Say what you want about Microsoft (and after 50 years working with computers I could say a lot), Windows Media Player actually works quite well as a DLNA server, it puts only a trivial load on the computer running it, and it's one of Microsoft's better efforts: which is probably why they discontinued it. Yes, at least one of them would transcode videos on the fly, but that meant you couldn't move backwards to repeat something you missed, and it put a big load on the serving computers. They also had other faults, like not working if fast forward and other problems I don't remember. I don't like the way they snoop on the user, keeping records on everything you do. There is a simple work-around that seems to address the problem, so unless I run into another problem I'm done with this topic.Īnd if anyone cares, I tried quite a number of other DLNA servers before going with Windows Media Player, including Plex and Kodi and at least one other I don't remember, and I didn't like them. I was thinking of doing more testing to find out just what else is wrong, but I'm not going to put any more effort into this. I still think it's a fault on Roku's part that compression settings that are legal and works at 720p and below don't work at higher resolutions, and it's still Roku's fault for not providing proper documentation. Now that I've done Roku's debugging for them, the least they could do is properly publish the specifications for what RMP does and does not accept. If Roku would properly document what works and what doesn't, this wouldn't have been a problem. It's possible that I just didn't run into this before, even though I have a 1080p video that has 16 frames that worked before and doesn't work now. This is very definitively a problem with the way Roku Media Player works. Roku Media Player will play videos at 720p or less with 16 frames, but not 1080p with 16 frames. The specification says there can be up to 16. The problem is with CABAC reference frames. The fact that it happens on two Roku's seems to point to my DLNA server, and I'm going to run more tests: but I've never seen anything like this before, and, as I said, the software on the PC hasn't been changed in any way. Has anyone else seen this, and does anyone have any suggestions on what might be going on? In the menu system, I see a preview image of the video I want to play, so the server is seeing the video: but when I play it, I just get a black screen. I also tried a completely different Roku device, a Streaming Stick, on a different TV and get exactly the same results. I've checked the network settings, and they are good. I've checked to see that the Roku-based TV I'm using has all of the Roku updates, and rebooted. I've run diagnostics and rebooted, and there are no faults there. I've double checked, and there have been no changes on the media server PC. Yesterday, it stopped playing videos that are 1920 by 1080, including videos that played the day before. We use Windows Media Player as the DLNA server, and it has not been changed in years (by Microsoft). I've also set up a similar PC for a friend and he uses Roku Media Player the same way. I get the files from a DLNA server on a Windows PC: I've been doing this for close to two years. Again perform an internet search to learn more about metadata in media files.I use the Roku Media Player channel/app every day. One can use MP3Tag ( ) or Media Monkey ( ) for example to add or edit that metadata. Lastly you can input metadata information (cover art, program name, program information) into the MP4 media file that will be displayed onscreen in certain media players like the Roku Media Player channel. On the Roku you will need to have a channel called Roku Media Player ( ) which should allow you to access any DLNA server, like the My Cloud, on your local network. Also see this link ( ) and others that detail how to add a DLL file to Handbrake to allow ripping of certain commercial encrypted DVD’s. See the Handbrake documentation for more information. There is even a way to rip certain DVD’s (unencrypted and certain encrypted DVD’s) using Handbrake. To rip a DVD perform an internet search as there are a number of methods to rip DVD’s for local streaming. There are a number of free video conversion programs, like Handbrake ( ) that will encode video to the proper format for playback on a Roku. To stream media you need to have that media in a format that is supported by BOTH the My Cloud and the Roku. I stream almost exclusively from the My Cloud to several Roku’s.
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