Uniti / Twonky skipped tracks / indexing problems

For some reason I can no longer edit my original post, hence this new one - I should make it clear that the audio is saved as WAV files. I have also encountered another problem on at least two seperate albums: tracks named as being played do not match the actual audio output, although they are from the same album, which is somewhat irritating. I was really hoping that streaming would be less problematic than this, even for a non-techy like me.

There's a time limit to editing the posts, think its about 30 mins, then they are locked 

Well I continue to experience "skipped track, cannot play" messages on about 25% of track selections using the updated version of the application. Any suggestions as to where the problem might lie gratefully received.

There are a number of problems here you mention. It may be best to concentrate on one problem only, hopefully solve it, then move on to the next.

Can you start with the skipped track prob., did this happen on a physically 'wired' network set-up?

Don't worry about the two 'unknown' lines on the display yet, I see that too!

The Naim unit was originally connected to the router wirelessly, but now it's via signal over mains (Devolo). Same problem exists with either method. I've re-installed the application on my Iphone several times, and used another Iphone with the Naim application, but the problem continues.

Dear Nr7,

nStream only displays what the UpnP delivers, so they issue is at the source, probably not nStream. Can you tell a bit more about the way your rip, and - more important - the way you tag ? Did you fill all AlbumArtist lines correctly. How do you embed albumart during your rip. Do you store a separate file (ie folder.jpg). I am not experienced with Windows Media Player and use dbPowerAmp to rip. It works very well and Twonky has no issue at all. If I want to do further detailed-ripping (sound quality, custom fields etc) I use MediaMonkey. All output is WAV. Instead of what is suggested many times her, WAV is perfectly capable of handling the basic tagging like Artist, AlbumArtist, Album, Year, AlbumArt, Genre etc ..

Cheers,

Iver

Can you connect your NAS (via router) to your Naim equipment wired? This will eliminate one set of possible explanations. Also can you tell me exactly what Naim device(s) you have.

(lol! Just seen Iver's post, we're stating at different ends of this one  

As to the listing under Folder.

Twonky lists tracks alphabetically in this view. If you go to  artist/album view then they are in number order as per the tags.

I used to experience something similar on my QNAP212 using Twonky. I spent an age looking at all folders and files (8000) to confirm that all tracks were a compatible format for my (then) Qute. I discovered some Apple protected music that won't play and also some other anomalies in terms of how tracks were filed, but also some ripped video files in the wrong place. Having resolved these the system plays perfectly.

Thanks all for the input so far. Used WMP to rip as WAV files, which puts all of the music in a single "Folder". I have no control over indexing / tagging, and a lot of album art is missing. Even some tracks are completely misnamed (different artist / song). I was planning to buy DB Power Amp and re-rip everything, but wanted to see if there was some inherent problem relating to the Naim hardware or the phone application. It wouldn't be very easy to wire connect the router to the Naim without trailing a cable through a hall and 2 rooms. Is the Devolo solution not just as effective?

WMP can be edited to show the correct track artists / track names and the art added. But that will only fix the problem on the PC end. Metadata needs to be captured and presented 'correctly' for the Naim and it's apps. DBPowerAmp and Twonky for instance will not 'cure' anything by themselves, and some of my music was completely unknown to DBPowerAmp and it's five 'data providers'.

As for the Devolo I only asked as it would be a useful way to get a level playing field for fault-finding as most Naim users' I believe have their systems configured via cables.

I don't think it's the Devolo.

sounds like some of the tags/artwork is not correct.

even the best ripping programmes can spring surprises - so to be 100 per cent accurate you need to check and amend them as needed.

i haven't used as WMP as I rip/tag via XLD to a MyBookLive. All albums are in their own folders within the Public Music Share. Artwork tagged as cover.jpg in individual folders.

it works with no problems.

I'd suggest re-ripping a couple of the problem albums and looking at the tagging information.

Good luck.

Hi - I've recently been discussing a similar issue with one of our dealers and Twonky on a different brand of NAS. We've been chasing it down with the dealer and it seems that Twonky itself is giving a URL to the player for the file to play that references a file location that simply doesn't exist.

The problem is that most of the NAS based versions of Twonky seem to be either cut down subversions or specific NAS builds and so aren't updated as the main Twonky build is updated so even if this gets fixed in the current build there's no guarantee that you'll get an updated build.

TBH *ALL* of the NAS based UPnP server solutions that we've come across have issues or limitations that we can't do anything about other than inform the authors - similarly the OSX based UPnP server applications are generally pretty poor too. The only one at the moment that I feel at all confident recommending is Asset UPnP for Windows (the OSX Beta of Asset isn't particularly pretty but seems to work better than the "release" versions of most of the OSX UPnP servers that I've tried).

I'd give that a try...

Phil

Ethernet over Mains devices are something that I wish could be uninvented - however in this case I agree with Jon in that they're not the issue.

Please see my reply above...

