Where is this option on the HR2x DVRs? Having to constantly reboot your DVR in order for Media Share to work properly, especially with Third Party Firewall programs such as Zone Alarm, is going to cause some serious problems in the long run if you ask me.
Need the ability to turn Media Share on or Off
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Been there done that and none of those suggestions work. This is not a Firewall issue,nor is it a Router issue. This is simply bad implementation. There should have been switch in this set up from the beginning.
Everything was running perfect for weeks and now I understand why it's frustrating for people to get this thing to work and STAY on.
This should be implemeted within the DVRs themselves, not having to depend on the PC or your Router to make an adjustment. This is almost the equivalent of manufacturers removing all functions from a VCR and placing them on the remote, well what happens if you loose your remote?
Everything was running perfect for weeks and now I understand why it's frustrating for people to get this thing to work and STAY on.
This should be implemeted within the DVRs themselves, not having to depend on the PC or your Router to make an adjustment. This is almost the equivalent of manufacturers removing all functions from a VCR and placing them on the remote, well what happens if you loose your remote?
I'm not sure how much of a firewall you understand but this isn't possible. You can't make a DVR that "makes" your PC not tell you when it is accessed. Having a firewall on your PC specifically indicates that you want your PC to inform you when it is accessed.groove93 said:
That would be like hiring a guard dog and expecting it not to bark when a stranger shows up. If you don't want to hear barking, don't put a guard dog in the back yard.
If you don't want your DVR to see files on your PC and you don't want to change the setup on your PC, unplug the network cable from your DVR.
I'm a Network Administrator for 6 schools, so I do know what firewalls are for and how they are implemented within a system.gregjones said:
This is not about firewalls, but being able to implement one within a "small" home network for security purposes should not be a daunting task to the point where you have to reboot your DVR in order for the nodes to refresh themselves. We're moving backwards here.
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I guess I am confused. I have also asked for an on/off toggle but apparently for very different reasons. I guess the real question is why - why do you have to reboot so often and what specific aspect of the DVR's operation have you identified as being at fault ?
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I used to have many of the same problems with Media Share that other people describe: Losing the network connection after a reboot, losing the ability to see the shared files from the DVR, etc.
Here are the steps I took that seemed to have stopped all my problems:
1. I stopped using WMP11 and instead now use TVersity as a Media Server.
2. I set all 3 of my DVRs to static IPs outside the DHCP server range of my router. (My router reserves 192.168.1.100 -> 192.168.1.149 for DHCP connections so I set my DVR's static IPs from 192.168.1.201 -> 192.168.1.203 respectively)
3. For my DVRs that connect wirelessly, I enabled the wireless MAC filter on my router, allowing those MAC addresses specifically.
4. I disabled UPnP on my router, instead manually setting the port numbers of each DVR's network services to specific port numbers and allowing those ports specifically in the port range forwarding feature of my router.
Any or all of the steps may not be necessary for everyone, but I know that since I have taken these actions, my media share on all 3 of my DVrs works all the time, even after reboots and/or firmware upgrades.
Here are the steps I took that seemed to have stopped all my problems:
1. I stopped using WMP11 and instead now use TVersity as a Media Server.
2. I set all 3 of my DVRs to static IPs outside the DHCP server range of my router. (My router reserves 192.168.1.100 -> 192.168.1.149 for DHCP connections so I set my DVR's static IPs from 192.168.1.201 -> 192.168.1.203 respectively)
3. For my DVRs that connect wirelessly, I enabled the wireless MAC filter on my router, allowing those MAC addresses specifically.
4. I disabled UPnP on my router, instead manually setting the port numbers of each DVR's network services to specific port numbers and allowing those ports specifically in the port range forwarding feature of my router.
Any or all of the steps may not be necessary for everyone, but I know that since I have taken these actions, my media share on all 3 of my DVrs works all the time, even after reboots and/or firmware upgrades.
Fresh installed copy of XP Professionsal.bhelton71 said:
Using both Tversity 1.0.0.2 and 1.0.0.3
Zone Alarm Pro.
Attempted to view a few pics of my son at an Airshow, Media Share competely locks up.
Made some adjustments to Zone Alarm, same thing happens, but it plays videos and music without hesitation.
Compressed the pictures to a smaller size to see if that would fix the problem, no go.
