Brian Switek has an excellent roundup of scientific commentary on Ida, or Darwinius masillae, the fossil unveiled in a blaze of media glory last month. It really is a beautiful specimen, but many people, including me, have severe misgivings about all the hype that went along with it.
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Compare and Contrast
BBC Four had a couple of history programmes on tonight. First up was Terry Jones on the Celtic civilisation that existed in Europe around the time of Caesar. Then we had Dan Snow on How the Celts Saved Britain. Frankly, give me the lugubrious and slightly cynical Jones over the puppyish Snow any day. Jones’ programme was thought-provoking. Snow’s programme was almost complete and utter tripe.The most telling thing was that Jones stated the old saw about the fact that history is written by the victors (in his case, Caesar). Snow seemed blissfully unaware of this during his retelling of his version of history.Leave a comment
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A Dim-lit Shot of Dangling Balls
Bonnie Tyler’s Total Eclipse of the Heart was, for me, one of the defining videos of the 1980s. Therefore, this literal reading of the video had me in stitches:Leave a comment
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Welcome To Our Titted Overlords
Charlie Brooker is on fine form this week. He may not be entirely serious, but he does have a point. The wetware operating system that runs in the brain of the male variant of Homo sapiens is long overdue for an upgrade.Leave a comment
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The Digital Closet
There was an interesting article on Ars Technica the other day about anti-gay censorship in online gamer forums. The article itself is well-written and level-headed, but what really struck me was reading the comments (all nine pages and counting at the moment) on the article. The amount of fuckwittery on display is really quite astonishing.Leave a comment
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Traditional Crafts
Here’s a post to extol the virtues of traditional crafts and craftsmanship. Last Sunday, there was an event held in our local small town of Varsseveld. Billed as an “Old-timers’ day” (you can understand why I felt right at home), it was a combination of a market, an exhibition of vintage cars and tractors, and folk dancing.
It was charming in its simple way, but I do want to draw your attention to the fact that Varsseveld is the home of the Dutch Clogmaker Champion. Jurjen Jolink has won the title for the last two years running.
While the painted clogs are sold as souvenirs, the everyday clogs are still worn by a lot of folks around here when they’re out working in their fields or gardens.
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Britain’s Gulags
Johann Hari has written another compelling article, this time on the shameful history of Britain’s dealings with Kenya. Go and read it.Leave a comment
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Short Memories?
The Guardian had one of its “In Praise Of…” leaders the other day. This time, it was “In Praise Of Stonewall” – the UK-based group that campaigns for equal rights for gays and lesbians. And it’s true, as far as it goes – Stonewall has indeed accomplished a lot in its 20-year history. Problem is, that’s a blink of the eye for some of us. Today’s paper carries a letter from a Dr. Peter Purton who rightly points out that others were involved in the field of campaigning for far longer.I remember being actively involved with CHE – the Campaign for Homosexual Equality – back in the early 1970s. I helped organise the CHE conference for 1974 (I think it was), held in Malvern. And some of us have longer memories still. Allan Horsfall is arguably the oldest living campaigner – he’s still going strong, as far as I know.It seems to me that the words of Harvey Fierstein, at the opening of the 1988 Gay Games held in Amsterdam, are rather aposite here:“We were carried here on the backs of the millions of gays and lesbians that went before us… some of whom paid for the struggle against prejudice with their very lifeblood.”Leave a comment
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Michael Crookes
I was saddened to learn that Michael Crookes died last month. He was a dancer, choreographer, writer and dance administrator. He was only 47 when he died on the 12th April, in Tunbridge Wells. He had been suffering from cancer.
I only knew him for a short time when our paths crossed in the early 1980s. We had a friend in common: Kerrison Cooke. Kerry was a dancer at the London Festival Ballet and he and Michael , who joined the Royal Ballet in 1980, became very close. Michael had a great sense of humour, and young as he was, was an excellent storyteller and wit. Kerry also had an impish sense of humour, and the combination of the two of them could reduce their listeners to tears of laughter. Alas, Kerry died back in 1989, and now Michael has gone too.
The May 2009 issue of Dance Europe carries Michael’s obituary, and I also found the following on YouTube, which appears to have been made by Michael during his last days:
RIP, Michael.
