Playlist Creation Please!

[Brian Rubin]

Hello! I looked for a topic on this but couldn't find one, but if I missed one I apologize.

First off, I love this software. It's better than PS3MS in every conceivable way, and works a billion times better. Files that would make PS3MS stutter run like butter with UMS, so thank you so much for this software.

There's just one thing that, I feel, would make this software even better: The ability to create playlists.

Say, for example, in one evening we wanted to watch three different files from multiple directories.

Directory 1/File A
Directory 2/File B
Directory 3/File C

And say we wanted to watch them in the order C, A, B.

It would be AMAZING if I could select file C, add it to a playlist, select file A, then B, add them, and then hit some sort of "Play All" button, for example, wherein all the files would be played in the selected order.

Would something like this be possible at all?

Thanks again for the software, and for your time!

[SharkHunter]

What are you after? A way to create a playlist from the render? That would be a rather nasty interface (lot of clicking) but doable.
I would rather recommend you to do this at the server. UMS supports m3u and pls playlists (http://www.ehow.com/how_5084943_create-mu-playlist.html or http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PLS_(file_format))
or create a custom virtual folder.

That said I think I might look into you playlist idea anyway just because it is possible

[Zet]

WOW!

You have done the impossible, that makes you mighty...

You made my old XP laptop (Amd Athlon X2, 2GB ram) serve video to a $22 chinese DLNA/ Miracast dongle hooked up to an LCD tv across my wifi.

------the dongle-------------
WFD-646917-DMR
Rockchip Media Renderer, DLNA(DMR)
#----------------------------------------------------------------------------
# Profile for Android.
# See DefaultRenderer.conf for descriptions of all the available options.
#

RendererName = Android
RendererIcon = android.png
UserAgentSearch = Android

TranscodeAudio = MP3
DefaultVBVBufSize = true
MuxDTSToMpeg = true
WrapDTSIntoPCM = false
MaxVideoWidth = 1920
MaxVideoHeight = 1080
StreamExtensions = mkv,hdmov,hdm,flac,fla,dts,ogg,asf,asx,m2v,mp4,mpg,mpeg,avi,mov,wmv
ChunkedTransfer = true

--------------------

With the UMS web interface, I can load a playlist of sorts, on the fly.
I might be missing something, but the .mu3 lists do not show up, and when invoked from the device window, they do not play.

But that's not the reason I am writing..

Could you ADD a Repeat/ repeat all function to the device play interface and or the web play bar. pretty please!

The idea is...

You got a cheap 40" LCD tv/screen hooked up somewhere that is hard to get to, but visible to the public, say from the street, up one story high, so Bobo the crackhead doesn't try to grab it - which is why you never put an LCD screen in a public window, unless you want to replace that window.) It gets powered on (if the power fails, remote on, if the LCD screen is too cheap to auto-on) and it finds its wi-fi with the cheap DLNA dongle, and resumes playing its little list of videos, over and over and over again from the old Windows XP box in the corner of the office. Need to change a video? no problem with the current web interface..

Just need the repeat playlist/all function..

Please?

Otherwise your thing is the ONLY thing that worked on my old XP box! WOW!

Congrats and thanks! /Z

[SharkHunter]

Zet - The thing with DLNA/UPNP is that it is the render (=tv) that is in charge of playback. It is the render that will request media from the server. The server can't "push" media to the render. So the best and easiest thing would be to use a player on your dongle that auto continues.
With all that said it is still possible (in theory) to do what you wan't to do. If your render (here we go again) supports the possibility to be controlled from a DLNA control point then "push" is possible and UMS can act as a ControlPoint and push new media to the render. I'll try and add something like that but I would say that the render "pull" method should be used first since the control point method is not a 100% error safe (for example UMS will have problem detecting when the media has finished as renders tend to skip reporting this).

Brian Rubin - This is now added to the 5.0.0 branch. Since my fellow developers was worried about my sanity I will document it here.
To enable it add

Code: Select all

dynamic_playlist=true

to your UMS.conf.
There are some other cool options which I'll describe later...

[Zet]

Wow, thanks for this... I guess that explains why the simple playlist "stack" on the window for the device, and on the bar in the web control doesn't always go to the next file by itself. guess it doesn't know that it finished. Hmmmm.. I don't think the dongle has enough smarts to do a "play all", to me it is a miracle that it works at all <grin>. If it is any use, I notice that each new file has to make a connection, sometimes it goes briefly back to the setup screen, then does the loading screen. Oh, using Windows 5.0.0-a1 version. Regards and cheers /Z

[SharkHunter]

Zet - If you can build yourself try out my latest commit to 5.0. It does what you wan't (except auto starts on power on/off) AS LONG as your render supports DLNA/UPNP control mechanisms. Try it. You'll need 2 new configs:

Code: Select all

auto_upnp_continue = true

and

Code: Select all

auto_upnp_playlist_all = true

to make it work. You also need to use the web gui to control this. Simply browse in to the folder you wish to loop press the small play button on your first media in the folder. A blue box appears at the right top. Press the "+" button and then the play button (in the blue) and voila.
If you don't see any "play buttons" etc your render most likely doesn't support this but pls upload logs etc. then since it might be some bug...

[SharkHunter]

Zet - I think I solved your problem. If your dongle can be controlled by UMS I've added a "auto start" feature. Simply make a folder (it has to be a physical folder) on your UMS server. Populate it with whatever you want to play on your TV. The to your UMS.conf add

Code: Select all

auto_upnp_play= rname:path_to_folder

where rname should be the name of the render. NOTE!!!!! The name MUST EXACTLY match the name written as RendererName in the render.conf file.
Once all that is done. restart UMS (to be on the safe side) and sit back and enjoy the ride. If everything works UMS should as soon as it finds the render start playing the 1st item in the folder (give or take some seconds delyas to make sure everything has started).
NOTE!!!! You must add the

Code: Select all

auto_upnp_continue = true

as well otherwise UMS will play just the first item. This is done intentionally to make sure you know what you're doing.

You need to build a fresh 5.0 image yourself.

[Valerie]

UMS supports m3u..files just fine.