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Can't we all (MP3 & AVI) all get along?


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I have a Seagate 1tb external hard drive that I loaded with both MP3 music and AVI movies. Plugged it into my 800 controller with the USB port. Everything populated in Project BUT when I scan the drive it only scans into my "library" the MP3 files and not the AVI movies. I made sure AVI was a file it looked for when scanning. Any ideas why and how to fix?

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Ah, that makes sense. I used to have the drive on a PC but recently (Windows 10 update) composer does not connect with the drive on the computer anymore. I see it but when I go to connect to it, it no longer says it can connect. Any insight? I would prefer to keep it on the computer to stay away from the hassle this has become to connect the drive to my 800.

Thank you!

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No, I must have typed that incorrectly. I want to keep the drive on my local network PC but now since my PC upgraded to Windows 10, control4 composer no longer recognizes the drive on the PC for me to scan the media on the drive. I can see it on the network drive but it will not recognize it when I click connect in Composer. Which is strange because I can pull up a movie on any computer/device in the home but composer will not connect to it anymore.

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18 hours ago, Milnet said:

Thanks for all your replies. I do have a C4 media player. Do I need to convert the files from AVI to MP4 for them to show up and play from the drive plugged into the USB on the 800?

Yes, this is a lot more headache than its worth.  I cannot see why the controller cannot directly output video or audio without the intervention of other additional devices that bobs the cost overall.  It would be nice that at least in the main room, one could just connect a TV/receiver and get video or audio.  I can see how the Control4 universe is set up - the controller "controls" other devices, but by itself does not do any serious playback etc.  But in the main room = living room this becomes a big pain.

1.  The media player depends on the model - something like the C4-MP2-E supports AVI playback.  You have to connect a control4 media "decoder" unit for the video to play.  The controller just collects info and displays it as a library, but does nothing to "play" these files.  

2.  Without the intervening - actual - video processing unit, the controller puts out no video besides a display of its contents on a screen.

3.  The control4 becomes "cool" when using 'idiot' devices like dimmers, light switches, cameras and all those 'sexy' things in the internet things.  

4.  For simple audio/video, a HTPC is less headachy.  Sending music to your bathroom, garden etc. can be done over wifi access on an iPad, iPhone, android phone etc. that can be connected to an external speaker. Of course, the quality is lower than a good high-end control4 amp etc., but the cost is a big trade off.

my 2 cents.

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Yeah, I am really upset that I am to this point. I once had it hooked up to a media server PC in my basement. I had the external hard drive connected there and it worked GREAT until... WINDOWS 10 automatic update happened without me knowing. I rarely looked at the server and it was 30+ days before I noticed the upgrade. By then it was too late to go back to Windows 7 :( Now I have Windows 10 and Composer no longer connects to the drive on the media server PC. I was forced to put the external hard drive on my 800 and it's been a HUGE hassle ever since to get the hundreds of AVI movies on the drive to play.

At the time it made no sense that Composer would not connect with the media drives. I fought it for months. Even had my Buddy who is a network specialist in the Navy come over to see if he could get Composer to recognize the networked media PC and drives. 4 hours later my Buddy threw up his hands in disgust.

Any other ideas?

 

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