Uninstalled 1.0.0.3 and reinstalled Tversity 1.0.0.2, same problem.
Completely removed Zone Alarm Pro, and set all Windows and Tversity setting to Default, again music and videos play fine, pics lock up the DVR.
Ran a virus scan, pictures are clean. Moved the pictures into a completely different directory on the drive for fear of bad sectors, same thing.
Moved the pictures to a drive on my media server where most of my music is located in the first place. The DVR locks up again.
Physically attached my main PC to the Wireless router where the DVR is attached as well, same results. (plus randomly eliminating pictures out of the folder to see if any one of them was causing a problem, that did not resolve anything).
Eliminate my main PC and started Troubleshooting with my Media Server, also running XP Profesional with WMP11 and Tversity 1.0.0.2 RC1. Same results.
Installed a 10mbit Ethernet Hub to the network and eliminated the router, reproduced all of the above, same results, but again music and videos play fine.
Tried another set of Pictures from a different directory, same results.
Uninstalled and reinstalled all recommended codecs from the Tversity Website.
In between all of these errors, I'm having to reboot the DVR for it to find both my Media Server and Main PC on the network. Stopping the Tversity Service, as well as WMP11's service and then re-enabling them did not pull up my HR21-100 no matter what I did. It's only when I reboot the DVR that it appears in my router's IP list, as well as within Tversity and WMP11.
I stopped the service for both programs using both their respective interface, as well as the "Service" section found in Administrative Tools.
UPnP was both enabled and disabled during all of the troubleshooting but it did not make a difference. My Router has the latest firmware according to Netgears's website.
Now I've eliminated the pictures from the equation for the simple fact that my DVR is capable of streaming larger videos and music through my network without any problems. I can live with that. What I cannot live with is having to reboot this thing just to get it back on the network. Going through the process of re-entering the Network information on the DVR, enabling DHCP, disabling it, setting rules specifically for the DVR within the Router, etc etc etc, it will not refresh until I reboot.
This is why I would like to see a "switch" enabled for Media Share and Networking.
UPNP on the router has absolutely nothing to do with local network traffic.
DHCP can be a factor because your laptop might be moving addresses each time it comes back on the network (after sleep, shutdown, etc.).
Zone Alarm can be a problem if it is not configured correctly. Identify the HR20 (through a static IP address on it) and let Zone Alarm know to let it go.
As far as the DVR showing up on router lists, this is specific to the use of DHCP. The DVR showing up in a DHCP list has nothing to do with it seeing your PC. The DVR discovers the PCs over time because the PCs announce themselves (if the firewall doesn't stop them) over a period of time.
I use Twonky on Linux. Amazingly, I have almost none of the problems described above. The MS implementation of their own media sharing system is the worst of the options. When you couple that with firewall software that may block it, the results are horrible.
When you say you want to turn Media Share on and off, what do you hope it will do?
Is your expectation that turning it on will immediately discover the media servers? That is not the way that this whole paradigm works. This is not a flaw in the HR2x implementation but in the standard itself. The HR2x has to "see" a media server when it announces itself. This assumes that the media server (your PC) can broadcast a packet that gets through its own firewall and is received on the HR2x. It also assumes that the IP address of the PC and HR2x remain constant. If either change addresses, they will be talking to where the other computer was instead of where it is.
I'm not trying to be argumentative. I'm not hailing Media Share as a great idea. I have stated a number of times that I think it distracts from the core expectations for an HR2x. But one of the biggest complaints I have about Media Share is that it is hard to get it to work with the number of variables on Windows computers. There are too many ways for someone to get it not to work by using completely logical software.
DHCP can be a factor because your laptop might be moving addresses each time it comes back on the network (after sleep, shutdown, etc.).
Zone Alarm can be a problem if it is not configured correctly. Identify the HR20 (through a static IP address on it) and let Zone Alarm know to let it go.
As far as the DVR showing up on router lists, this is specific to the use of DHCP. The DVR showing up in a DHCP list has nothing to do with it seeing your PC. The DVR discovers the PCs over time because the PCs announce themselves (if the firewall doesn't stop them) over a period of time.
I use Twonky on Linux. Amazingly, I have almost none of the problems described above. The MS implementation of their own media sharing system is the worst of the options. When you couple that with firewall software that may block it, the results are horrible.