8 responses to “Michael Crookes”
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Thankyou for posting about Michael Crookes. I was at Legat ballet school with him in the same year.My friend Cathy Evans and I would have endless banter with micheal and tease him mercilessly, and he would think up evil pranks to get his own back. Needless to say we were v. fond of him.I became an actor and bumped into him in clapham in the late 80s He was still hilarious. Thankyou for posting the montage – it brought back many memories. God bless him!
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Hello Georgia, glad to have been able to freshen your memories of Michael…
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Hi – Nina Ghosh here. I also was at Legat with Michael and have many fond memories of a lovely sensitive sweet boy. I was at the senior end of the school when he joined and was his ‘ school mum’. Much later, we renewed our friendship because my son (aged 8yrs at the time) was dancing and Michael took the boys class every Saturday. It was so good to renew our friendship but unfortunately it was not long after that he became ill. They say the ‘good die young’ and that seems to ring true in Michael’s case. Thanks for the lovely footage.
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Hi Geoff, I wonder if you know the burial place of Michael ? Kind regards, Serge
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Hello Serge, I’m afraid I don’t know – as I say, I only knew Michael briefly back in the 1980s when he was a friend of Kerry Cooke.
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What a wonderful dancer Michael was ~ Rest in Peace
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So very sad.After so many years I finally find out what happened to Michael Crookes whom i had met and known in 1980 when i was working at the Royal Opera House. I had lost touch with him to my regret. Seeing his smile again for the first time after so many years brought back so many happy memories of a too brief close friendship. I never forgot him.
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Thank you for posting this. I knew and worked with Michael when he lived in Glasgow in the mid 90’s but regretfully lost touch with him when he moved away. He was such a good man – wickedly funny and so supportive. I’ve often wondered what became of him – and now I’m saddened to know. I’ll never forget him.
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A Panto Moment
In last night’s episode of The Apprentice, Sir Alan Sugar provided us with a perfect pantomime moment when he said to the losing team: "This ain’t no bladdy game show, you know…" I suspect that up and down the land, viewers joined with me in shouting back to the screen: "Oh yes it bladdy well is!" Wonderful stuff.And, taking the editing that goes on in The Apprentice to the next level, here’s Cassetteboy’s take:BTW, Howard didn’t deserve to get fired.Leave a comment
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Comicbook Science
I’m watching the programme on Ida, the 47 million year-old fossil, at the moment. Or at least, trying to watch it. I am growing increasingly tired of the flashy camera shots, overpowering music and the whizz-bang sound effects, which, as far as I am concerned distract from the scientific story. Even the melliflous tones of Sir David Attenborough are failing to calm me down. As far as I’m concerned, the whole production team connected with this travesty can be taken out and thrown into the Messel pit where they can rot for the next 47 million years..Update: Martin, over at the Lay Scientist, points out exactly why the programme was so bad: it’s science-by-press-release (and media event), rather than science by the scientific method. As he says:Perhaps the most telling comment in the program was this observation from Hurum: "Having it at home is like having the Mona Lisa … it makes you feel powerful." Of course power corrupts, and the impression one gets from the hype surrounding this fossil is that the potential for exciting self-promotion has overridden the need for rigorous science. That’s sad enough, but it’s even sadder that the normally excellent Sir David Attenborough and the Natural History Unit were sucked into the mythology of Ida.Leave a comment
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“Vengeance Is Mine”, Saith the Lord
A few weeks ago, I received a chain email from a distant relative. It was about the James Boulger case. As it happens, the email is one of these zombie emails that constantly circulates throughout the internet refusing to die. While I did not realise that at the time, I did respond to my relative telling her that I did not think that vengeance was a good emotion to exercise, and that I would not be passing the email on, or responding to its exhortations in any way.
I was reminded of that example while reading the coverage of the publication of the report into child abuse within Catholic institutions in Ireland. The two things that leapt out at me were (a) the scale of the abuses against children in care and (b) the fact that the Catholic church cut a deal to limit the scale of the financial penalties against it and to prevent prosecution of the perpetrators of the abuse.
My initial reaction was to think “prosecute the bastards!”, but then I wondered whether I was simply seeking vengeance – something that I said was a bad idea in the Jamie Boulger case. On reflection, I don’t think that the two cases can be compared, and I am, in fact, seeking justice, not vengeance. It seems to me that not to bring the perpetrators to account for their crimes is an evil in itself. As A Thinking Man says in this very excellent post:
…the failure to name the perpetrators and bring them to justice, will do nothing but twist a brutal knife into a very painful wound.
