Universal Media Server | Forum

It's hard to say what the cause might have been since we never got your debug files. It has probably been something really wrong that's prevented UMS from starting its network services. As to what could have caused it - it's hard to say, there could be many thing - permission problems, file corruption or some overly-eager antivirus software that has blocked or deleted something. If it happens again, you should generate debug files and post them.

To know why some files won't play, we also need debug files captured when you try to play some of the files that won't play. There's a lot of possible causes for that, the most likely cause is that the renderer configuration for your renderer (TV or playback device) isn't correct. UMS use this configuration file to determine what formats your renderer can understand and when it needs to transcode. If this is configured wrong UMS will send media that your renderer can't play.

The "TRANSCODE" folder is there in case the automatic functions fails. When you play a media outside the transcode folder, UMS will use the renderer configuration (and some other factors) to determine what to send and if it should be transcoded or not. In the "TRANSCODE" folder you can find all the possible variants that the automatic functions have to choose between, and select one "manually". I can also be used to select another subtitle or audio track than UMS picks. Ideally, if everything is correctly configured, you never need to use the "TRANSCODE" folder, but it can be handy if things won't play ball.

So cant we tell UMS to play m2ts files and cant m2ts files be played through UMS? Cant I fix configuration of the renderer.

I have played this files through a USB drive before no problem but having problems playing through UMS.

Sorry new to this but keep hearing about transcode/transcoding but is this compressing the file when playing?

Where files havent got hard coded subtitles and I have a separate subtitle file to add to the file I want to play. Could I add this to UMS and will it play then to TV with subtitles?

Not sure how to configure everything on UMS so it plays everything.

You can find a lot of information about configuring UMS if you read this forum. We cannot help you unless you provide log files. You can configure this yourself if you read up on how to do it.

Transcoding is when the renderer (TV) don't understand the file format, so that UMS has to convert it to another format while you watch it. The fact that you can play a file from USB doesn't mean that your TV can play it over the network, many devices support formats from USB that they don't support over the network. It might also be that it can play the file over the network but that UMS is configured wrong.

I have read the forums and alot of threads and honestly am confused.

So I need to provide logs for m2ts file not playing. Thought most formats could be played over the network.

I have just left UMS at default options so I have to configure myself with different settings?

It's impossible to speculate to what you need to do. Create debug files as described in red above while playing files that doesn't work and attach it here.

So is there no way you can tell me the best configuration settings for UMS as currently its default?

Ok if other file formats like m2ts play up then will have to upload debug logs.

There is no "best configuration", if so we wouldn't need configuration. All values have some default value, and you can find them here. This file is also distributed with UMS. All values that isn't set in your configuration file will use their default value.

In many instances the default won't work/be optimal, which is why it is possible to configure UMS in the first place. There are a lot of variables that determine how things should be handled, which is why we must have your log to help you. You have to choices:

1) Give us your log so we can se what's wrong
2) Figure it out yourself be reading the forum, reading the log, searching on Google, reading the sourcecode etc. until you have figured out why it doesn't work.

I don't know what kind of secrets you have on your computer that you're so afraid of getting out, but you can open and check your log file before uploading it. You can also replace any "sensitive information" by using search/replace in a text editor. I usually replace my name, but except for that there's really nothing in my log files that can't be posted public.

In the end, it's up to you. It just seems like you want a 3. option where you give us no information and we guess the cause. That option doesn't exist.

Tried to look at that file but dont understand.

I dont have any secrets but I am not comfortable just uploading logs which cause security issues. You dont have to be patronising ok.

I am playing mkv files from my pc through UMS to the TV, however I cant forward or rewind on the video file. Is there a reason why this is occurring. This is happening on Samsung TV but seems fine on panasonic one.

Also I have managed to play m2ts file from the transcode folder but it says "no transcode" and format is mp4. Does this mean this file is compressed and not in its original quality.

Again, there is not much use in continuing this without the logs. I'm not being patronizing, it's simply that there's nothing we can do without the log. I don't understand what you're concerned about that's in the log file. You can check the log file yourself before sending it, it will generally contain your internal IP addresses (which isn't sensitive at all as they are not reachable from the internet and the same addresses are used in private networks all over the world) and the names of shared files and folders.

The only way I can think of that your privacy can be a concern, is if your shared files have names that in itself reveals something that you don't want to be publicly available. Most of the content of the log is just internal UMS information that isn't related to you or your computer at all, it just tells us what UMS is doing and possible why things are failing. There's no "general security issue" with uploading logs, it all depends on what's in the logs.

The reason for not being able to forward and rewind is probably because the files are being transcoded. If one TV can handle MKV's but the other can't, this would be the result. But, this could also be because the renderer configuration files are wrong. Again, it's all guesses without a log file.

When you play a file with "no transcode" from the TRANSCODE folder, the file should be delivered as it is. If it works when played this way but not during "normal playback" (without using the TRANSCODE folder) I suspect there are subtitles that's causing the issue.

@Nadahar I think that you spend a lot of time explaining the Forum rules which are here to be able to help users. If users are not willing to follow it for whatever reason than what we can do? Only to not respond. I can imagine that the files name can be sensitive but it can be easily replaced in the log by something like "Video 1", "Video 2" etc. before the log is send. We need to know the video format not the exact video name.