When you say you want to turn Media Share on and off, what do you hope it will do?
Is your expectation that turning it on will immediately discover the media servers? That is not the way that this whole paradigm works. This is not a flaw in the HR2x implementation but in the standard itself. The HR2x has to "see" a media server when it announces itself. This assumes that the media server (your PC) can broadcast a packet that gets through its own firewall and is received on the HR2x. It also assumes that the IP address of the PC and HR2x remain constant. If either change addresses, they will be talking to where the other computer was instead of where it is.
I'm not trying to be argumentative. I'm not hailing Media Share as a great idea. I have stated a number of times that I think it distracts from the core expectations for an HR2x. But one of the biggest complaints I have about Media Share is that it is hard to get it to work with the number of variables on Windows computers. There are too many ways for someone to get it not to work by using completely logical software.
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Sorry you hit the pictures issue - I believe that is a 'work in progress' area. You are certainly not alone in seeing that.groove93 said:
There have been reports of issues running WMPNSS and TVersity on the same PC - they both need access to some of the same ports (1900,2869 primarily for SSDP and UPnP messaging) so that could be contributing in part to the HR21 not getting the server notifications.
The most helpful thing in looking at mediashare is understanding what it is doing.
1) Assume you have a mediaserver running
2) You start up an HR2x receiver
3) First - HR2x either gets address from DHCP or if you entered it
4) HR2x joins a multicast group
5) HR2x sends a 'NOTIFY' to the multicast group (this is the SSDP aspect)
6) HR2x sends a 'SEARCH' message to the mulitcast group (specifying MediaServer)
7) Your media server will respond with a unicast NOTIFY
8) HR2x will unicast request the device description document from the server (now in the UPNP aspect)
9) For each service listed in the device desc - HR2x will request an SCPD
10) The server will request the HR2x's device desc and services
11) Both the server and the HR2x set an expiration - usually this is 30 minutes. If within 30 minutes the HR2x does not see a multicast NOTIFY from the server - the HR2x should delete the server from its list.
As you can see there are multiple points for failure along the paths. If any one step fails then everything fails.
On DHCP - I can only speak for myself but I feel I have had better success with assigning an IP on the router and manually entering an ip address on the dvr - I avoid DHCP with my HR20.
Well, I don't know what the deal is. It's just pictures from what I can tell. I did manage to get my DVR back on the network after it locked up using WMP 11, which was a good thing.
All nodes on the network have always been configured with a static IP address.
All nodes on the network have always been configured with a static IP address.
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Pictures were killing me too while I used TVersity. Don't seem to have a problem with the new software but I'm not sure that's the deal here.
Pictures in general seem to be the culprit here but that really shouldn't be the case now should it. While I don't claim to know much, it seems that if size/bandwidth were an issue VIDEO would actually choke the thing but it's the Pictures?
Hope you get it worked out...I'd like to be able to use the picture function reliably IF (and that's a mighty be IF) I decide to continue using my HR21 as a media hub. So far, both the PS3 and the Xbox 360 seem to be far superior to the HR21 for media hub duties.
Pictures in general seem to be the culprit here but that really shouldn't be the case now should it. While I don't claim to know much, it seems that if size/bandwidth were an issue VIDEO would actually choke the thing but it's the Pictures?
Hope you get it worked out...I'd like to be able to use the picture function reliably IF (and that's a mighty be IF) I decide to continue using my HR21 as a media hub. So far, both the PS3 and the Xbox 360 seem to be far superior to the HR21 for media hub duties.
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My guess is that you're hitting the bug that a fellow user boilerjt discovered. When pictures contain metadata (of the sort digital cameras append), the HR20 goes a little crazy. Strip off the metadata, and it works (provided the resolution is not too high).groove93 said:
Personally, I'd like the option you're proposing, but from DirecTV's perspective, it introduces extra support issues.
This is interesting. The pictures in question were from an Airshow used with a Olympus digital camera. Jpegs average about 200 k at the most.GregLee said:
I also have a few pics taken with my Cellphone's camera that are relatively small.
I'm gonna seperate the camphone pics from the Digital Camera pics to see what happnens. As far as metadata, I'll have to look into this.
Edit: I found Boilerjt's thread and I'm now in the process of resizing my photos to 640 by 480. I'll have to find something to remove the metatag information so I'm currently looking into that.
Thanks
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