Optimising Behaviour for Media Clients
Q. Why does my media player not show the right track information?
A: A media server looks at the metadata stored in the file, as well as the path and filename. There can be all sorts of metadata tags within a file (Artist, Album Artist, Album, Track Title, Publish Date, Composer, etc, etc), and a media server will fetch these and provide some or all of them to media client applications.
If a file does not contain metadata, a media server cannot provide it to clients, and the only way clients can then select media is using the ‘By Folder’ view. If you have ripped CDs without manually entering metadata, or downloading metadata (e.g. from freedb.org), or using a media library tool to infer metadata from the filename, your files will not contain metadata.
Correct metadata is the bane of a digital music collector’s life. Metadata downloaded from sites like freedb.org is frequently in error, or in a format that you don’t like (if you you have obsessive-compulsive tendencies). However, it is essential if you want to use a media server. In which case, if metadata is missing from your media files, you’ll need to add it with a media library tool (such as WinAmp, MediaMonkey, or even Windows MediaPlayer), or a dedicated metadata tagger such as MP3Tag.
Twonky offers a number of different options for the metadata that is offered to clients. This is controlled using the Settings|Sharing|Media Receivers control in the Twonky UI; use the ‘Navigation Type’ column drop-down menu to select what is offered to each device that is connected to Twonky.
Media clients also have different ways of sorting file lists; some allow the sort order to be controlled, and some use different sort orders with different metadata views, as discussed here:
Q: Why does my media player not see certain types of media?
A: When your media player first connects to the Twonky server, it should tell Twonky what it is, and what media it will support, using a ‘profile’. Twonky will only reveal media in its database that the media client says it is able to handle.
Sometimes, the media client will present an incorrect profile. The profile that Twonky has found for a client can be found in the Settings|Sharing|Media Receivers settings. You can select a different profile if the one automatically selected is not correct, or is unsuitable. See the next Q for discussion on how to edit or create profiles.
Q. How can I get Twonky to provide full size artwork to media-playing clients?
A: The resolution of album artwork presented to clients depends on the client type. This can be set using the Settings|Sharing|Media Receivers control in the Twonky UI. Find your client in the list, and use the ‘Media Receiver Type’ drop-down menu to select an appropriate type.
There’s a useful thread on this issue on the Twonky user forum:
http://twonkyforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=11743
The profiles of the clients are held as xml files, and can be found here:
/usr/local/twonkymedia-7/resources/devicedb
[If you create new profiles, or edit existing ones, it’s probably a good idea to store them somewhere safe, as I suspect they’ll get overwritten by a firmware upgrade.]
Music artwork appears to need to be called ‘folder.jpg’ to be found by Twonky [actually, I’ve recently found it picking up other artwork; it might be simple alphabetical selection]. Video artwork must have exactly the same filename as the video file, apart from the extension.
Q. How can I change the media ‘views’ I see in my DLNA client?
A. Twonky uses some XML files to define the the behaviour of each view, and which views are presented for each ‘navigation type’. These XML files are found here:
/usr/local/twonkymedia-7/resources/views
The file that defines the behaviour of the views is view-definitions.xml. This creates structured views, using database properties that can be found in this document:
www.mikrocontroller.net/attachment/134243/TMS-5-1-View_Configuration.doc
These view definitions can be edited, or copied to create new views to suit your needs. It looks a bit hairy if you’re not familiar with XML, but it’s nicely structured with indentation that should help you copy the stuff you need.
Each ‘navigation type’ has an associated file that defines which views are presented. For the ‘Advanced Navigation’, this is advanced.view.xml. This is simpler than the view definition file, since it is essentially just a list of the defined views.
My initial experiments are discussed here:
http://community.wd.com/t5/WD-My-Cloud/DLNA-not-serving-up-correctly/td-p/879866
It may also be possible to get more recent device definitions from the more recent releases of Twonky at the twonkyforum downloads area:
http://www.twonkyforum.com/downloads/
You would download the latest zip file, and then extract the device definitions from resources/devicedb/ and copy them into the matching folder on the MyCloud.
Note that I haven’t tried doing this. I’d recommend backing up the devices folder before you try it.
Q. Can I add my own category to the Music/Photos/Videos categories?
A. There’s a useful-looking discussion thread by Phibertron on the twonkyforum:
http://www.twonkyforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=10627
I haven’t tried this, but it looks very promising. It uses modification of the view definition files discussed above.
