Twonky and Music - A workaround?

[Donb01]

I have been grumbling about the music player shutting down consistently after 30 - 45 minutes, and read a post by someone using a completely different o/s having the same problem, so I poked around a bit looking for the reason and found this in the Twonky FAQ:

You may also try and check if it is a UDP multicast problem - multicast packets need to be forwarded by the router. Please change the upnptimeout in the .ini file to 36000 (upnptimeout=360000) to check if the time until the client disconnects can be extended. If changing this value has influence on the client disconnection, than the router is not capable of forwarding multicast packets and can not work in a UPnP environment.

What got me curious is the "check if the time until the client disconnects can be extended" part.

Well I went ahead and changed that parameter, restarted my server, and I have been streaming audio now for nearly 3 hours without so much as a glitch. I am assuming the parameter is in seconds, and 36000 is 10 hours worth.

One caveat I have noticed with Twonky is that it caches the files as it converts them from MP3 to LPCM and the default value for maximum cache is wide open. If you are running low on disk space and don't watch it, you will have a duplicate copy of every MP3 file or picture it serves up in that cache directory!

The permanent solution here could be my router, could be my wireless network adapter, or could be we need access to configure the timer in the HR20 for how long the client waits to disconnect, but for now this is doing me just fine!

[Spanky_Partain]

I have been grumbling about the music player shutting down consistently after 30 - 45 minutes, and read a post by someone using a completely different o/s having the same problem, so I poked around a bit looking for the reason and found this in the Twonky FAQ:

You may also try and check if it is a UDP multicast problem - multicast packets need to be forwarded by the router. Please change the upnptimeout in the .ini file to 36000 (upnptimeout=360000) to check if the time until the client disconnects can be extended. If changing this value has influence on the client disconnection, than the router is not capable of forwarding multicast packets and can not work in a UPnP environment.

What got me curious is the "check if the time until the client disconnects can be extended" part.

Well I went ahead and changed that parameter, restarted my server, and I have been streaming audio now for nearly 3 hours without so much as a glitch. I am assuming the parameter is in seconds, and 36000 is 10 hours worth.

One caveat I have noticed with Twonky is that it caches the files as it converts them from MP3 to LPCM and the default value for maximum cache is wide open. If you are running low on disk space and don't watch it, you will have a duplicate copy of every MP3 file or picture it serves up in that cache directory!

The permanent solution here could be my router, could be my wireless network adapter, or could be we need access to configure the timer in the HR20 for how long the client waits to disconnect, but for now this is doing me just fine!

List your equipment and we might be able to help. I had no problem with timing out at all. So I think you are on the right track with the equipment. Also put down everything connected to the network.

[NoMax]

You had your Twonky problem and I have mine. . .my Twonky server runs on a NAS device that has a PPC CPU. Whenenver I try to play music all I hear is white noise through the HR20. Everything is installed correctly, plugin, etc. In a previous discussion on here someone else said they had the exact same problem trying to stream music to the HR20 from a different device with a PPC processor. So far, I don't think there is a fix for this. . .does anyone have an idea?

Cheers,
NM

[Donb01]

I'm not at my desk, but I think there is a NAS check box under either Audio settings or Miscellaneous. Do you have that checked? I think the FAQ talks about NAS a bit.

So far my record for streaming is 3.5 hours and then it just stopped in the middle of a song, did not lock up the box, but did not go back to TV audio either - the activity lights on the Network Adapter continued flashing as if it was still playing the music, but I heard nothing - then I was off making sure I hadn't hit mute or something by accident, but that was not the case. Regular audio came back after about 10 minutes.

I have since doubled the value form 36,000 to 72,000 but I have not had a chance to run it that long yet, or since I made some other software changes to the DVR.

[islesfan]

Its funny that a unit that is supposed to work with a ViiV computer works better with a non-ViiV computer and Twonky. On my old PC running Twonky, I have gotten as far as 35 minutes before timing out. On my new ViiV PC, my record is 11 minutes. I can stream to another PC in the house for hours without any interruptions, but the HR20 won't hold up.

[MikeW]

I've tried WMP11, Tversity and Twonky. All exhibit the same timeout behavior. I think it's best to let D* workout the bug on their side instead of banging my head trying to fix it on the PC.

I've got my HR20 sitting on top of a Tivo box that is now un-subbed. The hacked Tivo plays music files, streaming internet and can still view recorded programs from the other SD boxes in the house. I hope the HR20 can some day do the same.

[Donb01]

Mine was timing out at 35 mins with Twonky until I adjusted the timing parameter - now it runs long enough so I am tired of audio and switching to a movie or something for the night. No complaints here anymore. I'm running XP pro, 512 memory. with my linux web/E-mail server, Lingo box, Wireless bridge, and the Xbox wireless adapter that is running the HR20 on the static network.

supposedly the whole time-out problem is either caused by my PC, Router, Wireless gateway, xbox adapter or HR20 not properly processing multicast packets.