Cheers

Phil

Getting a bit technical for me - just to clarify though, the Naim dealer specifically recommended the NAS and using WMP to rip. The Devolo was only bough to see if it cured the problem vs. wireless. Anyway, I am where I am, which is heading down the route of re-ripping everything using DB Poweramp. How to I get this Asset (I assume is software) into my set-up, which I guess is going to replace Twonky somehow? 

Asset UPnP server can be downloaded from www.dbpoweramp.com - the same place that you downloaded dbPoweramp from.

I'm surprised you were recommended to use Windows Media Player to rip as it isn't the greatest ripping solution but I suppose it is easily available and free ... similarly you may find that if you reboot your NAS that the "Can't play" issues go away, it simply seems to be that Twonky can get it's knickers in a twist so a reboot (or rescan of the music folders) may help but I have had this reported before and there seems to be nothing that we can see that triggers it.

Phil

You cannot get Asset onto your WD MyBookLive - well, not without invalidating the warranty and doing some complicated SSH command line jiggery-pokery which if you are not expert is definitely not recommended.

As Phil says, the Twonky version on the WD is actually an older build licensed especially for that device.

I have found, though, that it works quite well with a Uniti. The care comes in ripping the files and then checking the tags and artwork yourself. I do it individually with each CD/download. Tedious but I can be a bit retentive on making sure everything is how I want so I don't do batch converts etc.

I have to say - apart from that the WD has worked well.

The only issue I have is that every new album also loads into a file called unknown which just grows and grows. I've no idea why - but a Rebuild Database on the WD (accessed via the Twonky settings under Media in WD Dashboard) clears this every time.

As I say, though, I use XLD on a Mac for ripping/tagging and am clueless on Windows stuff.

I am using Unitiqute with QNAP NAS running twonky

Suffice to say that I want to get Unitiserve to go between them (not sure yet whether go for the hard drive or solid state US) cos twonky seems incapable of behaving consistently - randomly shows wrong album art, occasionally declares some then most then all of the files as wrong format.  Sometimes clears itself, sometimes needs to be rescanned to fix.  At one point I moved from the twonky provided with the NAS to an imported / updated twonky.  Fixed some problems for a bit but then they came back again...

Anyway, next stop US in the hope that the Naim kit will speak to itselfvia its own Upnp better than with twonky

OK, so I need to re-rip everything using DBpoweramp, and download Asset UNP Server. This mean I throw the NAS away, but where do the music files then get stored? Surely not on the Windows laptop? If so, presumably this means leaving it on all of the time, which is not practical. Have I missed something regarding storage?

You don't *NEED* to rerip everything if you're happy with the rips you have ... they can remain on the NAS and you can run Asset on a small low power PC if you wanted to use Asset.

You can pick up small form factor, low power PCs from places like Maplin or PC World for a few hundred pounds that would be more than up to the job.

I always make sure that I have a small "jobbing" PC floating around at home for doing this sort of thing with as I don't like to run additional applications on my media servers and possibly make them unstable so I have a small PC that runs an AirPrint server here at home.

Phil

Hi

I am having huge problems with Twonky on my Qnap NAS. I also have a UnitiServe SSD. When I disable the Twonky UPnP server on the NAS and use the Unitiserve as the server, everything is faultless! Unitiserve has a fantastic server.

Best avoid the limitations of the upnp servers bundled with NAS drives. If you aren't using dedicated server hardware then you can just run something like Asset upnp server on a network connected computer and, so long as you ensure it's pointed at the files on your NAS,  this should stream music files from your NAS very nicely - this appears to work well with the Naim streamers and n-Stream giving full track listings, artwork etc...

Hi Richard

I totally agree, and it would be the best and cheapest solution for me. I am a Mac user and although it looks like Asset do a beta version for Mac, I've read that it doesn't work that well. Is it a fact that the computer would have to be left on, more or less 24/7? Not sure if Asset would work whilst the computer was in sleep mode?

Phil stated that there are some Small Form Factor, low power PC's out there, perhaps that is a way forward, but not a cheap one. 

A small PC as server running Asset would be just as good.  Best would be a PC running windows.  A small netbook should probably do the job and their power consumption is minimal.

Hi,

I've used the OSX Beta of Asset UPnP on a number of occasions (some of the guys here also run it) and in my own experience it has been reliable (albeit it doesn't look pretty) and in feedback from people using it it has never been less reliable than any of the other established "usual" OSX UPnP servers.

It's worth using this opportunity to illustrate something that I see all the time - it's easy for a user to perceive the value in using decent audio equipment but it still needs to be understood why it's worth spending effort / money on the UPnP server (after all, it is your music source isn't it) and instead cutting corners and using a "free" UPnP server (something that you either don't have to pay for or is embedded in a cheap NAS)

Even if you have a basic Qute you're still looking at £1,000 on your audio product and you can pick up a 750Gb Revo Mini PC from somewhere like Maplin for under £300 ( http://www.maplin.co.uk/acer-r...4gb-750gb-hdd-720004  or a ReadyNAS Duo (about the most "appliance" like NAS I've come across in that it just works and you have to deal with minimal quirks) with 2 x 1Tb drives will be about £200)...

Cheers

Phil