Refreshing the DLNA-View

Hi guys,

just struggling a bit re. the refreshment of files when accessed by Smart TV via DLNA.

If I add files to my media library I can’t see them immediately. I have configured the dashboard to scan for changes, I think, but it doesnt.

If I restart the Twonky-Server the files appear. I have also just yestersay installed the latest firmware, but no change.

Browsed the board but cant find any real solutions. Any ideas out there on this?

Cheers,

Arthur

The problem is probably with the DLNA client on your TV. I experience the same with the Roku Media Player DLNA client. I have to exit the DLNA client (ie the Roku Media Player) then launch the DLNA client again before it will show any new media content that was added while that client was prevously accessing the My Cloud. When one restarts the Twonky Media Server they severing the DLNA client connection which causes the client to re-access the Twonky Media Server and get the list of media which would include anything added since the client last accessed the Twonky Media Server.

I don’t think the Twonky Media Server pushes new updates to the media catalog/database to the clients unless the client requests the media catalog/database.

To see how the Twonky media server scans for files you can have the Dashboard > Settings > Media page open while you copy a media file to the My Cloud. One can then keep an eye on the Media entry under DLNA Media Server to see if the media file copied to the My Cloud is added to the existing content found.

When I copy media files to a v4.x My Cloud the “Last Update” on the Dashboard > Settings > Media page changes to “Updating database…” immediately after copying the media to the My Cloud. Then it takes a minute or two (due to the amount of media Twonky has to scan) before the new media is reflected in the Media section.

Thanks for the reply.

Hmmm, but that would mean restarting the TV should show the missing elements, which it doesnt. Also waiting two or three days does not rectify it. Only once I rebooted Twonky (or the media server from the dashboard) are my listings showing the new entries…

I have configured the dashboard to scan for changes, I think, but it doesnt.

Twonky re-scan interval is set via the Twonky UI, not the Dashboard.
You can also perform a media re-scan from the Twonky UI (and from the Dashboard). You shouldn’t need to restart it.
The rescan behaviour can be controlled using the Settings|Advanced|Rescan Interval control in the Twonky UI. The default value is -1, which should make it ‘talk to’ the file system, so that changes to the file system cause a re-scan. Setting the control to a positive value will set a rescan interval in minutes. I use 1440 to give a rescan once per day.

Maybe have a read of:

A lot depends on the DLNA client within the TV. Like I mentioned above on my Roku all I have to do is exit out of the DLNA client then relauch it, at that point the client recontacts the Twonky media server to get a list of media.

What TV do you have and what DLNA client is it using?

As indicated above one can watch, through the Dashboard or even though the Twonky Server administration page (ex. http://wdmycloud:9000), as they add media to see if the Twonky Server is recognizing the media and adding it to the database.

Thanks.

Setting is to -1, maybe I also try that 1440 setting.

And I know I can adjust all this on the Twonky management page, but really whats the point? What I want is simply to have the files appearing some time after copying them without having to do anything manually.

Hi guys, not really finding any progress here…and I cant really see the DNLA-client being the fault because once I restart Twonky or the whole drive then the files are there whereas when I refresh the TV the files stay hidden…

This is what the Bluray-Player’s DNLA-Client shows:

and this is what the TVs embedded file browser shows:

As you can see, files two and three of Wallander are missing. And they are also missing when I access the DNLA with sth like Kodi oder similar.

Is there really no way of having the MyCloud itself refresh this properly? I know I could use the browser but this does not sort things properly by alphabet but sorts stuff by the date I uploaded it which is not good when you look for stuff.

What media format are the files?
Have you tried removing all the metadata tagging on the files? It appears there is some weird tagging based on the pictures you posted.
Does the missing files show up under Audio files rather than Video files?

They are mp4 files…and the do show up once Twonky has been restarted, No, no files under Audio or pictures. And its independent of the files, whether they are avi, mkv or mp4, whether they stem from my camera, mobile or the internet…no difference.

@Bennor
You asked about my TV, its this one:
http://www.sharp.de/cps/rde/xchg/de/hs.xsl/-/html/produktdetails.htm?product=LC60LE635E

The pics above are from my Bluray-Player:

The point of using the Twonky media browser is not actually access media that way, but to see what Twonky thinks it has in its database. If Twonky looks ‘correct’, then the problem is with your client devices. If not, you need to find out why Twonky is not finding your files.

Get me right, please…I don’t use Twonky to access…I mainly access from the TV and Bluray disc player, both do not show the files unless I restart Twonky after uploading them.

Again, you misunderstand me.

I am NOT suggesting that you should use the Twonky UI browser to ROUTINELY access your media.

I am suggesting that you use the Twonky browser as A DIAGNOSTIC TEST, to investigate what it thinks it has in its database.

This will allow you to determine whether Twonky is simply not finding some of your media, or whether your DLNA client applications (TV, BluRay) are failing to present what is in the DLNA database.

Getting this up again as I am still stuck,

Found the file browser and stuff is not there as well :frowning: Appears only after restart, also not after rescan.

Nobody?

Arthur, you’re not crazy. I registered here just to tell you that I have the same problem. It’s not a client issue – it’s definitely an issue with Twonky server.

I have my Twonky server scan set to “-1”, and I have multiple different clients around the house including an WD Live box, an old Boxee box, and Plex running on a Raspberry Pi. I add movies to my Twonky media server every day, and within a minute or two, they appear on all of my clients. After a week or two, new files added to the Twonky server stop showing up on my clients. You can reboot all the clients until you are blue in the face and it will not fix the problem. The only way to fix it is to reboot the Twonky server, stop/start the Tronky service, or rebuild the database. Any of these options will kickstart Twonky into updating again, and it’ll work for another couple of weeks until it hangs up again.

All the movies I’m adding to mine are .mp4 files ripped from DVDs I own using Handbrake, so it’s not like I’m throwing some kind of weird curveball file format at Twonky that causes it to choke. I don’t think my medial library is that large (a couple thousand movies, a ton of mp3s, and a bunch of pictures) but I am wondering if the database size isn’t the problem. I’m considering removing my photos from Twonky in an attempt to make the database smaller and see if that doesn’t fix it.

Sorry I don’t have a solution (yet), but I just wanted to let you know you are not alone. It’s definitely a problem with the Twonky server update locking up, and not a client problem.