I agree, but I see no recognition from the Catholic church of that fact. Instead they are closing ranks and siding with the perpetrators. Shame on them.
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Repairing the Cathedral
From one point of view, this is nothing special – just a video of people doing their job. In this particular case, it’s repairing a telescope. A telescope that happens to be orbiting the earth. The Hubble telescope. Watching this gives me goosebumps. The same sort of goosebumps that I often feel when entering a cathedral. Except in this case, I feel that the sense of wonder is not tainted.(hat tip to Phil)Leave a comment
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RIP, Pleo
I’ve always had a soft spot for robotic simulacra of humans and animals. I went through a period of wondering whether to buy a Sony Aibo, until Sony announced that they were getting out of the robot dog business. The successor to Aibo, from a different manufacturer and from an earlier period in the earth’s evolutionary history was Pleo. Alas, I learned today that Pleo’s manufacturer has gone belly-up.
Still, I’m sure that innovators and manufacturers around the world will keep striving to produce toys like Teddy that last the whole summer long. In the meantime, here’s a fascinating video of what happened when one Pleo’s owner took it on a visit to the local aquarium (skip forward to about 1 minute 46 seconds in…).
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Passion or Greed?
The scientific tale of Ida, a 57 million year-old primate fossil, is amazing enough, but what I found almost as striking was the light it also casts on the human passion for ownership. The tale of how the fossil passed from private hands into public ownership for the staggering sum of $1 million seems to me to illustrate that passion and greed are darkly interconnected.
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Nightingales in the Orchard
A wonderful article by Mary Warnock about self identity and ageing. Go and read it.Leave a comment
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Five Minutes With Richard Dawkins
A surprisingly good interview with Dawkins, considering the limited time available. I am envious of his bookshelves, and I’m sure I would be envious of the books were I to be able to examine them.Leave a comment
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Why Am I Not Surprised?
As expected, Russian police broke up today’s pro-gay demonstration in Moscow with excessive force. And I also note without surprise that Graham Norton and Andrew Lloyd-Webber are quoted as saying that they "knew little about" the tough line being taken by the Moscow authorities. Perhaps Messrs. Norton and Lloyd-Webber should open their eyes once in a while.Leave a comment
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Swine Flu and Tuberculosis
Hans Rosling deserves to be not just a National Treasure, but a Global Treasure for his analyses of the wash of data that we are all swimming in (if not drowning in).Here, for example, is his comparison of the Media’s reporting of Swine Flu versus Tuberculosis. Please note that he is not saying that the health agencies are not right to sound a warning, but that the Media has over-reacted beyond all reasonable measure,Leave a comment
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Fun With Technology – Part IV
So, I blogged back in February about how I was having some problems with the “Play to” feature in the new Windows Media Player that will be part of Windows 7. Since getting the Release Candidate of Windows 7, I’ve been playing around with this feature, and I think I’m beginning to get to the bottom of why it will sometimes work and sometimes fail.
First, a bit of background on the underlying technology specification, which hails from the industry consortium that goes by the pretentious moniker of the Digital Living Networking Alliance, or DLNA for short. As an aside, I note that their motto is “Connect and enjoy”. At this stage of the technology, it’s often felt more like “Connect and tear your hair out”, but I digress…
Their specification defines how a variety of different types of digital devices can connect and share information. This I’ve summarised in the following table:
Device Class What it does Examples Digital Media Server (DMS) Stores content and makes it available to networked digital media players (DMP) and digital media renderers (DMR). Some digital media servers can also help protect your content once stored. PCs and network attached storage (NAS) devices Digital Media Player (DMP)
Finds content on digital media servers (DMS) and provides playback and rendering capabilities. TVs, stereos and home theaters, wireless monitors and game consoles Digital Media Renderer (DMR)
These devices play content received from a digital media controller (DMC), which will find content from a digital media server (DMS). TVs, audio/video receivers, video displays and remote speakers for music. Digital Media Controller (DMC) These devices find content on digital media servers (DMS) and play it on digital media renderers (DMR). Internet tablets, Wi-Fi® enabled digital cameras and personal digital assistants (PDA). Digital Media Printer (DMPr) These devices provide printing services to the DLNA home network. Generally, digital media players (DMP) and digital media controllers (DMC) with print capability can print to DMPr. Networked photo printers and networked all-in-one printers. Table 1: Information drawn from the DLNA web site.
