indeed transcoding and we have a full server/client infrastructure?

[dhead]

I believe only 4 is "not yet/not in Frodo".

[steve1977]

Opened another thread and there is quite some interest to better understand the current UPnP functionality. Would be great to see some reactions!

http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=149489

[da-anda]

Can upnp content be mixed in with local content reasonably seamlessly? Given I have a substantial amount of local content in my HTPC, and am adding more to my NAS, it would be.... Jarring, to have it arbitrarily separated in xbmc.

I suppose that depends on the quality of meta data scraping the upnp server is doing, as it's providing that data, right?

Your UPNP library will be separate atm. So you browse the UPNP server via "video -> files -> upnp share" while your local files could be in the library, unless you in general decide to browse in file mode.

As for the meta-data - yes, this depends on your UPNP server how much and which infos it provides.

[Wintersdark]

Thanks for your help! I'll stick with the crappy Samba shares, then, as wife friendly is very important; having my media split into two libraries wouldn't fly with her.

I really wish they didn't pull the NFS client support out of Win8. Samba is horribly inferior.

[steve1977]

well, you actually don't import UPNP shares to your library (and shouldn't AFAIK, because internal UPNP names could changes). But UPNP itself already acts as library, so you will have a very similar experience.

Related question - can the upnp library be sorted by year, genre, etc? Or is it basically just a file mode?