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DLNA in 2.0


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http://c4central.com/all-about-2-0/

Enhanced Media Database and Other Improvements to the Audio System

The Media Database has been completely revamped for the OS 2.0 release. It is better optimized, more scalable, and faster. The Media Database and other media enhancements in OS 2.0 include:

• New Media Database. The new Media Database has been completely redesigned and is now faster, more scalable, and smaller. Existing Media Databases will be converted automatically during the upgrade process to OS 2.0.

• Director-based media scanning. Composer Pro no longer performs media scanning operations; these are handled by Director. This enables media scanning to be executed programmatically. (see below for more information on that)

• Write tags back to files. With OS 2.0, any changes made to the Control4 Media Database can also cause the id3 tags in the MP3 files to be updated. This allows Control4 and other Media Managers to synchronize with each other. During the update to OS 2.0 you can choose to write metadata from the prior Control4 Media Database to id3 tags. You should do this if the Control4 Media Database is the most current/correct. You should choose to skip this action if you believe your id3 tags are already current or are more correct than the Control4 Media Database. Be aware of this and advise your dealer if you know which is best – otherwise hours of media management and grooming can be lost!

• Support for third-party Media Manager. Control4 can now synchronize the Media Database with the id3 tags in MP3 files. This allows the customer to use other Media Manager software for ripping their CDs or managing the metadata of their stored audio files. Control4 will automatically update the Media Database to reflect changes made by the other Media Manager to the id3 tags.

• Scheduled/programmatic scanning. When configuring media scanning, you can choose to schedule scans periodically or even kick off media scans using programming. No more manual scans!! This should tie some of us over until something like DLNA is included.

• Add extensions, select devices to scan. When configuring media scanning manually or programmatically, you can add audio or video file extensions to look for in the scan and also select which media storage devices to scan.

• Optional metadata lookup. If the your Control4 system is registered on my.control4.com, the system can access Control4’s metadata lookup service arrangement with Gracenote®. If you don’t want to look up metadata when scanning, that option can be turned off in the media scanning configuration.

• Song Artists. Control4 now supports Song Artist metadata in addition to Album Artist. When browsing local music by artist, both Song and Album artists are displayed and selectable to generate the list of available titles. Great for compilation albums.

• Zones Interface now supports analog sources. Improvements made to the Zones interface now provide improved support for audio sources that are distributed through an AV switch or Multi-Channel Amplifier. This change benefits both Flash-based Navigator interfaces and List Navigator.

• AAC codec (.m4a) support. Control4 now supports AAC codec decoding on Home Controller HC-200, HC-300, and HC-500. AAC is not supported on the Speaker Point, the Mini Touch Screen, the Home Theater Controller, the Media Controller, or the 7” Touch Screen devices. If any of those devices are used as audio end points within the system you are installing or updating, you should not use the AAC format audio. AAC content also must not be DRM protected.

Insert audio endpoint / media format table

• Streaming MP3 (Internet Radio) source support. Control4 has implemented partial support for Internet Radio sources by enabling HTTP-streamed MP3 sources to be played within the system. At this time, there is no direct user interface for accessing this functionality, but Control4 Dealers can configure specific Internet Radio stations for you. This service is provided by ShoutCast, and it’s really cool.

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RE: the Streaming MP3 internet radio...this only works if the radio station is part of Shoutcast. It isn't as easy as picking your favorite radio stations and plugging them in. Plus, the way this whole thing works seems extremely "half baked" at this point. Hopefully it improves in the future, as this was essentially the whole reason I upgraded to 2.0...

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You can use any stream that's in the compatible format. It works better/faster than Rhapsody in my experience but isn't as "easy" as Rhapsody.

And no, you can't plug in your favorite classic rock station from Utah unless they have an mp3 stream.

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They do have an MP3 stream...all my radio stations across the country have an MP3 stream. The problem is, we don't use have the Shoutcast server and subscribe to them, so they don't pick us up, so it doesn't work.

I'm going to talk with my engineers today, but it looks like we need some Shoutcast hardware for them to pick us up, and for it to then work with the Shoutcast driver.

Lame.

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*edit*

Let me clarify this a bit, from the tech document on using the Internet radio driver.

"SHOUTcast is a good place to find available Internet radio stations. However, Control4 is not

limited to SHOUTcast for Internet MP3 radio streaming. Any Internet radio stream that is

available in an MP3 format can be configured using the Control4 driver.

Other places to look for MP3 format Internet radio include live365.com, radio-locator.com,

icecast streaming directory, and your local radio station web pages. "

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  • 2 months later...
Are there any DLNA plans? It sure would have been useful..... Get my WDTV Live to work better with C4

As far as I know, it was planned, but then "pulled" for some reason. But someone from C4 might be able to confirm this for us.

But since I have been playing with DLNA for the last month or so on 3 separate devices, Im not real sure just

how useful it really is. It seems plagued with problems as far as I can tell. Just because a device is DLNA certified seems to have no relevance whatsoever to whether it will actually work reliably in the real world.

Might work in the lab, but then put it in the home and you've got a myriad of other potential issues, that influence reliability. Type of network, server software choice, file incompatibity, firewall configuration and dozens of other possible conflicts....

this has been my experience anyway :rolleyes:

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Are there any DLNA plans? It sure would have been useful..... Get my WDTV Live to work better with C4

As far as I know' date=' it was planned, but then "pulled" for some reason. But someone from C4 might be able to confirm this for us.

But since I have been playing with DLNA for the last month or so on 3 separate devices, Im not real sure just

how useful it really is. It seems plagued with problems as far as I can tell. Just because a device is DLNA certified seems to have no relevance whatsoever to whether it will actually work reliably in the real world.

Might work in the lab, but then put it in the home and you've got a myriad of other potential issues, that influence reliability. Type of network, server software choice, file incompatibity, firewall configuration and dozens of other possible conflicts....

this has been my experience anyway :rolleyes:[/quote']

Can you say Universal Plug and Play, this way a little flakey for me.

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