Windows 7 implements a number of these classes as shown here:
Device Class Windows Implementations Digital Media Server (DMS) When media streaming is enabled, Windows acts as a DMS. Digital Media Player (DMP)
Windows Media Player and Windows Media Center act as a DMP when browsing shared media libraries Digital Media Renderer (DMR)
Windows Media Player acts as a DMR when configured to allow remote control of the Player. Digital Media Controller (DMC) The “Play To” feature from Windows Media Player and Windows Explorer launches a DMC to control the media playback experience Table 2: Information drawn from the Engineering Windows 7 Blog.
Note that in the above table, Microsoft had planned to have “Play to” added to Windows Explorer in Windows 7. This did not materialise.
At its simplest, just two devices can be involved: a Server and a Player. These can even be running on the same physical device, as in the case where your Windows Media Player on your Desktop PC is streaming music or video stored on the PC itself. The next step up is where the server and player are on separate physical devices. Two typical scenarios are shown in figure 1:
Figure 1: Typical scenarios of simple case of DMP devices accessing DMS devices.I’ve used the Denon AVR3808 as an example, since this is what I have in my home network. My main DMS is an old headless (no monitor, keyboard or mouse) Dell PC running the Windows Home Server operating system. Actually, to be strictly accurate, the Dell is running two Digital Media Servers. The first is Microsoft’s Windows Media Connector version 2.0, which is built into WHS. The second is the Asset UPnP media server, which is a free piece of third party software installed onto WHS. The fact that I have two DMSes running will prove significant once I get into describing the next set of scenarios.
In my particular case, all flavours of the two scenarios shown above will work, that is, both DMSes running on the Dell box will stream audio to other PCs in the home network, and to the Denon AVR3808. Under the covers, there’s actually some negotiation of streaming formats going on. This is because I have stored all my music files on the Dell server box in Windows Media Audio Lossless (WMAL) format. This presents no problems for the PCs, since the Windows Media Players installed on them can handle WMAL. But the Denon can only handle standard Windows Media Audio, not the Lossless variant. So when I use the Denon to browse my music library on the Dell and select a track to play, the DMS that I’m using sees that the Denon can’t handle WMAL and transcodes the stream into standard PCM (which the Denon can handle) on the fly. Both the Asset and the Windows Media Connect will do this. But this breaks down in the next set of scenarios.
So, the interesting scenarios are where there are three devices linked together: a Digital Media Server, a Digital Media Controller, and a Digital Media Renderer.
Figure 2: Typical scenarios of a three device link (DMS-DMC-DMR).Once again, in my case, all flavours of scenario 3 will work. That is, I can stream from either DMS running on my Dell Windows Home Server using the “Play To” feature of Windows Media Player in Windows 7, and push the stream to either of my PCs that are currently running Windows 7.
But scenario 4 has been giving me all sorts of problems. Sometimes it would seem to work, and other times it wouldn’t. I think I have finally got to the bottom of it.
The issue is that media libraries in Windows Media Player in Windows 7 can be built up in a number of ways. Take a look at this screenshot of the first few albums in my music library:
I’ve highlighted the fact that you are looking at the content of my music library in “Album” view. That is shown as part of the “Library” tree (Library – Music – Album). This screenshot has been taken from my Tablet PC, which is running the Windows 7 Release Candidate. Now the interesting part is where these albums are physically stored. There is far more storage required than my Tablet PC can cope with, so in fact these album files are sitting on my Windows Home Server. This next screenshot shows that my music library is in fact being comprised of three storage locations: my own music folders on the Tablet PC, the “Public” music folders on the Tablet PC, and the music folders on Degas – which is my Windows Home Server:
But hang on a minute, Windows Media Player is showing two navigation trees on the left hand side of its window: the “Library” tree and another one called “Other Libraries”. The content of the “Other Libraries” tree is populated by other Digital Media Servers which Windows Media Player discovers on the network. Sure enough, it’s found the Windows Media Connect DMS running on the Dell Windows Home Server (Degas), and this next screenshot shows the same album files being seen in the Album view under the “Other Libraries” tree:
You’ll notice that just above “User 1 (degas)”, which is the Windows Media Connect DMS, is the Asset UPnP server entry, shown as “Asset UPnP: DEGAS”. So, under scenario 4, I can stream the same album in three different ways:
- Using “Play To” to pull from the Tablet PC’s Windows Media Player streaming server and push it out to the Denon.
