[Feedback] Minidlna

[d4tum]

Hi Merlin, you'll remember what I said about this just after you released the .54_0 version in that thread. I reverted to .53 and since have had no problems. I'll give the test build a shot and update this post with my feedback.

[FEEDBACK] Working fine with the test build.

 

[lwizard]

I'm on .53 on AC68U and I'm very happy with MiniDLNA. I use Bubble UPNP on Android as controller and as receivers I have a Cocktail Audio X10, a WD live TV and a PEAQ. They perfectly work.
Few firmwares ago I had ocassional track interrumption or skipping, solved with tweaking of multicast settings.
But with latest firmware I am really ok with every multicast setting also with default settings.
For people with library problems: try activating a swap partition. With .53 I had few problems with miniDLNA then I found that the Swap partition wasn't in use after update. I enabled it and everything fixed (I also use transmission on entware).

Merlin: AC68U and everything ok for me till .53 (haven't tried .54 2). But if you want to update to newer version miniDLNA...

 

[HallStevenson]

I'm running the latest 378.55 build and having DLNA issues (server is not visible when using our Panasonic (smart) TV or Dish Network Hopper/Joey systems).

I see people reporting good news with the test builds and presume the changes did not make it into 378.55 ?

I'm going to try either the test build or the 378.53 build.

 

[RMerlin]

I'm running the latest 378.55 build and having DLNA issues (server is not visible when using our Panasonic (smart) TV or Dish Network Hopper/Joey systems).

I see people reporting good news with the test builds and presume the changes did not make it into 378.55 ?

I'm going to try either the test build or the 378.53 build.

The changes are in build 378.55. Your issue is a different one, the fixes in 378.55 were to address minidlna's scanner crashing while processing files.

 

[HallStevenson]

Hmmm, the router shipped with firmware about a year old so I upgraded it to a version that was a couple of months old. Looking at the Asus download page, that would probably be the one from March, 376.3861. The "server" showed up on the TV when I checked but I saw reports of it appearing then disappearing and I can't say for sure I checked multiple times before I flashed your firmware.

I saw you mention in another thread that corrupt media files can cause problems with the DLNA server. Is that what you're referring to as being fixed, "crashing while processing files" ?

 

[RMerlin]

Hmmm, the router shipped with firmware about a year old so I upgraded it to a version that was a couple of months old. Looking at the Asus download page, that would probably be the one from March, 376.3861. The "server" showed up on the TV when I checked but I saw reports of it appearing then disappearing and I can't say for sure I checked multiple times before I flashed your firmware.

I saw you mention in another thread that corrupt media files can cause problems with the DLNA server. Is that what you're referring to as being fixed, "crashing while processing files" ?

No, these can still potentially crash the scanner. The issue I resolved had to do with Asus's new modifications that allowed the scanner to do a partial scan to reduce memory usage, which would lead to crashing minidlna even on perfectly valid files.

 

[HallStevenson]

Okay, I did this in the wrong order, but oh well.... I installed these firmwares, in this order:

378.55 (merlin)
RT-N66U_3.0.0.4_376_3861-g11c21b3 (Asus)
RT-N66U_3.0.0.4_378_6117-ge96e3eb (Asus)
RT-N66U_378.55_alpha2-g91db601 (merlin)

and none changed the behavior...

Since you, or someone, mentioned corrupt files causing problems, I removed the media server directory, pointed to a new one, and copied (1) MP4 to it. It shows up on my Dish media player as well as the TV's built-in player now.

So, I know it's off-topic for this forum, but any advice on finding out which file(s) is/are corrupt ?

 

[HallStevenson]

On a different note, is there a 3-directory limit on media server locations, e.g.

/mnt/volume_name/directory

1) /mnt 2) /volume_name 3) /directory

 

[RMerlin]

Okay, I did this in the wrong order, but oh well.... I installed these firmwares, in this order:

378.55 (merlin)
RT-N66U_3.0.0.4_376_3861-g11c21b3 (Asus)
RT-N66U_3.0.0.4_378_6117-ge96e3eb (Asus)
RT-N66U_378.55_alpha2-g91db601 (merlin)

and none changed the behavior...

Since you, or someone, mentioned corrupt files causing problems, I removed the media server directory, pointed to a new one, and copied (1) MP4 to it. It shows up on my Dish media player as well as the TV's built-in player now.

So, I know it's off-topic for this forum, but any advice on finding out which file(s) is/are corrupt ?

Copy half of your media, and try it. If it works, try with another half of those you haven't copied so. By gradually adding files (or removing files), you will track down the file (or files) that crash it.

 

[HallStevenson]

I tried copying 3-4 files, all around 1gb each or so, and it was painfully slow. No way I was going to do that for 200+ files. Turns out that using Windows 7 (or earlier) moves files from the USB drive, to the PC I'm accessing the Windows share from, then back to the USB drive - or so I was told. It took 30-40 minutes, so.... I looked for an SMB browser with no luck. Then I decided to try good, ole FTP and moving files was instantaneous.

So far, I've copied almost 100 movies and half that many TV show episodes and so far, so good. What I have not copied back yet are movies in MKV format. Neither my TV nor Dish receiver will play them back anyway, so I've been converting them to MP4 when I remember to. Anyone know if minidlna likes MKV files ?

 

[elorimer]

1. My H264 files are in MKV to play on Rokus. It's been a while since I had the external drive plugged into my N66 though. I have it plugged into a RaspberryPi2/Kodi setup instead. My minidlna problems were more about illegal characters in the file name ("Law & Order").

2. "Painfully slow" takes me slightly off topic. Merlin's half then half again suggestion is a sorting algorithm and much faster than testing two or three files at a time. This was a revelation to me in 1970 but I guess everyone knows it now. Very useful for sorting a pile of paper, too, because it saves space.

 

[HallStevenson]

Yeah, we have a Roku as well and it plays MKV files fine, but it's the only device that does (reliably).

I believe what you're saying about copying half the files but using Windows to do it wasn't going to happen! It would have taken HOURS and then repeat that based on what happened.

Oddly enough, all files have been copied back and all is fine. I did put the MKV files in their own folder, pointed the DLNA server to it and it still is working. I do NOT have my music files indexed at this point, while I did previously, so maybe they are too blame.

Sent from my HTC6535LVW using Tapatalk

 

[Slice313]

I am having an issue with latest firmware that I never got before with DLNA reproduction. Playing a movie now suddenly stops in about 5 or 20 minutes, it varies. Them I have to wait 5 min to reconnect from my TV.

I have a RT-N66U. I flashed latest tomato shibby firmware to discard any issue with my LG TV latest firmware update, DLNA worked flawlessly, I tested it for around hour and a half.

I tried deleting DLNA cache at the HDD, cleaning the NVram... nothing works, must be some bug recently introduced by Asus. I am back with 378.55 and waiting a fix