Universal Media Server | Forum

Hi all

I'm a complete noob at this sort of stuff, so please bear with me. I've got UMS 2.2.1 and am streaming wireless to my PS3. I seem to have issues with lag and can't pinpoint why. For example, I can play a file that goes for 2 hours and is 1.2Gb and it will work fine until the last half an hour where it will fall apart. I can then play another file that is only 700mb for 2 hours and it will play rubbish from the beginning. I don't believe this is a networking issue. I have set up an external HDD at the router and if I copy a file that ordinarily cannot play onto it and then stream it wireless to the PS3, it works fine.

Tonight I tried my first mkv file. I used the Force Transcode option in UMS. It played without a glitch. This got me thinking; why not transcode everything, not just mkv? It seems like the computer buffering it with the transcode is better than without. So I added avi's to the list of forced files. Uhoh: PS3 states it cannot play this file. Remove the transcode, it works but badly. Copy to a USB and run straight from the router, or right into the front of the PS3? Works fine.

So long story short, if anyone can explain why the above chopping is happening unrelated to the file size, that would be great, but if someone can also tell me how to get avi's, m4p's etc... transcoding properly, that might be just as good.

Thanks in advance

Hi jpod

• To answer you question, At Transcoding settings main-tab, at bottom, you should be able to put * (asterikis-sign)- to force all extensions to transcode.

• If you see a progress buffer-buffer bar on the status tab, that means UMS is transcoding..if UMS is simply serving , then there's no buffering going on. (atleast to my knowledge).

• You can manually choose transcoding per file, If you enable #--transcode--# folder (At Navigation/Share settings-tab) - Unclick check box at "Hide #--TRANSCODE--# -folders" - An extra folder by that name will be available in each folder of your movies. With your remote, you can then manually choose to transcode with the engine you prefer.

• Just FYI, for technical reasons: if the movie has a subtitle, end you have subtitles enbale in UMS, the file will _always_ be transoced (by mencoder)

• UMS has been on a long way.. things gets fixed..but things also break. Try download the "old" beta: http://www.ps3mediaserver.org/forum/vie ... f=2&t=3217 - It's not a optimal solution, but sometimes i got movies playing on that version, that wont pplay with UMS.. - you can install both UMS and PMS, but you will probbaly only be able to run one at the time.

• Finally, you should submit your findings (errors), as bug report. Subjunk made this a bit easier in his version. Go to "logs"-tab, and find the button in the bottom "Pack debug files" - Upload the created zip file to your post, and if your lucky Subjunk will have a look.

Thanks for the response.

I tried the asterisk sign, and it did not work. I'm just listing every file type one by one. Miraculously, it is now allowing me to play these files while transcoded (i'm not sure about every file though, only tried 2 so far) and they seem to work better. A little bit of a judder here or there, but nothing too severe. I have taken back the quality to try and eliminate this - i'll let you know if I need more help.

Thanks again for the assistance, much appreciated.

Hi all

It seems like forcing it to transcode has fixed my streaming issue, however a couple of other issues have arisen. First is just annoying: If I don't watch anything the server just drops out. I fire up the PS3 and it can connect to the network, it can see my network share drive, it can see the WMP Media server that doesn't work and I don't know how to switch it off, but UMS is not there. After many attempts to shut down UMS, restart the server, restart the PS3, disconnect and reconnect the network it will eventually come back. Sometimes its just a restart the server, but sometimes i've had to restart the whole router.

2nd is audio out of sync. As I am admittedly a complete noob at this stuff still, I don't really know what settings are affecting this. To be honest, I don't even know how to obtain the logs that you guys look at to diagnose issues like these. If you can step me through that too, I could be more helpful to you to help me.

Thanks

Edit: I reread the previous response and worked out how to get the debug files. I have attached them now.

Anyone?