- Using “Play To” to pull from the Windows Media Connect streaming server on the Dell and push it out to the Denon.
- Using “Play To” to pull from the Asset UPnP streaming server on the Dell and push it out to the Denon.
What I’ve found is that method (1) and (3) will work, but that method (2) does not. These are illustrated in the following screenshots:
I should just point out that I’ve configured the Asset UPnP server to always stream in PCM format. If I didn’t do this, then while it would work in the simple case of scenario 2, in the case of scenario 4, it would fail just as the Windows Media Connect server does.
The conclusion that I draw from all this is that in these “man-in-the-middle” scenarios, it looks as though end-to-end negotiation of the proper streaming format is not always being done correctly. I suspect that in scenario 4, method 2, the Windows Media Connect server is simply serving up WMAL format to the Denon, which causes it to fail. Now, I don’t know whether this is a shortcoming of the DLNA specification itself, or simply an outcome of how Microsoft have implemented it in the case where there are physically separate servers out on the network. Time will tell.
At least I now know which scenarios work and which will fail. On to the next problem…
26 responses to “Fun With Technology – Part IV”
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hey man, i am having a similar problem getting WMP 12 to "play to" my xbox360. here is forum link that i have described the problem in detail. http://windows7forums.com/windows-7-networking/6215-play-xbox-360-media-center-extender-not-working.html long story short though, i get this message "device can not be controlled" any suggestions?????
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Sean, I suspect that your xbox360 is only implementing version 1.0 of the DLNA spec, not version 1.5 – which seems to be required for full DMR functionality. With version 1.0, the xbox is a DMP – it’s not necessarily a full DMR. I came across a mention of this issue in the Twonky forums (see http://www.twonkyforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=25&t=6124). This may be what’s underlying your issue.Sorry that I can’t help further…
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hey man i got to work by messing with the homegroup settings. even though I don’t have any cpu’s in a homegroup! thanks though!
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Sean, glad that you got it working, although it seems strange that the homegroup functionality was behind the problem. Still, computers move in mysterious ways for much of the time…
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I just recently (3 weeks ago) got myself a brand new desktop PC with Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit and am having some issues streaming WAV and WMAL files to my Denon AVP-A1HDCI preamp using WMP 12.The main problem is that when I stream either a WAV or WMA Lossless file they display on my Denon AVP-A1HDCI preamp as the wrong file type. Streamed WAV show up as MP3 and WMA Lossless show up as PCM. When I was using Windows XP and WMP 11 on my old PC I never experienced this issue. All file types were streamed and received correctly.One other thing I’ve noticed is that with WMP 12 I have now lost the ability to pause music using my Denon AVP’s remote. I can play, select next track, previous track, and stop, but no pause. Not a major biggie but a bit annoying nonetheless.Any help, tips or advice would be much appreciated.Thanks,Seth
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Seth,How are you streaming from WMP12 to the Denon – are you using "scenario 2" or "scenario 4" (see figure 1 & 2 above)? Does it make a difference which method you use?If I use scenario 4 to stream WMA Lossless to my Denon, then I also get the PCM indicator lit on the Denon. But I think that this is expected behaviour. Don’t forget that the Denons don’t support WMA Lossless directly, so WMP is transcoding to a LPCM stream on the fly. I don’t know why WAV stremas should be displayed as MP3 on the Denon. I don’t use WAV format, so I can’t test this.I’m afraid I also can’t help you with your remote issue. My Denon remote can pause music streamed from WMP12 with no problem.
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Geoff,Thank you for your quick reply. I’m using "scenario 2" I have my Denon preamp connected via CAT 6a to my router, and my desktop PC is the music server.As to my Denon preamp not supporting WMA Lossless directly, well actually it does, along with WAV, AAC and FLAC. And just to rule out that there isn’t something amiss with my Denon AVP preamp, I plugged in a USB stick into my Denon that has WAV and WMA Lossless music on it. It played the files in their correct audio format with no problems (WAV showed up as PCM and WMA Lossless showed up as WMA). So there must be some sort of incompatibility between my Denon preamp and WMP 12.I know that my Denon was designed to be used with WMP 11, and with my previous desktop that used Windows XP and WMP 11 all was well (I could even pause using the Denon remote). So now to find a solution to the issues I’m having. All I know is that if I stream WAV or WMA Lossless, I don’t want to be listening to a different audio format (especially a down resolutioned MP3). If I can’t get WMP 12 to stream things correctly I’m just going to have to find a different media manager to stream my music.Seth
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Seth, hmmm, interesting. I’ll have to check out a USB stick with WMA lossless files on my Denon to see if it will play. According to the table on page 66 of your manual (and page 53 of mine), the Denons only support WMA formats to bit rates between 48-192 kbps. Since WMA Lossless is using bit rates between 470-940 kbps, then WMA Lossless, according to Denon’s own manuals should not work. And that’s what I see with my AVR-3808. WMA is fine, but WMA Lossless does not work. But I must try a USB stick and see if that makes a difference…
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Looks like I was mistaken, you are in fact correct about WMA Lossless. The file type that happened to be on the USB stick was WMA, but not WMA Lossless. I found this out when I was going to add some other music to the USB stick. I went ahead and added some WMA Lossless files to the USB stick, and just like you said, it displayed "file format error". So you are 100% correct that Denon receivers and preamp will not play a WMA Lossless file natively.Thanks for pointing that out. And it’s a good thing that I noticed what was on the USB, as here all this time I thought I had WMA Lossless on it. D’oh!But I still need to get the WAV to MP3 issue resolved.Thank you for help. :)Seth
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Hi Geoff,I know that you do not use WAV to stream music to your Denon. But if you could do me a huge favor and add at least one WAV file to your library and see what it shows up as on your Denon when streamed I would really appreciate it. At least this way I would know that the issue indeed stems from either Windows 7 or WMP 12.Only asking as this info would really help me to determine the cause.Thanks,Seth
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Seth, OK, I scouted through my music collection, and found some WAV files that had been created by Cubase. They are a combination of files recorded at 48 kHz/1536 bps and 44.1 kHz/1411 bps.Now, when I stream these files from WMP12 to the Denon (using either scenario 2 or 4), the Denon MP3 indicator is lit. However, when I put the files onto a USB stick, and play them directly on the Denon, then the PCM indicator is lit. It seems pretty clear then that what is happening is that, in the negotiation that takes place between the Denon and WMP12 over what format to choose for streaming, MP3 is somehow chosen in place of PCM. If this doesn’t happen with WMP11, then it seems that WMP12 makes a bad call on choosing the format for streaming. Something that needs to be reported to Microsoft…
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Hi Geoff,Thank you VERY much for testing this out! This verifies that there is indeed something in WMP 12 that is transcoding WAV’s to MP3. You have been a HUGE help for me! 🙂 I will see about contacting Microsoft about this issue and hopefully they will get this resolved and offer an update to fix this very soon.I guess until they correct this, I will use WMA Lossless to stream to my Denon instead of WAV. At least I know that’s getting transcoded to PCM. The only downer now is that at least 90% (over 1,500 songs) of my music library are in WAV format. Is there any way to just convert my library of WAV files to WMA Lossless or will I have to manually re-rip all my CD’s into WMA Lossless?Thank you again for all your help with this. :)Seth
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Seth, doing a Google for converting WAV to WMA throws up a few possibilities, but I’m afraid I have no personal experience of any of them. So proceed at your own risk, I’m afraid… Good luck.
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Hi Geoff,Well for now I have found a excellent solution to my streaming woes. On the recommendation of a friend (and fellow Denon AVP-A1HDCI owner), I downloaded TwonkyMedia Manager. It automatically added all my music (including all my playlists!) to it’s library and found my Denon without me having to do anything. And now when I stream music using TwonkyMedia Manager, WAV’s stream as PCM! Woo hoo! And I can once again pause the music stream via the Denon remote. :)IMO TwonkyMedia Manager is way easier to use than WMP 12. And the best part is that it works right!! Even if Microsoft issues a fix for WMP 12, I may just continue using TwonkyMedia Manager. So it looks like now I will not need to convert my library of WAV’s to WMA Lossless, or re-rip them all.Thank you once again for all your help.Seth
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Seth,Glad you’ve found a solution in Twonky. Last time I looked at it, it was very buggy – it sounds as though the latest release is much improved.One thing that someone mentioned to me is that the WAV format is actually a file container format – it can contain a variety of compressed or uncompressed audio formats. So it’s possible that WMP12 is choosing what it thinks is the best match for the Codec in the WAV file, and it might be just as good a choice as PCM. The suggestion was to install one of the downloadable Codec packs into WMP12 (e.g. http://download.cnet.com/Media-Player-Codec-Pack/3000-13632_4-11118005.html ) and see if that makes a difference. Since I don’t use WAV in general, I don’t think I’ll bother.
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Hi Geoff,Yeah about a year and a half ago I tried using TwonkyMedia Server and I was NOT impressed. But this new Media Manager of theirs actually works quite nicely. Interestingly though, while I can stream WAV’s and MP3’s with not problems, WMA Lossless files for some reason do not stream. No biggie for me as nearly all of my music is WAV, but for others that have a large library of WMA Lossless, this Media Manger will not be a good choice.And after doing a bit of research myself, you’re right, a WAV can contain a variety of different audio formats. But by far the most widespread and common are WAV’s that are fully uncompressed in PCM with a bitrate of 1,411.2 kbit/s. And like you said an MP3 can indeed be contained in a WAV, but even though MP3 can have a non-standard max bit rate of 640 kbit/s, very few devices can play them. And according to the ISO standard, decoders are only required to be able to decode streams up to 320 kbit/s.So it’s quite likely that the WAV’s being transcoded to MP3’s are being played through our Denon’s at 320 kbit/s. Which is a far cry from 1,411.2 uncompressed PCM. I checked out the downloadable codec pack, and it does look promising. It might just do the trick, but in the off chance that it does not, I think I’ll no bother with it either.This is only my second day with using TwonkyMedia Manager, but so far I’m very happy with the results. I’m still going to let Microsoft know about the issue with WMP 12, and hopefully they will offer a fix for it.
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Hi Geoff. I wonder if you can help me as you appear to be a guru on DLNA and WMP12.
I have set up my WMP12 to share photos, music and video libraries and stream to a Sony BDP-S570 DNLA capable device which connects via HDMI to a Sony Bravia.
On the Sony BDP menu I can only see photos to play and no music or video libraries although these used to work.
Any ideas on what I’ve misconfigured?Thanks,
John.-
Hi John,
Not being an owner of the Sony BDP-S570, I probably can’t be of much help. I had a quick look through the manual, but I didn’t see a setting that would block music or video, but not photos… I assume that the Sony is seeing your PC?The only thing I can think of is that perhaps you’ve turned off sharing of your music and videos on your PC. In WMP12, if you click on the “Stream” menu, and then choose “More streaming options…”, you should see a list of all the DLNA devices in your network. One of them should be the BDP-S570. Click on the “Customize” link, and you should see a window where you can select what medai you want to stream to the player. Now, by default, all media should be streamed, but just in case something is not working right, you could try unchecking the “Use default settings” box and check the “Make all of the media in my library available to this device” box…
Other than that, I have no idea on what might be going on; sorry…
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Thanks, Geoff.
I’ll check those settings later when I’m home and let you know the results.
Excellent speedy reply!
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I tried altering streaming options but still no joy.
I even removed WMP12 and re-installed with no luck.
I’m beginning to think codec problems or something. Checked Windows firewall, seemed to be OK.
Eventually installed a trial version of Mezzmo and it showed all folders, Music, Photos and Videos.
My next move is to try out XBMC which is free.
Thanks,John.
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Ah, yes, codec issues could be a cause of the problem. You say that at one time music and videos worked. Have you at some point installed a new codec package?
Also, I went back and looked again at the player specs. I noticed that there were footnotes stating that the player wouldn’t play media files marked with DRM, or play WMA Lossless. I just wonder whether the player has had a firmware upgrade applied that might lock things down a bit more than they were when you first got it?
Sorry I can’t be of more help…
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